New rule changes meant to improve the Three-Way Agreement, director roles and board membership were approved at the CREA Annual General Meeting held in Ottawa on April 9.
Voting delegates representing members across the country voted in favour of amending rules affecting the following areas:
- Direct Board Membership — Slight amendments needed to be made to the language regarding corporate boundary changes, board name changes, how CREA Board of Directors address board non-compliance (Rule 3) and dispute resolution (Rule 12).
- Three-Way Agreement — Boards must now include in their bylaws a requirement that all members must be members of the provincial association and CREA, and provincial associations must include in their bylaws a requirement their members are members of CREA.
- Director Term Limits — A director who has left the Board of Directors must wait at least three years after serving three consecutive terms before he or she may run again. Previously, the wait time was one year. This change was made to help diversify the CREA Board of Directors.
- Directors Conflicts of Interest — No director may serve on the Board of Directors of any other board or association while serving as a CREA director.
However, proposed rule changes designed to strengthen the REALTOR Code® and the billing of CREA dues were defeated.
The first proposed change to CREA’s By-Laws, Rules and Policies was meant to improve the Code that helps protect the reputation of REALTORS®. Following recommendations from the 2018 REALTOR® Code Committee and an independent consulting firm, the motion proposed shifting enforcement of the Code from boards and associations to provincial or territorial bodies. Those bodies would then be obligated to process complaints from both REALTORS® and consumers.
A second motion intended to give CREA the ability to address complaints involving a breach of any article of the REALTOR® Code, not just a breach of the article involving trademarks. Both motions were narrowly defeated.
Delegates also voted against revising CREA’s By-Laws and Rules regarding the billing of CREA dues. Under the current membership billing process, CREA is at significant risk of continued late reporting and remitting of the GST/HST collected on its membership fees, putting CREA at risk of interest and penalties. The rule change would have allowed CREA to develop a policy that bills members directly and not through their board or association.
CREA and its committees will continue to work hard at coming up with solutions to these challenges and will keep members informed of the process.
