Commercial Real Estate Broker and Commercial Property Manager Industry Council Update

Summary of activities since February 2022 from Terry Engen, Chair

It has been a busy year with the Commercial Real Estate Broker and Commercial Property Manager Industry Council, and I would like to thank all the stakeholders who have engaged with us in that time. Stakeholder engagement is something that the Industry Council, and RECA, takes very seriously. We have heard you, and we continue to want to hear more from you as we undertake the important work in regulating the vibrant and growing commercial real estate and property management industry in Alberta.

Stakeholder Engagement Activities

Some of our Industry Council members recently had the pleasure of attending the Commercial Broker Forum in Edmonton, and I and others will be attending the Forum in Calgary this week. It is always great to hear directly from brokers from diverse backgrounds and brokerages as they explain the issues and concerns they see working in the business day-to-day. Thank you to all the brokers and broker delegates who took or will take part.

I also had the distinct pleasure of hosting all stakeholders at our second annual Spring Engagement Session on May 17. If you missed the engagement session, you can view the recording on RECA’s YouTube Channel. We had originally hoped to also hold this engagement session in-person, but there did not seem to be a lot of interest in in-person gathering, so we moved to entirely virtual. Despite not being in-person, there were plenty of questions, and plenty of engagement.

What we heard at the broker forum and at the engagement session was that there is a lot of interest in breaking out the commercial real estate licence into further specialties, whether that be selling vs. leasing, office vs. retail vs. industrial vs. agri-business, or simply large project commercial properties vs. smaller buildings and businesses. These are things the Industry Council will be discussing, and will want to hear more about as we undertake the Rules and licensing structure review, which I’ll talk more about below. Thank you to everyone who provided their feedback.

Strategic Planning

The RECA Board has been working on RECA’s strategic direction and strategic planning for many months now, beginning with comprehensive consultation on what RECA’s strategic direction should be in late-2021. Based on that feedback, the Board came up with a set of strategic priorities to inform RECA’s future strategic and business planning. Consultation on those proposed priorities is happening now, with a deadline of June 9. I encourage all commercial licensees to take some time to provide feedback on those priorities. The Board consulted with the Industry Council on commercial and other issues prior to creating these proposed priorities, but the more feedback the better.

Rules Review

As I mentioned, RECA will be undertaking a comprehensive review of the Real Estate Act Rules as part of the strategic priorities put forward. The licensing structure for our industry (and all others) are part of the Rules, and consultation on both will occur shortly, and will continue for the next two years. The current Rules are extensive, and the Industry Council, as the body that is responsible for a lot of the Rules, will consult with all stakeholders at every step along the way.

Keep an eye on your inbox for the first phase of consultation on the Rules over the Summer.

Education Divestment

Another area where we received a lot of questions in our engagements was with education divestment. As we have stated often, RECA has set June 1, 2022, as the divestment date for licensing education. I can tell you that there are several providers interested in offering courses in the commercial sector, from education specialist firms, associations, and from universities. When the Industry Council recognizes a course provider and their courses, we will be sure to let all stakeholders know immediately. These are the providers who will be training your future colleagues, and it is important that all licensees take an interest and provide their feedback on how the education is working.

This is an exciting time in commercial real estate regulation, and I’m looking forward to seeing all the outstanding thoughts and suggestions that come out of our consultations on the Rules. It’s thanks to those of you who take the time to provide that feedback that we on the Industry Council can know we are making good decisions.