Statement from RECO’s Board of Directors following Minister’s letter

The Real Estate Council of Ontario’s (RECO’s) Board of Directors (Board) acknowledges receipt of a letter from the Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement regarding consideration of the appointment of an Administrator to RECO.

RECO and its Board remain committed to carrying out the regulator’s statutory mandate to safeguard public interest, protect consumers and support and regulate real estate agents.

RECO hired Dentons Canada LLP (Dentons) to conduct a comprehensive and independent review of the iPro matter. Today, following the Minister’s review and direction, RECO is releasing the full final Dentons report. RECO’s Board fully endorses all the recommendations in the report. Read the full report.

The Dentons review found that in the iPro matters, the former Registrar deviated from RECO’s typical approach when dealing with situations involving misappropriation of trust funds. The review also found that the former Registrar did not inform the Board of the iPro matters until after the Undertaking Agreement was executed with iPro Realty and its principals. The report highlights a number of recommendations for greater accountability, transparency, and operational improvement which RECO is fully committed to implementing on an expedited timeline.

RECO has begun or has already implemented many reforms including:

• Strengthening oversight of regulatory processes by introducing organizational changes and a multi-disciplinary regulatory action team,
• Developing a regulatory risk framework to apply consistent and defensible decision-making in the public interest, and
• Increasing engagement and communication with stakeholders including securing valuable feedback from local real estate boards.

RECO is committed to working collaboratively with the Minister to understand the proposed process, scope, and next steps.