Realtor regulators overhaul
Trevor Nichols - Apr 24, 2018 - Biz Releases

Image: The Canadian Press

The president of the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board hopes a review of British Columbia’s real estate regulators will bring more “clarity” to the system.

Finance Minister Carol James announced last week a review examining “the roles and responsibilities” of the Real Estate Council of British Columbia and the Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate.

The review will look at how the province’s regulators should be structured, dispute resolution mechanisms, and how to divide certain responsibilities—with the goal of ensuring real estate regulators are “acting in the best interest of British Columbians.”

“Buying and selling property can be stressful, and people need to trust the professionals they are working with,” James said. “Our duty as a government is to make sure the regulatory system is protecting people and functioning effectively.”

Image: Contributed Marv Beer

Marv Beer, the president of OMREB, said the review will be a welcome by most realtors—many of whom are frustrated by a lack of clarity surrounding what each of the two regulatory bodies actually does.

Essentially, Beer says, the Office of the Superintendent makes rules for realtors to follow, and the Real Estate Council interprets and enforces those rules.

However, ever since the provincial government took self-regulation away from the council in 2016, Beer says it’s been unclear exactly what responsibilities each of the bodies has.

“The council is supposed to implement the rules, but the rules are still being created… so it’s a moving landscape,” Beer says. “This review was requested just to bring clarity to who are we as licensees responsible to.”

Beer says B.C. appears to be the only province with “two levels of regulatory regime happening,” as all other provinces have one body that both makes and enforces rules.

One great outcome of the review, he said, would be for B.C. to enact a similar system.

“In other provinces self-regulation with one regulatory body works just great. Why can’t we do that here?” he asked, adding that the regulatory process in B.C. seems to be getting more bureaucratic.

“I think if it was one body it could probably operate more efficiently,” he said.

However, since the review was just announced Beer says he can’t yet say what it will mean for realtors in the Okanagan.

“Hopefully it will bring clarity to both realtors and consumers,” he said, but added, “we don’t know what this government will throw at us next. Like everyone else I have to wait and see how this unfolds.”

Dan Perrin, of Perrin, Thorau and Associates Ltd., will lead the review, which is tasked with giving recommendations to James by June 15.


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