All real estate agents in Canberra could soon be required to have a minimum level of qualifications to work in the industry, as the ACT government aims to "improve protections for Canberra's renters and potential home owners".
ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury introduced the Fair Trading and Other Justice Legislation Amendment Bill 2022 to the Legislative Assembly today, which requires agents in the industry to hold a minimum level of qualifications, with some roles requiring at least two years of real estate experience.
"Given the tight local property market, it is increasingly important that the sector is appropriately regulated, and those employed in the real estate industry have the proper training for the tasks they perform," Mr Rattenbury said.
Unqualified salesperson pathway to be phased out
Under the proposed new laws, licences would be divided into two classes, so that agents who act as licensees-in-charge of a place of business must undertake extra qualifications and have at least two years industry experience.
The unqualified salesperson registration pathway would also be phased out, to ensure all within the industry hold a minimum level of qualifications.
If adopted, the Commissioner for Fair Trading would be given the power to determine the qualification and experience requirements for agent licences and assistant agent registrations.
Michelle Tynan, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of the ACT, said the training requirements in the industry were already quite high, but the new laws, which wrapped in the importance of experience, would strengthen the profession.
"So these reforms make it so that people within the industry have to actually gain the qualification, then the experience, and then they can do more education to gain the higher licensing."
Ms Tynan also said the new laws would prevent people from obtaining a licence, and then practising elsewhere without any experience.
"That's always been a concern to us.
"It affects real estate nationally, because they could come into the ACT to obtain their qualification, then they can apply to other jurisdictions for mutual recognition, which means they can then go and practice in those states or territories without any experience as well.
"So that's why we were just so pleased that this is now coming into place."
ACT last jurisdiction to consider real estate laws
The ACT is the last jurisdiction to consider strengthen licensing rules for real estate agents, which were overhauled by the federal government in 2018.
"The Real Estate Institute has been lobbying for these changes since 2018, which was when the national training package requirements were actually put out by the federal government, and all other states and territories have come into line," Ms Tynan said.
"The ACT is actually the last state or territory to actually upgrade their qualification requirements."
The proposed ACT bill would also place stricter conditions on real estate auctioneers — land auctioneers would require a specific licence to operate, and it would become an offence to conduct land auctions without one.
New offences to prevent assistant agents from withdrawing trust money or entering into agency agreements would also be introduced.
Mr Rattenbury hopes the framework will be in place by July 2024.
