Starting July 1, 2015, real estate professionals in Ontario will
not be allowed to imply that they have received an offer to
purchase unless the offer is in writing and has been signed. The
new rules, which have been established by the Liberal government
and the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO), are designed to
eliminate the possibility of phantom bids in multiple offer
situations.
It will no longer be open to agents to try to drive up the sale
price by saying that they have, or are expecting, another offer
that in reality does not exist.
Although the existing rules already indicate that for an offer
to be valid it must be signed, the new rules require agents to keep
records of the offer. If a potential buyer wishes to confirm that
there are multiple offers they can take their request to RECO and
the listing agent will be required to show proof of the other
offers, however the details of other bids (e.g. the offer price)
will not be revealed to other potential
