Richard Silver (Photo: Geoff Parkin)

The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) Board of Directors has approved a Virtual Office Website (VOW) policy that it says will provide members “the ability to enhance the portfolio of services offered for the benefit of their customers.” It will “allow consumers to access member’s secure password-protected websites to search MLS listing data, while at the same time having the benefit of a Realtor member’s oversight, supervision, and accountability,” the board says.

The policy is at the heart of the complaint filed by the Competition Bureau against TREB. The bureau says that the policy will “impose obligations and restrictions on member brokers who wish to operate VOWs that are not imposed on traditional brokers and that the rules “entrench and perpetuate the traditional ‘bricks and mortar’ business model for providing real estate brokerage services.”

Richard Silver, president of TREB, says, “This new and exciting policy will increase competition within the system, while most importantly protecting consumers’ private information. It strikes a balance between consumer privacy concerns, the protection of consumer rights and fostering competition.”