Reporting is important!

Updating your record is not only very useful for the Organization but is also a professional obligation set out in the Act to protect the public.

Under sections 10 and 11 of the Regulation respecting  broker’s and agency licences and section 38.1 of the Real Estate Brokerage Act, you are required to provide the OACIQ with certain information, which includes, in addition to your basic contact details, situations such as bankruptcy, tutorship, protection mandate, or conviction. These provisions contribute to the OACIQ public protection mission and you must collaborate with the OACIQ. These examples of bankruptcy cases or criminal acts or offences, based on actual cases, have been submitted to the LIMC in the past.

Disclosing, a duty and an obligation

What to report to the Organization? Here is an overview.

A criminal act, a penal or ethical offence

If you were convicted by a court, in Canada or elsewhere, of a penal¹ (except for an offence related to the Highway Safety Code and municipal by-laws) or ethical offence², you must disclose it to the Organization, regardless of the date on which you have been convicted.

You must mention any conviction or guilty plea, even those for which you are awaiting a sentence, received a discharge (whether conditional or unconditional) or a record suspension (formerly called “pardon”).

A broker who makes false representations to the OACIQ regarding his criminal record could have his licence revoked.

In addition, having a criminal record³ does not necessarily prevent you from maintaining your licence. It is the Licence Issue and Maintenance Committee (LIMC) that shall decide on this criminal record by determining whether or not the offence or the criminal act in question is related to the performance of brokerage activities. Read this article for more details.

If you have been convicted of, or pleaded guilty to an offence or an indictable offence for which you received a discharge or a record suspension, you still need to report the conviction to the Organization. As for a record suspension, the conviction will not affect the processing of your application, which will not be submitted to the Committee for that offence or act. However, this may not be the case if you have obtained a discharge. 

Bankruptcy

If you or your corporation went bankrupt, and whether you were discharged or not, you must disclose it to the Organization and provide the documents required to this effect. Your file will then be submitted to the Licence Issue and Maintenance Committee (LIMC) that may decide, due to this situation and in order to protect the public, if the licence can be maintained and, if so, whether it is appropriate to impose conditions or restrictions thereon.

Tutorship or protection mandate

You must also inform the Organization if you are or become under tutorship or under a protection mandate.

When to report

Once you have identified a situation to report, do not wait! Any change to your record must be immediately communicated to the OACIQ, without waiting for the annual information update period.

Delaying or failing to make your declaration could result in your licence suspension. 

Agency executive officer’s licence

As set out in the Regulation respecting  broker’s and agency licences, to be qualified as agency executive officer, a broker must not be holder of a licence that was suspended or subjected to restrictions or conditions.

If the Committee imposes conditions or restrictions on your licence, you will not be able to act as agency executive officer during the period of imposition of such conditions or restrictions.

For any questions, please contact the Certification Department at 450-462-9800 or 1-800-440-7170, or email us at certification@oaciq.com.

¹ A penal offence is a failure to comply with a provincial law or regulation (or federal in some cases), when they stipulate that certain behaviours are offences. It can be a violation to a multitude of laws, for example: a violation to the Consumer Protection Act, the Act respecting the distribution of financial products and services, the Environment Act, the Tax Act, etc.

² An ethical offence is the failure to comply with a standard, obligation or duty imposed on a professional, including by his or her code of professional conduct.

³ Criminal offences are violations under the Criminal Code, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, or other federal statutes containing criminal offences. For example, this could include a shoplifting conviction, conviction for simple possession of drugs, a fine for impaired driving.