A branch office, as defined in the regulations, is any place where the public is invited to attend to transact business. Brokers and agents who maintain separate offices must list those offices as branches to be noted with FSCO. Any change of address for branch offices must be notified to FSCO within five days.
Brokers or agents who do not work out of a specified office, but invite the public into their home to do business must list their home address as a branch office.
Brokers and agents receiving clients in a home:
All home offices receiving clients must be registered with Head Office. This requires RMA signage with the brokerage license number displayed. The signage must be approved by the Principal Broker prior to printing.
The home office must be a separate room and entrance to provide privacy and professionalism and may be subject to FSCO and Head office inspection.
In the event you have a home office just for your personal use and not receiving clients in your premises you must on all business cards have the Head Office address listed as your place of business and not your place of residence as a place of business.
Any changes that take place within office location Head Office must be notified immediately in order to comply with the 5 day ruling for reporting to FSCO.
A broker or agent who does not invite the public into their home, but simply runs a home-based office, is not required to notify FSCO of a branch. However, that address may not be listed on any marketing materials.
Supervising Branch Offices
Recommendations for supervising of branch offices include the following;
Principal Broker may conduct onsite office inspections at the discretion of the Principal Broker.
Each branch to be staffed with at least one agent with a minimum 5 years of experience
Real Mortgage Associates Inc. will require a senior broker to conduct face to face meetings with assigned agents at branches to review transactions on regular intervals.
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