Toronto realtors will officially stop using the term master bedroom

The Toronto Regional Real Estate Board has announced that it will stop using the term "master" bedroom on all of its platforms when referring to the main bedroom in a home due to the term's ties to racism and sexism.

TRREB President Lisa Patel announced the news this week, explaining that the recommendation was made by the diversity and inclusion committee and has been approved by the board of directors.

"What this will mean for the consumer and realtors is that property listings will now reference 'primary' where it used to reference 'master' as the main or principal bedroom," Patel said in a statement.

This change will apply to any entries in its MLS system, according to Patel, as well as TRREB.ca and its Webforms platform, where realtors create and share forms with clients.

The Canadian Real Estate Association has already been using the term "primary" for roughly six months on Realtor.ca following a recommendation to do so from the Real Estate Standards Organization last year.

"This change, recommended by TRREB's Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, will help align us with industry best practices already implemented by CREA on REALTOR.ca and other real estate associations," reads a notice sent to realtors about the change. 

"It will also address the negative connotations surrounding 'master' bedroom, which many members, others in the industry, and the public at large associate with terminology rooted in slavery and/or sexism. We also heard some of your concerns about the offensive undertones associated with this term," it continues.

"We know that words matter, and this is a step forward in rethinking outdated terms and modernizing the language used in the real estate industry."