Becoming a real estate agent in Queensland: registration or licence

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Kooky

Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.

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People arrive in real estate from every direction: school leavers, tradespeople, teachers, parents returning to work, sales staff from other industries. In Queensland they all pass through the same gate. Nobody may sell or let property for someone else for reward without a document issued by the Office of Fair Trading, and there are two of them, a registration certificate and a full licence.

The two are often spoken of as if one were simply a junior version of the other. In law they are different permissions. A registration lets a person work inside someone else's agency. A licence lets a person be that agency. The training, the fee and the responsibilities follow from that difference.

This guide sets out the path as the Office of Fair Trading describes it on its licensing pages: who is eligible, what has to be studied, what each document allows and forbids, what it costs from 1 July 2026 and what is required once it is held. It describes the general rules. An individual's eligibility, especially where there is a criminal history or an insolvency in the past, is decided by the regulator on the facts.

Office of Fair Trading, pages on registering as a real estate salesperson and applying for a real estate agent licence.

Two documents, two roles

The registration certificate belongs to the real estate salesperson. The Office of Fair Trading says a registered salesperson can buy, sell, exchange or let houses, land and businesses for clients; negotiate for buyers, sellers and landlords; open and show properties; and inspect, appraise and advertise them, including with signs. A registered salesperson can also manage a secondary place of business for an agency, unless the registration carries a condition preventing it.

The real estate agent licence does all of that and more. Its holder can establish and operate an agency, collect rent for landlords, manage and sell units in a complex, and administer a trust account for the money of sellers and buyers.

The limits are as important as the permissions. A registered salesperson cannot operate a trust account. Neither a salesperson nor a licensed agent can conduct an auction on those documents alone: calling an auction of real property requires a separate auctioneer licence.

One rule shapes the early years of almost every career. The regulator's page states that real estate salespeople can only work as employees, and that contractors must have a full real estate agent licence. A person who wants to work for an agency as an independent contractor, a common arrangement for experienced sales agents, needs the full licence first.

Who is eligible

The entry conditions are the same in outline for both documents. The applicant must be at least 18 years old, must have completed the required training and must be a suitable person.

Suitability is the part that takes judgment. The regulator's pages name the situations that rule a person out. Someone who is currently disqualified from holding a licence or registration cannot apply. Nor can someone convicted of a serious offence in the past five years. For a full licence, a person who is an insolvent under administration is also unsuitable.

A serious offence has a defined meaning. The regulator describes it as an offence punishable by three or more years' imprisonment, and lists violent crimes, fraud, drug trafficking, extortion, arson, unlawful stalking or harassment and sexual offences.

Beyond those bars, the Office of Fair Trading weighs a wider set of matters. Its pages list the applicant's criminal history apart from serious offences; any successful claim against the property industry claim fund; earlier cancellations, suspensions or disqualifications; disqualification from being a company director; a history with insolvent licensed corporations; character, including for a licence the character of business associates; and whether the person is entitled to work in Australia.

None of the wider matters is an automatic refusal. They are factors, and the outcome depends on what happened, how long ago and what has changed since. A person with something in the past that might count is entitled to apply and to explain it.

The training for a registration

A salesperson registration requires 12 units of competency from the Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice, the national qualification with the code CPP41419. The regulator's page lists them, and their titles give a fair picture of the first year of the job.

Five units cover the foundations: preparing for professional practice, ethical practice, legislation, marketing and communication profiles, and preparing to work with trust accounts. Five cover sales: appraising property for sale or lease, marketing property, establishing vendor relationships, establishing buyer relationships and selling property. Two cover property management: establishing landlord relationships and managing a tenancy.

The mix is deliberate. A registered salesperson may work in sales, in property management or in both, and the 12 units prepare for either. A new starter who intends to spend a whole career managing rentals still studies how a sale works, and the reverse is true for a sales cadet.

The training must come from a registered training organisation, which the regulator says can be found through the national training register. International students on a student visa must use a provider registered for overseas students. The page carries one warning for people who studied some years ago: qualifications from the superseded training package, known as CPP07, are no longer accepted.

How long the 12 units take depends on the provider and the student. Courses are offered in classrooms, online and in blends of the two, and providers set their own prices and timetables. The Office of Fair Trading does not run the training or set its cost.

The training for a full licence

The full licence requires 19 units. They are the 12 units of the registration plus seven more, drawn from the same certificate and from the Diploma of Property (Agency Management), code CPP51122.

The seven additional units show what separates a licensee from a salesperson. Three extend property management: managing the tenant relationship, ending a tenancy and transacting in a trust account. Two come from the diploma and concern running a business: managing operational finances and managing customer service activities in the property industry. One covers presenting at hearings, which is the work of appearing before a tribunal in a tenancy or other dispute. The last is managing off-site and lone worker safety in real estate.

That final unit reflects the nature of the job. Agents and property managers often work alone at open homes, routine inspections and vacant properties, and the person who runs an agency is responsible for how staff are kept safe while doing so. Queensland makes that a required part of the licensee's training.

Because the 19 include the 12, a salesperson who has already qualified for registration needs only the seven additional units to become eligible for the licence. This is how most people in the industry upgrade: they study the remaining units while working, then apply.

The regulator's page notes one exemption. A person who held an equivalent licence within the past two years does not have to repeat the training.

Applying, and how long it takes

An application for either document can be lodged online, in person at an Office of Fair Trading office or by post to its Industry Licensing Unit in Brisbane. The regulator's salesperson page says an application cannot be made by email or by telephone.

