Short version: arrange coverage through your brokerage before you go, because there's no rule that does it for you.
Short answer
Nothing in Ontario real estate law grants a self-employed agent statutory vacation time — you’re a contractor, not an employee, so there’s no Employment Standards Act entitlement to fall back on. What you do have is a structural fact worth using deliberately: because your representation agreements legally belong to your brokerage, the brokerage can hand active clients to a covering agent while you’re away, but only with the client’s agreement.
RECO Bulletin 2.3 allows a brokerage to “designate a different agent employed by the brokerage to be the designated representative for the client if the client so agrees.” That single sentence is what makes a real holiday possible without abandoning active files — but it requires the client’s consent, which means it has to be set up in advance, not improvised the day you leave for the airport.
Two Ontario clocks keep running while you’re away: the continuing-education requirement runs on a fixed two-year cycle, and mandatory insurance renews on its own annual schedule — RECO’s insurance program prices the current policy period at $500 — regardless of whether you were in the office. Check both dates before booking an extended trip so you’re not scrambling to complete an update course, or scrambling to pay a renewal invoice, from a beach.
If the absence is extended — illness, a new child, a real leave rather than a holiday — there’s a separate, easy-to-miss fact: CPP and EI don’t cover a self-employed agent automatically. The Employment Insurance Act’s Part VII.1 lets a self-employed person opt in by entering “an agreement” under section 152.02(1), which then makes sickness, pregnancy, and parental benefits available under sections 152.03 through 152.05 — but only if you opted in ahead of time. It isn’t automatic the way it is for an employee.
The specific waiting period and premium rate weren’t confirmed in this research, so check the current terms directly with Service Canada before relying on the program — but the existence of an opt-in agreement, separate from anything automatic, is the fact worth planning around: this is a decision to make while you’re still working, not something to arrange after you’re already away from the business.
Related: what happens to your listings if you leave · how many hours the job really takes
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