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Real estate licensing requirements in Western Australia

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Zoe Pointon is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of OpenAgent. Over the years, she's had the privilege of collaborating with some of the brightest minds in real estate, amassing over a decade of invaluable experience and a treasure trove of insights around the property buying and selling process.

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In Western Australia, there are three main types of real estate licenses:

  1. Individual
  2. Partnership
  3. Company

To operate as an agent or a business, one is required to be licensed and hold a current triennial certificate. Regulations are dictated by the Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 (The Act).

A person wishing to work as a sales representative, must be registered and work under the guidance of a licensee.

Individual licence

To apply for an individual real estate agent licence, there are a number of requirements. Applicants must:

  • Be over the age of 18.
  • Be a person of good character and a fit and proper person to hold a license. This means the applicant must provide an original or certified copy of an Australian police check, no more than three months old. Two written references must also be provided, attesting for their good character, reputation and fitness to hold a licence.
  • Have access to sufficient assets and financial resources to comply with all the requirements of The Act. A confidential statement will need to be provided, including assets and liabilities.
  • Understand the duties and obligations.

Importantly, any previous convictions, pending proceedings or previous disqualifications must be disclosed via statutory declaration.

Applicants must also have at least two years continuous full-time experience in the industry, immediately preceding their application. A list of experience must be provided with the application form, as well as a current resume.

Qualifications

Individuals applying for a licence must also hold a prescribed qualification from a registered training organisation. The qualification can be one of:

  • Diploma of Property (Real Estate). This must be in conjunction with examinations in:
    • Rural sales
    • Selling business
    • Real estate law
  • Diploma of Property Services (Agency Management)

There are also a range of courses that can be obtained from Curtin University of Technology:

  • Bachelor of Commerce (Property and Marketing)
  • Bachelor of Commerce (Property)
  • Bachelor of Commerce (Property and Finance)
  • Bachelor of Commerce (Property Development and Valuation)
  • Bachelor of Commerce (Property Valuation)
  • Master of Property
  • Graduate Diploma in Property

Partnership or business agent licence

Again, there a number of requirements that someone wishing to apply for a partnership or firm licence must satisfy.

  • All of the directors, and any person concerned with the management or control, of the firm are persons of good character and repute. As with an individual licence, this means each partner must provide a Australian police check, two written references, and a statutory declaration with all prior convictions, pending proceedings or previous disqualifications.
  • All directors and persons concerned with the management or control of the firm are fit to be concerned with the management and control of an agent’s business.
  • The persons must have sufficient material and financial resources available to them to be able to comply with The Act. Each partner must submit a confidential statement outlining their current assets and liabilities.
  • Where the business is constituted by:
    • No more than three persons, at least one of them must be licensed.
    • More than three persons, at least two of them must be licensed.
  • The person in bona fide control of the business operated under the business licence must be licensed. If there is no one person taking control, the partners must nominate a licensed person to take it on. A statutory declaration must be signed by the relevant person, confirming their preparedness and ability to carry out the responsibilities.

Sales representatives

Any person wishing to work as a real estate and business sales representative must be registered and work under the supervision of a licensed agent.

To be registered, a person must:

  • Be at least 18 years old.
  • Be a person of good character and repute, and be a fit and proper person to hold a certificate of registration.
  • Understand the duties and obligations imposed by The Act, involving negotiating real estate and business transactions.

Persons wishing to work as a sales representative must also successfully complete a Sales Representative Registration course by certain WA universities.

Your agent

When deciding on an agent to use, don’t be afraid to ask them for their qualifications. As a client you have a right to know that they are fully licensed to represent you and your biggest asset. Remember, there is also a code of conduct that agents and sales representatives must uphold. The code of conduct includes an agent’s duty of behave fairly, disclose details of the transaction, advise of market price, how to deal with a conflict of interest and how to manage confidentiality, among other things.

It’s important that clients are familiar with the qualifications, code of conduct and duties that agents and their representatives are held to. Things will go a lot more smoothly if you know you are in the best possible hands.

 

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