News Bulletin - July 20, 2016
Changes to broker licensing requirements and brokerage inspections for newly licensed brokers
New Licensing Requirements
New Brokerage Inspection Schedule
Read the recent updates to the Commission Bylaw
Release of updated forms including the new Buyer Brokerage Agreement
Changes to broker licensing requirements and brokerage inspections for newly licensed brokers
The Commission's Board of Directors has approved bylaw amendments presented by the Licensing Committee. These amendments are new licensing requirements for broker-level licensees, as well as increased frequency of brokerage inspections (formerly audits) for newly licensed brokers. This decision was made after various inspections revealed that many newly licensed brokers were not meeting the minimum passing requirements.
New Licensing Requirements
An applicant for a broker-level licence (associate broker, managing associate broker and broker) must now have:
- three years experience as a licensed salesperson; and
- conducted a minimum of 20 residential real estate transactions, including five transactions where the applicant represented the buyer in single agency and five transactions where the applicant represented the seller in an agency relationship; or
- conducted a minimum of 10 commercial real estate transactions; or
- equivalent experience approved by the Commission
New Brokerage Inspection Schedule
In the case of first-time broker applicants, the Commission will conduct three inspections in the broker's first year of licensing, two of which must achieve a minimum of a 'good' rating. A fourth inspection will be conducted in the first half of the broker's second year of licensing, which must also obtain a minimum of a 'good' rating. Should a broker fail to achieve the required minimum rating, they shall continue to be audited twice a year until such a time that, at the minimum, a 'good' rating is achieved. These inspections shall be at a cost to the broker.
All first-time brokers will now be issued a conditional licence upon initially licensing until the time that they have completed their inspection requirements. At that point, the condition on the licence will be removed.
Read the recent updates to the Commission Bylaw
A number of Bylaws outlining the changes above were recently approved by the Board of Directors. In cases where a Bylaw has been amended, the updated text is bold.
Release of updated forms including the new Buyer Brokerage Agreement
The Commission has approved the new Buyer Brokerage Agreement and updated versions of the Buyer Designated Brokerage Agreement, Seller Brokerage Agreement and Seller Designated Brokerage Agreement. These forms will be released to the industry on Monday, August 1st on the Commission's website. The forms have also been provided to the NSAR for placement on WebForms and to be provided in traditional print form.
Licensees are required to transition to using these updated forms by October 1, 2016, including the Buyer Brokerage Agreement if it is voluntarily used prior to its January 1, 2017, mandate.
After October 1st, all unused copies of expired forms must be discarded. To ensure you are using the updated forms, check the published date in the upper right-hand corner. The updated forms read 16/06/16.
