{"id":15084,"date":"2017-12-01T15:25:22","date_gmt":"2017-12-01T20:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/?p=15084"},"modified":"2017-12-07T11:32:49","modified_gmt":"2017-12-07T16:32:49","slug":"appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Appeals Court Rules TREB Must Share Sold Data"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Federal Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal from the Toronto Real Estate Board<\/a> to withhold proprietary real estate sold data – the latest outcome in a hard-fought battle that has raged since 2011.<\/p>\n

At around 3 p.m. EST, the Court revealed it would uphold the ruling made by the Competition Tribunal in April 2016<\/a>, which found TREB\u2019s practices to be anti-competitive, stating the real estate board\u2019s arguments that sharing its sold data database would violate privacy and copyright laws\u00a0fell short. It finds TREB had not acted on privacy concerns before explicitly telling Virtual Office Websites\u00a0(VOWs, which includes Zoocasa) they couldn’t utilize the data.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 the Tribunal found TREB\u2019s concern with privacy to be unpersuasive. We will turn to this issue in greater detail later in these reasons; suffice to say at this point that, looking at the record before it, the Tribunal found little evidence that TREB\u2019s VOW committee had considered or acted upon privacy concerns before establishing TREB\u2019s VOW Policy,\u201d reads the appeal statement.<\/p>\n

It’s a win\u00a0for market transparency and consumer empowerment, says Lauren Haw, Zoocasa’s Broker of Record.<\/p>\n

“The ability to share and display market data (such as past-sold prices) with consumers is a positive development for the real estate industry,\u201d she says. \u201cWe strongly believe in a model where consumers are educated and able to work with experienced agents that act in an advisor capacity – not as gatekeepers of information.”<\/p>\n

Some of the information that may now be made publicly available includes past asking vs. selling prices, realtor commissions, and the number of times a home has been listed. Previously\u00a0this data could be shared between an agent and their clients, but could not be published or distributed to the public.<\/p>\n

TREB has since stated it is “disappointed” in the outcome of the appeal and plans to take its case to the Supreme Court of Canada.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

“TREB disagrees with the decision of the Federal Court of Appeal and will be seeking leave to appeal the decision together as well as an order staying the decision pending the outcome of that appeal, if granted. TREB believes strongly that personal financial information of home buyers and sellers must continue to be safely used and disclosed,” said TREB CEO John DiMichele.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The Fight to Free Sold Data<\/h2>\n

The Competition Bureau first took TREB to task in May 2011 for what it alleged were anti-competitive practices. It made an application to the Competition Tribunal to prohibit the board from \u201cenacting, interpreting and enforcing rules, policies, and agreements\u201d that prevent real estate agents and brokerages from sharing information from past sold deals online.<\/p>\n

That the board had exclusive use of historical sales data, the Bureau argued, was unfairly preventing online brokerages from using it to improve their own business offerings, such as data-based tools and resources. It also argued that it took power from consumers by limiting their research options.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf TREB\u2019s member brokers were able to able to offer VOWs with online search capabilities, their customers could conduct their own searches for, and review information relevant to, the purchase and sale of homes in the GTA, without the personal assistance or direct intervention of a broker,\u201d the tribunal states in its application. \u201cCurrently, brokers and their staff obtain such information from the TREB MLS System themselves and provide it their customers by hand email, or fax.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Haw says the point of releasing sold data isn\u2019t to do away with the realtor-buyer relationship \u2013 rather, it\u2019s to widen buyers\u2019 and sellers\u2019 access to the information they need to make their best real estate move.<\/p>\n

“By sharing more information, we are able to make for a more transparent buying and selling process. Agents will provide value by interpreting price points, market trends and fluctuating data for their clients,” she says.<\/p>\n

“Zoocasa’s users are researchers and come to our site looking for relevant information to influence their home purchase – such as school boundaries and rental options. Past-sold data will help them make more informed decisions.”<\/p>\n

TREB’s Privacy Argument<\/h2>\n

The Tribunal ultimately ruled in favour of the Bureau in April 2016, and TREB was ordered to change their practices as well as pay $1.8 million. However, the board immediately appealed, citing breach of copyright as well as privacy concerns for buyers and sellers, whose transaction information would be used\u00a0without their consent.<\/p>\n

The order was stayed in August as Justice Mary J. L Gleason found TREB had \u201craised at least one serious issue with respect to the possibility that the Tribunal\u2019s order failed to take adequate consideration of property owners\u2019 rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen analysing the privacy issue, the tribunal focused largely on whether TREB\u2019s motivation for raising property owners\u2019 privacy rights stemmed from a legitimate concern about those rights, or was tainted by an improper desire to maintain the dominant position of the majority of its members, who do not rely on web-based services,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Next for GTA Real Estate and VOWs?<\/h2>\n

Now that the use of data has been clarified, the questions remains of how it will impact the GTA real estate landscape, pending any additional appeals to the Supreme Court. TREB has been aggressive in the past to stop data-sharing efforts \u2013 most recently, it served a cease-and-desist order<\/a> to financial data analyst Shafquat Arefeen, who had compiled two-years\u2019 worth of data into a series of market trends charts on a personal website. It was a hit, drawing 13,000 visits before the Board ordered it be shuttered. Rather than face a potentially pricey legal battle, he complied.<\/p>\n

Zoocasa, while under previous ownership by Rogers Communications, complied with a similar request in 2015, ceasing the distribution of regular sold data newsletters. However, other Canadian jurisdictions, such as Nova Scotia, allow the sharing of such data, and it\u2019s commonplace practice in the United States.<\/p>\n

