Annual licence maintenance

Every year, the licence renewal period starts from mid-March to April 30. An email notice is sent to inform you of:

• The start of the licence renewal period
• The steps to be taken

The licence renewal is carried out by accessing the Online Checkout:

• Via brokersarea.oaciq.com/en/licence-maintenance
• Only from mid-March until April 30 of the current year
• Also available in a mobile version

If you experience any problems with the Online Checkout:

• Try again later (high traffic can occur)

If the problem persists, contact Info OACIQ:

• By phone
• Via the form on the Contact Us page
• Describe the problem 
• Specify when you can be contacted

No later than April 30.

To keep your licence valid, you must:

• Update your personal information on brokersarea.oaciq.com/en/licence-maintenance
• Pay the applicable annual fees

Read this article for applicable licence renewal fees.

1. Credit card via the Online Checkout (preferred method)

2. Cheque to the order of OACIQ

Procedure:

• Enter your licence number on the back of the cheque
• Enter the total amount, including the subscription to InstanetForms^TM electronic forms
• Print your licence renewal notice and indicate "To the Attention of Accounts Receivable" on your envelope
• Mail the cheque several days before April 30 to avoid delays
• No in-person payments are accepted at our head office.

3. Electronic transfer (through your financial institution) 

• When paying at your financial institution: enter the reference number indicated on your licence renewal notice
• Pay the total amount, including the subscription to InstanetForms^TM electronic forms
• Via the licence renewal online checkout: select the payment method “bank transfer”
• Allow a period of 24 hours to 3 business days

4. VISA debit and MASTERCARD Debit 

• This type of card works like a debit card
• Check or increase your daily debit withdrawal limit if necessary

5. Prepaid cards: VISA or MASTERCARD

• The card must be activated
• A CVV/CVC number must be available to complete the transaction

Need help?

Info OACIQ agents can assist you over the phone only if you have already updated your information.

No.

You must first update your information via the Online Checkout then make your payment.

Exception

An agency executive officer can pay his brokers’ licence fees. However, each broker remains responsible for:

• Updating their information via the Online Checkout
• Making sure their annual licence fees have indeed been paid

To carry out the necessary follow-ups with his agency's real estate brokers, the agency executive officer can download the file Monitoring of my brokers in the Brokers' Area.

The period covered is from May 1 to April 30 of the following year.

No. No automatic payment will be made the following year.

Yes. All real estate brokers and agencies must update information each year.

No. The information update must be done via the Online Checkout at brokersarea.oaciq.com/en/licence-maintenance

No, it’s not mandatory.

However, if your photo is about to expire, take the opportunity to change it now. The  change is free if made within 12 months prior to the due date indicated in the Brokers' Area. 

Read this article for more details.

Your licence will be revoked retroactively to May 1, and you will need to:

• Cease all real estate brokerage activities after April 30
• Remove all ads
• Immediately notify in writing the parties represented (read this article for more information)
• Apply for a new licence, which entails additional costs and delays
• You will no longer be covered by the FARCIQ professional liability insurance as of May 1

The real estate broker acting on his own account must himself inform the parties he represents immediately and in writing that he is no longer authorized to act on their behalf for the brokerage contracts in progress due to the revocation of his licence. Therefore, all his contracts will be terminated, and his clients will have to use the services of another real estate broker or agency.

To return to practice, see the question below.

To return to practice, you will need to:

• Complete and send the Application for issuance – Real estate broker licence (PDF) to apply for a new licence to the Certification Department by email, along with the payment of applicable fees
• Declare whether you were engaged in real estate brokerage transactions during your licence revocation period. If necessary, the Syndic will be informed and may take all appropriate measures
• Certify that you have notified all your clients that you are no longer authorized to carry out the current brokerage contracts
• Pay additional fees for reviewing your application and checking your criminal record, in addition to the licence renewal fees (which vary depending on the month in which you wish to resume your practice) and any other sums due to the OACIQ
• Undergo a new criminal record check if it has not been done in the last six months
• If you are operating within a business corporation, complete the Application for authorization to practise within a business corporation (PDF) and return it to us along with the applicable fees

