Application for an agency licence

Required qualifications

You must first ensure that you have the required qualifications to get an agency licence. The agency must be run by the holder of a valid broker licence who is qualified to act as agency executive officer.  Please read the article Mandatory basic training: Becoming agency executive officer or acting on your own account for the steps to follow to qualify as an agency executive officer.

In addition, if you have never acted as an agency executive officer before or if you have previously acted as an agency executive officer but not in the past two years, you will need to show that you have completed the courses Applying your compliance program to your everyday operations and The agency executive officer as a compliance officer: Tools for managing day-to-day activities, within the two years prior to your appointment. Otherwise, you will have to take these training courses before you can act as agency executive officer.

Compliance Program

You must then read the requirements of the Compliance Program, which was designed to reinforce the real estate brokerage oversight and promote a culture of compliance among licence holders. As agency executive officer, you are responsible for implementing and enforcing your own compliance program within your agency. In this regard, after the analysis of the Certification Department, you will be contacted by the Inspection Department to provide you with additional information about the Compliance Program. In addition, you must ensure that all real estate agency’s directors, real estate brokers, and employees comply with this program and act in accordance with the regulations.

Legal person, corporation, or natural person

A real estate agency may be a legal person, a corporation, or a natural person.

In the case of a legal person or a corporation, the corporation must be active and registered with Registre des entreprises as soon as the name under which the real estate agency wishes to operate has been approved by the OACIQ. Similarly, individuals wishing to operate under a pseudonym other than the one indicated on their licence must be registered with the Registre des entreprises. For the choice and approval of the real estate agency's name, see the sections below.

Agency name

An agency licence holder may carry on his real estate brokerage activities under only one name (excluding its English version). The agency name must meet several criteria and comply with the regulations.

Under the general duties set out in section 62 and following of the Regulation respecting brokerage requirements, professional conduct of brokers and advertising, an agency licence holder must not choose a name that may compromise the honour or dignity of the profession or cause controversy.

For the name of a franchised or sub-franchised agency, you must ensure that you have the franchiser's authorization to use its name and logo.

In all cases, the selected name must comply with section 113 of the Regulation respecting brokerage requirements, professional conduct of brokers and advertising. Notably, the name must not:

1. Contain information that can be confused with any other name, trademark, slogan or logotype, or misleading, such as extent of the services offered, nature and scope of the agency activities, geographic location (as the licence is issued for Québec), etc. (e.g. "The Contractor Agency," "Canada Brokers Agency," "Real Estate Lender Agency,” “Investment Management Agency,” “Investor Management Agency”)
2. Suggest that it designates more than one agency or that this agency is not an OACIQ licence holder (e.g.: “No middleman agency”) or “Associated agencies”
3. Contain a professional title, an abbreviation of that title, or initials whose use is reserved for members of a professional order in Québec (e.g., Building Engineer Agency, Real Estate Doctor Agency)
4. Suggest that the agency holds a specialist title (e.g.: "Condo or Real Estate Experts Agency"), even if the name may contain the area of practice. The use of the following terms or expressions is prohibited: “Specializing in”, "specialized in", "specialist in", "specialties" or "specializations".

When the name is approved by the OACIQ, you will be able to register it with the Registre des entreprises du Québec .

Registering the name with the REQ

Please note that the name registration is not the responsibility of the OACIQ.  You must yourself take the necessary steps to register it with the Registre des entreprises du Québec that you may contact directly for the applicable terms and conditions if necessary. 

The name must comply with the limits imposed by the Act respecting the legal publicity of enterprises (CQLR, c. P-44.1). For example, it must comply with the provisions of the Charter of the French Language (CQLR, c. C-11), it must not be confused with the name of another company, etc. For more information in this regard, read the Guideline – Representation, solicitation, promotion and advertising and the article entitled The statement of registration: sometimes a condition for issuing a licence.

You have completed all the necessary verifications on your side and are ready to apply for an agency licence.

To apply for a real estate agency licence, you need to complete and email the following documents to the Certification Department:

• Application for issuance of a licence –  Real estate agency – Legal person and partnership; or
• Application for issuance of a licence –  Real estate agency –  Natural person.
• The form Notice of change of real estate agency. This form must be submitted with your licence application. In addition, this form must be duly completed for each of the broker’s licence holders who will work for your agency, including the agency executive officer.
• The Application for authorization to practise within a business corporation. This form must be completed by each broker licence holder wishing to operate through a business corporation within your agency.
• A copy of the up-to-date information available at the Registre des entreprises, if applicable.
• If you responded positively to any of the questions in the Declarations section of the licence application, you must also provide:
  • The Form – Criminal and penal record; or
  • The Form – Disciplinary record; or
  • The Form to be completed in case of bankruptcy; or
  • The Form – Other record; and
  • All required supporting documents of this declaration.

