By a measure of 97%, representatives from close to 100 boards across Canada with nearly 100,000 Realtor members, voted in St. John's to ratify the negotiated settlement CREA reached last month with Melanie Aitken the Commissioner of Competition.

Among the key conditions of the agreement, which has still yet to be made public, is a provision allowing real estate agents to offer a host of different services via the Multiple Listing Service. The MLS is responsible for about 90% of the transactions in Canada and had been the subject of anti-competitive charges by the Bureau.

"We are pleased with the agreement. It allows realtors to go back and do what they do best and that is helping Canadians," said Georges Pahud, president of CREA.

What it also does is allow his members to offer variety of services on the MLS, including merely posting a property and letting consumers conduct the rest of the transaction.

The final agreement does not affect the so-called "compensation pillar" requiring all sellers to offer some type of fee to the agent acting for the buyer. However, the amount can be as low as $1.

CREA and the Bureau have had been battling for the past three years.

In February, Ms. Aitken filed charges with the Competition Tribunal against CREA saying its action were anti-competitive. By March CREA had amended its own rules to allow a la carte services to be offered through the MLS but had left in a provision that could allow local boards to opt out.

The agreement approved yesterday, which is for 10 years, provides for severe penalties if any boards restrict access to the MLS.

Under the agreement the public will not get direct access to the MLS or the website realtor.ca - something the Bureau was not seeking.

"This agreement addresses the commissioner's concerns," said Mr. Pahud. "Our members will provide services to their clients and customers according to their business models and charge fees they deem appropriate."

Ms. Aitken said Sunday that CREA had contacted the Bureau to resume negotiations on a settlement which was finally reached Sept. 30.

"I am pleased that CREA members have voted in favour of this agreement," she said, in a statement. "This resolution is welcome news for both consumers and real estate agents in Canada. For Canadian homeowners, it ensures that they will have the freedom to choose which services they want from a real estate agent and to pay for only those services. For real estate agents, it ensures that they will be able to offer the variety of services and prices that meet the needs of consumers."

Lawrence Dale, the lawyer who has been battling CREA since 2001, when he launched a discount operator called Realtysellers (Ontario) Ltd., said CREA's past rules had restricted mere postings.

"It was only after my persistence that resulted in the Competition Bureau finally recently intervened which forced CREA to only recently remove these rules earlier this year. The settlement agreement now prevents CREA from re-implementing these types of rules again," said Mr. Dale, who plans to announce in the coming days his reentry into

the marketplace.

Phil Soper, chief executive of Royal LePage Real Estate Services, thinks the changes will lead to some innovation in the marketplace in terms of pricing structure.

"What I don't think you'll see is suddenly big change in the actual cost of the services being provided. It won't happen in a slowing market," said Mr. Soper.
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