South Australia real estate registration: who needs which one

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Kooky

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Nobody in South Australia holds a "real estate licence". The state's Land Agents Act 1994 speaks of registration, and it sorts the people of an agency into four groups: the land agent who runs the business, the sales representative who sells for that agent, the property manager who lets and looks after rented property for that agent, and the auctioneer who calls the bids. Each has its own entry test, its own fee and its own limits.

The difference matters on the first day of a job. A person hired to show homes, negotiate offers or take on landlords needs the right registration before doing any of it, and the agency that puts an unregistered person to that work commits an offence of its own. This guide sets out what each registration allows, the qualifications and character tests behind it, the fees the South Australian Government lists on its licensing pages as last updated on 6 October 2026, the yearly fee and return, the supervision rules and the penalties. It describes the general rules; how they apply to one person's history or one agency's structure depends on the case and on the regulator, Consumer and Business Services.

South Australian Government licensing pages, last updated 6 October 2026, and the Land Agents Act 1994, sections 6 and 9.

Four registrations under one Act

The Land Agents Act 1994 is administered by the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs, and applications go to Consumer and Business Services, the state regulator usually shortened to CBS. The Act is completed by the Land Agents Regulations 2025, which the South Australian legislation register shows as gazetted and commenced on 7 August 2025.

The four registrations are not four separate careers. They stack. A land agent registration sits at the top: sections 6A and 6AB of the Act let a registered agent act as a sales representative or as a property manager, and the government's property managers page lists holders of a current land agent registration among the people who need no property manager registration. Sales representative and property manager are the two registrations for employees. Auctioneer is never held alone: section 6B of the Act requires an auctioneer to be registered as an auctioneer and also as an agent or a sales representative.

What a land agent registration covers

Section 4 of the Act defines an agent as a person who carries on a business that consists of or involves selling, buying or otherwise dealing with land or businesses on behalf of others, or negotiating for those purposes. The government's page for land agents puts it in everyday terms: individuals and companies that run a business buying, selling or otherwise dealing with land or businesses, including property management, need to be registered, and so do those who negotiate those sales and purchases. The same page notes that land agents are also called real estate agents.

A registration can be held by an individual, by a body corporate such as a company, or by a partnership. In a partnership, the page says, every partner must be registered individually.

The Act and the Regulations carve out several groups. Section 4 leaves out legal practitioners acting as such and dealings in mortgage financing, and the government page confirms that lawyers and mortgage financiers who deal with land or business sales as part of their work do not need registration. Regulation 14 adds an exemption for commercial property: a person who acts for an affiliated entity, or for an owner whose property has an aggregate market value of A$10 million or more or an aggregate gross floor area of 10,000 square metres or more, is exempt. The government page describes an affiliated entity as one the person controls, or one related to a body corporate, such as a director or a company with the same directors. The exemption covers buying, selling and managing, and it applies to commercial real estate only. Residential land and rural land, such as agricultural or horticultural property, stay inside the Act.

Sales representatives and property managers

A sales representative, in the words of section 3 of the Act, is a person who, for or on behalf of an agent, buys or sells land or businesses, including at auction, or who induces or negotiates with others to buy, sell, make offers or enter contracts.

A property manager is defined in the same section as a person who, for or on behalf of an agent, grants leases, tenancy agreements or licences to occupy, induces or negotiates those agreements, or makes sure their terms are complied with. Regulation 5 adds one function to that list: conducting inspections of a property for a residential tenancy agreement. The government's property managers page says full registration is required for signing agency agreements, appraisals, inspections and lease negotiations.

Both definitions carry the phrase "for or on behalf of an agent", and sections 6A and 6AB of the Act turn it into a condition of work. A person may act as a sales representative or a property manager only if they are a registered agent, or are registered in that role and employed under a contract of service by a registered agent. Neither registration lets its holder run an agency.

The two can be combined. A sales representative who also manages rentals must have the property manager condition added to the existing registration, according to the government page.

Not everyone in the office needs to register. The property managers page lists the people outside the requirement:

• holders of a current land agent registration;
• staff who do only administrative work, such as taking calls, booking maintenance, handling trust money or preparing forms for approval;
• trust account administrators who provide only financial services;
• people who manage only their own or their relatives' properties, and not as a business;
• staff of registered community housing providers;
• people who only conduct commercial property inspections.

Auctioneers: a registration added to another

The route to an auctioneer registration is in two steps: be registered as a land agent or a sales representative, then apply to add the auctioneer condition, either with a new application or by upgrading an existing registration.

