Consumer Protection staff organise regular proactive compliance visits to licensed or registered people throughout the state. The visits aim to ensure the laws are followed, help educate what the laws means on a practical level and provide information about changes.
If you would like more information please contact the Consumer Protection Advice Line team on 1300 304 054 or by email.
Preparing yourself
Consumer Protection has an initiative to “conduct and promote education and provide advisory services for persons who are licensed or registered” under the authority provided by the Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 “the Act”.
The proactive compliance program aims to encourage high levels of compliance with the requirements of the Act, the Regulations and Code of Conduct resulting in:
- greater understanding by agents of the laws which govern their activities;
- the achievement of consistently high ethical and professional standards in the industry;
- fair and open competition because all agents compete on the same “level playing field”;
- enhanced consumer protection because of high ethical and professional standards; and
- the delivery to agents of compliance tools including checklists, references, manuals and compliance systems.
How the visit is conducted
A proactive compliance visit entails:
- meeting with the person in bona fide control of the agency;
- a reconciliation of your current representatives to ensure the accuracy of the Department’s database in relation to your staffing profile and licensed and registered persons;
- review of notices and particulars on correspondence and documents;
- examination of the agency’s trust account and trust accounting procedures;
- a review of a sample of the agency’s settled sales files; and property management files;
- a discussion with you of the complaints (if any) lodged against your agency;
- a discussion with you of the training and professional development needs of your agency.
What you will need
To ensure the visit is conducted with the minimum of disruption to your business operations we would be pleased if you would have the following available at the appointed time of our visit:
- The Licence, Triennial Certificate and Business Name Registration Certificate displayed [Section 41(1)(a) & (b)]
- A copy of the agency’s letterhead [Section 41(2)(a) & (b)]
- A printed copy of the Appointment to Act and Offer & Acceptance documents used in your agency (if applicable)
- Your trust account bank statements and reconciliations for the previous 3 months
- Your trust account cheque book and receipt book
- A sample of identity checks recently conducted by your agency
- A sample of an advertisement recently placed by your agency
- The last audit report from your agency’s auditor.
We will select a sample of your settled sales files and property management files for inspection during our visit.
As a minimum you should review the following prior to the visit:
- Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 Sections 4, 26, 27, 37, 41, 44, 51, 54, 55, 60, 61, 62, 64, 68, 68A, 69, 63, 132 & 139
- Real Estate and Business Agents (General) Regulations 1979 Reg. 4AB, 6BA, 6D, 6E, 6G, 6H, 8
- Code of Conduct for Real Estate and Business Agents and Sales Representatives 2016.
Proactive visit checklist
The following checklist will help you prepare for a proactive compliance visit.