Canada's Competition Bureau has rejected a proposal by members of the Canadian Real Estate Association, who wanted to change the rules governing how houses are bought and sold across the country.

About 300 real estate agents from across Canada voted on the amendments, which came about after the Competition Bureau voiced concerns that the current system drives up the cost of real estate for individuals.

Currently, agents are paid a commission of the transaction in exchange for handling the listing and price negotiations.

Private sellers must also have an agent in order to list their property in the Multiple Listing Service database, and that agent must be involved throughout the sales process.

The new amendments will allow home sellers to only pay to have their homes listed on MLS, so they can handle the negotiations themselves.

But the cost of listing a home is unclear and the Competition Bureau argues the amendments don't allow realtors to offer clients "a la carte" services.

"They are a step in the wrong direction," Competition Bureau commissioner Melanie Aitken said in a statement. "These amendments amount to a blank cheque allowing CREA and its members to create rules that could have even greater anti-competitive consequences."

More than 98,000 real estate agents, brokers and salespeople are members of the association, and only they are permitted to list homes on the MLS database.

The CREA said it was willing to review the process after the bureau filed charges with the Competition Tribunal alleging that real estate agents can't offer their clients "a la carte," fee-based services. The bureau also complained that the MLS rules prevented sellers from negotiating their own deals.

Georges Pahud, CREA's president-elect, said he was pleased that the amendments had been passed. The association has now addressed the Competition Bureau's concerns, he said.

But Aitken said there is nothing new in CREA's proposed changes. The Bureau plans to continue to challenge what it calls anti-competitive rules imposed by CREA.

"We have repeatedly advised CREA's leadership that these amendments do not solve our ongoing competition concerns and I reiterated this directly to CREA as recently as last week in a letter to the president," Aitken said.

The real estate association said it will dispute the Competition Bureau's accusations.

The association must submit a formal response by Thursday.

With files from The Canadian Press