State government considers new training for Queensland realtors

Complaints against Townsville real estate agents decreased in 2022, but realtors could still need to do annual training. Find out why.

Queensland Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman expects to introduce a bill to reform the Property Occupations Act later this year. Picture: Dan Peled / NCA NewsWire

Real estate agents in Queensland could be required to complete ongoing professional development if new laws proposed are put in place.

Townsville industry representatives hope this will help give a better understanding of the role of tenants, property managers and landlords.

Late last year the state government nominated ‘re-education’ as the preferred regulatory option for real estate agents, with complaints against the industry “going up”.

However, figures released under a Right to Information request show that complaints made about real estate agents, excluding resident lettings, have decreased the past three years, from 1134, then 1098 and 1048 last year.

RealEstate.com.au data says 31 per cent of Townsville houses were selling above list price in October 2022. Generic photo.

Townsville real estate agents attracted 31 complaints to the Office of Fair Trading in 2022, none of which led to licence cancellations or suspensions.

That figure was six fewer than in 2021. The majority of complaints for 2022 were for unsatisfactory or non performance of service, repairs or non completion, according to the RTI.

RealEstate.com.au. data shows the median house price in Aitkenvale has gone up 10.5 per cent in the past 12 months, to $342,500. Generic photo.

There were 44 complaints made in Cairns, which has a smaller population than Townsville.

A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General said extensive consultation had been done with stakeholders on mandatory continuing professional development, and recommendations from the consultation were being considered.

“In the coming months, we will be drafting key legislative changes to introduce reforms later this year,” she said.

Just over half of the 1048 complaints filed last year were for the Brisbane area and three agents or firms from the Gold Coast were taken to court.

Since January 1, 2022, all new property agent and salesperson applicants have been required to complete units from a new national property agent training package.

Four Townsville suburbs had major median house price falls of more than 10 per cent last year; Nome, Townsville City, Broughton and West End. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

However, Attorney-General Shannon Fentiman will propose reforms to the Property Occupations Act 2014, which are needed before a new mandatory and ongoing training program can be implemented.

Family Emergency Accommodation Townsville general manager Mandy Thompson said reform made sense.

“I think this sounds like a reasonable proposition, as most practitioners in most fields have to do regular training,” Ms Thompson said.

“It’s important that everyone has a good understanding of what tenants’, landlords’ and property managers’ requirements are.”

Realtors can be stripped of accreditation for numerous things, in 2014 a Townsville property management company was stripped of its accreditation for advertising that made reference to the Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky incident.

In Queensland real estate agents are licensed and regulated under the Property Occupations Act 2014.

A spokeswoman for the Office of Fair Trading said between January 1 2022, and March 31 2023, there were no cancellations and suspensions for Townsville.

There were 13 real estate licences cancelled statewide and 14 suspended during the same period.

On Tuesday rent increases were limited to once a year, a decrease from once every six months. The state government is also considering rent caps.

Originally published as State government considers new training for Queensland realtors