Annual licence maintenance

The address is synbad.com/licence-maintenance. The Online Checkout is only available during the annual licence renewal period, from March until April 30 of the current year.

Technical instructions

For the best experience, we suggest that you use Chrome or Firefox as your Internet browser. Avoid using Safari if possible.

If you experience technical problems and are unable to complete all the steps in the Online Checkout, try again later. Heavy traffic can cause a system overload.

If the problem persists, contact Info OACIQ during business hours or via the form on the Contact Us page. Make sure you describe the problem and inform us of the best time to contact you.

Mobile devices

The Online Checkout is available in a mobile version. You can access it via your smartphone or tablet.

First you must complete the Information Update form at synbad.com/licence-maintenance no later than April 30 and then pay your licence fees to ensure that your licence remains valid after April 30 to be able continue carrying out your real estate brokerage activities.

Read this article for licence renewal fees,

Payment by credit card via the Online Checkout is the preferred method. However, payments by cheque or electronic transfer through your financial institution are also possible as long as they are received by April 30 of the current year. Also, you will need to proceed sufficiently in advance to meet the deadlines for receiving and processing the payment. These deadlines may vary from 24 hours to 3 business days, depending on your financial institution. Please note that it is no longer possible to pay in person at our head office.

If you still want to pay by cheque or electronic transfer and  wish to renew your electronic form subscription, you must pay in a single installment the total amount including les electronic forms. To avoid a break in service, it is not recommended to pay the subscription to the forms separately.

Payment by credit card via the Online Checkout is the preferred method. However, payments by cheque or electronic transfer through your financial institution are also possible as long as they are received by April 30, 2023. Also, you will need to proceed sufficiently in advance to meet the deadlines for receiving and processing the payment. These deadlines may vary from 24 hours to 3 business days, depending on your financial institution. Please note that it is no longer possible to pay in person at our head office.

1. Payment via the Online Checkout, by credit card.
2. By cheque (to the order of OACIQ): Please print your licence maintenance notice and return it to us with your cheque, making sure to indicate "To the Attention of Accounts Receivable" on your envelope. If you wish to renew your annual subscription to InstanetForms^TM electronic forms, you must enter the total amount including the one for your subscription. See the above question. Don’t forget to indicate your licence number on the back of your cheque. Please make your payment several days before April 30 to ensure that the delays incurred by mail allow the receipt of your payment on time. It is no longer possible to pay in person at our head office.
3. By electronic transfer through your financial institution: enter the reference number appearing on your licence renewal notice. You will need to choose this method of payment when you enter the information in the Online Checkout. If you wish to renew your annual subscription to InstanetForms^TM electronic forms, you must enter the total amount including the one for your subscription. See the above question.
4. By VISA credit and debit card and MASTERCARD Debit: In general, this type of card works like a debit card. However, if you have a daily debit withdrawal limit, you must first contact your financial institution to increase your card limit to complete the transaction.
5. By prepaid cards: This type of card works like a VISA or MASTERCARD credit card. However, you must first activate the card and make sure you have a CVV/CVC number to complete the transaction.

Note that you must update your personal information via the Online Checkout before paying the annual applicable fees.

If necessary, an Info OACIQ agent can assist you by phone during business hours to make your payment, but only if you have already updated your information.

No. You must complete your information update via the Online Checkout first. Then you can pay your annual licence fees using the payment method of your choice.

Only exception allowed: An agency executive officer who wishes to pay his brokers’ licence fees may do so. However, brokers remain responsible for updating their information via the Online Checkout page and making sure their annual licence fees have indeed been paid.

It should be noted that an agency executive officer is responsible for following up with his agency brokers to ensure that they renew their licences on time. You may, at any time, visit the Monitoring of my brokers section in My record on synbad.com.

The period covered is from May 1 to April 30 of next year. All real estate brokers and agencies, wishing to carry out real estate brokerage activities during this period , must renew their OACIQ licences before April 30 of the current year.

No. For privacy concerns, the OACIQ does not keep credit card information. This means that no automatic payment will go through on your credit card even if you chose that method of payment last year.

