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Public Registers

The Business Licensing Authority's (the BLA's) registers contain a range of information, including personal information. The information that makes up each register is governed by the relevant legislation. The information on the registers is accessible to anyone, including business people, local government, and Victorian and Federal government agencies.

The Estate Agents and Motor Car Trader Registers can be searched online at no cost. The online registers contain current information only. A full historical extract about a licensee can be purchased from the BLA.

If you would like to check the status of a BLA licensee or registrant and you can not do so yet on-line, please feel free to contact us.

Some information collected by the BLA is not included in the public register and is not, therefore, publicly available. The BLA may however, provide this information to other government departments and agencies for law enforcement purposes.

General Disclaimer

Please note that while the BLA endeavours to ensure that the information that it obtains during the licensing process and after a person is licensed or registered is accurate and up to date, the information recorded in the public registers is only as accurate as the information provided to the BLA.

There may be time delays between the receipt of information and subsequent entry in the public register. Accordingly, information in relation to a licensee or registrant may not yet have been included on the day the search is made of the register.

Pre 1 November 2003 information

As of 1 November 2003 the BLA was required to include a range of new categories of information on its Motor Car Traders, Estate Agents and Travel Agent public registers. Whilst the BLA has attempted to comply with this requirement, due to some of the additional types of information not being previously collected, or collected comprehensively, it may not be able to include all the additional types of information prior to 1 November 2003 in its public registers.

Decisions of the BLA subject to review

Under the various business licensing Acts, many of the BLA's decisions are subject to review by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT). A person can lodge an application for review of a decision of the BLA by VCAT within 28 days after the day on which the decision is made.

In the event of an application for review of a BLA decision to VCAT the relevant public register will still reflect the BLA's decision, pending the outcome of the review. However, if VCAT stays the BLA's decision until the determination of the review proceedings the BLA's decision will not be recorded on the Register.

If you are seeking information from the public register for use in legal proceedings, you should contact the BLA to obtain a Registrar's certificate.

Requests for bulk public register information

Any request for bulk public register information will have to be made in writing to the Registrar. In considering any request for the provision of bulk information from a public register, the BLA's Registrar must take into account the purpose of the request in view of the strict requirements of the Information Privacy Act 2000 and the relevant business licensing legislation. For example the information contained in the public registers is not collected with the intention of being used for direct marketing or similar commercial activities and will not be released to assist with such activities. Accordingly, any written request for bulk information from a public register will need to outline the specific purpose and intended use of the bulk information. Fees may also apply.