It’s official! The Supreme court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal from TREB (Toronto Real Estate Board) regarding the publishing of sold information on properties. This currently applies only to property sold through TREB’s MLS listing service. But look for it to be rolled out nation wide once the dust settles around how this in practicality will work.

For years TREB has been lobbying against releasing the sold data (and allowing member agents or brokerages to do so as well) under the basis of it being a privacy issue. And to a degree, I can understand their reasoning behind it. Not everyone wants this information public.

The fight was taken up by TREB and where confusion lies, is that all, most or even some Realtors were 100% in support of this. This is not true. Actual individual real estate agents (the common term used for those who do the bulk of the work in the buying and selling of property) actually have very little to NO say in what the Board pursues. Pretty much all we can do is place a vote for what are pretty much “token” positions like Region Directors or the board President. Pretty boring stuff and no disrespect intended to anyone who runs or wins in these roles. But by virtue, they impact very little overall and this is why voter turnout is so dismal, I won’t even publish the turnout numbers. But it’s small.

This is why most likely you will see today and over the next little while, the high majority of Agents shouting from the rooftops that we as Realtors are fine with the posting of sold data. With a few exceptions I would like to see put in place, I’ve always been all for it. I would also like to see other privacy initiatives scrapped as well, but that opinion is for another day.

Today we celebrate that in a world that is moving to being more transparent, TREB members are no longer going to stand out like Unicorns in an evolving world. Very little information has been released as of yet and the official media release to its members is as follows:

The Toronto Real Estate Board respects the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision to not grant leave to hear TREB’s appeal. The Order of the Tribunal will come into effect in 60 days time, unless it is modified. As noted by the Supreme Court of Canada, of the approximately 600 leave applications submitted to the Court each year, only about 80 are granted. The possibility of succeeding in getting an appeal heard is in general remote. The Court’s role is not to correct errors that may have been made in the courts below. Rather it grants leave only where its decision is likely to have an impact on society as a whole. TREB believes personal financial information of home buyers and sellers must continue to be safely used and disclosed in a manner that respects privacy interests and will be studying the required next steps to ensure such information will be protected in compliance with the Tribunal Order once that comes into effect. —John DiMichele, CEO, Toronto Real Estate Board

The part that sums it up in TREB’s release well is: “The Court’s role is not to correct errors that may have been made in the courts below. Rather it grants leave only where its decision is likely to have an impact on society as a whole”

Exactly!  Little impact on society as a whole. Let’s move along and let me get back to doing what I do best. Helping a select group of clients navigate through the complex process of buying and selling real property. Saving in time, convenience and money.