Real Estate Council Releases Progress Report: Enhancing Protection for Real Estate Consumers in BC

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Real Estate Council Releases Progress Report:

Enhancing Protection for Real Estate Consumers in BC

The Council has published a progress report on its activities up to March 31, 2017 to implement the recommendations of the Independent Advisory Group (IAG).

The IAG was launched by the Council in February 2016 to make recommendations on ways to enhance consumer protection and strengthen public confidence in the regulation and practices of licensed real estate professionals. In its final report, the IAG included 28 far-reaching recommendations to enhance protection for real estate consumers in BC.

The Council reported achieving a number of key actions by March 31, 2017, including:

Raising entry standardsby increasing the required passing grade for all licensing exams and Applied Practice Course assessments to 70%.
Increasing the transparency of its disciplinary processesand the outcomes.
Improving public access to the complaints and discipline processby publishing notices of hearings on the Council’s website.
Increasing monitoring of consumer protection issuesby establishing a Consumer Protection Issues Identification team.
Improving public reporting of licensee misconductby approving plans for confidential reporting channels, including a 1-800 line and secure online tip form.

Making meaningful changes to enhance public protection and consumer confidence requires significant investments of time, resources and energy. The Council is committed to continuing to make these investments, and to an ongoing focus on the implementation of the IAG recommendations as a key priority.