FVREB office reopening update

by Baldev S. Gill, Chief Executive Officer

Today’s eMemo contains the following update:

• FVREB office reopening update

Last week, Premier Horgan announced a phased approach to gradually restarting the BC economy as we continue to work our way through this pandemic.

The management team and the Board of FVREB have been closely following the guidance and requirements that the Premier and Dr. Bonnie Henry have laid out.

The Board is part of Phase 2 of the government’s reopening plan, and as such, the Board office will reopen on a gradual basis, starting May 19, 2020.

With that in mind, we have decided to reopen our Board office in a gradual manner, starting next Tuesday, May 19, as follows:

• 19^th, 20^th & 21^st – Management, Admin, and a subset of the IT team
• 25^th, 26^th & 27^th – a subset of the IT and MLS® teams, as well as the Education team
• June 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd & 4^th – a final subset of the MLS® team, as well as the Communications, Professional Standards & Finance teams

Our priority is to ensure the health and safety of our staff as well as you, our members. Accordingly, our team has worked on a plan to ensure we are compliant with the provincial health officer’s orders and in accordance with occupational health and safety guidance provided by WorkSafeBC.

We have installed plexiglass barriers in our reception area as well as in the MLS® area, we have ordered masks, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes for the entire office, we have engaged additional support on daily cleaning and disinfecting of our office, we have signage reminding us all on proper handwashing techniques, and we have installed signage to allow staff and members to engage in safe physical distancing in our building.

Members can expect to be served through a combination of remote and in-office resources with no interruption as we transition to a return to work.

Members will be able to visit the office starting May 19 while adhering to physical distancing and sanitizing measures. Please note that WorkSafeBC requires an office to have no more than 50 people in a building at any given time.

Our reception team will update you on this when you arrive at the office and may ask you to wait outside until you are able to safely enter the building. Out of a concern for your safety, we encourage you to call ahead to ascertain if wait times are involved, as well as to make use of our voice and online communications tools to have your needs addressed.

We look forward to your co-operation and support in ensuring that we all model the behaviour required to work together to further flatten the COVID-19 curve and help us work through this pandemic.

Stay well, stay safe, and stay as healthy as you can.

Additional Resources:

• The New Brunswick Real Estate Board has provided a very useful list of procedures it recommends to Realtors – Real Estate Transactions during state of emergency
• The Real Estate Council of BC has also provided our members with some excellent information and advice on the subject here.
• BCREA has provided information about contracts during this pandemic COVID-19 FAQ: Dealing with Contracts and Disclosure Requirement
• Also, check out CREA’s New2Me bulletin