Advertising: Six Months Until New Clarifications Take Effect

UPDATE: the clarifications and amendments to the Advertising Guidelines are on hold. RECA will work diligently and cooperatively with the Minister of Service Alberta to ensure compliance with the Minister’s Order and is committed to providing updates to industry members as updates become available.

With October 1, 2019, quickly approaching, it’s important that all industry professionals have a clear understanding of the latest advertising guidelines.

Council made clarifications for team advertising and what “clearly indicated” means when it comes to including brokerage names in industry advertisements. These changes will take effect on October 1, 2019.

RECA will give industry professionals, teams, and brokerages an additional six months (until March 31, 2020) where they may advertise with “formerly known as.” After the six months, RECA will take a zero-tolerance approach.

Additional Advertising Resources

RECA has put together extensive resources on its website to help all industry professionals including:

• A Visual Guide: includes examples of advertisements that meet and that do not meet requirements across various platforms
• A Social Media Visual Guide: includes multiple examples of social media profile pages, and what to include in individual posts across multiple social media platforms
• An Advertising Checklist: a step-by-step process to ensure your advertisements meet the latest guidelines
• FAQ: provides answers to the most frequently asked questions regarding advertising
• Broker Presentations: brokers can request a presentation to their brokerage by contacting our practice advisors

For more information, visit RECA’s advertising page.

REMINDER: New Advertising Clarifications

1. “clearly indicated” means: the brokerage name must be similar in size or larger than other identifiers, and immediately adjacent to other identifiers in advertising.
2. RECA has an existing requirement that industry must “trade in real estate/deal in mortgages only in the name that appears on that individual’s licence.” As it relates to “team” advertising, Council expanded this requirement to include “the name of at least one licensed team member, as it appears on the individual’s licence, must appear in any team advertising.”
3. Council has prohibited specific words and terms that may suggest to consumers, or create the impression, the team is a brokerage.
   • The prohibited terms include: Agency, Associates, Brokerage, Brokers, Company, Corporation, Corp., Inc., Ltd., LLC, LLP, Mortgage, Properties, Property, Realty, Mortgages,* Real Estate*
   • Exception: “Mortgages,” “Mortgage,” “Real Estate,” and “Realty” may be used in team names only when followed immediately by one of two terms; either “team” or “group”.