The 30 year role of a customer having lower status than a client and someone to who fiduciary duties are not owed will be gone under the new Act.
Consumers will either be:
- Clients, or
- Self-represented parties.
If you are a doctor, there are either patients or visitors, and if you are a lawyer, there are either clients or visitors. So, for the real estate Industry, it’s now the same thing: clients and visitors. Forget all about that customer business. It was silly and no one could explain it anyways.
We will have to watch for the definition of:
- Services, and
- Assistance.
These two matters are important and are not defined in the legislation.
Hopefully, there will be some guidance when RECO publishes the new Information Guide.
Brian Madigan LL.B., Broker
Comments 1
Not only are ‘services’ and ‘assistance’ vague, but so too is the nature of who a ‘client’ can be. The RECO video series talks about being able to provide ‘assistance’ to a self-represented buyer only if the Seller is ‘your client’. It goes on to say that the registrant cannot ‘suggest’ that the self-rep view other properties listed by the same brokerage. Fair enough. But, if the buyer asks to view another property that is listed with the same brokerage, but not by the registrant who has been asked to show it, can the registrant do so under the umbrella of ‘services to a client.’ Are not all consumers who are represented by the brokerage also clients of all of the registrants in that brokerge? If asked to show another one of the brokerage’s listings, does the registrant have to flip the self-rep buyer to the listing agent? This is messy.