What is REBBA and what does it mean for how agents must treat me as a seller?

REBBA is the name people still use for the statute governing Ontario's real estate brokerage industry, but the Act was renamed: the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002 became the Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2002 (TRESA) when the second phase of reforms came into force on December 1, 2023. Same statute, current title, and it still operates with its regulations, including the Code of Ethics. Anyone who trades in real estate professionally in Ontario must be registered under it.

For you as a seller, the Act and the Code of Ethics impose legally enforceable standards on your agent. These include a duty to act in your best interests, an obligation to disclose conflicts of interest in writing, a duty to explain the terms of any agreement before you sign it, a requirement to keep your personal information confidential, and a prohibition on making false or misleading representations about you or your property.

If your agent breaches the Code, the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) can investigate and discipline them. The Code also sets out disclosure obligations specific to multiple representation — where the agent also represents the buyer — and limits on an agent buying your property themselves.