Expired Real Estate Licence? What to Do Next
It happens more often than you might think.
We regularly receive calls from people who have realised their Queensland real estate licence or salesperson registration has expired. Sometimes it’s simply because life got busy. Other times, they’ve moved house, forgotten to update their details and never received their renewal notice.
Whatever the reason, the important thing is to deal with it quickly.
First: How Long Has Your Licence Been Expired?
If your Queensland property licence or registration has expired, you generally have three months from the expiry date to apply to have it restored. If you apply within that three-month period, you may be able to restore your existing licence or registration rather than starting from scratch. But once that three-month restoration period has passed, your licence or registration has expired and you’ll need to apply for a new one. And importantly, you cannot legally continue working in the property industry without a valid licence or registration.
What Happens If It Has Been More Than Three Months?
This is where your previous training becomes important. When applying for a new real estate salesperson registration, the Office of Fair Trading will look at whether you meet the current training requirements.
For Queensland real estate salespeople, the current qualification requirements are based on units from the CPP41419 Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice. If you completed your training under the current training package, getting your evidence together may be relatively straightforward. However, if you completed your real estate training under an older qualification, things can become a little more complicated. The previous CPP40307 Property Services Training Package has been superseded, and the Office of Fair Trading states that qualifications from CPP40307 are no longer accepted for a new salesperson registration. That could mean completing current training requirements before you can successfully apply again.
Do You Need to Provide Your Training Certificates Again?
Not necessarily.
When applying online, the Office of Fair Trading advises that you generally need to upload evidence of your training. However, you may not need to provide training certificates if you’ve held an equivalent Queensland real estate licence or registration within the previous two years.
This is why there isn’t one answer that applies to everyone.
Your next step can depend on:
- how long your licence or registration has been expired
- when you originally completed your real estate training
- which training package your units were completed under
- how recently you held a Queensland property licence or registration
- whether you meet the current training and CPD requirements.
Don’t Ignore Your Renewal Notice
The Office of Fair Trading generally sends renewal notices around four to six weeks before expiry, but ultimately it is your responsibility to make sure your licence remains current. If you move house or change your contact details, make sure those details are updated so an important renewal notice doesn’t disappear into your old letterbox. It’s also worth keeping your own record of your licence expiry date rather than relying solely on the reminder.
Has Your Licence Already Lapsed?
If you’ve discovered your real estate licence or salesperson registration has expired, don’t panic, but don’t leave it sitting either. The sooner you establish when it expired and what qualification you previously completed, the easier it is to work out what you need to do next.
If this has happened to you, or you know someone whose licence or registration has lapsed, give our team at Complete Property Training a call. We can help you understand your previous training, where it sits against the current requirements and what your next step may be to get back into the industry.