To ensure that the Declarations section of the licence application is properly answered, see question 9 of the FAQ Certification – Agency  and the following article: Obtaining a licence, a conditional privilege.

Finally, by filling out this form, you may grant a team member access to Espace courtiers to become an agency collaborator whose role will be to support you in your duties.

Application examination fee and chargeable fees for the issuance of a real estate agency's licence (valid until April 30 of the current year). For current fees, see this page.

The application examination fee is not refundable and is payable when you submit your application. Depending on the complexity of the application, the fee is $750 or $1,500, taxes included. An application is considered complex if the real estate agency is considering affiliation with other companies (financial institution, property management), allows cryptocurrency transactions, carries out only referral activities (twinning (pairing), tailor-made support), etc. If you consider that your future business model is complex, please include the appropriate examination fee with your application, i.e. $1,500, taxes included. Apart from the examples given, the Certification Department may also determine, after examining the application, that the proposed business model is complex and requires more in-depth analysis by various departments, which justifies the higher fee of $1,500, including taxes.

The applicable fee will be paid when your real estate agency licence is issued.

1. The fee to be paid for the issuance of your agency licence based on the month in which it comes into effect. The calculation is done on a pro rata basis.
2. Where applicable, an administrative fee will apply for processing the transfer of each broker’s file and your own file as agency executive officer.
3. Where applicable, an administrative fee will apply for the processing of the authorization requests to practise within a business corporation.

Verification and examination of application

When Certification Department receives your agency licence application, a thorough analysis will be conducted. If documents are missing, you will be informed by email, this may cause delays.

Additional instructions will be communicated to you, and a certification agent will call to ask you a few questions to better understand your project, after which recommendations could be made.

Declarations in your licence issuance application

If you responded positively to any of the questions in this section of the application, your file will be examined to determine if it needs to be referred to the Licence Issue and Maintenance Committee (LIMC). In this case, your agency licence issuance will be delayed until the committee’s decision is made.

The LIMC’s role is to determine whether public protection warrants the imposition of one of the measures set out in the Act. In accordance with section 37 of the Real Estate Brokerage Act, the LIMC may refuse to issue a licence or may impose conditions or restrictions thereon.

For an agency licence application – natural person, the criminal record check will be conducted for the real estate broker’s licence holder making the request.

Meeting with the Inspection Department and adherence to the Compliance Program

After the analysis of the Certification Department, you will be contacted by the Inspection Department. You will be given additional information about the Compliance Program, and you will be able to ask questions to the inspector in charge of your file. You will need to develop and explain in writing your own policies, rules, and procedures arising from the Compliance Program.

To guide you, here are a few relevant references to help you start your reflection and writing:

• Competency framework – Agency executive officer
• The agency’s duty to supervise all brokers
• The Agency Executive Officer’s Compliance Program
• The expectations of the OACIQ from agency executive officers (My AEO space)

Finally, you will have to submit the program you implemented and show your commitment to comply with it. The Inspection Department will analyze this program to ensure that it meets all requirements. If your compliance program does not meet all the requirements from the outset, the Inspection Department may make recommendations to you. You will be able to adjust your program, but you should not submit more than 3 substantially different versions to us.

Please note that if the third version is deemed unsatisfactory, your application for issuance will be rejected. You will then have to re-apply and pay the related fees. Therefore, make sure you are well prepared in advance to avoid additional delays and costs.

Start-up session by the OACIQ Inspection Department

You will be invited to attend a start-up session. During the 3-hour start-up session delivered by an inspector, you will be informed of your new obligations and the OACIQ's expectations, especially regarding the compliance program, as well as the elements which are verified during a regular inspection (verification of records, books and registers, management of trust account, conflicts of interest, etc.).

Opening of a trust account

We recommend that you start the process of opening a trust account as soon as possible, as you will have to provide the OACIQ Inspection Department with proof of the opening of such an account no later than ten days following your licence issuance, failing which the licence of the agency and brokers acting on its behalf will be suspended (see the form Instructions concerning the obligations to open and maintain a trust account ). 

Note that the licensee is exempted from this obligation if he receives no deposit, advance on remuneration or costs from his clients or any other sum for others. When he is no longer in this situation, he must immediately notify the OACIQ in writing and comply with trust account requirements.¹

Licence issuance

Your agency licence will be issued if all the conditions set out in section 6 of the Regulation respecting the broker’s and agency licences and the ones listed in this article are met. You will be informed by the Certification department.

¹S. 24 of the Regulation respecting brokerage requirements, professional conduct of brokers and advertising