According to an investigation by daily La Presse published last May, OACIQ is grappling with several Quebec realtors suspected of working to inflate auctions at a time when the real estate market is breaching the ceiling.
In an interview on the program C’est encore mieux l’après-midi, broadcast on ICI Quebec on Thursday, OACIQ Vice President for Communications Louis Beauchamp spoke about this worrying situation among citizens.
The OACIQ is the authority on real estate brokerage in Quebec. (archive photo)
Photo: Radio Canada / The Invoice
We have several [situations] that have been reported to us [à présent] We are in analysis to see if there is any need for investigation and once there is need for investigation we can move on.
OACIQ’s job is to investigate possible ethical breaches by real estate agents, find evidence of their possibly questionable practices and submit the files to a disciplinary committee responsible for evaluating the cases, explains Mr Beauchamp.
Several Quebec real estate agents are due to appear before the Disciplinary Committee in the coming months.
Among those practicing in the Outaouais, Mathieu Arseneault will travel there on November 7th. There are two allegations against him, one of which relates to integrity.
caution and vigilance
While he recalls that the vast majority of the roughly 100,000 real estate transactions completed in Quebec in 2022 went smoothly, Mr. Beauchamp believes citizens dealing with agents must remain alert and vigilant.
“It is important that the public remain sensitive and vigilant. We must not forget that buying a property, a house, a condo is still the most important purchase we will make in our lives, so it is important to be well informed about everything. »
– A quote from Louis Beauchamp, Vice President for Communications at OACIQ
Mr Beauchamp therefore advises the less informed buyers and sellers to consult the guides made available online by the organization which he says should be very insightful.
It’s complex, we’re dealing with regulations, so we’re trying to create communication tools that popularize this topic so that people can find their way around.
A predictable but damaging situation
For the Chairman of the Outaouais Real Estate Board, Roch St-Jacques, the increase in the number of requests for help and complaints submitted to the OACIQ was foreseeable.
In his opinion, three factors are responsible for this increase. People are becoming more and more aware that they have a cure […] The volume of activity is increasing and the number of new unsupervised brokers is increasing [font en sorte] he lists that there are other complaints.
Highlighting the ethical violations of real estate agents by the media would also ensure that citizens are more encouraged to denounce dishonest practices, according to St-Jacques.
Roch St-Jacques is Chairman of the Outaouais Real Estate Board. (archive photo)
Photo: Radio Canada
The public will understand that the OACIQ is like the Régie du Logement: it is there to protect the public, not brokers. […] If you file a complaint, OACIQ will take your complaint very seriously, he compares.
However, the latter regrets that the actions of certain brokers damage the reputation of the entire profession, while most of them, in his opinion, have the public interest at heart.
This type of practice would also tend to weaken the profession itself, Mr St-Jacques continues, by damaging the collaborative spirit that prevails between brokers.
At the time of writing, Mathieu Arseneault had not responded to the interview proposal sent to him by Radio-Canada.
With information from Marie-Jeanne Dubreuil and Laurie Trudel