Section 8C of the Act requires the applicant to hold the required qualifications. The auctioneers page, last updated on 30 March 2023, names the current unit of competency as CPPREP4162, "Conduct and complete sale by auction". It also accepts units from earlier training packages.

Interstate auctioneers are treated separately. The page says interstate residents can work in South Australia under their home registration through automatic mutual recognition. The conduct of the auction itself is outside this guide.

The qualifications behind a land agent registration

Section 8 of the Act requires an individual applying as an agent to hold the qualifications required by the regulations, or qualifications the Commissioner considers appropriate. CBS publishes them as a list of options, in a document dated December 2024.

The main route, option 1, is to complete all 36 listed units from the CPP41419 Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice, or from the CPP51119 or CPP52122 Diploma of Property (Agency Management).

Other options recognise what a person already holds:

• A law degree. Option 2 asks for a law degree plus ten named units.
• An existing South Australian registration. Options 3, 4 and 5 are upgrade routes for people who already hold a sales representative registration, a property manager registration or both, provided it is not a supervised-only registration.
• A university degree. Options 7 to 9 accept named university degrees.

The qualifications for sales representatives and property managers are published by CBS in separate lists that were not read for this guide.

Starting as a trainee under supervision

A newcomer does not have to finish the course before starting work. Sections 8B and 8BB of the Act allow a person without the qualifications to be registered as a sales representative or a property manager on conditions that require training. The government pages call this registering "under supervision".

The pages set out the terms. The applicant shows proof of enrolment, completes the required training within 12 months, then lodges a variation application and pays the fee to have the condition removed. Until then, the trainee works under direct supervision.

Who may supervise is fixed by regulations 6 and 7. For a trainee sales representative it is a registered agent, or a registered sales representative with at least two years' experience who is not a trainee. For a trainee property manager it is a registered agent, a property manager with at least two years' experience, or a sales representative of at least two years who also holds the property manager condition. The Regulations also let the Commissioner accept another combination of experience.

Direct supervision is meant literally. According to the government pages, a trainee sales representative must be accompanied at all times when performing sales representative functions, and a trainee property manager must be accompanied for inspections, statements about a property or an agreement, negotiating or granting a lease, and checking that lease terms are met. The pages add that direct supervision cannot be provided online. Administrative tasks, such as taking calls, handling trust money and preparing forms and agreements for approval, do not need it.

The duty falls on the employer. Under sections 8B and 8BB, the agent who employs a conditionally registered person must make sure that person is properly supervised, with a maximum penalty of A$10,000. The Commissioner may cancel a conditional registration when its conditions are breached without reasonable excuse.

The fit and proper test and police checks

Qualifications are one half of the entitlement. The other half, in section 8, is about the person.

An individual applying as an agent must not have been convicted of an indictable offence of dishonesty, or of a summary offence of dishonesty during the previous ten years. They must not be suspended or disqualified from practising an occupation under a relevant law, and must not be an insolvent under administration. A person who was a director of a company wound up for the benefit of creditors within the previous five years is also excluded; the government page explains that this includes having been a director in the six months before the winding up began. Beyond those bars, the applicant must be a fit and proper person, a judgment the Act leaves to the Commissioner.

For a company, section 8(2) applies the tests twice. The body corporate must not be suspended, disqualified, being wound up, under official management or in receivership, and no director may fall under the bars that apply to individuals. Each director must be fit and proper.

Sales representatives and property managers face the conviction, suspension and fit and proper tests under sections 8A and 8BA. One difference in wording is worth noting. The government's property managers page says registration may be refused for an indictable or summary offence of dishonesty "within the past 10 years", while the Act and the pages for land agents and sales representatives apply the ten-year limit to summary offences only. The Act is the authority.

The supporting document is a National Police Certificate dated no more than 12 months before the application. The pages list five cases where none is needed: a director of a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, in the pages' wording; a person who lodged a certificate with CBS within the last year; an overseas resident who has never lived in Australia; a person who held a licence within the last year and is applying for an equivalent one; and a person who has already supplied a certificate for another licence under the Act. The property managers page adds an age condition of 18 or over.

A refusal is not final. Section 8D gives a refused applicant one month to seek a review by the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Application fees and what the first year costs

Every new application carries the same application fee, A$388, plus a pre-grant fee that differs by registration and pays for the first year. The table gives the amounts shown on the government's licensing pages, last updated on 6 October 2026; the yearly fees come from its renewal page, last updated on 6 February 2025, where they match the pre-grant fees.

Three other charges appear on those pages. Adding the auctioneer registration to an existing land agent or sales representative registration costs A$154. Adding the property manager condition to an existing sales representative registration costs A$154. Varying a registration, which includes removing the "under supervision" condition at the end of training, costs A$165.

