Source: CTV News —
A proposed class-action lawsuit alleges that some of Canada’s largest brokerages and real-estate associations are engaged in price-fixing to inflate Realtor commissions.
Brokerages named in the lawsuit include ReMax, Century 21, and IproRealtyLtd., as well as the Canadian Real Estate Association and the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board.
The lawsuit claims that there is an agreement, among brokerages in the Greater Toronto Area, which applies to any individual listing on the Toronto Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
“When it comes to listing your home for sale, you typically sign an agreement with a listing brokerage,” broker and real estate commentator David Fleming told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday Morning. “You pay a fee and then usually half or some of that fee is offered as an inducement to a buyer agent. So this suit is alleging that there is a fix of two and a half per cent, which is what the suit said, that basically forces people to offer that.”
