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Estate Agents

The Estate Agents Act 1980 regulates who can work in real estate in Victoria.

Who is an Estate Agent?

Estate agents perform a range of activities, including:

• Acting on behalf of owners, buyers and tenants to arrange the sale or lease of property including houses, buildings, factories, shops, farms, land and businesses
• Providing market appraisals of properties and businesses for clients
• Negotiating the sale or lease of properties and businesses
• Preparing agreements between buyers and sellers or landlords and tenants
• Collecting rents and managing rented properties.

Licensing

If you buy, sell, lease or manage real estate or a business on behalf of a vendor, landlord, purchaser or tenant you must hold an estate agent's licence or be employed by a licensed estate agent as an agent's representative.

A licence authorises an estate agent to operate anywhere in Victoria and may be issued to an individual or to a corporation.

A person who holds an individual estate agent's licence can also own and/or manage a real estate agency as a sole trader, in partnership, or through a corporation.

To operate a real estate agency as a corporation, the corporation must hold an estate agent's licence in its own right.

Not all estate agents choose to be involved in the management of a real estate agency. Some prefer to work as employee estate agents in sales or rentals.

Applying for a licence

For detailed information on the application process, including disqualification and permission, refer to Applying for a Licence.

Fees

GST is not applicable to the following fee's

Application Fee - Individual: $355.70
Annual Licence Fee - Individual: $177.80
Application Fee - Company: $616.10
Annual Licence Fee - Company: $391.30