Licensee in Charge Details v1.0 180320
Licensee in Charge Details
Property and Stock Agents Act 2002
Section 31 of the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 requires an individual who carries on business
under a class 2 licence, as well as corporate licensees, to employ a class 1 licence holder to
be in
charge of the business.
A principal licensee is defined in the Supervision Guidelines as:
•
an individual who carries on business under a licence other than a class 1 licence, or
•
a corporation that operates under a corporation licence.
The person appointed by a principal licensee is called a ‘licensee in charge’.
No part of the business carried out by the principal licensee can be left unsupervised by a licensee in
charge. This means that there must either be a single licensee in charge of the entire business or several
licensees in charge of different parts of
the business. However, no more than one licensee can be in
charge of the same part of the business.
It is up to each individual or corporation to determine how they apportion the business. They will need to
consider how best to
organise the business to ensure appropriate supervision going forward. A person
cannot act as the licensee in charge for two or more principal licensees, unless those licensees are in
p
artnership.
A licensee in charge needs to hold a class 1 licence in the category of work carried out by the business.
For example, a corporation that
manages a strata management business will need to employ an individual
who holds a class 1 strata managing agent’s licence. At least one director of the corporation must hold a
licence (class 1 or 2) in the relevant category.
Each nominated licensee in charge will be responsible for authorising trust account withdrawals for the
business and must properly supervise the business in accordance with the Supervision Guidelines.
The principal licensee must notify the Secretary of the name and licence number of each licensee in
charge employed by them, including the address of each place of business at which each nominated
licensee in charge will be discharging their duties.
The principal licensee must notify the Secretary within 5 business days of any changes in details of the
licensees in charge.