What do you think about the Competition Tribunal\u2019s outcome? Leave us a comment below.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Federal Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal from the Toronto Real Estate Board to withhold proprietary real estate sold data – the latest outcome in a hard-fought battle that has raged since 2011. At around 3 p.m. EST, the Court revealed it would uphold the ruling made by the Competition Tribunal in April […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":15086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-estate-news","category-toronto-real-estate"],"yoast_head":"\nAppeals Court Rules TREB Must Share Sold Data | Zoocasa Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Federal Appeals Court has ruled TREB must share sold data, the latest outcome in a hard-fought battle that has raged since 2011.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Appeals Court Rules TREB Must Share Sold Data | Zoocasa Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Federal Appeals Court has ruled TREB must share sold data, the latest outcome in a hard-fought battle that has raged since 2011.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zoocasa Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoocasa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-01T20:25:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-12-07T16:32:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Canadian-short-term-rental-destinations.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"511\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"337\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Penelope Graham\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Zoocasa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Zoocasa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Penelope Graham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Penelope Graham\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9a2554dc39c550f5ef3339b25aa1f09c\"},\"headline\":\"Federal Appeals Court Rules TREB Must Share Sold Data\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-01T20:25:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-12-07T16:32:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/\"},\"wordCount\":999,\"commentCount\":6,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Real Estate News\",\"Toronto Real Estate\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/\",\"name\":\"Appeals Court Rules TREB Must Share Sold Data | Zoocasa Life\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-01T20:25:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-12-07T16:32:49+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Federal Appeals Court has ruled TREB must share sold data, the latest outcome in a hard-fought battle that has raged since 2011.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Federal Appeals Court Rules TREB Must Share Sold Data\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Zoocasa Blog\",\"description\":\"Home Buying & Selling Tips, Real Estate Market Trends & News\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Zoocasa\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zoocasa-square-logo-800x800px.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zoocasa-square-logo-800x800px.png\",\"width\":800,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Zoocasa\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoocasa\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Zoocasa\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9a2554dc39c550f5ef3339b25aa1f09c\",\"name\":\"Penelope Graham\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b876eeae4e4052e9779a93235f93eeaf79772e0fca6f90c1e13a1143a4c748d9?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b876eeae4e4052e9779a93235f93eeaf79772e0fca6f90c1e13a1143a4c748d9?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Penelope Graham\"},\"description\":\"Penelope Graham is the Managing Editor at Zoocasa, and has over a decade of experience covering real estate, mortgage, and personal finance topics. Her commentary on the housing market is frequently featured on both national and local media outlets including BNN Bloomberg, CBC, The Toronto Star, National Post, and The Huffington Post. When not keeping an eye on Toronto's hot housing market, she can be found brunching in one of the city's many vibrant neighbourhoods, travelling abroad, or in the dance studio.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/author\/penelope\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Appeals Court Rules TREB Must Share Sold Data | Zoocasa Life","description":"The Federal Appeals Court has ruled TREB must share sold data, the latest outcome in a hard-fought battle that has raged since 2011.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Appeals Court Rules TREB Must Share Sold Data | Zoocasa Life","og_description":"The Federal Appeals Court has ruled TREB must share sold data, the latest outcome in a hard-fought battle that has raged since 2011.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/","og_site_name":"Zoocasa Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoocasa","article_published_time":"2017-12-01T20:25:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-12-07T16:32:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":511,"height":337,"url":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Canadian-short-term-rental-destinations.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Penelope Graham","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Zoocasa","twitter_site":"@Zoocasa","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Penelope Graham","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/"},"author":{"name":"Penelope Graham","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9a2554dc39c550f5ef3339b25aa1f09c"},"headline":"Federal Appeals Court Rules TREB Must Share Sold Data","datePublished":"2017-12-01T20:25:22+00:00","dateModified":"2017-12-07T16:32:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/"},"wordCount":999,"commentCount":6,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Real Estate News","Toronto Real Estate"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/","name":"Appeals Court Rules TREB Must Share Sold Data | Zoocasa Life","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-12-01T20:25:22+00:00","dateModified":"2017-12-07T16:32:49+00:00","description":"The Federal Appeals Court has ruled TREB must share sold data, the latest outcome in a hard-fought battle that has raged since 2011.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/appeals-court-rules-treb-must-share-sold-data\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Federal Appeals Court Rules TREB Must Share Sold Data"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/","name":"Zoocasa Blog","description":"Home Buying & Selling Tips, Real Estate Market Trends & News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Zoocasa","url":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zoocasa-square-logo-800x800px.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/zoocasa-square-logo-800x800px.png","width":800,"height":800,"caption":"Zoocasa"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Zoocasa","https:\/\/twitter.com\/Zoocasa"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9a2554dc39c550f5ef3339b25aa1f09c","name":"Penelope Graham","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b876eeae4e4052e9779a93235f93eeaf79772e0fca6f90c1e13a1143a4c748d9?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b876eeae4e4052e9779a93235f93eeaf79772e0fca6f90c1e13a1143a4c748d9?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Penelope Graham"},"description":"Penelope Graham is the Managing Editor at Zoocasa, and has over a decade of experience covering real estate, mortgage, and personal finance topics. Her commentary on the housing market is frequently featured on both national and local media outlets including BNN Bloomberg, CBC, The Toronto Star, National Post, and The Huffington Post. When not keeping an eye on Toronto's hot housing market, she can be found brunching in one of the city's many vibrant neighbourhoods, travelling abroad, or in the dance studio.","url":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/author\/penelope\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoocasa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}