When was the last time you saw the price of a service or item decrease?

In these inflationary times, could you ever have imagined the provider of a much-needed service lowering the cost of the service? Not me. Which is embarrassing because I ought to have known. It’s not like an announcement wasn’t made. I must have been asleep at the switch or immersed in my inbox full of complaints, questions, and meeting notices.

I was teaching a PDP class to our neighbouring real estate board, and while taking participants on a tour of the service provider’s website, I came across an announcement that the provider was reducing what it charges for its services. You could have knocked me over with a feather.

Got your attention? I imagine you’re thinking, Who on earth is he talking about? Who’s reduced what they charge? Is it my cell phone provider? Nope. Your relicensing fees? Nope. PDP or BCFSA course fees? No again. How about the cost of gasoline, electrons and the contact management system you’re probably using? Nope, It’s none of those, either.

Drum roll, please.

It’s our beloved Real Estate Errors and Omissions Insurance Corporation of BC (REEOIC, or “E&O”). You know, those helpful folks who stand up for us when someone comes after us in court by making a misrepresentation, negligence, or what-have-you claim. 

Yes, the folks who have been providing us with stellar professional liability insurance coverage since 1988 have REDUCED their insurance premium.

If you haven’t renewed your licence since April of this year or didn’t read the March issue of the Risk Report, you wouldn’t, perhaps, have seen this very welcome news. When you do renew, you’ll discover that after you’ve paid your BC Financial Services Authority (BCFSA) relicensing fee, your required E&O premium has been reduced to $315 from $350 per year. There’s also additional welcome news about premiums and your Personal Real Estate Corporation, if you have one. As of April 1, you won’t be charged a premium for this at all. How about that? The mind boggles.

Thank you to E&O on behalf of BC’s thousands of real estate licensees.

Now that I think about it, this isn’t the first time that our REEOIC has given BC real estate licensees a break. E&O has also given back over the years by way of education grants to the boards for developing and delivering risk management–related PDP courses. And now this—an actual reduction in your biennial insurance premium.

My hat is off to our E&O staff and directors for its efficient delivery of cost-effective liability insurance to BC’s real estate licensees. Thank you!

E&O’s staff lawyers are happy to attend brokerages, AGMs, Board meetings and events to speak about loss prevention. Managing brokers can contact reception@reeoic.com to set these up.

Here’s an announcement on the REEOIC website: www.reeoic.com

What the Real Estate Errors and Omissions Insurance Corporation of BC does

“We provide cost-effective liability insurance for approximately 27,000 real estate licensees in BC. This protects them and the public from losses that might result from errors, omissions or negligent acts that happen while licensees are performing their duties.”

Premium Reduction Announcement

A reduction in annual indemnity plan fees for all licensees headlines the news around Indemnity Plan RE0423, which will apply to new claims reported to E&O on or after April 1, 2023, and replaces Indemnity Plan RE0422. Exciting new changes: Running counter to the inflationary trends we’re seeing across so many other insurance lines, the E&O Board of Directors is proud to introduce a 10 per cent reduction in annual indemnity plan fees, making your annual fee $315 (reduced from $350 per year). Starting April 1, 2023, licensees will now pay $630 for their two-year licensing period. The Board is also happy to advise all those with PREC (Personal Real Estate Corporation) licenses that, although their PREC remains covered, they will no longer be required to pay indemnity plan fees for their PREC effective April 1, 2023.

I don’t normally comment on regulator matters, as BCFSA has that staff to do this. But a question posed to me by a member a couple of days back prompted me to write.  

After five years of presenting the Disclosure of Representation in Trading Services (DORTS) form, you’ve probably got your scripting down to a fine art. That’s good because BCFSA expects that you’ll advise potential buyers and sellers who you are to them before they retain you.

By this I mean you ensure they understand whether or not you’re providing agency representation to them before you start working for them. This means they are absolutely clear, before they retain or tell you confidential information about themselves, that they understand whether you’re their agent or whether you’re simply providing them with services, but no agency.

The member who called me asked for “the form” he could have a seller sign that would enable him to hold an open house for the seller’s designated agent. He’d either been asked to hold an open house by someone else or he was being proactive about doing some prospecting for future business.

My first deal came from the open house I was holding for another member of my office. Tradition has it that you hold open houses to sell the place. But there’s always the chance you can pick up a buyer or two along the way, with the added benefit that those buyers might own something they would need to sell.

This was all fine until designated agency came along and, of course, BCFSA’s focus on agency disclosure. The member who contacted me had obviously been paying attention. Good on them. He wanted to make sure the seller understood in what capacity he would hold the open house. There are two choices: as an additional designated agent for the seller, or as no agent for the seller (hoping to sell the place and trolling for buyers along the way). It’s important that sellers understand what your role is if you’re holding an open house for someone else’s listing.

To answer the member’s question, no, there isn’t a form. Perhaps there should be. In the meantime, I suggest you make it clear, by way of written communication with the seller (via the seller’s agent), who you’ll be to that seller: agent or no agent.