• His licence will be suspended after April 30
• He will have to stop carrying out brokerage activities as of the date of his licence suspension
• He will have to remove all ads
• The agency will have to immediately notify in writing all the parties he represents that he is no longer authorized to act on their behalf and inform them of the name of the licensee appointed to replace him. This notification must mention the parties’ right to continue doing business with your agency or to terminate the contract (more details in this article)
• He will need to submit a Request for lifting of licence suspension (PDF) and pay the related fees for a licensee who failed to fulfil his obligations

The real estate broker acting on his own account must himself inform the parties he represents immediately and in writing that he is no longer authorized to act on their behalf for the brokerage contracts in progress due to the revocation of his licence. Therefore, all his contracts will then be terminated, and his clients will have to use the services of another real estate broker or agency.

For the steps to follow to return to practise real estate brokerage following a licence suspension for failing to update personal information, see the answer to the question below.

To return to practice, you must:

• Update your personal information in the Brokers’ Area, under the Statements: Changes during the year section
• Complete the form Request for lifting of licence suspension - Broker (PDF)
• Pay the applicable fees
• Declare whether you carried out brokerage activities during your licence suspension or revocation period. If necessary, the Syndic will be informed and may take all appropriate measures
• Certify that you notified all your clients that you were no longer authorized to act on their behalf for the brokerage contracts in progress

By April 30, the agency executive officer must:

• Renew his own certified real estate broker AEO licence by updating his personal information via the Online Checkout and paying the annual licence fees
• Renew the real estate agency’s licence by updating the agency’s information via the Online Checkout and paying the agency’s annual licence fees.
• Follow up with his agency’s brokers to ensure that they renew their licence on time At any time, he can download the “Monitoring of my brokers” document in the Brokers’ Area.
• Because of his role as agency executive officer, the consequences of a suspension or revocation are not insignificant as they may not only have a direct impact on his licence, but also on that of the agency and the brokers acting on its behalf. 

The real estate agency must:

1. Complete and email an Application for issuance of a licence –  Real estate agency to the Certification Department, including:

• Any additional forms and any other required documents listed in section V – Declarations of the application form if you answered positively to any questions (Form to be completed in case of conviction •  Penal offence and criminal act (PDF), Form to be completed in case of conviction • Ethical offence (PDF) and Form to be completed in case of bankruptcy (PDF))
• The payment required for the issue of an agency licence
• Payment of the fees to lift the (administrative) licence suspension of each agency broker
• The section for holders of revoked licences on the licence application form
• The Declarations section in the suspension lifting form. These declarations are used to certify that the notices for all contracts in progress were sent to clients and to declare whether you and the agency’s brokers have engaged in brokerage transactions during the revocation period. If necessary, the Syndic will be informed and may take all the measures deemed appropriate.

For more information on the steps to obtain an agency licence, read this article.

2. Following the analysis conducted by the Certification Department, the agency must develop a written compliance program if there is none already implemented within the agency, or to adjust the existing one and undertake to comply with it.

In both cases, the compliance program must meet the requirements of the OACIQ. For more details, read this article.

3. Wait a few weeks after taking the above-mentioned steps for the confirmation of the Certification Department. Further verifications will be carried out to validate the compliance of the agency’s file. The agency may then resume its activities.

• Its real estate agency licence will be suspended after April 30.
• The suspension of the agency’s licence will result in the automatic suspension of all of the agency’s brokers’ licences
• The agency and the brokers acting on behalf of the agency will have to stop engaging in all brokerage activities
• The agency will have to remove all ads
• The agency will have to immediately notify in writing all the parties it represents that the agency and its brokers are no longer authorized to act on their behalf for the brokerage contracts in progress To this effect, read the article Notice – Agency or status change to select the notice corresponding to the situation (Notice N if the agency was co-listing or Notice H if not, in which case all brokerage contracts will be automatically terminated due to the agency ceasing its activities following the suspension or revocation of its licence).

For the steps to follow to reactivate a real estate agency licence that has been suspended for failing to update the agency's information within the specified period, read this article.

