As Mississauga-based iPro Realty. Ltd. shuttered its 17 branches on Tuesday after being found to have mishandled millions of dollars, Real Estate Council of Ontario issued an update to address some of the many questions stemming from the shocking events affecting 2,400 agents.
The closure follows the discovery of a $10.5-million shortfall in the company’s consumer deposit and commission trust accounts during a scheduled inspection. The amount has since declined to less than $8 million.
“This is a serious breach of iPro’s responsibilities under the law and to its consumers and agents. RECO’s approach has been to recover the greatest amount of trust money possible to protect the maximum amount of funds for consumers and agents,” said Tuesday’s advisory.
iPro’s co-founders Rui Alves and Fedele Colucci are permanently barred from trading real estate.
About brokerage inspections
RECO completes more than 1,000 brokerage inspections each year, said RECO. Brokerages have historically been inspected approximately once every four years.
“RECO completed an inspection of iPro in 2021,” it said. “An inspection of iPro had been scheduled for late May 2025, however, the owners notified RECO of the shortfall immediately before the inspection.”
Police involvement
RECO said it has been in contact with Peel Regional Police regarding the funds missing from iPro, “and will cooperate with any investigation.”
As of right now, a criminal investigation has not commenced.
Agent commissions
iPro cannot pay out commissions until the brokerage is closed and a full accounting of outstanding commissions is completed and then assessed against potential insurance coverage, said RECO.
All iPro agents with outstanding commissions are advised to file an insurance claim.
Insurance process
While RECO continues its analysis, the insurance program is assessing coverage.
“Once the brokerage closes, a full accounting will be completed as soon as possible,” said RECO.
The total amount of insurance coverage for consumer deposits and commissions is up to $8 million in aggregate ($4 million for each) with an additional limit of $200,000 per individual, per claim (not per transaction).
Transfer fees waived for iPro agents
iPro agents must transfer to a new brokerage to maintain their registration, and have been advised they can transfer to any registered brokerage in Ontario.
“RECO is facilitating the transfer of registrations to any brokerage and will be doing a bulk transfer of the agents wanting to be transferred to iCloud,” it said.
“To support agents during the transition, RECO will either waive or reimburse transfer fees, including for those agents who may have transferred from iPro to iCloud and wish to transfer to a new brokerage in the coming weeks,” said RECO.
Details on iCloud
Last week, RECO confirmed that iCloud has purchased some of iPro’s assets and assumed some of its leases, however, there has been no transfer of ownership from iPro to iCloud.
A search of RECO’s registrants shows iCloud’s broker of record is Christopher Regimbal, who was a broker/manager with iPro. iCloud Realty was registered earlier this month.
“The broker of record at iCloud is a former employee of iPro; there is no evidence that this individual was involved in any wrongdoing,” said RECO. “As broker of record, he will be responsible and accountable for the operations of the brokerage in compliance with the law.”
RECO added that it “will closely monitor the operations of iCloud, as it does with the operation of any new brokerage.”
