Canada’s tightly controlled real estate system just saw its first crack appear. RE/MAX Ontario-Atlantic Canada (RE/MAX) has broken ranks, becoming the first brokerage to settle a class action targeting the industry’s commission rules and board structure. The $7.8-million deal, revealed this morning, comes with a seismic shift—the regional brokerage is ending its mandatory board membership for its agents and franchisees. It’s a direct hit to the MLS-linked commission model that has shaped the market for decades, and a blow to the dominance of CREA and local boards.
Canadian Real Estate Faces A Class Action Over Commission-Fixing
The class action suit, representing any seller between March 2010–July 2025, alleges commission price-fixing facilitated by firms, real estate boards, and franchisors, such as RE/MAX. The litigation is led by Mark Sunderland and Kevin McFall, arguing that mandatory MLS-linked compensation suppresses competition and inflates home prices. The rules, they argue, force sellers to pay buyer-broker commissions, in violation of Canada’s Competition Act.
RE/MAX Breaks Rank, First Canadian Real Estate Brokerage To Settle
The first brokerage to break ranks with Canada’s formalized real estate industry is RE/MAX Ontario-Atlantic Canada Inc., a regional branch of RE/MAX that does business in Ontario, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and PEI. They first announced a tentative settlement in February, but it wasn’t until this morning that the details were released.
RE/MAX agrees to pay $7.8 million, snitch cooperate in the ongoing prosecution of non-settling parties, and implement reforms in its practice—the most significant being the end of mandatory requirements for franchisees, brokers, and agents to join certain boards or abide by restrictive rules. The settlement isn’t an admission of liability, and the real estate firm continues to deny any wrongdoing.
This settlement agreement only applies to RE/MAX sellers. Those opting out of the RE/MAX settlement have until September 22, 2025 to avoid being bound by the terms. The court is scheduled to review the agreement on October 6, 2025, potentially finalizing this portion of the class action.
Non-RE/MAX participants in the class action will be updated as progress is made on the case.
RE/MAX Settlement Applies Pressure On Other Brokerages
The agreement is the first major crack in the board system, raising questions about its structural integrity. By dropping mandatory board membership for its agents and franchisees, RE/MAX is undermining one of the key levers used to enforce industry norms—including commission rules.
Currently MLS participation is tied to local board membership, which enforces rules requiring preset buyer-broker commissions. This creates “steering bias,” where an agent promotes a listing due to the higher commission structure over other listings. An agent is incentived to show a property due to compensation, without necessarily disclosing upfront why they found the “perfect” property. Inflated commissions are paid through the purchase price—ultimately costing buyers more.
The RE/MAX settlement puts pressure on other brokerages to exit the restrictive policies. Brokerages wanting to stay competitive may follow suit, if they believe this is the right path. However, not all brokerages are going to be on board.
Since settlements are at the brokerage level, the agreements can vary—potentially not including operational changes. Parties can also choose to take the case to trial if they have the time and cash to challenge the case. If they win, their innocence is proven. If they fail to secure a win, they can be liable for much larger damages.
Cracks In Canada’s Organized Real Estate System Are Forming
Canadian real estate is largely built around what the industry calls organized real estate. This is a group that includes the federal CREA, provincial boards like OREA, and local boards like TRREB. These parties rely on mandatory membership to maintain MLS access and standard commission structures. A large brokerage like RE/MAX ending its restrictive policies for agents and brokers is a major blow to organized real estate—drastically reducing its power.
The class action suit also comes at a time when the Competition Bureau is investigating a similar area. In October 2024, it started to look into CREA’s commission rules and Realtor Cooperation Policy. In May 2025, it added the Québec Professional Association for Real Estate Brokers (QPAREB) and its MLS operator, Centris, to its investigation. As this class action makes further progress on the overlapping areas, the more likely the Competition Bureau is to see changes being voluntarily made.
Wouldn’t disclosing commission rates solve this outright? Also centralized listings make it so you can see all the listings on a market, so why would you care that your agent presents one particular house because of the commission? You’re still ultimately going to buy the house you like the best at the price you want.
The commissions are already published, but it’s up to the agent to the client to request the compensation for each of the units looked at. They want it to be agreed upon up front.
This unlocks better commission structures though. Imagine kicking back 50% of whatever is negotiated down to your Realtor? The motivation to make you overpay would be completely eliminated.
In BC all commissions are disclosed to all parties. But nonetheless, Re/Max’s decision to end real estate board membership comes at a significant cost to both buyers and sellers that isn’t mentioned in the article. Those agents and those brokerages will no longer have access to the MLS database. Their sellers’ homes can no longer be posted on MLS. Their buyers won’t be able to have their Re/Max agent send them listings. As a buyer or a seller that is a penalty I would not subject myself to. 96% of buyers in Canada used MLS before they bought.
