Most people use agent, brokerage, agency, team and realtor as if they were interchangeable. In Ontario they are not, and the difference shows up on the document you sign.

A brokerage is the registered business. It must be registered with the Real Estate Council of Ontario, and it is the brokerage that is party to your representation agreement.

An agent is an individual registrant who trades on behalf of that brokerage, registered as either a salesperson or a broker.

A team is a group of registrants working together within a brokerage, usually under its own name and brand. A team is not a separate registered business and it is not your counterparty.

Which produces the practical point. A team name on a sign, a website or a business card is not necessarily the registered brokerage name. The name on the agreement you are asked to sign may differ from the name in the advertising, and if it does, ask why before you sign. That is not a suspicious question, it is a basic one.

We are a team. Kirby Chan & Co. Real Estate Team operates within eXp Realty, so the brokerage behind our work is eXp Realty and that is what appears on the paperwork. We state it plainly because this is the exact thing the section is about.

Real estate brokerages in Ontario are registered and regulated by the Real Estate Council of Ontario under the Trust in Real Estate Services Act, and the obligations are more substantial than the public side of the business suggests.

Every brokerage must have a broker of record, and that individual is responsible for managing and supervising the brokerage. On RECO's account the role includes keeping records, setting up compliance procedures, managing trust accounts, monitoring advertising and trade documentation, and correcting areas of non-compliance promptly.

Trust account reconciliations must be reviewed monthly by the broker of record. RECO describes that requirement as protecting consumer funds and alerting the brokerage quickly to any discrepancy in its real estate trust account.

Trade records are kept per transaction, which RECO describes as helping the broker of record track transactions, monitor deposits, confirm that required documents were obtained and demonstrate compliance.

Why any of this matters to you. None of it is visible from a listing presentation, and all of it is the part of the business that handles your money and your paperwork. The agent you meet is the service. The brokerage is the infrastructure, and the infrastructure is what you are relying on when something goes wrong.

The requirements are set by the regulatory framework and change, so confirm the current position with RECO rather than relying on this summary.

In Ontario a representation agreement is with the brokerage rather than with the individual registrant, and registrants trade on behalf of the brokerage they are registered with. That is why the brokerage name is on the paperwork.

The reassuring consequence. Your agreement does not depend on one person remaining available. If your agent leaves, becomes ill or moves to another brokerage part way through your listing, the agreement and the obligations under it do not simply disappear, and what happens next is governed by the agreement and the framework rather than by whatever feels fair at the time.

So ask the question in advance: what happens to this agreement if my agent leaves your brokerage. A clear answer tells you the brokerage has thought about it.

The part sellers underestimate. A representation agreement is a binding contract with a term, and a long term signed with an agent who turns out to be wrong about price is an expensive position. Establish the term, what would end it early, and what the brokerage would consider grounds for you to walk away.

If anything in the agreement is unclear, have a real estate lawyer read it before you sign. That is inexpensive relative to the transaction and almost nobody does it.

A deposit on a residential resale purchase in Ontario is normally held in a brokerage's real estate trust account, subject to the requirements of the governing framework, rather than being held personally by an agent or handed to the seller.

This is the clearest answer to why the brokerage matters rather than only the individual. Your deposit sits with the brokerage, under rules the brokerage is responsible for following, with reconciliations the broker of record must review monthly.

Three things to establish in writing before any money moves. Which registered brokerage holds the deposit. Exactly how it is to be delivered, and to whom. And what your agreement says happens to it if the transaction does not complete, because that is not a single simple answer and depends on the circumstances.

A practical warning that has nothing to do with real estate law. Deposit and closing funds are a target for fraud, and instructions arriving by email directing you to send money to a changed account are a known pattern. Verify payment instructions by telephone, using a number you already have rather than a number in the email, before sending anything. If anyone pressures you to move money quickly on new instructions, stop and call your lawyer.

These are legal questions for your lawyer and for the brokerage, not matters to assume. Nothing here should be relied on to determine what happens to a deposit in a particular transaction.

Everything above is background until something goes wrong, at which point the brokerage stops being paperwork and becomes the thing you are dealing with.

Complaints about registrant conduct go to the Real Estate Council of Ontario, which publishes information about complaints and discipline relating to registrants. That is the appropriate place to look and the appropriate place to complain, rather than reviews or social media.

RECO also acts at the brokerage level. It issues public advisories concerning brokerages and has taken action in respect of brokerages where consumer funds or conduct were at issue. The existence of that enforcement is the reason the trust account and supervision requirements in section two are not administrative trivia.

Ontario also has a consumer deposit insurance arrangement administered through RECO. What it covers, in what circumstances and up to what limits are matters set by the regulator and they change, so get the current position from RECO directly rather than from any third party summary including this one. The point worth taking is that it exists and that it is worth understanding before you hand over a deposit rather than after.

None of which is a reason for alarm. The overwhelming majority of transactions complete uneventfully. It is a reason to know which registered brokerage you are dealing with, to verify that it is registered, and to keep your own copies of everything you sign.

1. Confirm the brokerage is registered through the Real Estate Council of Ontario, using the name that appears on the agreement rather than the name in the advertising.

2. Confirm the individual is registered and in which category, salesperson or broker.

3. Check what RECO publishes regarding complaints and discipline, and read what is actually there rather than reacting to whether anything exists.

4. Get the RECO Information Guide. A registrant must provide and explain it before providing services. It is published by the regulator rather than by any brokerage, so read it before your first meeting with anyone.

5. Establish which representation structure applies to you, brokerage or designated, in writing.

6. Get the fee, the split, the term and the termination provisions in writing, along with what happens if the home does not sell and whether any fee is payable after expiry if it later sells to someone introduced during the term. Commission is negotiable and there is no standard rate.

7. Establish who holds the deposit and how it is delivered, and verify payment instructions by telephone.

8. Ask what happens if your agent leaves the brokerage.

9. Ask the multiple representation question from section five, in those words.