CASL real estate rules come down to three tests for every commercial email or text: you have the recipient’s consent, the message clearly identifies you, and it contains a working unsubscribe. Under Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation, the sender has to be able to prove consent, so records matter as much as the message itself.
What is CASL, and does it cover real estate?
CASL is the federal law that governs commercial electronic messages, and real estate marketing falls squarely inside it. The CRTC’s FAQ says the law applies to email as well as SMS and other messaging to mobile phones and devices. A message that promotes your services, a listing, an open house or a market update with a call to action is typically commercial.
The federal fightspam.gc.ca site is the official starting point for the rules. This article is general information, not legal advice. Confirm how the rules apply to your brokerage with your provincial regulator, your brokerage’s compliance lead or a lawyer.
What is the difference between express and implied consent?
Express consent means someone has agreed, verbally or in writing, to receive your messages. According to the federal CASL guidance, it has no time limit unless the recipient withdraws it. Implied consent is recognized only in certain circumstances, such as an existing business relationship, and it is time-limited.
The same guidance sets the main windows: implied consent can last up to 2 years, or just 6 months in the case of inquiries or applications. The table below maps those rules to situations agents meet every week. Treat the right-hand column as our working practice, not a ruling.
| Situation | Likely consent position | Safer practice |
|---|---|---|
| Website form asking you a question about a property | An inquiry, so implied consent for 6 months | Add an unticked consent box to get express consent |
| Open house sign-in sheet | Signing a sheet does not by itself clearly agree to marketing messages | Print a plain consent line next to the email and phone fields |
| Past client who closed with you | Existing business relationship, up to 2 years from the transaction | Ask for express consent at closing and again in an annual check-in |
| Business card collected at an event | May be implied if the message relates to their role and they did not decline | Follow up personally and ask permission before adding to a list |
| Purchased or scraped list | No consent from you | Do not message by email or text |
The CRTC FAQ also notes that an abandoned online cart does not create implied consent, and it recommends asking for express consent instead. The same caution applies to a half-finished home-valuation form.
What must every email and text contain?
Each message must identify who is sending it, give contact details, and offer a free, clear way to unsubscribe. The federal guidance lists the main elements:
- Your business name and the name of anyone on whose behalf you send the message.
- A current mailing address, plus a phone number, email address or website.
- Clear unsubscribe instructions that are easy to follow and cost the recipient nothing.
- An unsubscribe mechanism that keeps working for at least 60 days after you send.
In an agent’s email footer that means the agent’s name, the brokerage name, a mailing address and a one-click unsubscribe. In a text, keep it short: who you are and how to reply STOP. Check that the identification fits your message format and that your brokerage’s compliance rules are met, since provincial regulators and brokerages may also set advertising requirements.
How fast must you honour an unsubscribe?
Without delay, and no later than 10 business days after you receive the request, according to the CRTC. In practice, set your tools to stop automatically and instantly, then audit the manual routes that bypass automation: replies saying “stop”, calls, messages to the brokerage inbox and social direct messages.
The classic failure here is a list in two places. The agent unsubscribes someone in the email platform, but the CRM still has an active drip, or a VA exports a new list from an old file. Keep a single suppression list and sync it everywhere you send.
What records should you keep for CASL compliance?
Keep proof of consent for every contact you message, because the burden sits with you. The CRTC FAQ says the onus is on the person who claims they obtained consent to prove it. The law sets no fixed retention period, and the CRTC suggests keeping express-consent records for as long as you contact the person.
The CRTC’s enforcement advisory on consent records suggests keeping:
- All evidence of express and implied consent, such as call recordings, signed forms and completed online forms.
- The documented methods used to collect consent.
- Your policies and procedures for CASL compliance.
- All unsubscribe requests and what you did about them.
In a CRM this becomes fields: consent type, date, source, who captured it, expiry date for implied consent, and an unsubscribe flag. Our guide to a real estate lead follow-up system for Canadian realtors lists the full set of tracking fields.
What are the penalties under CASL?
The CRTC has described administrative monetary penalties of up to $1 million per violation for individuals and up to $10 million per violation for organizations. It also notes that directors and officers can be liable if they directed or took part in a violation, and that businesses can be liable for messages sent by third parties on their behalf.
Those are maximums, not typical outcomes, and what a regulator imposes depends on the facts. The practical takeaway for a brokerage is that written policies, contracts with anyone sending for you, and monitoring are worth having. The CRTC FAQ specifically points to written contracts, compliance policies and monitoring when third parties send for you.
Which automation settings matter most for CASL real estate compliance?
The settings that matter are the ones that decide who gets a message and when it stops. Whatever platform you run, check these before turning on any workflow:
- Consent gate: workflows enrol only contacts with a consent type and date recorded.
- Expiry rule: implied-consent contacts drop out of marketing sends when the 6-month or 2-year window ends.
- Global unsubscribe: one opt-out removes the contact from email and text workflows everywhere.
- Stop on reply or booking: automation pauses when a human conversation starts.
- Footer and sender identity: name, brokerage, address and unsubscribe are locked into templates.
- Import control: uploads need a consent field, and bulk imports go through an approval step.
These settings work in GoHighLevel, Lofty, BoldTrail and Lone Wolf, but vendors differ in what they offer, so check each vendor’s help centre rather than assuming. See also how realtors can automate lead follow-up and our real estate CRM automation service.
Which CASL mistakes do agents make most often?
The mistakes are usually process gaps, not bad intent. Five to watch for:
- Treating a six-year-old closing as a live relationship when the implied window has long passed.
- Adding every open house sign-in to the newsletter without a consent line on the sheet.
- Using a pre-ticked consent box, which makes it hard to show the person actually chose.
- Sending from a team inbox where nobody watches unsubscribe replies.
- Letting a VA, lead vendor or marketing company send without a written agreement about who checks consent.
Any of these makes CASL real estate compliance harder to prove, which is the point of the records section above.
A simple CASL checklist for agents and teams
| Check | Question to ask | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Consent captured | Is consent type, date and source recorded? | Agent sets rule, VA records |
| Expiry tracked | Do implied-consent contacts have an end date? | VA monitors |
| Identification | Does every template name the sender, brokerage and address? | Agent approves |
| Unsubscribe | Is it free, clear and actioned within 10 business days? | VA runs, agent audits |
| Third parties | Is there a written agreement with anyone sending for you? | Brokerage |
| Review | Is a sample of sends reviewed monthly? | Agent or compliance lead |
What can a VA decide, and what can’t they?
A virtual assistant can carry out the routine, but the licensed agent or brokerage decides who may be contacted. Our remote team handles administrative work, and regulated or legal judgement stays with the REALTOR or registrant.
- A VA can: record consent fields, apply approved templates, run unsubscribes, maintain the suppression list, build workflows to the agent’s rules and prepare the monthly review.
- A VA should not: decide that a contact has implied consent, import or buy a list without sign-off, rewrite footers, or make compliance calls in grey areas.
If you want that routine set up properly, see our real estate CRM virtual assistant service or the real estate virtual assistant for Canada page, and book a free consult to scope it.