Select Page

Quebec association to appeal FSBO company ruling

Quebec’s provincial real estate association will appeal a recent Quebec Court decision that upholds the right of the for-sale-by-owner firm DuProprio.com to put For Sale signs outside properties and to advertise in newspapers.

The court rejected the argument that the unlicensed DuProprio is allowed to act like a traditional real estate broker.

In her judgement, Judge Nicole Martin wrote that DuProprio does not identify itself as a real estate broker and that its advertising does not make it seem that it performs the tasks of brokers.  Selling a home is not the exclusive domain of real estate brokers and the way an owner decides to sell a home “belongs to him or her and several options are possible,” she wrote.

In a statement, Robert Nadeau, president and CEO of the Organisme d’autoréglementation du courtage immobilier du Québec (OACIQ), expressed concern about the ruling, which he called contradictory. The court is acquitting a company “that performed actions that gave the impression it was authorized to perform the functions of real estate brokers,” Nadeau said.

The OACIQ maintains DuProprio acts in a matter similar to that of real estate brokers and by doing so confuses the public, which can be left unprotected if troubles arise in the selling or buying of a home.

The court action was started in 2009 by the OACIQ’s predecessor, the Association des courtiers et agents immobiliers du Québec.

Just before Christmas, Nadeau announced the decision will be appealed. “We have serious reasons to believe that DuProprio committed several infractions of the Loi sur le courtage immobilier (real estate brokerage law) and that’s why we’re appealing this decision,” he says. – Danny Kucharsky

Share this article: