TRESA — Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2002

Sources: Ontario e-Laws, Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2002, S.O. 2002, c. 30, Sched. C — https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/02r30 · Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) — https://www.reco.on.ca

Reference summary for an Ontario realty knowledge base. This is general information, not legal advice. Rules, figures, and forms under TRESA change over time — verify anything load-bearing against the primary sources above before relying on it.

Citation note: The task brief pointed to e-Laws code 02t30, but that code resolves to the Travel Industry Act, 2002 (S.O. 2002, c. 30, Sched. D). TRESA is Schedule C of the same chapter, at e-Laws 02r30. The correct citation is used throughout.

What TRESA is

The Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2002 (TRESA) is Ontario's consumer-protection statute governing the conduct of real estate brokerages, brokers, and salespersons who trade in real estate in the province. It is administered and enforced by the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO), a not-for-profit delegated administrative authority operating under an administrative agreement with the responsible provincial ministry.

TRESA is the renamed and reformed successor to the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002 (REBBA). The statute was originally enacted as REBBA in 2002. Amending legislation (the Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2020, Bill 145) renamed the Act to TRESA and introduced a two-phase set of reforms. Phase 1 changes took effect earlier; the more consequential Phase 2 reforms came into force on December 1, 2023. Since that date, the modern representation, disclosure, and enforcement regime described below has applied.

The Act's purpose is consumer confidence and protection: it sets who may trade in real estate, the standards of conduct they must meet, mandatory disclosures to consumers, and the enforcement tools RECO uses when registrants fall short.

Registration requirements

Under TRESA, no person may trade in real estate in Ontario unless registered with RECO in the appropriate class, or exempt. The core registration classes are:

• Brokerage — the registered business (corporation, partnership, or sole proprietorship) through which all trades are conducted. Trust money, deposits, and client relationships legally attach to the brokerage.
• Broker — an individual who has completed the additional broker-level education and is registered to trade and, where appointed, to act as the brokerage's broker of record (the individual responsible for the brokerage's compliance).
• Salesperson — an individual registered to trade in real estate while employed by (engaged with) a brokerage. Salespersons must be affiliated with a brokerage; they cannot operate independently.

Registration is administered through RECO, requires prescribed education and good-character/suitability screening, and must be renewed on a recurring cycle (see the RECO reference for renewal and continuing-education specifics). Participation in RECO's mandatory insurance program (errors & omissions, commission protection, and consumer deposit coverage) is a condition of registration — an uninsured registrant may not trade.

Ontario also permits a Personal Real Estate Corporation (PREC) structure, allowing an individual broker or salesperson to be paid through a corporation they control, subject to the conditions in the associated regulation.

Duties at each level

• Brokerage: holds and accounts for trust money and deposits; supervises its brokers and salespersons; ensures required disclosures and agreements are made and retained; and is ultimately responsible for compliance with TRESA and its regulations.
• Broker of record: the individual accountable for the brokerage's overall compliance and supervision.
• Broker / salesperson: owes the consumer the applicable duties under the Code of Ethics — best interests, competence, honesty, fair dealing, disclosure, and confidentiality (see the Code of Ethics reference).

The big Phase 2 change: designated vs. multiple representation

The most significant Phase 2 reform is the introduction of designated representation and the corresponding restriction of multiple representation. TRESA also eliminated the old "customer" category, replacing it with the self-represented party (SRP) concept.

Client vs. self-represented party. Under TRESA there are now two statuses a member of the public can have relative to a brokerage: a client (who has a representation agreement and is owed full fiduciary-style duties) or a self-represented party (SRP) (who is not a client of any brokerage). The intermediate "customer" relationship that existed under REBBA no longer exists.

Designated representation. This is the new default model most brokerages have adopted. Instead of the representation duty running to the entire brokerage and all of its agents, the brokerage designates a specific salesperson/broker (the "designated representative") to represent a given client for an identified trade. The designated representative owes that client full client-level duties, while the brokerage and its other agents remain neutral and impartial. This structure lets one brokerage represent both a buyer and a seller in the same transaction — through two different designated representatives — without triggering multiple representation, because each client still has an agent devoted solely to their interests.

Multiple representation (now restricted). Multiple representation occurs when the same salesperson/broker (or a brokerage under the older brokerage-representation model) represents more than one client in the same trade — for example one agent acting for both buyer and seller, or for two competing buyers. Under TRESA this is permitted only with mandatory written disclosure and the informed written consent of every affected client, given before the multiple representation occurs. Because a single agent representing competing clients must remain impartial, those clients lose the full benefit of a client relationship — the agent's ability to give advice, opinions, and to share certain information is sharply restricted. TRESA's design deliberately steers brokerages toward designated representation to avoid these limitations.

A practical caveat: mixing the two models within one brokerage (some clients under brokerage representation, others under designated representation) can inadvertently create multiple representation, so brokerages generally standardize on designated representation.

Self-represented parties (SRP)

A registrant may interact with an SRP only while representing a client in that same trade, and the permitted interaction is tightly bounded. With an SRP, a registrant may provide the RECO Information Guide and general (not client-specific) information, and may encourage the SRP to obtain their own professional or legal advice. A registrant must not: provide opinions, advice, or client-type services to the SRP; encourage a party to remain self-represented; or discourage a party from engaging their own representation. Crossing these lines risks creating an unintended representation relationship. The registrant must use best efforts to obtain the SRP's written acknowledgement that the RECO Information Guide was provided.

Disclosure obligations

TRESA imposes written, plain-language disclosure duties, including:

• RECO Information Guide — must be provided and explained before providing services to a client or assistance to an SRP; the registrant makes best efforts to obtain a signed acknowledgement, retained in the trade file.
• Representation status — disclosure of whether a party is a client (and under which model — designated or brokerage) or an SRP, and disclosure/consent for any multiple representation.
• Material facts and latent defects — registrants must disclose material facts to their own clients and must not misrepresent facts to anyone.
• Conflicts of interest — including where the registrant or a related party has a direct or indirect interest in a trade (see the Code of Ethics reference for disclosure-of-interest rules).
• Offer process transparency — Phase 2 gives sellers the option to authorize, in writing, disclosure of the content of competing offers, provided no information identifying the offering parties is disclosed (an "open offer" option). This remains the seller's choice.

How TRESA differs from the old REBBA

At a high level, the shift from REBBA to TRESA:

• Renamed the Act and modernized its consumer-protection framing.
• Replaced the customer category with the client / self-represented-party (SRP) distinction.
• Introduced designated representation and restricted single-agent multiple representation to disclosed-and-consented situations, so most consumers can be fully represented even when one brokerage is on both sides.
• Added an open-offer option, letting sellers permit disclosure of competing-offer contents (without identifying bidders).
• Modernized the Code of Ethics (O. Reg. 365/22) and separated ethical principles from technical requirements.
• Expanded RECO's enforcement powers — the discipline committee can now address alleged breaches of the Act itself (not only Code-of-Ethics violations), and appeals of registration decisions go to the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT).

Regulations under TRESA (for cross-reference)

RECO's official list of TRESA regulations includes:

• O. Reg. 567/05 — General
• O. Reg. 579/05 — Educational Requirements, Insurance, Records and Other Matters
• O. Reg. 365/22 — Code of Ethics (see the dedicated Code of Ethics reference file)
• O. Reg. 536/20 — Personal Real Estate Corporations
• O. Reg. 367/22 — Discipline Committee

Regulation numbers and their contents can be amended — verify current at Ontario e-Laws (https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/02r30) and RECO's "Legislation RECO administers" page (https://www.reco.on.ca/about/what-we-do/legislation-reco-administers).