"The Ontario government has introduced the Trust in Real Estate Services Act, which includes several provisions to increase the authority of the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) and increase standards for real estate professionals.
If passed, the Trust in Real Estate Services Act would update the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act (REBBA) of 2002, the legislation that sets out rules that govern Ontario’s more than 86,000 real estate salespersons, brokers and brokerages. These real estate professionals are regulated by the RECO, an administrative authority responsible for administering and enforcing the act and its regulations. These rules are in place to protect consumers and ensure that real estate professionals and the brokerages that employ them conduct themselves ethically when doing business.
There are five primary goals in the proposed legislation: enable regulatory changes that would improve consumer protection and choice; improve professionalism among real estate professionals and brokerages through enhanced ethical requirements; update the powers available to RECO to address poor conduct and improve efficiency; create a stronger business environment; and bring legislation and regulations up-to-date and reduce regulatory burden.
If passed, RECO would be able to levy financial penalties for failure to comply with a legal requirement specified in regulations, and they would also be able to revoke or suspend a real estate professional’s or brokerage’s registration or impose conditions on a registration."