TRESA
The BrokerFold Team — Product + Engineering
Last reviewed
TRESA is the Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2002 — the Ontario statute that governs real estate brokerages, brokers and salespeople, administered and enforced by RECO. It is the renamed and modernized successor to REBBA, and its second phase of changes, in force since December 1, 2023, reshaped how representation, ethics and offers work in Ontario practice.
What changed, in practice
The 2023 package touched four things agents feel daily. Representation got binary: a person is either a client under a written agreement or a self-represented party — the fuzzy middle category of “customer” was abolished, and SRPs must receive a prescribed information guide before substantive discussion. Designated representation arrived: a brokerage may designate specific agents to represent a client, so two agents at the same brokerage can act for opposing parties without the whole firm being conflicted — a significant change for large teams. Offers opened up, optionally: sellers may now direct their brokerage to disclose the substance of competing offers, making an open bidding process legal when the seller chooses it; blind bidding remains the default. Ethics got restructured: the code of ethics moved into regulation with a sharpened conduct focus, and RECO’s disciplinary toolkit was strengthened.
Why it matters beyond the paperwork
TRESA is the reason Ontario forms and conversations look the way they do now: the information guide handed over at first serious contact, the written buyer representation agreement signed before an offer, the seller’s decision memo about whether competing offers stay sealed. For anyone marketing themselves, the act is also the root of RECO’s advertising authority — the rules your website, signs and social profiles must follow all trace back to it.
The one-sentence version
If you hold an Ontario licence, TRESA is the operating system your practice runs on: it defines who you may act for, what you owe them, how offers are handled, and what happens when conduct falls short — and since late 2023, it expects those relationships in writing and those disclosures up front. Other provinces run their own statutes and regulators, so none of this travels past the Ontario border unchanged.
Frequently asked questions
What happened to REBBA?
It became TRESA. The Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002 was renamed and amended rather than replaced outright — same statutory backbone, modernized rules, with the biggest package of changes taking effect December 1, 2023.
What is a self-represented party under TRESA?
Someone in a transaction who has chosen to represent themselves rather than be a client of any brokerage. The old 'customer' half-status is gone: agents may give an SRP factual information but not advice, and must hand them a mandated information document about what that means.
Keep reading
- RECO RECO — the Real Estate Council of Ontario — is the provincial regulator that registers agents and brokerages and enforces TRESA's conduct rules.
- Buyer representation agreement The contract that makes a buyer a client: what a BRA commits both sides to, what to read before signing, and how the BC equivalent differs.
- RECO advertising rules for websites The audit checklist: registered name with the right descriptor, brokerage clearly and prominently identified, nothing misleading — on site and socials alike.