The Supreme Court of Canada ruled Thursday that it won't hear an appeal from the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) that would aim to keep the board's members from publishing home sales data online.
The decision likely means the end of a long legal battle over whether consumers should have online access to information such as home sales prices, house history and property market trends in a neighbourhood.
Those currently seeking home sales data usually turn to real estate agents and brokers, who have access to the "Multiple Listing Service" database, where sales data for closed deals are compiled. Others rely on online property value services like Teranet or local land registry offices, which charge a fee for the public to access the sales data.?
TREB has fought since 2011 to keep the figures in the hands of real estate agents, arguing that posting the data online for anyone to see would violate consumer privacy. In 2011, the Competition Bureau, a federal watchdog designed to protect consumers by investigating business policies and mergers, challenged TREB's policy preventing the publication of such information, saying it impedes competition and digital innovation.
Thus ensued a long and circuitous legal battle.
The quasi-judicial tribunal ruled in April 2016 that real estate agents should make the data public. In 2017, the Federal Court of Appeal upheld the tribunal's ruling, so the board recently headed to the Supreme Court to try to protect the data.
Now the Supreme Court has rejected that appeal. And since the Supreme Court won't hear the case, lawyers believe there is likely nothing TREB can to do to keep its legal battle going and the data from being posted.
TREB Chief Executive Officer John DiMichele said in a media statement that the tribunal's order will come into effect in 60-days, and that it will respect the court decision. Mr. DiMichele said the board will be studying "the required next steps to ensure such information will be protected in compliance with the tribunal order."
The data release will eventually spread to every real estate market in Canada because most were waiting to see how TREB's case fared before they agreed to open access to data. Although in some provinces such as British Columbia and Alberta, the real estate boards do not stop their members from releasing that kind of information
