New Real Estate Rules Take Effect Today

New real estate rules take effect today. 

New Real Estate Council of BC (Council) rules take effect today. These rules effectively ban limited dual agency in BC, address how you’ll disclose remuneration to sellers, and set new education and language proficiency requirements.

Click on the below image to watch a video message from Board President Phil Moore on these changes.

Resources to help you with these changes

There are a host of resources to help you understand and comply with these changes. These resources are housed in two key areas:

• Licensee Knowledge Base – Access the Licensee Knowledge Base here. It’s a user-friendly, searchable resource with information on the new rules delivered in a variety of formats.
• Managing Broker toolkit – This dedicated Broker resource contains detailed information to help Brokers adapt to the new rules.

Need answers?

These documents will help answer common questions about your obligations under the new rules:

• FAQ on the ban of Dual Agency
• FAQ on disclosure of representation in trading services
• FAQ on current and former clients
• Best practices for avoiding conflicts of interest
• Five key questions to prepare for the rule changes

Educating the public

• We’ll issue a news release on the changes that we’ll email you later this morning. We’ll also conduct interviews with our media contacts and post articles on our public websites and social media feeds.
• The BC Real Estate Association will also issue a news release today.
• The Council is preparing a public education campaign around the new rules and other initiatives.

New forms

Council has five new forms you must use starting today:

• Disclosure of Representation in Trading Services
• Disclosure of Risks to Unrepresented Parties
• Disclosure of Risks Associated with Dual Agency
• Disclosure of Expected Remuneration
• Agreement Regarding Conflict of Interest Between Clients

The guides listed below explain how to use each of the new mandatory forms and include answers to frequently asked questions about the situations in which the forms will be required.

• Disclosure of Representation in Trading Services
• Disclosure of Risks to Unrepresented Parties
• Disclosure of Risks Associated with Dual Agency
• Disclosure of Expected Remuneration
• Agreement Regarding Conflict of Interest Between Clients

You can access the forms via WEBForms in six languages: English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, French, Persian, and Punjabi.