A year to resolve fraud cases, and no plan for surpluses: Issues flagged at Alberta real estate watchdog

Alberta’s real estate regulator fields roughly 1,350 complaints a year against licensed professionals, and has no standard for how long any of them should take to resolve. 

An independent review by Deloitte has found that the Real Estate Council of Albera (RECA) is falling short at protecting the public, but the problems don’t stop there.

The regulator has gaps across nearly every dimension of its mandate, from how it communicates with fraud victims to how it oversees education and manages its finances, according to the 111-page report, commissioned by the Ministry of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction and made public this week.

Year wait to discipline frauders

While acknowledging genuine progress since a major restructuring in 2020, Deloitte’s message is clear: further work is needed to strengthen RECA’s efficiency and effectiveness as a regulator overseeing more than 22,000 licensed professionals.

Complaint and investigation timelines are alarming. The average licensee complaint takes 114 days to result in disciplinary action. Fraud cases stretch to 370 days on average. 

At the time of the review, 135 investigations had been open for more than a year. Forty-six had been open more than three years.

Deloitte found RECA’s hearing processes are lengthy, disciplinary outcomes are inconsistent and complaint files are unreliably documented. 

The report notes that complaint timelines vary by the complexity of the matter. Still, it calls for more structure. Among its 40 recommendations, Deloitte said RECA ought to publish service standards and standardize decision-making frameworks. 

“These findings underscore the need to define reasonable investigation timelines for complaints, and differentiate complex and high-risk case timelines, and ensure processes remain responsive. For matters requiring extended review, transparency can be maintained through proactive communication with complainants about progress, expectations, and key milestones,” says the report.

In a brief email statement, a spokesperson for Service Alberta said, “Our next steps will be determined in collaboration with RECA.” 

Questions about the report’s findings were not answered by the department.

Victims left in the dark

In one fraud case involving more than 60 known victims, RECA provided zero proactive updates to any of the affected parties, as no policy required it to.

While specific cases are not named in the report, victims of fraudster Eric Drinkwater have been outspoken about the lack of transaparency from RECA and as they sought to recover the money they lost in a Ponzi scheme organized by the former Calgary agent. 

Public-facing communication at RECA is “limited, sometimes unclear, and reactive,” the report states, said Deloitte, adding that those involved say these experiences “have eroded their trust in the complaints process.”

When RECA does communicate, it isn’t always clear. 

Certain notifications, like ones telling complainants their file has been transferred, offer little explanation of what that means or what happens next, Deloitte found. 

And if someone is a victim rather than the person who filed the complaint, they may not hear anything at all. RECA’s policies only recognize complainants as entitled to information, formally excluding known victims, even in large fraud cases with dozens of affected parties.

Who is watching the classroom?

When Alberta changed the rules around real estate education, RECA got out of the business of delivering it in 2022. The problem, according to Deloitte, is that it got out of overseeing it, too.

“In distancing itself from education provision, RECA has stepped back too far from its statutory responsibilities for education oversight,” the report states, warning that gaps in provider oversight, quality assurance and accountability pose direct risks to “licensee competency and public protection.”

RECA has followed what the report calls a “light touch” approach to education oversight, leading to confusion about who is actually responsible for ensuring the quality of training Alberta’s licensed real estate professionals receive. 

There are no minimum standards for approving education providers, no formal agreements between RECA and those providers, and no structured schedule for reviewing whether course content is keeping pace with the industry, Deloitte found.

RECA’s position, says the report, has been that it is constrained in its ability to oversee education beyond administering exams and basic recognition activities. But Deloitte found that interpretation is not explicitly supported by legislation.

“In discussions with RECA leadership, this interpretation was described as based on direction received verbally and in a clarifying email from the Ministry, leaving the scope of RECA’s authority opaque and undocumented,” says the report.

Following the money

Despite shedding its education responsibilities, which significantly reduced its costs, RECA ran large operating surpluses from 2020 to 2024. Deloitte found that fees were not recalibrated to reflect that reduced scope, and that budget forecasting has been “reactive” rather than based on planning.

A third-party cost review commissioned by RECA in 2025 found that roughly half of its fees could be reduced to better align with the actual cost of regulatory activities.

Management had initially proposed reducing individual license renewal fees by $75 to $135, but instead recommended maintaining existing fee levels and offering a temporary $250 credit for three years starting in 2024, which the board adopted. 

Deloitte said the credit “provides temporary relief to licensees” but “does not address the ongoing surplus.” It also found RECA could have acted much earlier. Modelling shows that implementing cost-reflective fee changes from 2020 onward would have brought RECA close to break even annually, avoiding the need for large recurring credits altogether.

Faith in new leadership

Alberta Real Estate Association (AREA) CEO Brad Mitchell said the report “validates a lot of concerns” the industry association has.

He says he’s “moderately confident” that government intervention will make a difference. 

“One of the challenges with government is they always look at these challenges from a legislative perspective, and most of the changes needed aren’t legislative, they’re around culture and behaviour and competency,” he said.

He said he has more faith that Cynthia Moore, who was announced as the incoming RECA board chair at the end of last year, can turn the ship around. 

“She’s a real breath of fresh air. I think with a new leader there, they have a really good chance of becoming a good regulator.”

REM has requested a statement from RECA.

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