OACIQ guidelines
To help you support your decisions, particularly in terms of compliance, we have published guidelines on topics of interest.
They explain the regulatory framework applicable under the Real Estate Brokerage Act and its regulations and set out proper practices. They specify our expectations as a regulator, while promoting licensee compliance. They also help agency executive officers develop their compliance program.
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Collaboration and renumeration sharing
Collaboration is at the heart of real estate brokerage. The licensees’ duty in this regard is so crucial to the smooth functioning of the profession that the legislator deemed it necessary to enshrine it in the Real Estate Brokerage Act and its regulations.
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Complaint management and collaboration with the OACIQ
In real estate brokerage practice, a complaint is the expression of dissatisfaction with the service or behaviour of a licensee, director or employee of a real estate agency.
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Conflicts of interest
Licence holders have an obligation to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest under the Real Estate Brokerage Act and the Regulation respecting brokerage requirements, professional conduct of brokers and advertising.
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Keeping, using and conserving records, books, accounts and registers
By enforcing the Real Estate Brokerage Act, the OACIQ may conduct an inspection to oversee broker and agency activities by auditing, among other things, their records, accounts, books and registers or those of the business corporation in which they carry out their activities, if applicable.
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Licence Issue and Maintenance
The purpose of the Real Estate Brokerage Act (REBA) is to ensure the protection of the public in the area of real estate brokerage. To this end, the Act requires that anyone pursuing brokerage activities in Québec be the holder of a licence issued by the OACIQ.
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Preventing money laundering and real estate fraud
Licensees must not participate in any act or practice in real estate matters that may be illegal or that may harm the public or the profession. They must also ascertain the legal capacity of the party they represent by checking his or her identity.
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Privacy protection
To adapt to the latest technological developments and other trends that characterize today's society, the National Assembly has adopted the Act to modernize legislative provisions as regards the protection of personal information.
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Representation, solicitation, promotion and advertising
Representations made by licensees, and the advertising and information they disseminate, must comply with the Organization's regulations. These rules apply not only to licensees, agency executive officers and directors, but also to franchisers and any person or partnership promoting.
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Selection and oversight of agency licensees and employees
In real estate brokerage, compliance refers to licensees' adherence to the Real Estate Brokerage Act (REBA) and its regulations. Compliance is not optional. Every real estate broker, agency executive officer and real estate agency, regardless of the latter's size, including its directors and employees, must act in accordance with the requirements of the REBA, in both the residential and commercial real estate brokerage fields.
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Verification, Information and Advice
The duty to verify, inform and advise is at the very heart of the real estate broker's profession. To provide reliable information to the public, the licensee must verify it beforehand.
