B.C. mulls ban on same agent for sellers and buyers in property deals

The B.C. Real Estate Association is pushing back against a proposed ban on the practice of allowing the same real estate agent to represent both the seller and buyer of a property.

The proposed ban on dual agency — also known as doubleending — is the most significant change among a number of rules proposed by the B.C. government’s Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate. The draft rule changes, meant to protect consumers and improve transparency in B.C. real estate market, have been provided to agents and the public for comment over the next month.

Dual agency has been restricted or banned in some U.S. states, and Ontario has also proposed a ban on it.

In an interview, B.C. Real Estate Association CEO Robert Laing said real estate agents worry that banning dual agency will hurt both consumers and agents. “Our biggest concern is the consumer’s right to make a choice about who they work with is being taken away from them,” Laing said. “The superintendent is trying to protect the consumers, but we think he is forgetting that in a free-enterprise market the consumer needs choice.”

The association, which represents and lobbies for Realtors, said in a statement: “The vast majority of B.C.’s more than 22,000 licensees are diligent, ethical and trustworthy, and so BCREA has recommended that limited dual agency should be allowed through the express consent of consumers.”

The draft rules were based on recommendations from the report of an independent advisory panel released last year to address problems in B.C.’s real estate industry. Those problems included a few real estate agents putting their own interests ahead of clients, some not abiding by rules around reporting requirements to prevent money laundering, and agents failing to disclose assignment of contracts (known as shadow flipping).

An exception to the dual agency ban would be if the deal occurs in a remote area of B.C. with limited access to agents.

Ron Usher, a lawyer and member of that panel, said dualagency is a “nuanced” issue and superintendent Michael Noseworthy apparently understands the panel’s view. “The proposed rule seems to be in line with the [panel’s] recommendations and my own appreciation that there needed to be some accommodation for rural areas,” Usher said.

In his draft document on the dual agency ban, Noseworthy defined the practice as typically occurring “when a licensee represents both a buyer and seller, or two or more competing buyers, in a transaction.”

Critics say dual agency opens the door to conflicts of interest and self-dealing for agents, because it is very difficult to represent both the interests of the buyer and seller in a competitive transaction. However, industry advocates argue transactions can be balanced by ethical real estate agents.