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Have Your Say on Proposed Changes to Real Estate Administrative Penalties
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Have Your Say on Proposed Changes to Real Estate Administrative Penalties

BCFSA is consulting on proposed changes to the rules on administrative penalties for real estate services (the “Administrative Penalty Framework”). The rules related to the Administrative Penalty Framework can be found in Sections 26 and 27 of the Real Estate Services Rules (“Rules”), and they are related to Sections 56 and 57 of the Real Estate Services Act (“RESA”), which were updated in 2021.

Here’s what these proposed changes would do:

  1. New penalty categories: The proposed changes will create two new categories of penalties. These penalties will apply when people who aren’t licensed to work in real estate or licensed professionals don’t cooperate with BCFSA investigations. They will also apply when there are problems with activities that only licensed people are supposed to do.
  2. Improper disclosures: The changes will include penalties for not giving out the right information as required. This means if someone doesn’t provide the necessary disclosures when selling real estate, they could face penalties.
  3. Expanded list: The list of infractions that can result in an administrative penalty will also grow. It will now cover more types of infractions under the existing categories.

It’s important to note that these changes won’t affect the requirements for getting a real estate licence or the responsibilities that real estate licensees have. The main goal behind these updates is to make sure that unlicensed activities are also addressed, and that people follow BCFSA investigations correctly. This will help maintain the public’s trust in real estate services.

The proposed amendments will provide BCFSA with better tools to deal with contraventions of RESA, its Regulation, and the Rules, especially those related to unlicensed activities.

How to Participate

BCFSA is seeking feedback on the proposed Rules. Please submit your comments through the Consultation Feedback Form. The consultation period will close on November 26, 2023.

If the Minister of Finance consents to the amendments, BCFSA intends to bring the Rules amendments into force in July 2024.

Further details can be found on the Consultation page.