- Multiple & Designated Representation
Under REBBA a buyer or seller would be represented by the Brokerage that their salesperson worked for. If the same real estate salesperson worked with both buyer and seller for the same transaction, or if the two salespersons involved in the same transaction were members of the same real estate brokerage, this was multiple representation. Under
TRESA the buyer and seller may have a designated sales representatives from the same brokerage. Designated representation says that the duty owed to the clients would apply to the designated agents within a brokerage for the specific, identified transactions, not the brokerage and all of its REALTORS®
- Self-represented Party (SRP)
Under the older REBBA legislation there were two types of relationships which REALTORS® had to know and explain to people they were dealing with - client and customer relationships. It was thought that the differences between client and customer were confusing and not clear for the general public, so the term customer will be removed entirely from TRESA. Now there will be two terms – client and self-represented party (SRP). An SRP is simply a party who is not a client of any brokerage.
- Sharing Contents of Offers
Under TRESA, sellers now have another option to negotiate the sale of their property. If the seller directs the brokerage, the TRESA general regulations allow for the details of competing offers to be shared with other buyers. No personal information may be disclosed or any other information that would identify the person making the offer. It is important to note that it will still be a requirement for a brokerage to disclose the number of registered offers to competing buyers.
- Written Agreements & Disclosures
Listing agreement and the remuneration payable to any other brokerage must be clear. It is the decision of the seller about how much remuneration is payable to any other brokerage and needs to be a conversation that happens between the listing brokerage and the seller. The contents of written agreements must clearly outline the circumstances where the payable remuneration may change.
Services provided by a brokerage and the expiry date of the agreement must also be clearly indicated in all the listing agreement. Any services promised to a client, for example, professional photography, staging, and open house cadence, must be listed in the written agreement.
Any terms related to the termination of the agreement must be within the agreement itself.
- Consumer Information Guide
The Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) has released a new information guide for consumers to review when starting to work with REALTOR®. Its goal is to help provide the consumer with as much information as possible to ensure they understand The information guide prepared by RECO is mandated and it is the only acceptable version of the information guide. Brokerages are not permitted to create their own information guide and must provide the consumer with the guide that is prepared by RECO. You can download a copy of the information guide here
- Code of Ethics
The new TRESA Code of Ethics have been updated so that the ethical requirements are retained within the Code but all of the technical and procedural requirements have been moved to the general regulations or other regulations. This means that the Code of Ethics truly articulates the requirements that REALTORS® must comply with related to integrity, quality of service and conflicts of interest. As a result, the new Code of Ethics is much smaller compared to the old.
- RECO Discipline Process
The introduction of TRESA was a result of OREA’s own advocacy to set the highest real estate standards in North America and to crack down on bad actors in our profession. In addition to the new legislative and regulatory standards enacted by TRESA, the scope of RECO’s discipline committee will be expanded.
