It is a requirement of section 35 of the Residential Tenancies Act 2020 (NSW) that a landlord (or their agent) must allow a tenant to pay the rent by at least one means for which the tenant does not incur a cost (other than bank fees or other account fees usually payable for transactions). This statement must be included in the residential tenancy agreement (lease) and the process must be reasonably available to the tenant to access this method of payment.

It has always been good practice to ensure that a client (vendor, landlord or tenant) signs an agreement (sales agency agreement, managing agency agreement or a lease) prior to it being signed by the agent. This is so the client has the opportunity to read the document, ask questions and in some cases negotiate issues within the agreement. In particular, if you are sending a document to a client for signature via an electronic signing platform, and they choose to change a point within that document, and the agent has already signed the document – you are back at square one with negotiations because you will need to recommence the process. Save yourself the argument and ensure that the client signs the document first, the agent signs second and then the agent serves a copy of that document to the client.

Section 29 of the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 details what information is required to be displayed external to a property services agency in NSW. Most agents get this correct. However, the most common omission of information is the “description of the kind of licence or licences held by a licensee”, which is a requirement of s.29(1)(b). This refers to the category/ies of licence held by the Licensee-In-Charge, such as real estate, stock & station, strata management on-site residential managers etc.

Yes, they do. Because an Independent Contractor is a separate legal entity from the main agency company who is contracting their services, they must hold their own insurances. If an agent is an employee, then they are covered for professional indemnity by the agency’s policy. However, an Independent Contractor, who is not in an employment relationship – needs to obtain their own insurance at the level required by the Property and Stock Agents Regulation 2022 which is “not less than $1million for any one claim, and not less than $3million in the aggregate”. This is the minimum requirement and naturally the policy can exceed this if required.

As of 23 March 2023, a few changes have been made by NSW Fair Trading to the Supervision Guidelines. These include references to the updated Property and Stock Agents Regulation 2022 in terms of the Rules of Conduct, and most importantly the requirement for Licensees-In-Charge to maintain a Training Plan for all agents working under their supervision. The Training Plan must include a record of Compulsory Professional Development requirements for all agents (which has also changed), but also needs to go further and include all development events and activities that the agency undertakes during the CPD year (23 March to 22 March every year).

Any person who holds a Certificate of Registration in NSW as a property agent, must complete their licensing qualification and make application for a Class 2 licence within 4 years of becoming an Assistant Agent. Those Certificate of Registration holders who transferred to an Assistant Agent on 23 March 2020 have until 22 March 2024 (11 months away) to complete their relevant Certificate IV level qualification and transition to a Class 2 licence holder. When an Assistant Agent reaches their 4 year point, and if they have not made application for a Class 2 licence, they will be suspended and held out from making application for another Certificate of Registration for a 12 month period. NOW is the time to get the training done, in order to make the transition to being a licensed agent.

NSW Fair Trading has a public register of all NSW property agents, which is more detailed than it was in the past. This Register now shows if an agent has let their licence lapse and the period of time that it was lapsed. So any member of the public, or their solicitor/conveyancer can check the Register and if you were not licensed at the time you entered into an agency agreement of any type, then you may well have a claim against the payment to you of commission.

Yes is the short answer. Whether it is one corporation with multiple offices, or multiple corporations across multiple locations – one individual can definitely be the Licensee-In-Charge of all corporations or all offices. A Licensee-In-Charge can also be the person responsible for managing and authoring disbursements from multiple trust accounts. The most important issue to consider here is that the one Licensee-In-Charge is adequately supervising the functions of all agents in all venues.

With Easter upon us and more marketing emails and texts, it is important for agents to be even more aware of the scams that are happening around them. It is important to remember never to give out passwords or codes for bank details or programs that are utilised by agents. And coming back after a few days away from the office, and checking through an increased number of emails – be vigilant in relation to checking where the emails came from and if they are a trust source. Always question the authenticity of messages and emails before opening them and potentially allowing access into your computer system and programs.

It is a requirement of section 73B of the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 for real estate agents to maintain a register of discussions that they have had with people about the probable sale price of a property. This record must include the property address, the date and time of the discussion and the price quoted by the agent. The record does not need to include the person’s name or contact details – it is simply a register of these conversations/emails/texts.