1. Agency executive officer

1.1. His role

The agency executive officer is a key resource person and the leader in best practices with his agency’s real estate brokers and employees. His skills make him a true “compliance officer.” He must be a role model and play a key role as a coach and trainer. He is the person responsible for the selection, supervision and conduct of agency licensees and employees.

The agency executive officer is therefore responsible for applying the compliance program of the agency licence holders. However, compliance must remain everyone's business, not just the agency executive officer and the staff assigned to compliance activities.

The agency executive officer's mandate is to:

• Establish, maintain and periodically review compliance program policies and procedures
• Implement policies and procedures
• Implement control measures
• Conduct stricter follow-ups in case of significant deficiencies
• Inform the administrators as soon as possible of any deficiencies that pose a significant risk to the agency licence holders, including those that are recurring or that are likely to cause harm to clients and the public in general
• Be a facilitator with licensees and the public when called upon by the OACIQ as part of a request for assistance

A good practice is to submit an annual report to the agency's administrators on the compliance of the holder's activities.

The agency executive officer must designate a replacement in case of absence or inability to act to ensure that the compliance program continues to be applied.

1.2. His skills

The agency executive officer must have sufficient experience and knowledge to fulfil his mandate. He must have good knowledge of the legislative and regulatory framework applicable to licensees.

The level of experience and training required varies according to the complexity of the task assumed by the agency executive officer. For example, the compliance officer of a small agency does not have the same level of complexity as the compliance officer of a large agency with a wider range of services and many licensees and employees to monitor.

Finally, the agency executive officer must be available to assume his responsibilities.

1.3. His independence

The agency executive officer must have the independence, powers and resources necessary to fulfil his mandate. He must also have access to administrators to communicate sufficient and relevant information on compliance management when necessary.

1.4. Delegation

To meet his duty to oversee and supervise, the agency executive officer may delegate some of his duties to persons within the agency. However, these individuals must have the required skills, qualifications and experience to take on these responsibilities. Such delegation is even necessary to ensure compliance when the size, business model or structure of the agency so requires. The agency executive officer must also turn to competent individuals when his area of practice is limited and different from that of agency brokers. Among other reasons, agency licence holders, their clients and the public must have easy access to someone who can properly assist them with their needs.

Furthermore, the delegation does not release agency licence holders and, where applicable, their administrators and executive officers, from their ethical duty to oversee. They remain fully responsible and accountable for the compliance of the delegated activities. They must therefore take the necessary measures to manage and supervise the delegated activities. These actions must be included in the agency's compliance program policies and procedures.

1.5. Broker support and collaboration with the OACIQ

The role of the executive officer is also to support the agency's brokers when they face problems.

Many assistance requests forwarded to the Public Assistance Department can be settled by a simple intervention of agency executive officers.

Should a problem between two brokers from your agency occur, the first thing to do is to talk it over with them. Problems between two brokers from different agencies can often be resolved much more quickly if agency executive officers of the brokers concerned had the opportunity to discuss and agree on how to settle the dispute.

Most conflicts are resolved quickly and efficiently when the agency executive officer intervenes for the first time to resolve the problem.

Here are two examples:

• A broker wants to present the offer to purchase of the client he represents. He tries many times to reach the seller’s broker to make an appointment. He sends him his request via Immocontact or by email, and still does not get any response. Rather than filing a request for assistance, the broker must talk to his executive officer first so the latter can contact the agency executive officer of the seller’s broker to move things forward.
• Broker A does not honour a commitment made to Broker B (for example, refund the fees for replacing the keys he lost and the lock he damaged to the seller). Broker B should first talk to his agency executive officer so he can contact the agency executive officer of Broker A to inform him of the situation and ask him to intervene to ensure that the promised fees are refunded.

If you believe that a violation to the Real Estate Brokerage Act has been committed and public protection is at stake, you can file a request for assistance.

As each case is different, the Public Assistance Department analysts do not systematically inform agency executive officers because, sometimes, this could be harmful to the smooth conduct of the investigation. However, if his collaboration is needed, analysts may contact him at any time during the case assessment.

They may also contact the executive officer for an urgent, immediate, and preventive action. In this case, the analyst in charge of the case will ask him to take the necessary steps to ensure that his broker’s practice is compliant. A short period will be provided to him to enable him to report to the analyst on the steps taken, the status or the outcome of the situation.

When closing the case, regardless of the conclusion, a copy of the letter sent to the broker concerned by the request is usually forwarded to the agency executive officer to inform him of the analysis outcome. However, if the case is transferred to the Syndic, the agency executive officer may not be notified so as not to interfere with the investigation. 

Important reminder

The agency executive officer must cooperate with the OACIQ and respond to any request made by the Public Assistance Department and the Syndic’s Office.  

When you receive a request from the Public Assistance Department or the Syndic’s Office, you must also respect its confidentiality. Thus, the broker(s) concerned and the other stakeholders involved in the case must not be informed.