Remember that each broker is responsible for making sure his or her annual licence maintenance fees have been paid. In addition, an agency may choose to pay the licence maintenance fees of its brokers, but each broker is fully responsible for checking that this step is completed within the specified period.

It should be noted that an agency executive officer is responsible for following up with his agency brokers to ensure that they renew their licences on time. You may, at any time, visit the Monitoring of my brokers section in My record on synbad.com.

The annual licence fees for a licence holder are set out in section 45 of the Regulation respecting broker’s and agency licences. The fees are adjusted every year based on the rate of increase of the Consumer Price Index for Canada. This indexation is indicated in section 47 of the same Regulation.

Remember that the OACIQ acts as regulator of the Real Estate Brokerage Act and your licence constitutes your right to practice.

No. This payment solution is not available.

Yes. All real estate brokers and all agencies must update information each year.

No. You must do it via the Online Checkout page at synbad.com/licence-maintenance.

No. However, we encourage you to take a moment to check if your photo in My record is about to expire. If so, take the opportunity to change it online at the same time. 

Reminder emails are sent directly to you to inform you of the deadlines and conditions for changing your photo. Remember that there will be no charge for your photo change if it is done within 12 months prior to the due date indicated in My record.

For more information, read this article on synbad.com.

• His licence will be revoked retroactively to May 1
• He will have to cease all real estate brokerage activities after April 30
• He will have to remove all ads
• The agency will have to notify in writing, without delay, all the parties the real estate broker represents that he is no longer authorized to act on the agency’s behalf and inform them of licensee who has been appointed to replace him. This notice must indicate that the parties have a right to continue to do business with the agency or to terminate the brokerage contract  (more details in this article)
• He will need to apply for a new licence, which entails additional costs and delays
• He will no longer be covered by FARCIQ professional liability insurance for transactions carried out as of May 1.

The broker acting on his own account must himself inform the parties he represents immediately and in writing of the fact that he is no longer authorized to act regarding the brokerage contracts in progress due to the revocation of his licence. Therefore, all his contracts will be terminated, and his clients will have to use the services of another real estate broker or agency.

For the steps to follow to return to the profession following a licence revocation for failure to pay the annual licence fees within the deadline, see the answer to the question below.

To return to practice, you must:

• complete and email the form Application for issuance of a licence • Real estate broker to apply for a new licence to the Certification Department, along with the payment of applicable fees
• declare whether you were engaged in brokerage transactions during the licence revocation period If necessary, the Syndic will be informed and may take all appropriate measures
• certify that you have notified all your clients that you are no longer authorized to carry out the current brokerage contracts
• pay additional fees for the review of your application and a criminal background check, in addition to the licence renewal fees (they vary depending on the month in which you wish to resume your practice) and any other sum due to the OACIQ
• undergo a new criminal record check if it has not been done in the last six months
• if you are operating within a business corporation, complete the Application for authorization to practise within a business corporation and return it to us along with the applicable fees
• a complete application will be processed by the Certification Department in approximately 7 to 10 business days

• His licence will be suspended after April 30
• He will have to stop carrying out brokerage activities as of the date of his licence suspension
• He will have to remove all ads
• The agency will have to notify in writing, without delay, all the parties he represents that he is no longer authorized to act on their behalf and inform them of the name of the licensee appointed to replace him. This notice must indicate that the parties have a right to continue to do business with the agency or to terminate the brokerage contract  (more details in this article)
• He will need to request the lifting of his licence suspension and pay the related fees for a licensee who failed to fulfill his obligations
• A complete application will be processed by the Certification Department in approximately 7 to 10 business days

The real estate broker acting on his own account must himself inform the parties he represents immediately and in writing of the fact that he is no longer authorized to act regarding the brokerage contracts in progress due to the revocation of his licence. Therefore, all his contracts will be terminated, and his clients will have to use the services of another real estate broker or agency.

For the steps to follow to return to practise real estate brokerage following a licence suspension for failure to update personal information, see the answer to the question below.

