Have any doubts about your real estate agent? In both Ontario and British Columbia you can now easily check disciplinary decisions that result in license suspensions caused by a breach of the Real Estate Act or Regulations. It is possible to get the same information in other provinces, but it takes a bit of digging.

Real estate licensees in each province are policed by the Real Estate Council, which acts as the regulatory body for the local real estate industry.

This year, reacting from consumer queries, the Real Estate Council of British Columbia followed the lead of the Real Estate Council of Ontario and began posting results of its disciplinary hearings on its Web site www.realestatecouncil.bc.ca.

"Making hearing decisions available on the Internet is a significant step forward in enhancing the transparency of the Council’s disciplinary process," said Bev Highton, chairman of the 19-member Real Estate Council of B.C.

"Using this new Web tool, consumers can quickly determine if the license of a real estate company or individual is currently suspended or cancelled."

Disciplinary decisions are posted to the Web site as they become available and can remain there for up to one year in the case of a license cancellation. The following gives the terms for posted the findings:

* For suspensions up to 30 days: Period of the suspension plus 30 days

* For suspensions between 31-90 days: Period of the suspension plus 90 days

* For suspensions 91 days or over: Period of the suspension plus one year.

The site also allows consumers to view the nature of an infraction and a hearing summary by clicking on a particular discipline file.

"Although the Council receives relatively few complaints compared with the overall number of real estate transactions, we want consumers to know that there is an effective disciplinary framework in place to deal with breaches of the Real Estate Act," Highton explained.

In 2001 the Council in B.C. received 205 complaints relating to the conduct of licensees. The Council conducted 26 formal disciplinary hearings and entered into four Consent Orders (admission of wrongdoing and agreement to stipulated penalty without a formal hearing). The resulting disciplinary actions included 21 reprimands, nine license suspensions and three license cancellations.

In Ontario, consumers can track naughty realtors through the Real Estate Council of Ontario Web page at www.reco.on.ca. Like the B.C. Web site, it lists the names and penalties and allows consumers to read the particulars of an infraction.

In Alberta, the information is also available at the Council Web page at www.reca.ca, but you have to access the Council newsletter under ‘publication’ and scroll through it to find information on disciplinary actions.

Other Real Estate Councils publish details on disciplinary action through their printed newsletters, which are available from the Council, or one of its members, upon request.

Reading of the disciplinary findings reveals that many of the complaints originate not with consumers but with other real estate agents. Common issues relate to misleading advertising – such as an agent falsely claiming that they are the ‘Number One’ Realtor in certain market -- or agents refusing to cooperate with other listing Realtors when it comes to splitting commission fees.

When one understands that Realtors handle more than 320,000 residential sales a year in Canada, the posting of disciplinary findings provides evidence that the vast majority of such transactions are done fair and square.

It may a good idea for the various Real Estate Councils to take a c