Who’s Who in BC Real Estate?

Have you ever called your local real estate board with a question and then been told to call the Real Estate Council of BC? And then you give them a call and they tell you to call BCREA?

It’s not always easy to keep track of who does what, especially when it comes to distinguishing between regulatory education requirements, and REALTOR® professional development. Here’s a quick primer on who’s who to help you get the answers you’re looking for faster.

Real Estate Council of British Columbia (RECBC)

As BC’s real estate regulatory body, RECBC is responsible for all things related to earning and maintaining your real estate license, from regulatory training to enforcing standards of conducts.

According to RECBC’s website, there are currently three mandatory continuing education courses that must be completed during your licensing period:

• Rule Changes: Agency and Disclosure course 
• Legal Update course 
• Anti-Money Laundering in Real Estate course (completion required for licence renewal beginning April 1, 2020) 

If you have questions about these courses or anything else related to your license, contact RECBC.

British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA)

BCREA is the provincial association for BC’s 23,000 commercial and residential REALTORS^®. We support local real estate boards and REALTORS® by providing services that benefit from a provincial perspective, like government relations and advocacy, economic analysis, standard forms and professional development.

Are you looking for an overview of how the recently relaunched Professional Development Program (PDP) works? Learn more here.

If you’re ready to get started on meeting your PDP requirements, we offer an array of accredited online and in-person (bookable through your local real estate board) PDP courses. Browse our courses here.

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Your local real estate board

As a REALTOR®, you are a member of one of BC’s 11 local real estate boards. Real estate boards provide services directly to REALTORS® in the communities where they do business, including access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®), enforcing the REALTOR® code and tracking their members’ professional development hours to ensure they meet REALTOR® PDP requirements.

Your local board will automatically track any professional development hours you complete by taking courses offered by your board. However, you must report any professional development hours you acquire through learning opportunities outside your board yourself, whether accredited or self-directed.

If you have any questions about meeting your professional development requirements, your first point of contact is always your local real estate board.  

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