CEASE AND DESIST ON SALES DATA ISSUED BY TORONTO BOARD

The Toronto Real Estate Board is threatening real estate firms it says are “jumping the gun” by releasing home sales data from unknown sources before the board has permitted it. The board sent cease-and-desist letters, warning it will take away data access and TREB memberships or bring legal action against members it believes are violating its user agreement by posting sale numbers online “in an open and unrestricted fashion.” The data has been a contentious issue ever since the Competition Bureau began pushing seven years ago to allow realtors to post it. Citing privacy and copyright concerns, TREB fought its release at three different judicial bodies, but lost every time. Its latest blow came in August when the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear the case.