Who may enter your home

The rule

“In carrying on business, a registrant shall not provide any person with access to real estate unless, (a) a registrant is present with the person; or (b) the owner of the real estate has consented in writing.”

Protection of property, section 22.5, General Regulation (O. Reg. 567/05)

There is no third option. Not a booked appointment, not a lockbox code shared for convenience, not “the buyers were already there”. Either a registrant is standing with the visitor, or the owner has said yes in writing.

The four ways it gets broken

Each of these is a real decision in our register, and together they cover almost every version of the problem.

1. The code is handed to the client. Sufyan Ahmad gave his buyer client the lockbox code and was not present for the viewing. Fine: $6,000. Devin Keller did the same during a scheduled showing. Fine: $6,000.
2. The visit happens outside the booked window. Rozerin Izol used the lockbox code to enter with buyer clients outside the scheduled date or time. Fine: $6,500.
3. There is no appointment at all. Kay Dhillon accessed a property and ran a showing with no appointment and without the consent of the seller, the seller's representative, or the occupant. Fine: $7,000.
4. Someone lives there. Amy Du entered a tenanted home without an appointment or permission. She contested the case and lost. The panel called it a serious invasion of privacy and noted she had been warned about the same conduct the year before. Fine: $12,000.

If you rent, this rule is about you

The Dhillon decision names the occupant separately from the owner, and the Du decision turns on the home being tenanted. A landlord's permission to list the property is not permission to walk a stranger through your living room. Under Ontario's residential tenancy rules you are also entitled to written notice, normally 24 hours, stating the time of entry.

The agent showing the property may never have met you. The appointment system exists so that your consent reaches them anyway.

If someone entered without permission

1. Write down what you know the same day: date, time, how you learned of it, who was there, and the brokerage on the sign or the card left behind.
2. Ask the listing brokerage in writing for the showing log. Brokerages keep records of who booked and when.
3. Complain to RECO. It regulates the registrant and can investigate. Our guide explains how a complaint works.
4. If entry was forced, or something is missing, that is a police matter first, and a regulatory one second.

If you are selling

Ask your brokerage two questions before the lockbox goes on: who has the code, and what happens if a buyer's agent cannot attend an appointment they booked. The answer to the second should be that the appointment moves, not that the code gets shared.