From the President's Desk

Where has the summer gone! Labour Day is around the corner, the kids will be back in school.

So how has everybody's summer been? Just a couple of things to tell the members about but before I do I want to congratulate our most recently accredited members.

June 24th and 25th the Board of Examiners interviewed a whole group of individuals and below are the names of the successful newly designated members of the OA-AIC.

Congratulations to the following newly designated members.

Now to news!!

Some of you may have heard or even been affected by Teranet's tightening up access to information through the Real Estate Boards.

Teranet has a contract with each of the Boards that set out specific requirements for access to the data. That contract specifically defines an authorized user and the purposes for which the data may be used.

The wording in the contract is: "Authorized User" means:

I) a Board Member that also is a licensed Realtor (broker or agent) in the Province of Ontario whose membership with the Board is in good standing, or
ii) a permanent employee of the Board accessing GeoWarehouse for exclusively administrative or maintenance purpose,

in both cases each of whom have accepted the GeoWarehouse Online Terms and Conditions of Use. Without limitation, "Authorized User"shall not include Persons whose primary commercial activity consists of any of the following: financial institutions, government agencies, credit bureaus or reporting agencies, collection agencies, lawyers, law firms, paralegal service firms, conveyancers, mortgage brokers, investment analysts, marketing companies, mapping or geospatial services companies, MLS system vendors, software developers, re-marketers, re-sellers, assemblers, wholesalers or distributors of information or data products, media companies, appraisers, surveyors, or honorary members of the Board; (emphasis added)"

When Teranet set up their sub license agreements with the individual boards it was for agents to carry out their daily business of buying and selling properties for their clients. Many of us in the appraisal business have had access either as a licensed agent or through other means. As well, there are a number of our members who have "Associate" memberships with specific Boards.

Some of these memberships allowed the same access to Teranet data for the associates as it does for agents, some did not. The problem for Teranet was that the agreement did not cover access to data for appraisal purposes and that the number of searches far exceeded what was considered to be reasonable under the contract. As a result Teranet is currently carrying out an audit of use Board by Board. They have sent out letters to all Real Estate Boards in Ontario explaining the limits of the contract and asking them to comply. Those individuals who are accessing data for purposes other than buying and selling real estate will lose their access to the above information in the near future. In fact the Kitchener-Waterloo Board turned off the tap without any notice.

Some members currently have one or more commercial licenses with Teranet. These individuals or companies will be able to carry on business as usual.

Representatives of OA-AIC met last week with representatives of both Teranet and MPAC to discuss the development of cost effective products specifically for OA-AIC members. The meeting was informative and quite productive and Teranet and MPAC together, and in consultation with OA-AIC, will be moving forward quickly to develop a couple of packages/price plans for members. Make no mistake, we as members will no longer have a free ride in terms of gaining the information. Paying the real estate board fees for an individual will not guarantee you the information you require. However, we are working on a one stop solution for members that will be designed specifically for appraisers and should be more cost effective than the current commercial agreements.

.For those of you who are wondering about the Bylaw Review regarding Paralegal licensing recently conducted by the Law Society of Upper Canada, the results of the review have been posted on their website.

The recent reports can be found at http://www.lsuc.on.ca/media/convjun08_psc.pdf.

Basically, designated members of AIC who provide the legal services only occasionally and who provide the legal services as ancillary to the carrying on their profession are still exempt from the requirement of being licensed as a paralegal. However, the LSUC is trying to decrease the exemptions over time. To that end, they are developing an education program to allow members of the exempt professions to meet the requirements of regulation. Further details are required about the implementation of this program but we are following the issue closely.

I will be attending the next Kitchener-Waterloo chapter meeting in the middle of September and I have been informed that our members in Sudbury want to see my mug again so I am looking into their next meeting as well.

Remember if you give me enough notice I will gladly come for a visit.

The next OA-AIC board meeting will be taking place on Friday October 1st. If there is anything you would like discussed, feel free to contact me or your Regional Director .

Until next time

Ed

Board of Directors

Ed Saxe, CRA President
president@oaaic.on.ca