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File a real estate complaint
Issues involving your home, rental property, or strata can be expensive and stressful. If you have evidence that a real estate licensee has not followed the Real Estate Services Act, Real Estate Services Regulation, or Real Estate Services Rules, we want to hear from you. We license and educate real estate professionals and can investigate and enforce the rules. We can also take action if an unlicensed person provides services that require a licence in B.C.
We review every complaint BCFSA receives. We receive concerns about a wide range of misconduct and focus our efforts on matters that indicate serious misconduct, repeated non-compliance, or a risk of significant consumer harm. This means while all complaints are assessed, not every complaint will result in an investigation.
If we determine your concern does not require further investigation, we will inform you and, where appropriate, direct you to other options for resolving your issue, such as contacting a licensee’s managing broker or seeking your own independent professional advice. We retain all complaints to help identify emerging risks.
Examples of complaints that may not proceed to an investigation include:
- minor administrative or technical issues that can be addressed by the brokerage (e.g. advertising-related concerns)
- service-related concerns (e.g. unwanted solicitation)
- concerns about professional conduct where the activities do not present significant, material consumer harm or broader public risk (e.g. behavioural related matters which can be resolved with the licensee’s brokerage)
- complaints from non-clients that can be resolved by the managing broker or another body (e.g. the landlord, strata council, the Residential Tenancy Branch or the Civil Resolution Tribunal).
This approach allows us to focus on matters that pose the greatest risk to consumers while continuing to monitor concerns across the industries we regulate.
Find more information:
Find other regulators (will open in a new tab)When to contact BCFSA
Contact BCFSA if you have a concern involving:
- Real estate agents who help you buy, sell, or lease a home
- Rental property managers
- Strata managers
What we investigate
- Misrepresentation (providing inaccurate or misleading information about a property)
- Misappropriation or mishandling of deposits
- Misleading advertising
- Conflicts of interest
- Deceptive or dishonest conduct
- Not acting in the best interest of the client or acting outside the client’s scope of authority
- Providing real estate services without a licence.
- Improper real estate developer disclosure and misconduct.
What we can’t investigate
- Disputes between agents or between a consumer and agent over fees or commissions
- Employment related issues between licensees
- Contract disputes, such as a request to cancel a listing contract
- Criminal matters requiring investigation by law enforcement
- Matters that require application to the Residential Tenancy Act, such as Landlord/tenant matters
- Matters that require application to the Strata Property Act, such as strata council decisions
- Issues where you are seeking monetary compensation
Why is evidence important?
We are required to open investigations and make decisions on verifiable evidence, not assumptions or personal statements alone.
Evidence allows us to:
- Determine whether a real estate professional may have broken the rules
- Ensure that our actions are fair to everyone involved
- Make decisions that stand up to legal and administrative review
When filing a complaint with BCFSA, please ensure you are prepared to submit all relevant evidence with your complaint. Complaints that lack sufficient evidence or that fall outside of BCFSA’s authority will be closed, and complainants will be notified that the complaint has been closed.
Complaint examples:
The following examples are meant to help you understand the types of concerns BCFSA can investigate, and your options if your complaint doesn’t fall within our authority.
When we can investigate: You have evidence, such as emails, texts, or versions of the listing, showing that the agent knew the information was inaccurate and did not correct it.
Next steps: Gather all relevant documentation you can and submit a complaint to BCFSA.
When we can’t investigate: The listing information was accurate based on what the agent knew at the time, and there is no evidence they were aware of the issue.
Next steps: If you believe information was withheld by another party, you may wish to seek your own legal advice.
When we can investigate: You have records showing that trust or strata funds were used improperly.
Next steps: Gather all relevant documentation you can and submit a complaint to BCFSA.
When we can’t investigate: Your concern relates to how a strata council chose to spend funds or approved expenses. This falls outside BCFSA’s authority.
Next steps: You may wish to raise your concern directly with the strata council or seek advice from the Civil Resolution Tribunal.
When we can investigate: If the issue was disclosed to your agent and you have an email, letter, or other documentation that shows your or the seller’s agent was aware of this issue but did not notify you.
Next steps: Gather all relevant documentation you can and submit a complaint to BCFSA.
When we can’t investigate: Real estate licensees are responsible for communicating any defects that they are aware of, but the seller is responsible for making this disclosure to the licensee.
Next steps: If you believe the seller failed to disclose a known defect, you may wish to seek legal advice. If you have concerns about the home inspection, contact Consumer Protection BC under Find Other Regulators.
When we can investigate: Your home is managed by a rental property manager, a position that requires a licence from BCFSA and is required to follow legislation, including rent increases.
Next steps: Gather all relevant documentation you can and submit a complaint to BCFSA.
When we can’t investigate: You pay rent and deal directly with your landlord.
Next steps: Contact the Residential Tenancy Branch, which handles disputes between tenants and landlords, under Find Other Regulators.
When we can investigate: You have documentation that a real estate licensee did not provide your offer to the seller.
Next steps: Gather all relevant documentation and proceed to submit it with a complaint to BCFSA.
When we can’t investigate: Real estate licensees are responsible for providing their clients all offers; however, seller can choose which offers they accept, reject, or counter. Sellers may have different motivations for accepting a lower offer.
Next Steps: you may wish to seek your own independent legal advice.
Next Steps: Concerns related to a real estate agent’s behaviour are often best resolved by notifying the real estate agent’s brokerage for resolution.
Ready to submit your complaint?
First, ensure you have taken the following steps:
- Your complaint is about a real estate agent, rental property manager, strata manager, or brokerage
- You raised your concerns with the licensee and documented the discussion
- You spoke with the real estate brokerage’s managing broker*
- You have evidence, such as written agreements or contracts, disclosure documents, emails, text messages, and phone records.
*Find the managing broker’s details on BCFSA’s Find a Professional page.
YES: I have completed these steps and am ready to submit a complaint.
Submit a complaint (will open in a new tab)NO: I’m not sure if BCFSA can address my complaint.
See if another regulator can address your concerns:
Find other regulators (will open in a new tab)OR: BCFSA’s Practice Standards Advisors can help explain the responsibilities of real estate professionals.
Learn more about Practice Standards Advisors (will open in a new tab)NO: I prefer to file a complaint that doesn’t include my name.
If you don’t have evidence, or if you prefer not to proceed with a formal complaint but believe BCFSA should be aware of an issue, you can submit your concern using our anonymous complaint form.
Make an anonymous complaint (will open in a new tab)