Holders of an interstate or New Zealand licence recognised in South Australia pay less: A$670 for an individual land agent, A$499 for a sales representative and A$449 for a property manager, each including one year's registration. In all three cases the saving against the standard total is A$194.

Two worked examples, built only from those listed fees and leaving out course costs and the police certificate. A trainee who registers as a sales representative under supervision pays A$693, then A$165 to remove the condition once qualified: A$858 in all. A qualified sales representative who later adds both the auctioneer registration and the property manager condition pays A$693 plus A$154 plus A$154, or A$1,001.

The application itself, under section 7 of the Act, is made to the Commissioner in the approved form with the fee, and with evidence of identity, age and address. If the Commissioner asks for more information by notice and the applicant does not answer within the time allowed, which is at least 28 days, the application may be refused and the fee kept.

The annual fee and return

A South Australian registration does not expire. Section 9 of the Act says it continues until it is surrendered or cancelled, or until the registered person dies or, for a company, is dissolved. What keeps it alive is a yearly routine: the registered person pays the fee and lodges a return in the form the Commissioner requires. The government's renewal page describes this as renewing every 12 months, online.

The due date is personal. Regulation 8 sets it as the last day of the month the Commissioner nominates in writing or, when none is nominated, the last day of the month in which the registration was granted.

The pages read for this guide give no late fee. They do say what cancellation means: a person whose registration was cancelled must apply again, which brings back the application fee.

Between returns, registered people have duties to report. Regulation 9 requires agents to tell the Commissioner within 14 days of a change of residential, postal or email address, business name or business address, and of a new director or a change in a partnership; sales representatives and property managers must report address changes in the same time. The maximum penalty is A$2,500, with an expiation fee of A$160. The government pages add a 14-day duty to notify CBS after committing an offence or becoming subject to a legal restriction such as bankruptcy, receivership or a suspended licence.

Proof of registration has also changed form. Section 11B of the Act still speaks of a card to be carried and produced on request, but the government pages say registrations are now digital, with no physical card, and shown through the mySAGOV app.

Who must manage and supervise an agency

Registration of the business is not enough on its own. Section 10 of the Act requires a company's agency business to be properly managed and supervised by a registered agent who is a natural person. Section 11 applies the same idea to every office: each place of business must be managed and supervised by a registered individual agent, or by a person nominated to the Commissioner. Each section carries a maximum penalty of A$20,000.

Regulation 11 narrows who that nominee can be: a registered sales representative, nominated on the approved form and approved by the Commissioner. Regulation 12 then says what proper management looks like. Written procedures for handling trust money must be readily available to the employees concerned. Where an office is run by a nominee instead of an agent, a registered individual agent must still manage the trust accounts, the nominee and staff must be instructed in their obligations, and a registered individual agent must inspect the premises and the business documents every month. Under section 11A, an agent who does not follow the prescribed practices is taken not to have properly managed or supervised the business.

Penalties for working without registration

The Act sets a separate offence for each role, and for the agent who engages someone without the right registration.

The heaviest penalty is for carrying on business as an agent, or holding oneself out as one, without registration. Section 6 sets the maximum for an individual at A$50,000 for a first or second offence; for a third or later offence the court may also impose up to 12 months' imprisonment. For a body corporate the maximum is A$250,000.

The employer's side is just as clear. An agent who has an auction conducted by someone without the auctioneer registration faces a maximum of A$20,000 under section 6B, four times the A$5,000 maximum for the person who called the auction. Sections 6A and 6AB also deal with the agent who employs an unregistered person as a sales representative or property manager; the maximum fine for the agent in those two sections could not be confirmed against the text of the Act for this guide.

Registered people answer to a second system. Under sections 43 to 47, the Commissioner or any other person may lodge a complaint with the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, on grounds that include registration improperly obtained, a breach of the Act, or acting unlawfully, improperly, negligently or unfairly. The tribunal may reprimand, fine up to A$20,000, impose conditions, suspend or cancel a registration, disqualify the person from being registered, and ban them from being employed in an agent's business or from being a director of a company that is an agent. Breaching a condition imposed by the tribunal is an offence under section 48, and so is working in an agent's business or becoming a director of a company that is an agent in defiance of a ban, for the banned person and for the agent alike. The maximum is A$35,000 or six months' imprisonment.

Two last provisions give the system its memory. Section 52 has the Commissioner keep a register that records disciplinary action and is open to public inspection, and section 61 allows prosecutions for the Act's non-expiable offences to begin up to five years after the alleged offence.

In South Australia the registration follows the task: selling, letting, calling bids and running the agency each need their own, and each has its own price for going without.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

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