As per the Supervision Guidelines issued by NSW Fair Trading, it is a requirement of agents to have a formal process of how they communicate with their clients. They must ensure that all communication (under an agency agreement) is with the owner of the property, or the person with the legal right to act on the owner’s behalf. This makes it so important to nominate who is the contact person in a property matter, as it may be all people listed on the agency agreement, or it could just be one person is nominated as the contact person. Your agency agreement needs to identify who all communication channels with clients.

Buyer’s agents are becoming increasingly popular to support purchasers through the maze of property acquisition. To become a buyer’s agent in NSW, a person must hold a real estate agent’s licence or the entry level Certificate of Registration and work under the supervision of a fully licensed agent. They need to complete an agency agreement with the prospective buyer/s and prepare a buyer brief as part of that initial agreement. A buyer’s agent must act in the best interest of the buyer and adhere to the specific Rules of Conduct for buyer’s agents which are detailed in the Property and Stock Agents Regulation 2022. Any real estate agent can be either an agent for the buyer or for the seller – but they cannot take a commission from both parties in relation to the sale of a specific property.

The process of signing residential tenancy agreements in the real estate industry has evolved significantly with the advent of technology. Signing a tenancy agreement electronically can raise issues related to consent and understanding – not to mention a possible compromise of customer service. Signing a tenancy agreement in person allows for face-to-face interaction, providing an opportunity to clarify any doubts, negotiate terms and ensure that all parties fully understand the terms and conditions of the agreement. There is a perfect opportunity with today’s technology to take on a hybrid approach, whereby you can send the agreement electronically and then have an online meeting to welcome the tenant and go through the terms of the agreement. This certainly reduces the risk of misunderstandings and creates a solid foundation for open communication for the tenancy relationship.

There is no legislation that required a real estate agent in NSW to gain full photo and ancillary identification documentation from a purchaser in the sales process. However, it is most definitely good practice for an agent to sight a purchaser’s photo identification, to check the correct spelling of a person’s legal name and ensure that the names that are being inserted into the Sales Advice and the Contract for the Sale and Purchaser of Land, are accurate. This can most definitely minimise any problems in the preparation for settlement from the vendor and the purchaser’s legal representatives.

If a tenant is in a continuation period (month to month) and the property in which they are living is sold, they can be given a 30 day termination notice to vacate the property. There has been a number of questions in relation to when this termination notice can be given. Section 86 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 does not stipulate whether this is at conditional or unconditional exchange of a property – it simply states that “when the landlord has entered into a contract for the sale of the residential premises under which the landlord is required to give vacant possession of the premises”. This is obviously the decision of the vendor/landlord as to when this termination notice is issued, and can be negotiated with both the purchaser and the tenant.

Class 1 and Class 2 licensed property agents in NSW have a specific renewal date and can choose to renew their licences for one, three or five years. It is important that agents diarise when their renewal is due and ensure that they log into Services NSW in order to pay their renewal. If you do not renew your licence, it will immediately lapse the day after your renewal date, and you are then not authorise to operate as an agent until your have renewed your licence. If your licence lapses for more than 12 months, you will need to reapply and lodge the qualifications required at that time, which may mean re-training and a lot of additional work. In the meantime, every agency agreement that you have entered into, is invalid.

Regardless of whether your landlord is the applicant or the respondent, as an agent, it is important to be prepared for the hearing. As soon as you receive the Notice of Hearing you should start preparing for the hearing day. The first document to guide you is the Hearing Notes document from the NCAT site – this will assist you in getting all of your documents in order and having a streamlined approach to the preparation process. Gather all of your information and present it in a timeline and labelled for easy cross-referencing for the NCAT Member.

Once the calendar year clicks over from June to July, NSW property agents are required to have their trust accounts audited. This audit needs to be completed prior to 30 September and it is a requirement that all audit reports for property trust accounts must be lodged with NSW Fair Trading by 30 September. Auditors will undertake this lodgement via the NSW Fair Trading ‘Auditors Report Online’. The fine for not completing and lodging a trust account audit report is $22,000. Make sure you meet the deadline.

The new rules that banned solicited rent bidding and made changes to the way that agents can advertise rental properties came into effect in NSW on 17 December 2022. Agents need to follow these new rules about advertising a fixed price only and not soliciting bids from prospective tenants, or it may result in an on-the-spot $550 fine for an agent, or $1,100 fine for a corporation. In March and April of 2023, 51 agents were fined for breaches to this legislation.

It certainly does. What an agents says, truly matters. When speaking with potential purchasers, an agent must comply with all underquoting legislation in relation to remaining within the 10% price range and only making reference to properties that are comparable in price and features. What an agent says is just as important and legislatively bound as what they write on their website, advertisements and property portals.