Apply for Settlement agent licence

If you are registered or licensed as a Settlement agent licence elsewhere in Australia or New Zealand and want to carry out real estate and business representative work in Western Australia, you can find out more information about having your licence recognised in WA.

Applicants must provide two business references completed using the individual or partnership/body corporate pro forma that shows at least two years of full-time relevant experience in the past five years.

• References from relatives/domestic partner, subordinates, business partners or co-directors will not generally be accepted.
• At least one reference must be from a person external to the applicant’s current place of employment.
• References should be detailed and focus only on the applicant’s suitability for a real estate agent’s licence. Any additional relevant information should be attached.

Applicants for a real estate or business settlement agent's licence must have passed the examinations which are required by a public training provider or registered training provider in order to complete an Advanced Diploma of Conveyancing.

Individuals that have completed the superseded Diploma of Conveyancing must lodge an application for a real estate or business settlement agent’s licence on or before 31 December 2024 for the qualification to be accepted. From 1 January 2025, only the Advanced Diploma of Conveyancing can be accepted in support of an application.

To locate a registered training organisation that is approved to deliver the Diploma you can search the National Vocational Education and Training Register at the Australian Training Sector website.

The Settlement Agents Act 1981 gives the Commissioner the power to make arrangements in respect of fidelity and professional indemnity insurance for settlement agents operating in Western Australia. Where the Commissioner considers it necessary, a Master Policy Agreement with an insurer can be entered into. In accordance with section 35 of the Act, each triennial certificate holder that will be trading in their own right or acting as the person in bona fide control or branch manager of a licensed settlement agency, must at all times be insured and hold a current certificate of insurance under the Commissioner’s Master Policy Agreement.

At present, Marsh Advantage Insurance have been appointed as the brokers of the Master Policy Agreement for settlement agents.

To discuss your individual insurance requirements, please email Marsh Insurance Brokers at kylie.zoghbi@marsh.com.

Consumer Protection maintains a separate Fidelity Guarantee Account which helps provide financial reimbursement to people who suffer pecuniary loss or loss of property through the criminal or fraudulent actions of a licensed real estate settlement or business settlement agent or their employees in the course of a real estate settlement transaction.

The licence and triennial certificate must be surrendered within five days after the licensee ceased to have the required number of licensed directors or have a licensed person in bona fide control of the business.

If the body corporate ceases to be qualified by reason of death or withdrawal, they can notify the Commissioner and operate for up to three months, after which they must surrender their licence and triennial certificate if they remain unqualified.