2019 07 23 OREA Letter to Minister Thompson
Dear OREA Leaders:
Earlier this week, OREA CEO Tim Hudak sent a letter to the Honourable Lisa Thompson, Minister of Government and Consumer Services, that outlined OREA’s recommendations to improve the broken real estate disciplinary system.
A copy of the letter is attached to this email for your reference.
In light of recent media coverage of a failing RECO disciplinary system and the impact it is having on the profession and consumer confidence in real estate professionals, OREA wanted to take the opportunity to share where we stand.
It is our position that individuals who have been found guilty of severe ethical violations and illegal activity should have no place in the real estate profession.
In order to achieve this, under OREA’s recommendations for a modern Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002 (“REBBA”), we have put forward a three-point plan to bring necessary change to the disciplinary system.
OREA’s Three-Point Plan
- Give RECO’s Discipline and Appeals Committee the authority to revoke and suspend licenses.
- Eliminate any financial incentive for bad behaviour by ordering a registrant to repay either all, or a portion of, any financial gain resulting from a breach of REBBA and its Code of Ethics.
- Provide RECO with clear legislative power and greater authority to proactively investigate violations under REBBA and its Code of Ethics.
We believe these three changes will send a powerful message that Ontario REALTORS® will not tolerate unethical activity in the real estate profession.
Media Coverage
We are happy to report that since the release of the letter, we have gained considerable attention from a number of media outlets highlighting our three-point plan.
Here are just a few pieces of coverage we received:
- Globe and Mail (must be a Globe subscriber to access)
Minister Lisa Thompson also shared a positive statement with the Globe, supporting OREA’s position on creating a safe, secure and efficient system with clear rules for real estate professionals.
A broken disciplinary system affects both individual registrants and consumers alike while significantly undermining the profession as a whole. As the Provincial real estate association representing Ontario’s 78,000 REALTORS®, it is critical that we continue this important work and focus on remedying the broken disciplinary system in Ontario.
If you have any questions about OREA’s three-point plan, please feel free to contact me at lindsays@orea.com.
Regards,
Lindsay Stevens
Manager, Government Relations & Policy
416-385-4005
Brampton Real Estate Board 