The Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) filed its official response to the Competition Bureau’s complaint on Friday, requesting that the Competition Tribunal dismiss the application with costs payable to TREB.
“We have patiently and tolerantly waited for the opportunity to respond to the Competition Bureau, and today we filed a response rejecting the commissioner’s position and outlining why we believe the application has no merit,” says TREB president Richard Silver in a news release.
“TREB has followed through on its commitment to provide Realtor members with greater flexibility to serve their clients by developing a Virtual Office Website (VOW) policy. The VOW policy will allow for secure password-protected websites designed to allow consumers to search and display MLS listing data, with the benefit of a Realtor member’s oversight, supervision and accountability,” says the release.
TREB says the commissioner “is pressuring TREB to release private data about individual consumers openly on the Internet. This could include personal contact and financial information including sale prices. TREB believes that would be reckless and a violation of the law and will harm consumers in the process of buying and selling real estate.”
“Not only does the Commissioner’s Amended Notice of Application continue to endanger the privacy rights of consumers, but we do not believe it can succeed under the Competition Act. The Commissioner’s Amendment is unnecessary posturing for publicity. Consumers simply deserve better,” says Silver.
TREB’s response says the commissioner’s application “ignores the copyright of TREB and its members,” stating that the exercise of its rights of copyright “is not an anti-competitive act” under the legislation.
TREB says the Competition Bureau must satisfy the tribunal that “TREB substantially or completely controls the markets identified by the commissioner for the purpose of this application, namely, the supply of residential real estate brokerage services to home buyers and sellers….”
But it says TREB does not supply residential real estate brokerage services either to buyers or sellers, and “has no legislative authority” to do so.
It also says that neither TREB’s Access Terms for the MLS, nor the board’s Proposed VOW policy “will or are likely to substantially prevent or lessen competition, whether in the manner alleged by the commissioner or at all.”
The response says, “Consumers of residential real estate brokerage services already have a number of search tools open to them for the purpose of identifying and then narrowing the search to those properties of interest to them. A number of providers offer services to home buyers and sellers that do not rely on those home sellers acquiring the traditional suite of residential real estate brokerage services offered by ‘bricks and mortar’ brokers…Further, there are no restrictions whatsoever placed by TREB on its members that preclude members from also making their listings available through the multitude of websites and listing services not affiliated with TREB.
“The commissioner’s application significantly undervalues both the services that many brokerages offer home buyers and the very real role brokers play in stimulating trade in the relevant markets. The work of a broker is not meaningfully lessened by reason of home buyers having undertaken their own searches…”
The response continues, “While identifying properties of interest is certainly an important aspect of the buying process, it is by no means either the most time intensive aspect of the service brokers provide, nor the aspect of service that is of greatest value to the home buyer. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply inaccurate.”
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