Article content continued

Micheal Noseworthy, appointed in September, 2016, as B.C.’s superintendent of real estate, said in a media release Wednesday: “These rules will significantly change the way that real estate services are provided in British Columbia. … Ending dual agency removes the potential for conflict and serious problems. We want to create transparency for both consumers and licensees to ensure everyone understands in whose interest licensees must be working.”

In a September meeting with The Vancouver Sun and Province editorial board, Noseworthy said that after he took the position last year, “right away, I identified as the top priority figuring out what to do about so-called dual agency.”

“Dual agency, the way it’s allowed to be practised now, can lead to conflicts for consumers,” Noseworthy said then. “It’s a situation, a practice that’s unfortunately open to abuse, and I think it’s better for consumers if we close it, so there’s no opportunity for it to be abused.”

After his office released the proposed rule changes in September, the B.C. Real Estate Association, representing 22,000 real estate agents, opposed ending dual agency, with association CEO Robert Laing telling Postmedia: “Our biggest concern is the consumer’s right to make a choice about who they work with is being taken away from them. … The superintendent is trying to protect the consumers, but we think he is forgetting that, in a free-enterprise market, the consumer needs choice.”