Residential Property Manager Industry Council Update

Summary of activities since August from Don Newell, Chair

As you know, condominium managers must be licensed with RECA by December 1, 2021. If you haven’t started your licensing process, please reach out to RECA immediately to make sure everything is in place and you can continue to work on December 1.

Please note there are currently delays with the RCMP in obtaining Certified Criminal Record Checks (CCRC). Completed checks are required for licensing, so if you haven’t begun the process of obtaining a CCRC, please consider doing so immediately.

As we come down the home stretch of condominium manager licensing, I’d like to take a moment to recognize the years of work it took to reach this point. Licensing begins in a couple of weeks, on December 1, 2021, but this all began in 2014, with the then government announcing changes to the Condominium Property Act, and the coming licensing of condominium managers under RECA. Seven years, three governments and numerous long legislative delays later, we’ve finally made it!

Our Industry Council would like to thank RECA’s staff for their work through these years. Having come into this for the final year, it was astounding to learn about all the thought and consideration that had gone into preparing for condominium management licensing. Our Council members and I appreciate the dedication and skill RECA’s staff have brought to the table. We would not be where we are without their hard work.

The Industry Council would also like to thank all the members of the Condominium Manager Implementation Advisory Committee for your hard work and many meetings over the last years. Your knowledgeable discussions and recommendations gave us tremendous confidence when making important decisions regarding condominium manager licensing and education.

I would also like to thank the members of the condominium management industry. Many of you have operated for years without a regulatory structure, and yet, you have shown your professionalism and willingness to work with RECA to get this implementation done right.  Your contributions and engagement are greatly appreciated. We look forward to bringing you all officially into the fold on December 1, and look forward to a productive and efficient first year of regulation.

We haven’t forgotten about our existing residential property managers. Thank you to all of you who renewed on time this year. While our focus has been on condominium management licensing and education this past year, we knew we could trust the professionalism of the property manager industry to take self-regulation seriously.

Strategic Planning

The RECA Board of Directors has begun its strategic planning process. The Board is currently asking all stakeholders to provide feedback on RECA’s strategic direction and what trends in the industry will inform that strategy. I encourage residential property management and condominium management licensees to provide their input to the Board through the strategic planning form on reca.ca, or by emailing the Board directly at board@reca.ab.ca or the Industry Council directly at resPMIC@reca.ab.ca. Associations will also be given the opportunity to provide direct feedback to the Board in the coming weeks.

To maintain the privilege of self-regulation, it’s very important that licensees take part in setting RECA’s strategic direction. RECA will be hosting property manager and condominium manager Broker Forums in the next few months. If you are a broker who primarily does property management, or are a condominium manager broker, and are interested in participating directly in discussions with RECA on industry and regulatory topics, please email resPMIC@reca.ab.ca, and we’ll make sure you get an invitation.

Education Divestment

Beyond the Industry Council’s work on getting condominium management licensing up and running, we have also focused on divesting RECA of licensing education. This is an enormous project that requires each Industry Council, the Board and the government to go through certain steps. The latest step is the validation of proposed competencies. The Residential Property Manager Industry Council recently approved for consultation proposed competency profiles for real estate brokers and property manager associates. We consulted on condominium manager associate and broker profiles earlier this year.

The Industry Council will review feedback from the surveys before approving the competencies for use by third-party course providers. The providers will use these competencies to build their courses and to ensure those completing their courses are competent in practicing property management. Thank you to those who took the time to complete the validation surveys for these competency profiles. We know this required you to take time out of your day to take part in the self-regulation of your industry, and the Industry Council really appreciates your participation. Thanks to your input, we can be sure the competencies best reflect the current reality of professionally performing property management in Alberta.