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Modifications will be made to limited dual agency, effective June 1, to adopt designated agency. This is being done to reflect the current practice followed by brokerages, licensees and the public today.
The coming changes only impact transactions where brokerages and licensees act for more than one party to the transaction, i.e. where two licensees in the same brokerage are acting as the agents for a buyer and a seller in the same transaction.
“These modifications are really a matter of updating our forms to align with what’s being practiced today and, most importantly, with what our clients expect, which is to be afforded full agency duties of loyalty, confidentiality and disclosure,” Rosario Setticasi, Board president said.
All applicable standard forms will be updated on June 1 to reflect these changes.
When two REALTORS® in the same office (or another corporate office of the same company) are representing opposite sides of a transaction, both REALTORS® will act as sole agents and will not be in a limited dual agency relationship.
So what do these changes mean to you?
For REALTORS®
In designated agency, REALTORS® must not disclose any confidential information concerning the client to any other member of the brokerage or other person unless authorized by the client or required by law.
There will be no change to limited dual agency requirements when a single licensee represents parties on both side of a transaction.
The REALTORS® who are appointed the designated agents for individual buyers or sellers will treat them as sole clients and provide them with full agency duties of loyalty, confidentiality and disclosure.
The designated agents for their buyers or sellers will treat them as individual clients and provide them with full agency duties of loyalty, confidentiality and disclosure.
REALTORS® should always use the revised standard forms which will be available on WEBForms® on June 1.
For Brokers
In designated agency, the service agreement is still with the brokerage. The agency and fiduciary relationship is between the consumer and the individual REALTOR® who has been appointed as the designated agent (not the brokerage).
To comply with designated agency requirements as a broker, you are obligated to establish policies and procedures for information barriers and use the revised standard forms which will be available on WEBForms® on June 1.
The brokerage must ensure each designated agent within the brokerage keeps their clients’ information confidential from other REALTORS® licensed with the brokerage.
Ensure the brokerage (as opposed to the REALTORS® acting as designated agents) treats the interests of both the buyers and sellers represented by the brokerage in an even-handed, objective and impartial manner.
Brokerages will still have all the same supervisory obligations under designated agency such as collecting deposits and being responsible under provincial legislation.
To help you better understand these changes, the Board will hold 29 free member sessions between now and June 1. The Board’s legal counsel, Brian Taylor, will host these sessions. Members who attend will also be given three PDP credits. (Scroll down to see schedule of sessions)
The Board will also host a series of information sessions for Brokers. Details of these sessions will be communicated to Brokers soon via the Board’s Broker Updates.
For additional information, including detailed FAQs and videos from Brian Taylor, go to the following website created by the BC Real Estate Association: http://web.bcrea.bc.ca/da/index.htm.
If you have further questions or comments please contact Noreen Davis, Manager of Members Services, at [email protected].
© Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.