The Ministry appointed Jean Lepine as the Administrator of RECO on 28 November 2025. That means he will take over complete control and will not be subject to anyone at RECO, that is, the Board or CEO or anyone else.
There really was no surprise about the appointment. The most recent letter from RECO was not helpful to their plight. They failed to accept any responsibility and were quite content to let the blame fall on one person, BUT, virtually everyone at RECO knew well ahead of time, and did nothing!
So, we need:
1) oversight of Brokerages,
2) better education, TRESA was around for two years before there was any reference to it in the exams,
3) some agents still permit their buyers to break into houses (let’s fine them and suspend them and do the same thing to their Brokerages (now, it’s simple, that problem is solved),
4) deposit insurance is lousy, this needs to be addressed,
5) commission insurance is lousy, it needs to be addressed as well.
And I am sure there are lots of other matters that can be added to the agenda.
The restoration of trust and confidence in RECO and the real estate profession generally should be the number one priority.
Brian Madigan LL.B., Broker
Comments 5
As I understand it, I think, the Public was at no time harmed by this situation were they? I thought it was just our Own… Our Agents who have incurred Damages. I think the situation was Unbelievable, but Why do we keep referring to «The Public?
Have I missed something?
RECO is the Ontario Regulator to provide Consumer Protection to the Public, both Buyers and Sellers, and to the Registrants.
They have been able to resolve the Public loses to a great extent; however, they have failed miserably in protecting the Registrants. In fact, the lack of RECO action on this issue has allowed hundreds if not thousand additional victims to this issue at no fault of the Registrants.
RECO missed at every opportunity to mitigate the loses to the Registrants, yet RECO takes no responsibility as an organization.
The changes needed are deep and wide. Deep within RECO and wide in our Provincial Association (OREA) and it’s Boards.
Author
Hopefully, this is a positive step!
Public not harmed? What happened to Buyers’ deposits in that trust account?
Author
We are still waiting at the moment. There is a maximum deposit that is protected in the amount of $2 million per transaction, and $4 million per occurence which would be the iPro theft.
Given that $10 million went missing, there is likely to be a shorfall here. They will then distribute the funds on a pro-rata basis.
We do have one more issue and that is the $700 million in additional transactions that occurred whiloe RECO oversaw iPro. No new thefts obviously and that delays the entire process.