TREB left scrambling after court ends data restrictions

Decision allows information sharing online

TORONTO • The Toronto Real Estate Board is studying ways to ensure Greater Toronto Area home sales data is “protected,” as real-estate agents have rushed to publish the numbers, some of whom posted them publicly, without requiring a password for access.

TREB fought the Competition Bureau to prevent the release of home sales data online for seven years, citing privacy and copyright concerns. It had been ordered by the quasi-judicial Competition Tribunal to allow real-estate agents to share a greater amount of data with clients on password-protected websites and took the ruling to the Federal Court of Appeal and lost, then turned to the country’s top court.

The Supreme Court of Canada’s refusal last week to hear TREB’s argument put a 2016 order that gave TREB 60 days to allow publication of the data into effect. That prompted a flood of companies to start publishing the numbers.

However, questions remain about TREB’s intention to protect the data, when the order actually takes effect and whether sites that have not required passwords have violated the board’s rules.

Real-estate online listing portal Zoocasa was among the companies that rushed to publish home sales data and did not require a password, so anyone visiting the site could see the data. But on Monday, it said the data would now only be available to visitors using a password. It did not provide a reason.

Lauren Haw, chief executive officer of Zoocasa, said her company plans to turn to TREB for guidance on how the industry can use the information going forward, but did not say why Zoocasa, a TREB member, posted the numbers without using password protections or waiting for TREB’s advice.

TREB wouldn’t say if it will take legal action against companies that released the data but didn’t use VOWs. The board, which represents 50,000 realestate agents, also refused to answer questions about whether it is ready to give up its fight to let the data be posted online.

The board “will be studying the required next steps to ensure such information will be protected in compliance with the tribunal order once that comes into effect,” board chief executive John DiMichele said in a statement.

The board declined requests for interviews and follow-up comments.