A part of the case will likely focus on the MLS access not being restricted to members of all three boards, but severing an agreement so it may be a secondary or third-tier membership.
The comprehensive MLS system is nice but I don’t know why I have to be a member of TRREB, OREA, and CREA to access something CREA owns? At the very least OREA should be optional.
Save your money. Rent in Canada or stay with family/ friends. Invest in the USA. Buy 10 times as much for less money. E.g Buy 10 USA houses at 50K each instead of one Canadian condo at 500K. To save even more – dump everything you own in Canada – live part time in one of your USA houses. Travel, snooze like Biden at the beach or count up your rents every month and buy more as you feel like it.
Canadians don’t want to live in the US. Get the message already.
Speak for yourself. 10 years of economic ruin, a quality of life decrease, no positive economic growth for the foreseeable future, etc. etc., and it’s all been brought on by abhorrent public policies. Some lemmings vote for more the same, other voters vote with their feet.
Oh yes they do you liberal snowflake. Too much CBC for you. Plenty of my friends would do anything to move down south.
Speak for yourself. I don’t want to live under Carney.
This Canadian wants to live in the US as I stopped drinking the Canadian Kool Aid many years ago.
Pretty sure freedom is not frozen bank accounts, decade in jail for mischief and wage slavery.
He litterally said rent in Canada, and yes some of us do want to live in the US. Learn to read, dum asz.
That might sound nice in theory, but reality is very different. Cheap U.S. houses aren’t automatically good investments — many $50K properties are in high-crime or economically depressed areas with little appreciation potential and high vacancy risk. Repairs, maintenance, and bad tenants can quickly eat up whatever rent you think you’ll make. On top of that, cross-border ownership comes with extra costs: U.S. property taxes, insurance, currency exchange losses, legal fees, and accounting for both U.S. and Canadian taxes. You also can’t just “live part-time” in the U.S. indefinitely — immigration rules limit how long Canadians can stay, and too much time there can trigger U.S. residency rules and extra taxes. Canadian real estate, while expensive, has historically been more stable and resilient than many U.S. markets. Selling everything in Canada means giving up your safety net in one of the most stable economies in the world, leaving you vulnerable if the U.S. market tanks. And let’s be honest — with Trump running the place, most Canadians have little interest in staking their future on America’s political chaos. Cheaper doesn’t always mean smarter, and turning your life into a full-time landlord job in another country is far riskier than owning one quality home where you actually live.
After a 40% loss in the exchange rate. How does the math and the crime work now
How do I get money from this? I did my house in 2020 and paid 4% commission…
As far as I know, real estate boards have not had fixed commissions for decades.
they don’t fix the rate, but the buyer-realtor’s compensation had to be declared. In this model the buyer Realtor has to negotiate their own compensation as a part of the actual deal.
Introduces more complexity but better compensation structures for good Realtors.
The Canadian real-estate system is messed up. We need much more transparency and all bids should be public. Real-estate agents make their living by hoarding information and keeping both buyers and sellers in the dark.
I sold my first house myself and bought my second house without an agent, and it was a far more pleasant process.
Think about it, as a seller do you really want your agent to tell everyone else the dollar value and details of every offer you receive? If the agent is hired by the seller, they have a duty to advance the seller’s interests. It is hard to conceive of any advancement the seller would receive from such a scheme.
While I agree it’s worse for the seller, the whole system needs to be transparent to avoid this monopoly-system that the real estate industry holds on everyone.
No one is required to list a house with, or buy a house with, a real estate licensee.
The people who choose to, (95% of all resale housing is transacted by licensees,) use an agent because they understand it advances their interests. Those who don’t feel so, are entitled to buy and sell howsoever they choose.
The Realty System needs to die. Hive Life Haven along with other organizations will rescue 🛟 housing from the market… never to be returned to the market ever again. The housing market is the problem. Buying and selling, buying and selling, over and over, does not work and is directly linked to housing insecurity and homelessness. Other countries have over 50% non-market housing and Canada is only at 3%. Not good. Not good.
Whaddya mean it does not work? It works great, certainly better than cramming everyone into council flats. Think back to how Margaret Thatcher saved Great Britain from several more generations of innocence, poverty and ghetto life.
Good thing no one reads this publication. Some of the “facts” are misleading. For example, the writer states “Currently MLS participation is tied to local board membership, which enforces rules requiring preset buyer-broker commissions”. No pre-set buyer commissions are required. Listings can be posted on MLS in BC at least, for $1.00 on the buyer side. The author of this article is obviously prejudiced against realtors and organized real estate.
The content is a bit confusing to me, as far as I understand, almost all real estate board requires licensee to be membership of same board of the brokerage holds. For example brokerage A hold board A membership, board A requires every licensee of the brokerage must also be a member of same board. The brokerage doesn’t have a choice.