What Is a Representation Agreement in Ontario?

If you have bought or sold a home in Ontario before, the paperwork you sign at the beginning may look different from what you remember. The short answer as to why: the rules changed.

Since December 1, 2023, when the second phase of the Trust in Real Estate Services Act took effect, there is no longer any middle ground in how you can work with a real estate brokerage. You are either a client, with a representation agreement and a professional who is obligated to act in your interest — or you are a self-represented party, navigating the transaction on your own.

The old “customer” category, which sat somewhere between the two and confused almost everyone, no longer exists.

For most people this is good news. But it does mean the decision you make at the very start of the process matters more than it used to. Here is what actually changed, and what to think about before you sign anything.

What TRESA replaced, and why

The Trust in Real Estate Services Act — TRESA for short — replaced the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, which had governed Ontario real estate since 2002.

The goal was straightforward: make it clearer to the public who a real estate professional is working for, and what that person is and is not allowed to do for them. The Real Estate Council of Ontario, which regulates the industry, was also given stronger enforcement powers, including the ability to issue financial penalties directly rather than working through lengthy formal proceedings for every infraction.

In practice, most of what you will notice as a buyer or seller comes down to three things: the categories, the agreement, and the offer process.

Client or self-represented party — there is no in-between

Under the old rules, you could be a “customer.” A brokerage could provide you with some limited services without representing you, and a great many people were never entirely sure what that meant for them.

That category is gone.

If you are a client, you have a representation agreement with a brokerage. The brokerage — or a specific person within it — owes you full professional duties. They are obligated to act in your best interest, keep your information confidential, and give you their honest advice and opinion.

If you are a self-represented party, you have no brokerage relationship. This is a legitimate choice, and some people make it deliberately. But it is important to understand what it means in practice: a real estate professional representing the other side is not permitted to use their skills and expertise on your behalf. They cannot advise you on price, strategy, or terms. They can provide factual information and process the paperwork, and that is the extent of it.

There is no longer a comfortable halfway position where someone informally looks out for you without any of it being written down.

What a representation agreement actually commits you to

A representation agreement is a written contract between you and a brokerage. It sets out what services you will receive, who provides them, how long the arrangement lasts, and how the brokerage is paid.

People are sometimes nervous about signing one, and I understand why. It feels like a commitment made before you know whether the relationship will work.

A few things worth knowing. The length of the agreement is negotiable — it does not have to run for months if you would rather start with something shorter. The geographic area and property type can be defined narrowly or broadly. And the agreement should be explained to you in plain language before you sign, not slid across a table with a pen on top of it.

If someone cannot clearly explain what they are asking you to sign, that is useful information in itself.

Designated representation, and the both-sides question

This is the part that most often comes up in conversation, and it is where the rules changed in a genuinely meaningful way.

Multiple representation is the situation where one brokerage ends up representing both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction. It has always been a difficult position, because one party’s interests are rarely identical to the other’s.

TRESA introduced designated representation to address this. Under this model, a brokerage can designate specific individuals to represent each client. One salesperson represents the seller, a different salesperson at the same brokerage represents the buyer, and each of them owes full duties to their own client. The brokerage itself stays neutral, and information barriers are meant to keep each side’s confidential details separate.

Where the same individual represents both sides, the requirements are stricter than they used to be. Informed written consent from both parties is mandatory before that person can act for either of them, and the disclosure obligations are more demanding.

What has not changed is the underlying reality: if one person is representing both sides of your transaction, there is a limit to how hard they can advocate for you specifically. That is worth thinking about carefully, particularly on the largest financial transaction most families ever make.

The offer process is more open than it was

One further change is worth knowing about, especially if you are selling.

Under the old rules, a seller’s agent could tell competing buyers how many offers had been registered, but nothing about their contents. TRESA allows sellers to direct their brokerage to share the details of competing offers with other buyers — without any personal or identifying information about who made them.

This is optional. You choose. You can run a traditional closed process, or a more open one, and you can change your mind partway through. The requirement to disclose the number of registered offers remains either way.

There is no universally correct choice here. An open process can build confidence and encourage stronger offers in some situations; in others, a closed process serves a seller better. It depends on the property, the competition, and what you are trying to achieve.

What to ask before you sign

A few questions that tend to clarify things quickly:

Who exactly will be representing me — the brokerage, or a specific person? How long does this agreement run, and can we shorten it? What happens if your brokerage also ends up representing the buyer? How and when are you paid? And what happens if I want to end the arrangement?

You are entitled to clear answers to all of these before you commit to anything.

About Lisa

Lisa Sinopoli has been a licensed real estate professional for more than thirty years, and Vaughan has been home since 1982. She works primarily with sellers, and with seniors and families navigating a downsizing move, across Vaughan, York Region and the wider GTA.

She holds the Seller Representative Specialist (SRS) and Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR) designations, and is a Certified Professional Consultant on Aging (CPCA) — additional training focused on the practical and emotional realities of later-life transitions. She was inducted into the RE/MAX Hall of Fame in 2017 and named among RE/MAX Hallmark’s top 47 agents in 2024. She also speaks Italian fluently.

Clients tend to describe the experience in similar terms: calm, patient, and clearly explained — particularly when a move carries more than the usual amount of emotion with it.

Thinking about a move?

If you are thinking about buying or selling and would like any of this explained in plain terms, I am always glad to walk through it with you. Understanding how representation works before you need it tends to make the whole process feel a great deal calmer.

There is no obligation and no pressure — just a conversation about your options, your timing, and what makes sense for you. Feel free to reach out whenever you are ready.