February 2023 – What’s Happening at RECA

RECA’s modernized governance model consists of a Board of Directors and four Industry Councils representing each industry RECA regulates.

To consolidate RECA’s governance updates, this general summary is inclusive of the key activities of the Board and all Industry Councils over the last quarter.

Changes to RECA’s Publication Guidelines

In response to stakeholder feedback, RECA’s Board, Industry Councils, and Registrar have recently reviewed and recommended changes to when and how RECA publishes disciplinary decisions.

In the past, identifying information was included in all decisions, including letters of reprimand, RECA’s least serious type of discipline. As of January 2023, RECA will no longer publish identifying information for letters of reprimand. Letters of reprimand will continue to be published for educational purposes, using only the individual’s industry and licence class.

Moving forward, RECA will also only publish news releases for disciplinary decisions when there is a consumer protection need. Administrative suspensions that have no consumer harm related to the suspension will not have a public news release. For more details please refer to the Discipline Publication Guidelines Changes article.

RECA’s Annual Report and Financials

RECA’s Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements for the 2021-2022 fiscal year are now available for download. RECA encourages all licensees to read these thoroughly, as they include a comprehensive and transparent accounting of RECA’s activities and finances over the year.

Rules Review Consultation is Underway

RECA has kicked off its comprehensive review of the Real Estate Act Rules (Rules). Letters requesting feedback on the current Rules were sent to all stakeholder organizations and all brokerages in early February. Your organization or your brokerage is encouraged to share your written submission, or request an in-person or virtual meeting with RECA regarding your feedback on the current Rules, to consultation@reca.ca.

The Rules Review will take place in three phases, until the Fall of 2024:

• Phase 1—gather feedback on the existing Rules from stakeholders
• Phase 2—a multi-stage consultation with ALL stakeholders and licensees on proposed Rule changes based on the feedback from Phase 1
• Phase 3—a final consultation on potential issues that could arise should the final proposed Rules change come into force

Review the Phase 1 discussion paper for further details.

Proposed Rules for Private Lending

The Mortgage Broker Industry Council has been considering how best to protect consumers involved with private lending for mortgages, including a consideration for new private lending rules and forms. For now, the Industry Council has decided to not create more red tape around the private lending industry, and will favour increased education and awareness for licensees and consumers around private lending, instead of new rules and forms.

Graduated Licence Model for Condominium Managers

To deal with challenges in recruitment and retention in the condominium manager industry, the Residential Property Manager Industry Council has directed RECA to develop a framework for a graduated license model pilot project for condominium managers. This model will outline who can receive a graduated licence, what activities someone with a graduated licence can undertake, and what criteria must be met to become fully licensed. When a framework is approved by an Industry Council, RECA will communicate the details of the pilot project, and be transparent with any developments, hurdles, and successes, experienced over the period the pilot takes place.

RMS Committee Update

The Residential Real Estate Broker Industry Council struck an RMS Sub-Committee in 2022. This Committee was tasked with reviewing the Residential Measurement Standard (RMS), and determining if it continued to make sense for the industry in its current form, and reporting back to the Industry Council. The Industry Council would then propose any changes, and consult on those proposed changes, should they determine there is a need for change. The Sub-Committee has met several times, and will report back to the Industry Council soon.

What do you think of the New Format?

Through RECA communications surveys and audits, stakeholders have indicated that, while they are interested in hearing about the important work of RECA’s Board and Industry Councils, in today’s chaotic world less is often more.

This new consolidated summary format was created in response. In addition to highlighting the key activities, what work or projects are you interested in hearing more about from your Board and/or Industry Councils? Let us know at communications@reca.ca.