Ontario’s New Real Estate Rules

Wondering how Ontario’s new real estate rules may affect buying or selling your home in 2024? Here’s a quick summary to help you understand how you can take advantage of the recent updates from the Trust in Real Estate Services Act.

The Open Bidding Process

The newly implemented transparent bidding process has gained the most attention for buyers and sellers in today’s market. As of December 1st, 2023, sellers now have the option to disclose the details of the submitted offers to all interested parties. The sellers can choose which and how much information they would like to share- including price and conditions. This information must be shared equally amongst all competing buyers. There are also rules in place that prevent sharing any of the personal information of the buyer, including name and address to protect the buyer’s identity. 

Sellers must declare if they will be using an open or closed offer process, however they are permitted to switch process types at any point. If a buyer does not feel comfortable with their offer being shared, they can choose to include a clause which will make the offer null and void once made public. This can be used by buyers who are concerned that their offer will be shared in order to generate additional offers of a higher value. This change was implemented to help reduce overbidding and to curb the skyrocketing prices seen over the last two years.

Designated Representation

Ontario is now following in the footsteps of Alberta and Nova Scotia to implement the designated representation regulation. This change applies to scenarios where multiple parties in a transaction are represented by real estate agents within the same brokerage. The new regulations allow the designated realtor to act in the best interest of their client, even if the other party is also represented by their brokerage. 

This can be confusing so stick with me. Here’s an example to illustrate the regulation-  if you are working with me to sell your home and the buyer is working with another realtor at my brokerage, I can continue to advocate for your best interests. I will actively advocate on your behalf without any obligation to the buyer. In the past, multiple representation would have made this more challenging. 

For a complete look at all the regulations you can check out the Ontario Real Estate Association’s complete review of the phase two updates here. The goal of these new regulations is to continue protecting the public during real estate transactions and to curb the sky rocketing prices seen

Do you have questions about the latest changes? Reach out to learn more about how these changes can impact your real estate transactions.