Province Set to Assume Control of Embattled RECO

News| November 17, 2025| Monte Stewart

The Ontario government has received an auditor’s report on shuttered iPro Realty, but the findings are not yet being made public, The Toronto Star reported.

The Real Estate Council of Ontario announced that its board has received a copy of the report compiled by law firm Dentons, and the results were shared with Stephen Crawford, the minister of public and business service delivery and procurement.

“As directed by the Minister on August 29, 2025, after the ministry and the minister have had the opportunity to review the report, the findings of the audit will be communicated to the public,” RECO said in a news release.

But the Star reported that the ministry would not confirm when the results will be released publicly. The final report comes after RECO’s board received an interim report October 1.

RECO has received intense criticism for its handling of iPro’s shutdown, which came months after the regulator found that $10.5 million had been withdrawn, allegedly illegally, from the brokerage’s trust accounts. The company later paid back $3 million and co-founders Rui Alves and Fede Colucci agreed never to apply to certify a brokerage again or serve as brokers. As a result, they were not fined or charged.

Alves subsequently told the Star that his family did not benefit from the withdrawal of the funds. An Ontario court judge has frozen iPro’s assets, while the Ontario Provincial Police are investigating the co-founders’ actions. RECO is also tracing where the funds went, and the company is facing legal action.

Court filings and multiple reports indicate that iPro’s debts greatly exceed the value of the firm.

Industry veterans want the Dentons report to be made public, but they are skeptical that it will lead to changes at the regulator, which polices itself, the Star reported.

“It’s all smoke and mirrors, even if they hold RECO accountable we’re not likely going to see any major oversight changes that is going to … enact any change,” said Brandon Reay, an Ottawa broker who writes about the industry’s governance for trade publications.

“I don’t care if we lose self-regulation,” he said, referring to model under which RECO operates. “I think it’s proven that it doesn’t really work,” he said. 

Reay cited B.C. as a real estate regulator that successfully went from being self-governed by industry to one controlled by the province.

“Removing industry capture is extremely important,” he told the Start. “The fact that the regulator can bump elbows with people committing these acts, that is a huge problem.” 

Mark Morris, a real estate lawyer and former policy advisor to Ontario’s attorney general, told the Star that the Dentons report will allow the province to say that it conducted a “full and final investigation with a reputable firm.” But Morris doubts that the report will reveal much more than what is already known.

He told his interviewer that RECO made “a bad deal” with iPro and “sat on their hands for far too long.”

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board and Ontario Real Estate Association have called for RECO to come under independent governance through the province’s ombudsman. However, Reay and Morris do not expect an ombudsman to have much of an impact.

“If the Ministry appoints an ombudsman, it wouldn’t change the situation,” Reay told the Star. 

Pictured: Former iPro Realty listing.

Photo: Realtor.ca