Since December 1, 2023, Ontario real estate has run under the Trust in Real Estate Services Act — TRESA — and it changed what buyer representation legally means. If you plan to make an offer on a home in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, or Guelph, the paperwork you sign first determines who is actually on your side. Here is what it all means, in order.
Client or self-represented: the fork in the road
TRESA forces a clear choice at the start of any working relationship. You are either a client — with a brokerage owing you loyalty, confidentiality, competent advice, and advocacy — or a self-represented party, owed honesty and fair treatment but no advice and no advocacy. There is no in-between category anymore; TRESA eliminated the old “customer” status that blurred the line.
Before providing services, an agent must give you RECO’s Information Guide, a standardized document explaining representation options, and confirm you understood it. If you tour a listing and deal directly with the seller’s agent without your own representation, you are self-represented: that agent works for the seller, and everything you reveal about your budget or motivation can be used for the seller’s benefit.
Designated representation: your agent, not the whole brokerage
TRESA’s structural change is designated representation. Under the old model, you were technically the client of the entire brokerage — awkward when the same brokerage held the listing you wanted. Now, representation attaches to your designated agent or agents specifically. Two agents at the same brokerage can sit on opposite sides of one transaction, each fully advocating for their own client, while the brokerage itself treats both clients impartially and protects each side’s confidential information.
Brokerage-level representation still exists as an option, and true multiple representation — one agent for both sides — can only happen with informed written consent from everyone, with that agent limited in what they can advise.
What the written agreement must cover
A buyer representation agreement is a contract, and under TRESA it needs to be in writing and cover the substance: the services the brokerage will provide, the duration of the agreement and the geographic area it covers, how the brokerage is compensated and by whom, and any holdover period — a stretch after expiry where the brokerage may still be owed commission if you buy a property it introduced you to.
Read three clauses hardest. Duration: it is negotiable, and a shorter initial term keeps everyone accountable. Holdover: understand how long it runs and what triggers it. Commission: see below.
How commission disclosure works
TRESA requires commission to be disclosed in writing and expressed clearly. The standing custom in Ontario is that the listing brokerage offers compensation to the buyer’s brokerage, funded through the seller’s side of the deal — meaning buyers often pay nothing out of pocket for representation. But custom is not law. Your agreement states what your brokerage is owed for its work; if a particular listing offers less than that figure, the agreement determines whether you cover the difference. Ask the question directly before signing: “If the seller’s side pays less than this number, what do I owe?” A good agent answers in one sentence. Commission is negotiable in every direction — there is no fixed or mandatory rate in Ontario.
Before offers, not after
The practical rule under TRESA: representation gets settled before an offer is prepared. Signing something on the hood of a car an hour before an offer deadline is the worst version of this process. The better sequence is a conversation at the start of your search — status, representation model, services, compensation, term — so that when the right house appears, the only document being negotiated is the offer.
What representation is actually for
The agreement is the container; the value is the work inside it — sold comparables that justify a price, condition strategy, local knowledge of streets and buildings, and negotiation with a professional obligation to your interests alone. Under TRESA, that obligation is explicit, personal to your designated agent, and enforceable.
Selling and buying in the same move? Know your starting position at /home-value/. Estimates are ranges. A licensed District agent delivers the real number within 24 hours.