Each month, a BCREA leader shares their insights in an exclusive column for Real Estate Magazine. Is your association or board interested in contributing? Send us an email

 

This just in: “Provincial government requires hosts to register with new short-term rental registry.”

This B.C. Government announcement—which included a short deadline to sign up and, yes, a fee structure—dropped on Jan. 20, shifting those of us charged with interpreting and relaying this type of information into high gear.

The announcement gave us yet another reminder: When there is a crisis in housing, no one is overlooked. When the headline announces regulations governing strata rental restrictions, retention of unaccepted offers or rescission periods, we need to take notice, no matter what our role in the real estate sector. Of course, we also often resent the intrusion and take it personally—why are we the target?

In these moments, it’s important to remember we’re not the only targets. So, while we’re selfishly licking our regulation-related wounds, we should say a prayer we’re not involved in that other hot-button sector currently ruffling feathers across the country. Yes, you guessed it: the gas-powered landscape-equipment business.

 

The battle against gas-powered lawn equipment

 

Who knew? The headline that caught my eye was “London considers imposing 6 p.m. curfew for using gas lawnmowers and yard equipment.”

London, Ont., must be an outlier for environmental progress. Or do they just enjoy the silence more than the national average? The sound of gas-powered leaf blowers and lawnmowers is a regular staple of the modern weekend. Yes, we loathe the neighbours who fire up their ride-on Lawn-Boys at 7 a.m. on a Sunday. But they didn’t mandate the regular maintenance of our front yards—that was the author of a local bylaw. 

In my hometown of Courtenay, B.C., the regulation subheading is “A bylaw relating to nuisance and disturbances and to the care, maintenance and regulation of property within the City.” 

Between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. on any day (hard to mow those straight lines in the dark), thou mayest be noisy but not disturbing. The bylaw also states, “No owner or occupier of real property shall allow such property to become or to remain unsightly,” and goes on to define “unsightly.” 

They mull; therefore, I mow—and mulch. (But not really because I live in a strata—it’s a metaphor. Or not.) Moving on.

A global movement towards restrictions

 

London isn’t alone—nor is Canada, for that matter. Google “lawnmower ban,” and you will uncover a plot that is international in scope, with similar bans from California to Colorado. Your search may lead you to a global discussion of a ban on two-stroke engines. And while “two-stroke” is insufficient in swimming 100 metres or appeasing my cat, your government says it’s too much in gas-powered engines for lawnmowers and boats.

The lesson being: We real estate folks are far from the only heavily regulated sector. But, like the people of London bravely standing up in the face of infringements on their lawn-mowing freedoms (more on that later), we’re also not entirely powerless in the face of new regulations.

 

New penalties for B.C. licensees 

 

Here in B.C., our provincial regulator regularly publishes advisories on its website. In May 2024, the BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) posted about a slate of new administrative penalties. 

All over the province, you could hear voices crying out, “New penalties? What? How did this happen?” It turns out that the year before, all licensees had been advised in writing and offered an opportunity to comment. Sixty-eight people—including 37 licensees—and two industry organizations responded.

Were these minor penalties? How harsh can an “administrative penalty” be? Ask two licensees recently found lacking in their advertising displays on social media. Their sins included failing to properly identify themselves and their brokerage and failure to qualify for an award claim. On appeal, the penalties of $6,250 and $4,000 were upheld—and publicized!

While we’re here—need a refresher on the advertising rules for all B.C. licensees? Here you go. What’s more, according to the B.C. regulator, managing brokers are responsible for ensuring advertising is compliant. And if your defence is going to be, “I didn’t know!”, BCFSA even provides a checklist.

 

The power of participation

 

In summary, if we are content with 0.126 per cent of licensees in the province influencing decisions affecting more than 29,000 licensees, then perhaps we don’t deserve to get upset when the regulations aren’t to our immediate liking.

Because the truth is we have more power and influence than we might think. Just look at our friends in London as an example. Two days after the news item mentioned above came this headline, “Councillor backpedals on proposal to further restrict gas-powered lawn equipment.” 

Apparently, local politicians were “surprised by an overwhelmingly negative response to…a well-intentioned idea.”

So, think about those civic-minded Londoners fighting back for late-night lawn mowing the next time you’re asked to provide input on new regulations.

Words of wisdom from one of my old managers, “The world is run by the people who show up.” Leaders need followers, and followers need to pay attention.