RAHB Government Relations Committee representatives attended OREA’s Political Action Conference in Toronto (November 20-22) and met with area MPPs to discuss issues of importance to REALTORS® and homeowners.
The two issues under discussion were the land transfer rebate for first-time home buyers and the government’s proposed mandatory home energy audits.
- Ontario REALTORS® lent their support to the proposed increase in the land transfer rebate to first-time home buyers, from $2,000 to $4,000. While OREA originally hoped for a complete rebate for first-time home buyers, the doubling of the rebate is still good news.
- As part of Ontario’s Climate Change Action Plan, the government proposed the implementation of a Home Energy Rating & Disclosure (HER&D), which mandates “time of listing” energy audits for homes advertised on a “listing service”. The proposal would add another cost to the home selling process and put home owners of old or energy inefficient property at a disadvantage. In addition, it could cause an unfair burden on low-income home owners who may not be able to afford the improvements recommended by an audit.
OREA’s concerns are that the existing proposal would place an additional regulatory burden on REALTORS® and MLS® Systems, single family home owners would be unfairly targeted and the proposal lacks consumer protection from unregulated energy audit services.
Instead of the mandatory HER&D program, Ontario REALTORS® asked for a return to a program like the voluntary Energy Savings Program, which actually produced results, and regulation for the energy audit industry.
RAHB PAC representatives at Queen’s Park:
(l to r) RAHB staff Valerie Webster, Kathy Della-Nebbia (Royal LePage State Realty), Nicolas von Bredow (Royal LePage Macro Realty) and Nikola Bucalo (Coldwell Banker Community Professionals). Missing from the photo
is Lou Piriano (L. Piriano Real Estate Brokerage).