Real estate and mortgage brokers

Buying or selling a home now starts online. Buyers search listings, study photos and floor plans, take virtual tours, estimate payments with a mortgage calculator and request a showing or pre-approval. Sellers look up an agent's track record and book a valuation. When those tools only work with a mouse, or a calculator's result is never announced to a screen reader, a client with a disability has to ask someone else for help with one of the largest decisions they will make, or move on to another agent.

About 27% of Canadians aged 15 and over reported one or more disabilities in 2022 (Statistics Canada, Canadian Survey on Disability 2022). People who use screen readers, magnification or keyboard navigation buy, sell and refinance homes like everyone else.

Where websites in this sector usually fail

The patterns below come up often on brokerage, agent and mortgage broker websites. They are typical issues, not findings about any particular business.

What the regulation requires

Under the Accessible Information and Communication Standard Regulation, Man. Reg. 47/2022, organizations with one or more employees in Manitoba have been covered since May 1, 2025. Web content must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA if it was published on or after that date or is needed to access the organization's goods or services (s. 7(1) (opens in a new tab)). Calculators and application portals published or significantly updated after that date are also addressed as web applications (s. 8(1) (opens in a new tab)).

Third-party listing feeds and s. 7(2) (opens in a new tab)

Listing search on brokerage and agent sites is often supplied through an IDX or similar embed from a third-party provider. Section 7(2) (opens in a new tab) sets out exceptions to s. 7(1) (opens in a new tab), including where the organization has no direct control over the content, where meeting the standard is not technically feasible, where the technology is not readily available, and where it would cause undue hardship.

Whether an exception applies depends on the facts, and it is narrower than it may first appear. As general information:

• An exception for an embedded feed does not extend to your own pages, forms, photos, videos or calculators around it.
• Settings you control, such as colours, headings and the text you add to listings, are generally within your control.
• It is sensible to document the issue, ask the provider about an accessible option, and give clients another way to search and ask about listings, such as a phone number or email address placed next to the feed.

The regulation also requires a notice that accessible formats and communication supports are available (s. 5 (opens in a new tab)), an accessible feedback process (s. 9 (opens in a new tab)), and training for people who communicate publicly on the organization's behalf, maintain web content or buy ICT (s. 4 (opens in a new tab)). In a brokerage, that can include agents who post listings and the person who chooses the website platform.

What we test first

1. Searching and filtering listings, and opening a listing's details
2. Viewing photos, floor plans, video and virtual tours
3. Using the mortgage or affordability calculator
4. Completing a pre-approval or application form
5. Requesting a showing or a home valuation
6. Finding and contacting an agent or broker

Each journey is tested with keyboard only, NVDA on Windows, VoiceOver on macOS and iOS, text resized to 200% and content reflowed at 320 CSS px, in addition to automated scans. See our method.

Fixing without a redesign

We work with the least visible change. Calculators gain proper labels and announced results, carousels gain a pause control, videos gain captions, and focus indicators are styled to match your brand. Where a listing feed sits outside your control, we document it and help you raise the issues with the provider. We never install overlay widgets, and if anything we repaired is later found not to meet WCAG 2.1 AA, we correct it at no charge.

Read about our services, see a sample report, or contact us for a fixed written quote after an audit. You can also call (431) 816-6210 or email [email protected].

Last reviewed October 2026. General information, not legal advice.