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Several issues raised in 2019 focused on the role of regulation in real
estate law.
At the beginning of the year, the Law Society of Ontario began sorting
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ROLE OF REGULATOR IN REAL ESTATE
through submissions, considering whether to alter the restrictions on real
estate lawyers who get fees and other perks paid by certain title insurers.
Meanwhile, real estate lawyers told Law Times that colleagues
continued to advertise fixed-fee services with exceptions, despite tighter
restrictions passed by the Law Society of Ontario less than two years ago.
Later in the year, Ontario's Law Society Tribunal Hearing Division revealed
it was split on the similar marketing practices of one of the province's
biggest real estate law firms, which goes by Real Estate Lawyers.ca LLP.
Real estate lawyers also spoke out on other issues related to regulation.
The Law Society Tribunal allowed an appeal in a long-standing mortgage
fraud case after the lawyer for the accused said the law society did not
warn lawyers about that type of mortgage fraud until years later. Finally,
the LSO's decision to wait 17 months before warning the profession about
syndicated mortgage investments was "deeply problematic" for many
investors in scandal-ridden Fortress Real Development Inc.'s syndicated
mortgages, said Toronto lawyer David Franklin.
David Franklin
