In the interest of consumer protection, the Real Estate Council of Alberta (RECA) has reviewed and revised their industry professional advertising standards. 

The following advertising standards will take effect Oct. 1, 2019:

1. The brokerage name must be similar in size or larger than other identifiers, and immediately adjacent to other identifiers in advertising.
2. The name of at least one licensed team member, as it appears on the individual’s license, must appear in any team advertising.
3. Teams will be prohibited from using words and terms in team names that may suggest to consumers the team is a brokerage. These include: Agency, Associates, Brokerage, Brokers, Company, Corporation, Corp., Inc., Ltd., LLC, LLP, Mortgages, Mortgage, Properties, Property, Real Estate, and Realty.

After Oct. 1, RECA will give industry professionals, teams, and brokerages six additional months (until March 31, 2020) to advertise their old team name with “formerly known as.” After March 31, RECA will take a zero-tolerance approach.

Further details on clearly indicated brokerage advertising, including ad examples and can be found on RECA’s website.

Please note:

Brokerages should have detailed policies and procedures in place for how registered individuals or teams should advertise the brokerage name and branding.

If you sign an advertising contract, or pre-book ads that will run after Oct. 1, 2019, please ensure the ads comply with RECA Rules and ad standards.

For more information on clearly indicated brokerage advertising, please visit RECA’s website.

For questions about brokerage advertising, please contact RECA at info@reca.ca or 1-888-425-2754.