The hot market has kept CREB^® Member Practice busy as we identified compliance trends, promoted best practices and navigated unforeseen expectations.

Top trends

CREB^® Member Practice worked with members to support best practices on the top trends that emerged in Q1:

• Reporting conditionally sold properties as pending on the MLS^® System.
• Members not going with buyers to showings.
• Managing overlapping showings.
• The handling of deposits in alignment with the purchase contract.
• Confusion about the difference between a duplex and semi-detached when listing a property on Pillar 9™.

Education first

CREB^® Member Practice encourages members to implement best practices to ensure data integrity in the MLS^® System. We do this by sending educational advisories that include a reminder of rules and steps to take to correct the issue.

If a member makes the same error again after they receive an educational advisory, violations will be subject to enforcement on an escalating scale. With a 90 per cent compliance rate in Q1, we want to thank our members for their awareness of the MLS^® System listing rules and for inputting their listings with care and accuracy.

• Q1 educational advisories: 856
• Q1 second offences: 134
• Q1 third offences: 11
• Q1 fourth offences: 1

Top five rule violations in Q1 and tips to avoid them

1. Failure to disclose the legality of a suite

Tip: Every time you use the word “suite” in the public remarks, use the word legal or illegal before or after “suite” so consumers know if it’s a legal secondary suite or not. Learn more here.

2. Listing a semi-detached property as a duplex

Tip: When listing only one side of a duplex, the correct way to input the “Property Subtype” field on Pillar 9™ is “Semi-Detached”. Learn more here.

3. Inputting incorrect listing information

Tip: Preview your listing before activating it – it’s easier to spot an input error on the Agent Full View. To do this, save your incomplete listing, then on the Matrix™ dashboard hover over “My Matrix™” and select “My Listings”. Select “My Incomplete Listings” from the drop-down menu and click on the MLS^® listing you would like to preview.

4. Advertising the potential of a suite without the proper disclosures

Tip: Advertising that a property can be altered to include a suite needs to be handled with caution. If advertising the potential for a property to be converted to a suite, make sure you include the disclosure, “subject to the approval and permitting of the City.”

5. Failure to update a pending listing within two business days

Tip: Having up-to-date information for REALTORS^® and their clients is an important aspect of the MLS^® System. Use the built in Matrix™ tools (My Overdue Pending Listings report) to know when a listing has passed the condition due date and needs to be updated.

If you have compliance questions, please contact CREB^® Member Practice at crebmp@creb.ca for more information.