The real estate agency must:

• Update the agency’s information. To do this, go to the Statements: Changes during the year in the Brokers’ Area
• Complete and email the Request for lifting of licence suspension for an agency form to the Certification Department
• Pay the applicable fee to request the lifting of licence suspension for a holder who has failed in his obligations toward the OACIQ
• Pay the applicable fee to lift the (administrative) licence suspension of each of the agency’s brokers
• Complete and have all your agency’s brokers complete the section Declarations in the Request for lifting of licence suspension form. This section is used to certify that the notices for all contracts in progress were sent to clients and to declare that you or your agency brokers have not engaged in any brokerage transactions during the suspension period. Otherwise, the Syndic will be informed and may take any measures deemed appropriate.

No. Because this is sensitive and confidential information, you are responsible for answering the questions yourself. That’s why the OACIQ cannot offer this service and update information for you.

You must report any changes that have occurred since your last declaration. Previously reported situations do not have to be declared again.

You must send an email to certification@oaciq.com. The Certification Department will tell you how to correct the error or file a new declaration with the correct information.

Read this article.

No. The 2025-2027 cycle of Mandatory Continuing Education Program will end on April 30, 2027.

Visit this page for all the details or check out the Professional Development Portal to see the number of CEUs earned to date, the remaining training activities to be completed or to register for them.

By April 30, you must:

• Carry out your mandatory information update via the Online Checkout
• Pay your annual licence fees via the Online Checkout

Note that you may make your payment only after completing your personal information update.

The subscription to InstanetForms^TM electronic forms expires on April 30 of each year. To carry out residential real estate transactions, you must subscribe to InstanetForms^TM electronic forms to access current versions of brokerage forms.  

If you do not renew your subscription with your licence renewal, you will no longer have access to the InstanetForms^TM platform after April 30. You will need to get a new subscription to regain access to the forms; this will take effect a couple of hours after you re-subscribe. InstanetForms^TM fees are detailed here and vary depending on the month in which you wish to subscribe.

Please note that access to the platform does not provide access to electronic signatures. If you use an electronic signature solution, you will need to contact your provider with any question about your subscription.

The receipt is available in the Brokers' Area, under Receipts and invoices, within approximately 24 to 48 business hours after the completion of your transaction.

This information can be found in the Brokers' Area.

Yes. Under the Real Estate Brokerage Act, all OACIQ licensees must take out the professional liability insurance policy of FARCIQ.

Find the explanatory letter and the new annual insurance policy in the Brokers' Area,  under the FARCIQ Area – My insurance policy.

Your annual FARCIQ insurance policy can be found in the Brokers' Area, under the FARCIQ Area – My insurance policy.

Yes. An agency executive officer can pay the annual licence fees of his agency’s brokers if desired.

The simplest way to do this is via the Online Checkout. On the payment page, simply select the brokers whose licences the agency executive officer wishes to renew (and subscription to InstanetForms^TM if desired) from the list shown (maximum of five brokers per transaction).  The total payable will be adjusted automatically.

If the agency executive officer wishes to pay by cheque, he must clearly specify the licence number and name of each broker and calculate the total payable by adding the licence renewal fees for each broker. These fees can be found in question 3 of this FAQ. The agency executive officer must add the InstanetForms^TM electronic form subscription fees for brokers who wish to renew their subscription, otherwise it will end on April 30.

It is not possible for an agency executive officer to pay his brokers’ licence renewal fees through his financial institution.

You must notify us as soon as possible by answering the questions here. Upon receipt of this information, you will be removed from our reminder lists. It is important to provide us with a personal email address so that we can send you the necessary information to maintain your acquired rights next year. Following your request, your licence will be revoked as of May 1 without any further action on your part.

Even if your licence has just been issued to you, you will have to renew it to be able to continue practising as a real estate broker next year. The licence renewal period always starts in March and ends on April 30 of the current year.  Before this date, you must:

• Renew your real estate broker's licence by carrying out your mandatory personal information update and paying the annual licence fees 

Pay your subscription to InstanetForms^TM electronic forms if you carry out residential real estate transactions