Realtors look to change ‘long and expensive’ process to access property information

A group that represents realtors in the B.C. Interior is making several recommendations to improve how governments process and deliver property documents.

The Association of Interior Realtors (AIR) has released a report that studied 13 municipalities to identify challenges and best practices in dealing with the documents that are vital to completing property sales.

“Realtors take their professional obligation to provide consumers with the necessary information and documentation on a property seriously. A big part of that information—from, inspection reports, to permits, to sewer hookups— is only available in municipal property documents,” AIR President Kaytee Sharun said.

“Unfortunately, we know that in a lot of cases getting these documents can be a long and arduous process full of expenses, exceedingly long timelines and inefficiencies. There’s definitely room for improvement.”

The report, which was released at the recent Southern Interior Local Government Association conference in Kamloops, makes seven recommendations (3 provincial, 4 municipal) to ensure consumers get the information they need and that the home buying and selling process runs smoothly and efficiently.

For the provincial government, the report recommends that they set up a municipal modernization fund, review FOIPPA (Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act) requirements and explore implementing a provincial zoning atlas for public data.

On the municipal side, the association suggests implementing electronic payment systems, enhancing application interfaces, creating clear and accessible property information request guidance, and enabling online tracking of applications.

Sharun said many of the inefficiencies identified related to the lack of digitization of documents which resulted in long timelines and multiple trips to already extremely busy city halls.

“Despite being in an era where almost anything can be accessed online, many of these documents remain undigitized and inaccessible in an online format. Digitization is a necessary step to bring this component of the home buying process into the 21st century,” Sharun remarked.

Sharun said breaking down unnecessary barriers to obtaining municipal property documents not only streamlines an otherwise frustrating process for realtors but also is a win for consumers and a benefit to resources-strapped municipalities who could spend less time processing these documents in the future.

“Our goal is to collaborate with the government to find a way forward on this, we don’t want to just be pointing out problems, we want to be bringing solutions forward to really improve the home buying process for consumers. I think with this report we’ve exemplified that,” Sharun stated.

The Association of Interior Realtors serves about 2,600 realtors who work in communities across the B.C. Interior including the Okanagan, Kootenays, Kamloops and the South Peace River region.