Who needs to apply for a licence
Any individual wishing to operate as real estate or business agents in Western Australia are required, under the Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978, to be licensed and hold a current triennial certificate.
Registration Requirements
To apply for an individual real estate agent or business agent licence, applicants must:
- be at least 18 years old;
- be a person of good character and repute and a fit and proper person to hold a licence (see Character and Repute below);
- have access to sufficient assets and financial resources enabling them to comply with all the requirements of the Act; and
- understand fully the duties and obligations imposed upon agents by the Act.
What do I need to do to lodge a complete application
To apply for a licence and triennial certificate you must lodge a complete application. This means you must:
- complete all the relevant sections of the application form.
- Attach/pay the correct fee. This is payable at the time of lodging the application
- Provide the relevant police check, which is not more than three (3) months old at the time of lodgement. Only police checks issued by our list of approved providers will be accepted.
- provide evidence of your successful completion of a prescribed qualification (see Prescribed qualification requirements section below).
- Two business references completed using the pro forma (see Business references section below).
- Proof of experience (see Experience requirements section below)
- A current resume which details employment history for a minimum of two years preceding the application.
- Transaction experience (please refer to the sample spreadsheet).
Re-applying for a licence
If your real estate and business agent licence has expired (because you left the industry and/or did not pay the holding fee in accordance with the Regulations to retain the licence) and you wish to re-apply, you can qualify by providing evidence that you have held a licence within the previous five years and traded for at least two of those years.
Submit your application
Once you have completed the application form and have all of your supporting documents ready, you can lodge your application in one of three ways:
| Online | By Post | In Person (including payments |
lodge and pay for your application | If you are submitting your application by post and are making payment by credit card, you must also complete the Application Payment Form and attach it to your application. Applications received without payment cannot be accepted. Post to: Licensing Services | Monday to Friday between 8:30am and 4:30pm Customer Service |
Prescribed qualification requirements
Show moreTo apply for a real estate and business agent licence you must have one of the following prescribed qualifications from a registered training organisation:
- Diploma of Property Services (Agency Management) CPP50307
- Diploma of Property (Agency Management) CPP51122
- Diploma of Property (Agency Management) CPP51119
or one of the following prescribed qualifications 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 Development and Valuation Extension Major)
- Bachelor of Commerce (Property Valuation)
- Master of Property
- Graduate Diploma in Property
Applicants for a real estate and business agent licence will also be required to complete units of competency from the CPP41419 Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice based on type of sales representative registration held or qualification attained to meet previous registration requirements. Applicants who have completed one of the prescribed qualifications from Curtin University degrees are exempt from this requirement.
Licence qualifications can be found in the Real Estate and Business Agents (General) Regulations 1979.
Business references
Show moreApplicants must provide two business references completed using the pro forma.
- References from relatives/domestic partner, subordinates, business partners or co-directors will not generally be accepted.
- At least one reference must be from a person external to the applicant’s current place of employment.
- References should be as detailed as possible but include only information that is relevant to the applicant’s suitability to hold a real estate agent’s licence. Any additional relevant information should be attached.
- Applicants must have a minimum of two years’ full-time relevant experience in the preceding five years. References should outline the applicant’s relevant experience within this period.
- Where Consumer Protection is unable to determine the applicant’s suitability to hold a real estate agent’s licence due to insufficient information being provided in support of the application, the reference will not be accepted.
- The answers provided should be limited to the person’s character and repute and fitness to hold a licence.
Experience requirements
Show moreApplicants must satisfy the Commissioner that they have sufficient practical experience in negotiating transactions to enable them to carry on the business of an agent satisfactorily. To assist with this assessment, applicants must provide details of their real estate activities and transactions. This information should include:
- A current resume which details employment history for a minimum of two years preceding the application. The resume should include the various job titles, names of employers and tasks involved; and
- A transaction list detailing:
- sales transaction details, such as the date of sale, address of property, value/price, and whether or not it was a conjunctional sale; and/or
- property management transaction details, such as a description of properties managed (e.g. house, flat or shop), whether you managed them alone or were part of a team, and the period you managed them; and/or
- leasing transaction details, such as a description of properties leased (e.g. retail, commercial or residential), whether you managed them alone or were part of a team, and the period you managed them.
- A sample spreadsheet of information that is required is available for download.
Applicants must demonstrate that they have had a direct involvement in negotiating the actual transactions end to end; it is not sufficient to only have observational or theoretical experience, or experience that is somewhat relevant to negotiating transactions. Consideration will be given to the volume, nature, type and complexity of transactions that have been negotiated as well as the period of time over which they were negotiated and how recent the experience is.
For reference, section 4 of the Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 defines the terms ‘transaction’, ‘business transaction’ and ‘real estate transaction’
Character and Repute
Show moreIn order to satisfy the Commissioner for Consumer Protection (the Commissioner) that you are a person of good character and repute and a fit and proper person to hold a certificate of registration you must provide an Australian police check from an approved provider issued no more than three months prior to the date of lodging the application.
The application form requests you disclose, among other things, previous convictions, pending proceedings, reprimands and fines. If you answer ‘yes’ to any of the character questions in the application form, further information must be provided regarding the circumstances. Where necessary, the Commissioner for Consumer Protection may request that an applicant attend an interview to determine whether he or she satisfies the requirements of the Act.
A person who gives false or misleading information to the Commissioner or chief executive officer under the Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 commits an offence and is liable for a penalty of up to $20,000.
