Updated: Competition Tribunal Ruling and Compliance with REBBA 2002
On April 27, 2016, the Competition Tribunal issued a ruling in favour of the Competition Bureau, finding the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) in violation of the Competition Act. Further, on June 3, 2016, the Tribunal issued an Order specifying the changes TREB must make within 60 days to come into compliance with the Competition Act.
Since the ruling, we have had a number of questions of what this means for Ontario registrants.
With the Order now available, the Real Estate Council of Ontario is studying its impact, if any, on the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002 (REBBA 2002) requirements and will then provide a comprehensive update to all registrants.
In the meantime, please be reminded that Ontario registrants must comply with REBBA 2002. In particular, registrants must not include in any advertisement details of an agreement of purchase and sale, such as the parties to the agreement, the location of the property or any other contents of an agreement, including any provision of the agreement relating to the price, without the written consent of the parties to the agreement.
The ruling is currently under appeal by TREB.
A more comprehensive update will follow once RECO has assessed whether the Order impacts registrants’ obligations under REBBA 2002.
