There are some major changes coming to BC real estate, and we believe the public should know what those changes are and how they came about. Following is information assembled by a taskforce in our Royal LePage Advance Realty office:
·
Real
Estate in BC is governed by the Real Estate Council of BC (RECBC) for licensees
and the Office of the Superintendent of Real Estate (OSRE) for consumers. The
Rules are made by OSRE and guidance on carrying out those rules is provided by
RECBC.
·
OSRE states: “A consultation on these rules was completed on
October 6, 2017 after OSRE posted a draft version of the proposed rules for a
30 day public comment period on September 6, 2017. OSRE received strong support
from the public on all proposed rules.”
·
According to the published report, only 169 members of the public
answered the survey, along with 2,395 licensees. Of those 169 people, 66.9%
were from the lower mainland.
·
On
March 15, 2018 new and changed rules will come into effect.
·
Limited
Dual Agency is being eliminated March 15, 2018.
The
Superintendent has created a rule to prohibit the practice of dual agency. Dual
agency is when a licensee represents two or more parties with competing
interests in a trade in real estate, such as both buyer and seller, or two or
more competing buyers.*
·
In
explaining the new rules, RECBC has advised licensees that the elimination of
Double Agency may create situations of ‘double recusal’ where a licensee will
not be able to act on behalf of the seller or buyer if they are current
clients, rather than only referring one client to another licensee.
·
A
licensee will not be able to represent either party if a client buyer decides
he wants to offer on a listing of that licensee
You
should not continue to act for either client in this scenario. You should refer
your buyer client and your seller client to get independent professional advice
(i.e. another licensee). You cannot act for both clients in this scenario (even
with their consent) because it would amount to dual
agency, which is prohibited.*
·
The proposal to eliminate Dual Agency was voted on by only 131 members
of the public (from the Province of BC) in the survey, and 81 people supported
it.
·
Possible Scenarios
1. Joe the buyer has been
working with a real estate agent to look at properties in town, listed by
several real estate agents, making Joe a client. Joe viewed 20 properties, 2 of
them were listings of the agent he was working with. Joe decides he would like
to make an offer on one of his agent’s listings. At that point, the agent must
refer Joe to another agent AS WELL AS refer the seller to another agent.
2. Megan is interested in buying
a recreational property, or a commercial property, and she knows, based on
extensive research, that one agent is the expert in this specialized field.
That agent also has most of the listings. If that agent wants to continue to
act on behalf of his current clients (the sellers), he cannot represent Megan
as a buyer client. She would either have to be an unrepresented buyer or find
another agent, even though no other agents in the area specialize in those
properties.
3. Dean has a preferred agent,
who has worked on his behalf in the past. Dean trusts that agent, and calls
them up on a listing they have on the market. That agent cannot work with Dean
as a client because of the double recusal rule (they would have to refer both Dean
and the seller to different agents).
4. Jim Agent is taking care of business for his
colleague, Judy Licensee, while she is away. During that time, one of Jim’s
past clients comes to him and asks to look at some homes with Jim next week,
after Judy Licensee is back looking after her own business. They find a home
they love and want Jim to make an offer. However, the home they love is one of
Judy Licensee’s listings. Because Jim Agent was looking after Judy Licensee’s
business while she was away, this is now considered a conflict of interest and
Jim cannot act on his buyer’s behalf and needs to refer them to another agent.
·
Contact
information
Claire Trevena,
MLA: Claire.trevena.MLA@leg.bc.ca
: CR office 1-250-287-5100
Minister of
Finance Carole James: FIN.Minister@gov.bc.ca
No comments:
Post a Comment