As Realtors we have been through a lot of change in the last 15 years, and I believe we will continue to evolve our profession in terms of professional services offered, including CREA’s proposed Code of Ethics & Standards of Business Practice.
Notwithstanding the ever litigious-society we are a part of, and the courts’ interpretation of a real estate transaction and the law, we must be striving for the highest level of honest, fair and equitable representation to our clients, no matter what contract or agency relationship we have agreed to or created.
The Canadian Regulators Group (CRG) has presented its report, which to me is a good frame work to help improve our profession. The proposal for standard terms and definitions is a natural step that will work with both the law and the education reciprocity agreements. The defined responsibilities of duties and care, along with the obligations that are created, can be debated as to pros and cons, but over all are a progressive positive improvement for our profession.
Until we get to Transaction Brokerage. This concept may be pure and simple, but has no place in organized real estate. This concept eventually says, “Here is the data I have provided. Make your decision and by the way I can’t advise you so here is my invoice for services provided.” I bet we will all be able to cash those cheques and live in Maui quite easily.
We might as well be a billboard for FSBO.com. This concept may be the ultimate panacea of being absolutely correct in Agency Law, but it has no basis in the real world. It is a fact that when you have more than two parties to an agreement, there exists a possibility for a litigious action. It doesn’t matter what the profession is — investment advisor, accounting/financial advisor or Realtor, any one of these professions can create at all times an agency relationship, whether under contract or not.
The CRG has a 100 per cent solution for an agency problem that does not exist in any stretch of the imagination. Case in point: it’s cited in the REM article that in British Columbia, 0.0025 per cent out of how many thousands of transactions had complaints dealing with agency. In Saskatchewan in 2003 there were 8,517 MLS transactions, equaling 17,034 agency relationships, with 62 complaints that were being dealt with in 2003 — a whopping 0.0036 per cent, and these may not all be related to agency.
I will agree that we as a profession can and always will be progressive and vigilant in improving our services, but if Transaction Brokerage is adopted we will see the regulator overloaded with complaints for the lack of professional service provided by a Realtor, not to mention the destruction of our profession as we know it today.
Ron Skinner
2003 Past President SREA
Broker/Owner
Royal LePage Premier Realty
Yorkton, Sask.
