The updated regulatory regime, which has been in development since 2013, is the first of its kind in Canada
The Real Estate Council of Alberta revealed on Friday (May 13) that it has put into place a new residential measurement standard, in the wake of a CBC investigation that revealed major inconsistencies in the home size measurement approaches used by real estate agents.
The Council announced that the latest rules—which have been in the works since 2013—would make it mandatory for realtors to follow rigidly defined standards when listing the sizes of homes, after some industry professionals argued that the vagueness of the previous guidelines made them open to interpretation.
“The residential measurement standard gives consumers and real estate professionals accurate and consistent property measurements,” Council chair Krista Bolton stated in a press release, as quoted by CBC News.
“Consumers can be confident in the measurements stated within residential real estate listings, and they can use those measurements to compare different properties to determine if they suit their needs,” Bolton added.
The updated regulatory regime is the first of its kind in Canada, the Council said. It would require real estate professionals to correctly identify and uniformly apply the measurement system used in a particular property (i.e., metric or imperial).
The new standard would exclude any open sections that have no floor (e.g. vaulted areas) and floor levels that have any portion below grade from the measurement, but would include weather-proof additions and extensions like cantilevers, dormers, and bay and bow windows.
The Council announced that the latest rules—which have been in the works since 2013—would make it mandatory for realtors to follow rigidly defined standards when listing the sizes of homes, after some industry professionals argued that the vagueness of the previous guidelines made them open to interpretation.
“The residential measurement standard gives consumers and real estate professionals accurate and consistent property measurements,” Council chair Krista Bolton stated in a press release, as quoted by CBC News.
“Consumers can be confident in the measurements stated within residential real estate listings, and they can use those measurements to compare different properties to determine if they suit their needs,” Bolton added.
The updated regulatory regime is the first of its kind in Canada, the Council said. It would require real estate professionals to correctly identify and uniformly apply the measurement system used in a particular property (i.e., metric or imperial).
The new standard would exclude any open sections that have no floor (e.g. vaulted areas) and floor levels that have any portion below grade from the measurement, but would include weather-proof additions and extensions like cantilevers, dormers, and bay and bow windows.
