VOW requirements checklist

A Virtual Office Website (VOW) is how a Canadian agent shows sold prices and off-market history on their own site — in exchange for operating conditions the boards take seriously. Here's what a compliant VOW actually needs, whether you build it or buy it. Use it as an evaluation checklist for any provider you're considering.

1. 1

   Real visitor registration

   VOW content is only for consumers who have opened an account with the member's website — a name, an email, and a verifiable login. Sold and off-market data behind a mere “click to reveal” is not a VOW; the wall has to be an actual account, and the relationship it creates is between the consumer and the member.

2. 2

   Terms-of-use click-wrap

   Before seeing any VOW data, every registrant must accept the board-prescribed terms of use — personal, non-commercial use, no redistribution — by an affirmative act: a real click on an unchecked box or button, with the acceptance recorded. Pre-ticked boxes or buried links don't satisfy the agreement the boards require.

3. 3

   Password expiry on the board's clock

   VOW passwords are deliberately short-lived so stale accounts can't accumulate access. TRREB caps password validity at 90 days; Greater Vancouver REALTORS® requires expiry within 30 days. A compliant site enforces the shortest applicable window server-side and walks the visitor through renewal when it lapses.

4. 4

   Audit trail and retention

   Boards can ask who saw what. A compliant VOW logs registrations, terms acceptances, and access to gated records, and retains those logs for the period the board's agreement sets — TRREB's posture is at least 180 days — in a form that can actually be produced on request, not reconstructed from memory.

5. 5

   Sold and off-market data gated — server-side

   Sold prices, expired and terminated listings, and other VOW-lane records must never reach an anonymous visitor. That means enforcement on the server — pages, images, print views, and API responses alike — not a client-side blur that the browser's developer tools can peel off.

6. 6

   Board disclaimers and attribution

   Each board prescribes exact wording: the source-of-data attribution, the not-guaranteed-accurate disclaimer, trademark notices for MLS® and REALTOR®, and — on some boards — logos and copyright lines with placement and sizing rules. The verbatim text varies by board and by edition of its rules, so mirror the current documents, not a competitor's footer.

7. 7

   Data currency

   VOW feeds come with freshness obligations: refresh the data within the window your board's agreement sets and, where required, display when it was last updated. A VOW showing week-old “active” listings is a compliance problem as well as a credibility one.

8. 8

   Consumer purpose only

   The VOW bargain is consumer research, not data redistribution. Registrants attest to personal, non-commercial use, and the operator is expected to keep bulk access out — rate limits, no scraping or bulk export, and terms that let the board or the member terminate an account that abuses the access.

The short version for provider shopping

Ask any VOW provider three questions: where is the gate enforced (the only right answer is the server), what does the audit trail capture and for how long, and which board agreements has the platform actually implemented — password windows, disclaimers, and all. BrokerFold runs its VOW machinery on direct board feeds with the gate, the expiry clock, and the audit spine built in; see what a VOW website is and what it costs.

Keep reading

• What is a VOW website? How VOWs work, and how BrokerFold implements one on live board data.
• TRREB VOW operating conditions The conditions attached to a TRREB VOW, written as a vendor checklist.
• VOW — the glossary definition The definition and mechanics — how the registration wall unlocks sold data.
• BrokerFold pricing A compliant VOW, website, and CRM in one transparent CAD subscription.

This checklist is general information for evaluating VOW websites, not legal advice. VOW obligations come from each board's own agreements and rules, which change — confirm the current requirements with your board and, where it matters, your lawyer.