Real estate agents in Ontario are regulated by the Real Estate Council of Ontario, usually shortened to RECO. The province delegated that job to RECO, a not-for-profit authority that registers every salesperson, broker, and brokerage in Ontario and enforces the standards they have to meet.
RECO administers the Trust in Real Estate Services Act, 2002, known as TRESA, which is the renamed and modernized version of Ontario's older brokerage legislation. Its largest round of reforms took effect on December 1, 2023. RECO reports to the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement, so it sits at arm's length from government while still answering to it.
Registration is not optional. Nobody can legally trade in real estate in Ontario without it, and RECO currently oversees more than 110,000 agents and brokerages. The pre-registration courses, the extra education a broker needs, and the continuing education every registrant has to keep current are all set by RECO. Before an agent provides you with services or assistance, they are required to hand you the RECO Information Guide, a plain-language document that lays out your options and their obligations.
RECO also runs the insurance sitting quietly behind your transaction. Professional liability coverage is mandatory for every registrant, and buyers get consumer deposit insurance at no cost to them, covering up to $200,000 per claim if a brokerage becomes insolvent or misappropriates deposit money held in trust. What it will not do is settle an argument between a buyer and a seller over who is entitled to a deposit. That is a separate question about where your deposit is held and how it is protected.
When something goes wrong, RECO is where complaints go. It can investigate a registrant, inspect a brokerage's records and trust accounts, levy fines, and suspend or revoke a registration outright.
One point trips people up. OREA, CREA, and local boards such as TRREB are trade associations rather than regulators. CREA owns the REALTOR trademark and the code attached to it, and board membership is what gives an agent access to MLS, but none of those organizations can take away the registration that lets someone work. Only RECO can. That distinction is worth holding onto when you are sorting out what separates an agent, a broker, and a REALTOR, or working through a rule like multiple representation that RECO enforces.
Related reading: What Does a Buyer's Agent Do in Ontario?, How Do Real Estate Agents Get Paid in Ontario?, and What Is the Difference Between a Real Estate Agent, a Broker, and a REALTOR in Ontario?.