To return to practice, you must :

• pay the applicable fees to request that the lifting of licence suspension for a holder who has failed in his obligations towards the OACIQ
• complete the Request for lifting of licence suspension-Broker form
• update personal information via the Online Checkout and/or meet the MCEP requirements
• declare whether he carried out brokerage activities during his licence suspension or revocation period. If necessary, the Syndic will be informed and may take all appropriate measures
• certify that he notified all his clients that he was no longer authorized to act regarding the brokerage contracts in progress
• A complete application will be processed by the Certification Department in approximately 7 to 10 business days

By April 30, any agency executive officer must:

• Renew his own certified real estate broker AEO licence by updating his personal information via the Online Checkout page and paying the annual licence fees
• Renew the real estate agency’s licence by updating the agency’s information and paying the agency’s annual licence fees via the Online Checkout. . It is also his duty to follow up with his agency brokers to ensure that they renew their licence on time. You may, at any time, visit the Monitoring of my brokers section on My record on synbad.com.

Because of his role as agency executive officer, the consequences of a suspension or revocation are not insignificant as they may not only have a direct impact on his licence, but possibly on that of the agency and the brokers acting on its behalf as well.

In the case of a real estate agency (natural person), the suspension of the agency executive officer’s licence will result in the suspension of the agency's licence and that of its brokers. However, if the real estate agency (legal person or corporation) will have 60 days to appoint a licence holder who is qualified to act as an executive officer. According to section 16 of the Regulation respecting broker’s and agency licences, the agency licence will be suspended if the agency fails to appoint an agency executive officer with the required qualifications within the 60-day period.

 For more details, read this article.

• The real estate agency licence will be revoked retroactively to May 1
• The licences of the agency brokers will be suspended retroactively on the same date as the revocation of the agency licence
• The agency and the brokers will have to cease all real estate brokerage activities after April 30
• The agency will have to remove all ads
• The agency will have to notify in writing, without delay, all the parties it represents that the agency and its brokers are no longer authorized to act regarding the brokerage contracts in progress. To this effect, read the article Notice – Agency or status change on synbad.com to select the correct notice corresponding to your situation (Notice N if the agency was co-listing or Notice H if not, in which case all brokerage contracts will be automatically terminated due to the agency ceasing its activities following the suspension or revocation of its licence)
• The agency will need to apply for a new licence, which entails additional costs and delays. For more information, click here.

For the steps to follow to reactivate an agency licence following a licence revocation for failure to pay the annual licence fees within the deadline see the answer to the question below.

1. Send us an Agency licence application, including:

• Any additional forms and other documents required if you answer positively to any question in section V Declaration of the application form (Form to be completed in case of conviction • Penal offence and criminal act, Form to be completed in case of conviction • Ethical offence and Form to be completed in case of bankruptcy)
• The payment required for the issue of an agency licence
• The payment of the fee to lift the licence (administrative) suspension of each agency broker's licence.
• You must also complete the section for holders of revoked licences on the licence application form
• Complete Declarations section for your agency brokers on the Request for lifting of licence suspension form. These sections are used to certify that the notices for all contracts in progress were sent to clients and to declare whether you and your agency brokers have engaged in brokerage transactions during the revocation period. If necessary, the Syndic will be informed and may take all the measures he deems appropriate

For more information on the steps to obtain an agency licence, read this article.

2. Following the analysis conducted by the Certification Department, the agency must develop a written compliance program if there is none already implemented within the agency or to adjust the existing one and make a commitment to comply with it.

In both cases, the program must meet the requirements of the OACIQ. For more information, read this article.

3. Wait a few weeks after taking the above-mentioned steps for the confirmation of the Certification Department. Verifications will also be carried out to validate the compliance of your file. The agency may then resume its activities.
 

• Its real estate agency licence will be suspended after April 30
• The agency licence supension will result in the automatic suspension of the licence of all brokers acting on behalf of the agency
• The real estate agency and the brokers will have to cease all brokerage activities
• The agency will have to remove all ads
• The agency will have to notify in writing, without delay, all the parties it represents that the agency and its brokers are no longer authorized to act regarding the brokerage contracts in progress. To this effect, read the article Notice – Agency or status change on synbad.com to select the correct notice corresponding to the situation (notice N if the agency was co-listing or notice H if not, in which case all brokerage contracts will be automatically terminated due to the agency ceasing its activities following the suspension or revocation of its licence)

For the steps to follow to reactivate a real estate agency licence suspension for failure to update its information within the deadline, see the answer to the question below.

