Our New Brunswick legislation, the Real Estate Agents Act,  clearly indicates that the Province licenses real estate Agents, Managers, Salesmen and Branch Locations.  (The Province does not issue a real estate "broker" or "brokerage" license.)

Yes folks it is all there in black and white for anyone to see under Real Estate Licenses - Justice and Consumer Affairs - "An agent's license is issued to the corporate body, partnership or individual who is legally responsible for contracts, financial accountability, advertising, sales representatives and other matters respecting the trading in real estate."

Only Agents, "either alone or through one or more officials or salesmen", are permitted to "trade" in "real estate". And "No person shall trade or hold himself out as trading in real estate ... as an agent unless he holds a valid and subsisting licence as an agent;"

New Brunswick publishers routinely confuse consumers by referring to salespeople as agents. Even those who should know better such as licensed salespeople routinely advertise themselves as agents. This activity goes on unabated because no one chooses to monitor it. Consumers are left to figure it out for themselves. The Province issues a license to everyone licensed under the Real Estate Agents Act and consumers should ask to see the license if they believe they are dealing with a licensee. That would only be fair since licensees now routinely ask consumers for identification when entering into a contract to sell or purchase real estate.

By the way, there is no such thing as an "independent contractor" license. The Canada Revenue Agency differentiates between employees and self-employed when it comes to certain tax issues, but even they do not use the term "independent contractor". One's status with the Canada Revenue Agency as self employed has nothing to do with licensing under New Brunswick's Real Estate Agents Act where it states that  "A salesman’s licence shall be valid only while the salesman is acting as a salesman employed by and representing the agent ".

And why should a consumer of real estate services even care about any of this? One very good reason is a practice called "dual agency" or "When dealing with a double agent it's consumer beware."  More to follow in Part 2 - "Who's Your Agent?".