What to send a realtor, broker or consultant — and what not to

What to send a realtor, broker or consultant — and what not to

Buying a home, arranging a mortgage, filing an immigration application or preparing a tax return all involve handing your most sensitive documents to someone you recently met.

Most of these professionals are regulated, insured, and careful. The point of this article is not suspicion — it is proportion: send what the job needs, verify who you are sending it to, and keep a record.

Before anything: verify the licence

Every regulated profession in Canada maintains a public register. Look the person up before you send documents, not after.

Check that the name, licence number and brokerage match what you were told. Fake mortgage brokers and unlicensed immigration "consultants" are a persistent problem in Canada, and they target newcomers in particular.

What each actually needs

Mortgage broker or lender

Reasonable:

• Government photo ID
• Proof of income — pay stubs, employment letter, T4s, notices of assessment; business financials if self-employed
• Proof of down payment and its source — this is required, not nosiness; lenders must document where funds came from
• Existing debt details
• Property details

Not reasonable:

• Your online banking username and password. Some services offer bank-authorized connections that verify income without sharing credentials — that is different. Handing over your login directly generally breaches your bank's terms and can shift liability for fraud onto you.
• Documents unrelated to the application
• Your SIN before you have chosen to proceed with a lender

Real estate agent

Reasonable:

• Government photo ID — agents are required to verify identity under anti-money-laundering rules
• Confirmation of financing from your lender
• Contact details

Not reasonable:

• Your SIN. It belongs to your lender and the CRA.
• Full bank statements. The agent needs to know you are financed, not what you spend money on.
• Your entire financial picture

Immigration consultant or lawyer

Reasonable:

• Passport and status documents
• Education and employment records
• Civil-status documents
• Police certificates and medical results
• Anything specifically required by the application

Not reasonable:

• Keeping your original passport. They may need to see it. Retaining it is not required, and retention of identity documents is a recognized control tactic in exploitation. Take it back the same day.
• Charging for government forms. Forms on canada.ca are free. Fees are for their professional service, and the split should be stated in a written retainer.
• Working without a written retainer agreement that sets out the scope and the fee.

Accountant

Reasonable:

• SIN — genuinely required to file your return
• All tax slips and receipts
• Prior-year returns and notices of assessment
• Business records if self-employed

Not reasonable:

• Your CRA My Account login. An accountant obtains access properly through the CRA's own authorized-representative process. Sharing your credentials is not how that works.

Insurance broker

Reasonable:

• Identity and address
• Driving record for auto
• Property details for home
• Claims history

Not reasonable:

• SIN for a standard policy
• Health information beyond what the specific product requires

The universal rules

1. Ask why, for anything that seems beyond the task. A legitimate professional explains the requirement without irritation.
2. Send the minimum. Specific pages, redacted where the rest is irrelevant.
3. Use their secure channel. Regulated businesses have one — ask for it. See How to send sensitive documents securely in Canada.
4. Never hand over passwords. To anything.
5. Keep your originals.
6. Get the scope in writing. A retainer or engagement letter naming the service and the fee.
7. Keep a record of what you sent, to whom, and when.
8. Ask about deletion when the file closes.

Warning signs

• Pressure to send everything immediately, before a written agreement
• Refusal to provide a licence number, or a number that does not match the register
• Requests for passwords or login credentials
• Requests to keep original identity documents
• Fees payable by e-transfer, gift card or cryptocurrency
• Guarantees — of approval, of an immigration outcome, of a rate. Nobody can guarantee a decision made by a lender or a government
• Communication only from a personal email or messaging app, never a business domain
• Asking you to sign blank forms or documents you have not read

Report suspected unlicensed practice to the relevant regulator, and fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

After the file closes

• Ask them to delete what they no longer need. Many are required to retain some records for a set period — the answer should be specific, not vague.
• Keep your own copy of everything you sent and everything they produced.
• Update your own records so the next professional starts from an accurate set.

How my-id.ca helps

Working with professionals is the case my-id.ca was originally built for — on the business side, hivi-x.ca is the tool many Canadian realtors, brokers, consultants and accountants use to collect documents from their clients.

From your side that means: when a business requests documents through my-id.ca, you get an access-controlled channel instead of an email attachment, you see exactly what is being asked for and what they can see, and sharing history keeps the record this article recommends — automatically. If a request feels wrong, there is guidance for that too.

Your documents stay encrypted on Canadian servers, and are never sent to a third-party AI provider.

Next steps

• What a business can and cannot see
• When a request feels wrong
• How to send sensitive documents securely in Canada
• Who can legally ask for your SIN

Important: this is general information, not legal advice

This article is general information to help you get organized — it is not legal, financial, real estate, immigration, or tax advice, and my-id.ca does not provide legal or professional consultation. my-id.ca is not a government agency, law firm, lawyer, brokerage, licensed immigration consultant, accountant, or licensed advisor, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by RECO, FSRA, CICC, RIBO, the Law Society of Ontario, any CPA body, or any other regulator named here.

What a professional is required to collect changes over time and differs by province, product and regulator. Always verify a licence with the relevant regulator and confirm requirements directly with the professional and their governing body. For advice about your individual circumstances, consult a licensed professional in the relevant field. If anything in this guide differs from an official source, the official source is correct.