Ethics

In Quebec, any real estate or mortgage brokerage transaction, for compensation and for others, must be carried out by a certified real estate or mortgage broker or agency, i.e. holding a valid licence issued by the OACIQ. A contravention of this rule constitutes a violation under the Real Estate Brokerage Act and exposes the violator to legal proceedings before the Court of Quebec.

Following the deposit of the new three-year assessment roll by Ville de Montréal, several brokers have called us to point out that the amount of taxes appearing on some detailed description sheets refers to the year 2010, whereas the municipal assessment is the one for 2011, without this being specified.

CAPSULE

The new Real Estate Brokerage Act has abolished certain rules regarding the duty to have one or more managers, based on the number of brokers acting within an agency. This new Act is meant to be less interventionist regarding the management of a brokerage firm’s business.

Since May 1, 2010, an agency may delegate to only one other agency the opening and maintaining of a trust account. The agency delegating this responsibility is not required to open its own trust account.

The regulations adopted under the new Real Estate Brokerage Act that has been in force since May 1, 2010 stipulate that when a broker: leaves an agency to join another agency or to work for his or her own account; ceases to work for his or her own account and joins an agency;
The client has the option to: continue dealing with the broker; continue dealing with the agency, if applicable; or terminate the brokerage contract. 

The “flip” is a scheme which real estate agents must be aware of and avoid. This manoeuvre has been a source of great concern to the ACAIQ in recent years. It consists in the quick and successive sale of the same property with a substantial and unjustified price hike. Both transactions often take place the same day, a few minutes apart.

PRACTICES SERIES

Due to the appearance of conflict of interest that could result from the payment of professional fees by a real estate broker or agent acting as intermediary in a real estate transaction, this practice is not recommended by the ACAIQ.

PRACTICES SERIES

It is common practice for clients looking for a mortgage loan to sign an exclusive mortgage brokerage contract, otherwise known as an “exclusive mandate”, with a mortgage broker.

PRACTICES SERIES

Some real estate brokerage firms offer services in more than one field of practice, for instance residential and commercial and therefore do not specialize only in commercial transactions.