The supporting documents are the same in kind. Proof of identity is required as an original or a certified copy: a birth certificate or extract, a driver licence, a passport or a citizenship certificate. The training certificate proves the units. A person who is not an Australian citizen or permanent resident adds a certified copy of the passport and the visa that permits work.

A criminal history check is carried out through the Queensland Police Service, and the regulator warns that it may take some time. Applicants born in New Zealand or holding a New Zealand passport obtain a separate check from the New Zealand Ministry of Justice, which the page says takes about 20 working days, is free and must be dated within one month of being submitted.

An applicant with an insolvency in the past provides a written explanation of the circumstances, the steps taken to avoid it and the creditors involved. For a registration, that explanation is accompanied by a letter from the employer describing the role the person will hold.

For a full licence, the regulator gives a standard processing time of four to six weeks. For registrations, its page says it is receiving more applications than usual and that processing times are affected. Complete applications with the fee paid are handled first. An incomplete application leads to a request for more information, and an applicant who does not respond risks having the application withdrawn.

No licensed work can be done while waiting. The permission starts when the certificate or licence is issued, not when the application is lodged.

What it costs from 1 July 2026

The Office of Fair Trading's fee list was updated on 1 July 2026. The amounts for individuals are set out below.

A first-year registration with the criminal history check therefore comes to $448.45, and a first-year licence to $1,756.35. These are the regulator's charges only. Tuition for the units is paid separately to the training provider.

The three-year option is cheaper per year. A registration bought for three years at $681.50 compares with $804.00 for a first year followed by two single-year renewals. The shorter term may still suit someone who expects to upgrade to a licence soon, since the registration will then be replaced.

An agency that trades through a company pays for a corporate licence as well, listed at $973.00 for a first year.

The first job on a registration

A registration is useless without an employer, because the law allows a salesperson to work only as an employee of a licensee. In practice people look for a position while studying, and many agencies recruit trainees on the understanding that the registration will follow.

The work in the first year varies by office. Some new registrants start as assistants to an established sales agent, handling open homes, buyer enquiries and paperwork. Others begin in property management, taking on a portfolio of rentals under a senior manager. Either way, the licensee is responsible for supervising the work, and the agency's appointment forms and trust account are the licensee's.

Pay in the industry is governed by the national Real Estate Industry Award, which sets minimum wages by classification and the conditions under which a salesperson may be paid by commission alone. Those conditions include an income test that a newcomer will not meet, so a first job is ordinarily a waged one, with commission or bonuses on top where the employer offers them.

A new registrant has one concession. Continuing professional development, compulsory in Queensland since 6 June 2025, is not required in the first 12 months after a certificate or licence is first issued, according to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland's summary of the rules. From the first anniversary, two approved sessions are due in each year.

Moving up to a full licence

There is no minimum period of experience in the regulator's published requirements for a full licence. The conditions are age, the 19 units and suitability. A person may therefore apply for the licence directly, without ever holding a registration, if the full set of units has been completed.

Most people do not, for practical reasons. The seven extra units deal with trust accounting, business finance, tribunal hearings and staff safety, subjects that mean more to someone who has spent time in an agency. And a licence is needed only by a person who wants to do what a registration forbids: run an office, operate a trust account, or work as a contractor.

The reasons people upgrade fall into three groups. Some intend to open their own agency. Some are offered a contractor arrangement by their agency, which requires the licence. And some are asked to take charge of an office, because the regulator requires an agency's principal place of business to be managed by a person who holds an individual licence.

Other routes into the industry

The registration and the agent licence are the main documents, but the Office of Fair Trading lists others for particular kinds of work.

An auctioneer licence is required to conduct auctions of real property, and it is held in addition to, or instead of, an agent licence. A resident letting agent licence is for the on-site manager of a unit complex who lets lots for their owners; the regulator says a salesperson registration cannot be used for that role. Two limited agent licences exist, one for business letting and one for affordable housing. And a company that carries on business as an agency needs a corporate licence.

People who are already licensed elsewhere have a shorter path. Under mutual recognition, the Office of Fair Trading says, most property licences from other states and from New Zealand can be transferred to the equivalent Queensland document without requalifying. The exceptions it names are New South Wales salesperson registrations, Class 2 agent licences from New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, and corporate licences, all of which require a fresh application. A transferring applicant may keep working under the existing licence, within its limits, while the Queensland application is processed.

Keeping the document once it is issued

A licence or registration is not permanent. It runs for one year or three and must be renewed before it expires. The Office of Fair Trading sends a notice four to six weeks ahead, and a holder who misses the date has three months to apply for restoration at a higher fee. After that, the document has ended and a new application is needed.

The holder must tell the regulator of changes in personal details, must be able to show the licence or certificate on request, and from the second year must complete two approved professional development sessions each year. A licensee who runs a trust account must have it audited and lodge the report.

A person who leaves the industry for a time can deactivate a licence instead of letting it lapse. The regulator's page says an inactive licence still has to be renewed, at a lower fee, and that a licence inactive for five years or more can be reactivated only after its holder completes all the current training.

The same conduct that qualifies a person at the start has to continue. Conviction of a serious offence leads to cancellation of a licence or a registration, and bankruptcy to cancellation of a licence. The suitability test applied on the first day is, in effect, applied for as long as the document is held.

What the path adds up to

Queensland's entry requirements are modest in time and money compared with many professions: 12 units, a clean recent record, a fee of a few hundred dollars and an employer. The full licence asks for more of each, because its holder takes responsibility for other people's money and other people's work.

That structure explains why the industry is open to career changers while still being regulated. The registration lets a newcomer start under supervision. The licence is reserved for those who have added the training in trust accounting, business management and safety that running an agency requires.

Kooky, from Shaka

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

About Kooky and Shaka →