To reactivate its licence, a real estate agency whose licence was suspended for failing to update its information must:

• Update the agency’s information. To do so, go to the Declarations section on My record on synbad.com
• Complete and email the Request for lifting of licence suspension for an agency form
• Pay the applicable fee to request that the lifting of licence suspension for a holder who has failed in his obligations towards the OACIQ
• Pay the applicable fee to lift the licence (administrative) suspension of each agency broker's licence
• Complete and have all agency brokers complete the section Declarations in the Request for lifting of licence suspension form. This section is used to certify that the notices for all contracts in progress were sent to clients and to declare that you or your agency brokers have not engaged in any brokerage transactions during the suspension period. Otherwise, the Syndic will be informed and may take any measures he deems appropriate
• A complete application will be processed by the Certification Department in approximately 7 to 10 business days.

No. Because this is sensitive and confidential information, you are responsible for answering the questions yourself. That’s why the OACIQ cannot offer this service and update your information for you.

You must report any changes that have occurred since your last declaration. Previously reported situations do not have to be declared again.

See the Certification FAQ - Brokers.

No. The 2023-2025 cycle of Mandatory Continuing Education Program will end on April 30, 2025.

Visit this page on synbad.com for all the details or check out the Professional Development Portal to see the number of CEUs earned to date, the remaining training courses to be completed or to register for them.

By April 30, you must also:

• Update your personal information via the Online Checkout
• Pay your annual licence fees via the Online Checkout

Note that you may make your payment only after completing your personal information update.

The subscription to InstanetForms^TM electronic forms expires on April 30 of each year. To carry out residential real estate transactions, you must subscribe to InstanetForms^TM electronic forms to access current versions of brokerage forms.

If you do not renew your subscription with your licence renewal, you will no longer have access to the InstanetForms^TM platform after April 30. You will need to get a new subscription to regain access to the forms; this will take effect a couple of hours after you re-subscribe. The fees for InstanetForms^TM are listed here (PDF) and vary depending on the month in which you wish to subscribe.

Please note that access to the platform does not provide access to electronic signatures. If you use an electronic signature solution, you will need to contact your provider with any question about your subscription.

Yes. You will find your receipt in My record on synbad.com, in the Licence maintenance section, in approximately 24 to 48 hours after finalizing your transaction.

Yes. Under the Real Estate Brokerage Act, all OACIQ licensees must take out the professional liability insurance policy of FARCIQ.

Find the explanatory letter and the new annual insurance policy in the Licence Holders Area on farciq.com.

Your FARCIQ insurance policy can be found in the Licence Holders Area under the "My insurance policy" section on farciq.com.

Yes. An agency executive officer can pay the annual licence fees of his agency’s brokers if desired.

The simplest way to do this is via the Online Checkout. On the payment page, simply select the brokers whose licences the AEO wishes to renew (and subscription to InstanetForms^TM if desired) from the list shown (maximum of five brokers per transaction. The total payable will be adjusted automatically.

If the AEO wishes to pay by cheque, he must clearly specify the licence number and name of each broker and calculate the total payable by adding the licence renewal fees for each broker. These fees can be found in question 3 of this FAQ. The AEO must add the InstanetForms^TM electronic form subscription fees for brokers who wish to renew their subscription, otherwise their subscription will end on April 30.

It is not possible for an agency executive officer to pay his brokers’ licence renewal fees through a financial institution.

You must notify us as soon as possible by answering the questions here. Upon receipt of this information, you will be removed from our reminder lists. It is important to provide us with a personal email address so that we can send you the necessary information to maintain your acquired rights next year. Following your request, your licence will be revoked as of May 1 without any further action on your part.

Even if your licence has just been issued to you, you will have to renew it to be able to continue practising as a real estate broker next year. The licence renewal period always starts in March and ends on April 30 of the current year. Before this date, you must:

• Pay your annual licence fees
• Update your personal information
• Pay your subscription to electronic forms if you carry out residential real estate transactions