Province introduces bill to address ‘dysfunction’ at real estate regulator
EDMONTON The Alberta government has introduced legislation that would restructure the Real Estate Council of Alberta (RECA) eight months after the minister for Service Alberta fired the entire council over reports of poor governance.
RECA currently licences real estate agents and brokers, mortgage brokers, real estate appraisers and property managers in the province.
If passed, Bill 20, the Real Estate Amendment Act, would create four new industry councils within RECA and require that minutes, agendas and salaries be public. It would also legislate the role and responsibilities of the registrar in charge of enforcing the rules and give the minister the power to make mandatory policies RECA must follow.
Service Alberta Minister Nate Glubish fired the council in October and appointed an official administrator to continue day-today operations after a report found that the council had so many issues it could not function properly.
“If our amendments are approved and this bill is passed, the end result will be a new governing structure that will increase transparency, improve accountability and ultimately restore good governance to the real estate regulator,” Glubish said Wednesday prior to the bill being tabled in the legislative assembly.
The report by KPMG says there was significant interpersonal conflict and no trust among council members or between council members and administration. About 80 per cent of the motions discussed at the time had to do with governance issues and only 20 per cent focused on strategic or regulatory matters. The report said RECA did not have constructive relationships with industry organizations and that there was not enough public representation on the board.
Glubish said the latest proposed changes are needed “so we could ensure that RECA would never return to such a state of dysfunction.”
The new legislation would create industry councils within RECA for:
residential real estate agents and
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brokers;
commercial real estate agents
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and brokers, and commercial property managers;
mortgage brokers;
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and residential property managers
■ and condominium managers.
The industry councils would be responsible for industry regulation and the board of directors responsible for running the corporation.
Real-estate appraisers would be removed from RECA oversight completely since they have their own professional organizations. The council would no longer provide education to obtain or maintain licensing, handing that off to third-party organizers over the next two years.
The board of directors would be responsible for running the corporation and be chaired by one of three members of the public who are appointed by the minister. The remaining board seats would be filled by one member appointed by each industry council from its elected industry members.
Each industry council would be made up of three industry members elected by their industry and two public members appointed by the minister and a chair.
The new board of directors will have two years to come up with bylaws and rules to be approved by the minister.
In the first year, the board of directors must create a bylaw that establishes a dispute resolution process.
The new legislation also defines the roles of the executive director who would be responsible for administration of the organization and the registrar who would be in charge of investigations and enforcing the rules. Investigations were previously the responsibility of the executive director.