The Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards (QFREB) is calling for the withdrawal of a bill that would make changes to the province’s current laws governing real estate.
The federation says the current Real Estate Brokerage Act is not clear about the specific tasks that a real estate broker must accomplish as part of their professional duties. This has permitted stakeholders to take on the role of real estate consultants or coaches in the resale sector, operating without proper licenses, it says.
“The minister has chosen to address the issue of real estate brokerage as part of a mammoth bill that simply does not provide enough time to properly debate subjects that are being drowned out in a sea of legislative text,” says QFREB president Patrick Juanéda. “This is one of the largest bills in Quebec’s parliamentary history; we cannot effectively study it in such a short period and without opening it up to amendments.”
QFREB launched a “mobilization operation” and so far, more than 5,000 members have called on the premier, the minister of finance, opposition parties and parliamentary caucuses for the opportunity to be heard.
“Our members will not sit idly by, and the government needs to understand that. The legislative framework of our profession cannot be modernized in a few short hours without properly considering the potential negative impacts on the men and women who will be affected. Our discontent will be focused exclusively on the political class,” says Juanéda.
The deregulation being proposed “is in direct opposition to the North American trend to adopt stricter job requirements on real estate brokers to increase protection of the public. The minister’s reforms would only serve to dilute the professional framework of real estate brokers and erode consumer protections. A course correction is necessary,” says QFREB.
