Engineers and Geoscientists BC

Real Estate Industry Loses Power to Self-Regulate

Posted on July 6, 2016
Real Estate Industry Loses Power to Self-Regulate

The BC government announced last week it is ending self-regulation by the province’s real estate industry, and is overhauling the industry's governance, oversight and accountability.

“The point of regulation is to protect people,” said Premier Christy Clark at the June 29th announcement. “It is not a right. Self-regulation is very much a privilege. It’s granted on behalf of the public by government to professions that say they can do the job and prove they can do the job.” 

Under the new framework, a dedicated superintendent of real estate will take over the Real Estate Council of British Columbia’s regulation and rule-making authority to carry out the changes required to restore public confidence. Legislation is underway to provide the superintendent with the ability to enforce a comprehensive code of ethics and professional conduct for the industry, increase standards for licensees, and require record keeping and reporting that will help uncover industry practices that place consumers at risk.

The council itself will be revised to include a majority of public-interest, non-industry members.

The government’s decision to end the industry’s self-regulatory powers follows the release of a report by the independent advisory group charged this spring with examining the BC real estate industry’s regulatory framework. The report states, “Self-regulation is a privilege, not a right or entitlement. The profession or industry group must protect the public interest or risk losing that privilege, along with the confidence of government and the public.” It provides 28 recommendations to improve real estate industry regulation and protect the public. The recommendations advise changes to requirements and processes, such as transparency and ethics, compliance and consequences, governance and structure, and licensee and public education, that support public interest. 

The government indicated it accepts the recommendations.

Although the real estate industry in BC differs from the province's engineering and geoscience sectors, the loss of self-regulation by any profession in the province potentially has implications for all BC self-regulators. APEGBC will continue to follow this issue with interest.