Your implied consent to email a past client has a time limit, so ask for permission while you still have it
If you email past clients in Canada, the implied consent you get from a deal runs out two years after you last did business together. That's how the Canadian Real Estate Association's guidance on Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation describes it, and my view is that the best time to ask a client for ongoing permission is while that consent is still in place.
Key points
- CREA's guidance on Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation says an existing business relationship covers someone you've done business with in the two years before the message is sent, or someone who inquired about your services in the past six months.
- CREA describes three CASL rules for commercial electronic messages: have the recipient's consent, identify yourself with contact information in each message, and include a working unsubscribe mechanism.
- Liv's reading for agents: note when each client's implied consent began, and ask them directly whether they'd like to keep hearing from you while that consent is still in place.
A past deal gives you two years of implied consent, and an inquiry gives you six months
The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) wrote its Guidance on Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) for REALTOR® Members to make compliance with the law easier for its members. It describes CASL as a law that regulates how you can send email, text messages and other electronic messages.
The law applies to commercial electronic messages, which CREA shortens to CEMs. A message is commercial, in the guidance's words, "if it is reasonable to conclude that it is intended to encourage participation in a commercial activity."
CREA sets out three primary rules for sending one. You need consent from the recipient before you send it, each message has to carry proper identification and contact information, and each one needs a functioning unsubscribe mechanism.
Consent can be implied in five circumstances, meaning you can send a CEM without explicitly asking for permission first. They are following up on a referral, an existing business relationship, an existing non-business relationship, an electronic address the person has conspicuously published, and an address the person has disclosed to you.
The existing business relationship is the one that matters most for past clients. According to the guidance, it arises when you and the recipient "have done business together in the two years before the message is sent." It also exists when the person has made an inquiry about your services within the past six months. You can rely on it to send messages until that two-year or six-month period expires.
Consent comes first, and implied consent is tied to recent business
Consent is the first of the three rules, and implied consent is the route CREA lists for sending without asking. Each of the two periods it describes is measured back from the day you send, which means a contact's implied consent quietly lapses if nothing new happens between you.
For a typical buyer or seller, the business you did together centres on one transaction, so I'd treat the closing date as the start of the two-year window, and as I read it, a new deal within those two years would start it again. A lead who inquired but never became a client is on the six-month window, which is a short runway for someone who's still deciding whether to move.
This is CREA's guidance for its members and not the legislation itself, and the document carries no publication date, so check the current rules with your brokerage or the CRTC before you change how you work. It also isn't legal advice, and neither is this article. Whether a particular check-in counts as commercial depends on what it's reasonable to conclude the message is for, and my own view is that an agent's ongoing emails to past clients are sent at least partly to keep the next deal in reach, so I'd plan as though they count.
Ask past clients for permission while the relationship is fresh
Agents I've spoken to have said their past-client lists tend to grow for years without anyone checking when each person last did business with them. If that sounds like your database, here's what I'd do this month.
Record the date each client's window started. For every past client, note the closing date or the last date you did business together. For leads, note the date of their inquiry. Without those dates, you can't tell who you still have implied consent to email. Canada's federal privacy law has its own consent expectations for the information you hold on each client, which this overview of PIPEDA for real estate agents covers.
Sort your list by how much time is left. Pull out past clients approaching the two-year mark and leads approaching six months. Those are the people to talk to first, while you can still email them on the strength of the existing relationship.
Ask the question directly. Implied consent is the exception CREA describes for sending without explicit permission, so as I read it, asking is how you keep emailing someone once the window has passed with no new business. A short note asking whether they'd like to keep hearing from you, with a clear way to say yes, is a reasonable start. Check with your brokerage on how they want that request worded and the answer recorded.
Ask at closing as well. My view is that the strongest moment to ask is when the deal wraps up and you're already in regular contact, and you still have the full two years as a backstop if they don't reply.
Check every message against the other two rules. Consent covers only the first of CREA's three, so make sure your name and contact information appear in each nurture email and that the unsubscribe link actually works, and test it from a personal address if you haven't recently.
Be honest about cold leads. A lead who inquired eight months ago and went quiet is outside the six-month window CREA describes. My reading is that a lead like that needs a different conversation, such as a plain question about where they stand, before you add them to any regular email.
Knowing where each contact stands keeps the asking manageable
In my view the hard part is tracking the date for every one of several hundred contacts while you work live deals, and noticing when a window is about to close. Worthington keeps a detailed record on each contact, including durable facts and interaction history, and a note flagged as a reminder becomes a follow-up task automatically. He doesn't give legal or compliance advice, so what counts as valid consent is still a question for your brokerage.
Two years feels like plenty of time on closing day, and it passes quickly once a client is settled in the new house. A short question asked in that window means you can keep writing to them after the deal stops covering you.
Frequently asked questions
How long can I email a past client in Canada without asking for permission?
CREA's guidance says an existing business relationship covers someone you've done business with in the two years before the message is sent, and you can rely on it until that period expires. After that, the implied consent from the deal no longer applies. Check current rules with your brokerage or the CRTC, since CREA wrote guidance for its members and the legislation itself is the final word.
Does a buyer who only inquired about my services count?
Yes, for a shorter time. The guidance says an existing business relationship also exists when the person has made an inquiry about your services within the past six months. Once six months pass without further business, that basis for implied consent ends.
Is a friendly check-in email covered by CASL?
CASL applies to commercial electronic messages, and CREA's guidance calls a message commercial if it's reasonable to conclude it's intended to encourage participation in a commercial activity. Where a given check-in falls is a judgment call. My view is that an agent's regular emails to past clients are partly about future business, so I'd treat them as covered.
What does every nurture email need to include?
CREA describes three primary rules: have the recipient's consent, provide proper identification and contact information in each message, and include a functioning unsubscribe mechanism. Make sure all three hold for every message you send, including short personal notes from your regular inbox.
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