Thinking about working in the real estate industry in Victoria?
There will be new educational requirements to apply to Consumer Affairs Victoria for an Agent’s Representative after the 21st of October 2020.
Summary – *Updated 22nd of October 2020*
New educational requirements: 18 units of learning from Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice CPP41419
Still accepted up until October 2025: 3 units of learning from Certificate IV in Property Services Real Estate CPP40307
The requirement for students to start the 3 unit CPP40307 Agent’s Representative before the 21st of October 2020 has been removed by the Department of Justice and Community Safety.
If you enrol into the current 3 unit CPP40307 Agent’s Representative course you have up until 1st of September 2021 to complete the course and use this educational outcome to gain employment as an Agent Representative until October 2025.
We advise students who are thinking about becoming an Agent’s Representative to enrol into our 3 unit course before August 2021 (final date of enrolment to be confirmed).
Impacts
Potential negative impacts are:
- A significant increase in the number of learning units
- A substantial increase in study time to undertake the course
- Increases in course fees impacting course affordability
- Considerable increase in the time to be gainfully employed in the real estate industry
- Reduction in the number of new entrants into the real estate industry
- Economic factors and impacts of COVID19
Potential beneficial impacts are:
- Increase in agents knowledge
- Reduction in consumer complaints
- Increasing standards in agency practice
- The entrants that do decide to enter the industry will have an increase in knowledge and be more job-ready to undertake duties as a property agent
Volume of learning
Current agent’s representative certificate educational requirements:
Unit Name
Nominal Hours
CPPDSM4007A Identify legal and ethical requirements of property management to complete agency work 30
CPPDSM4008A Identify legal and ethical requirements of property sales to complete agency work 30
CPPDSM4080A Work in the real estate industry 20
Total Hours
80
The following is the new requirements for the Agent’s Representative:
18 Certificate IV units from CPP41419. Students that complete the new Agents Representative course will be awarded a CPP41419 Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice.
The following units are in the table below:
Unit Name
Nominal Hours
Core units
• CPPREP4001 - Prepare for professional practice in real estate 30
• CPPREP4002 - Access and interpret ethical practice in real estate 40
• CPPREP4003 - Access and interpret legislation in real estate 50
• CPPREP4004 - Establish marketing and communication profiles in real estate 20
• CPPREP4005 - Prepare to work with real estate trust accounts 50
Group A – Residential Property Sales
• CPPREP4101 - Appraise residential property for sale or lease40 40
• CPPREP4102 - Market property 30
• CPPREP4103 - Establish vendor relationships 30
• CPPREP4104 - Establish buyer relationships 25
• CPPREP4105 - Sell property 60
Group B – Residential Property Management
• CPPREP4121 - Establish landlord relationships 30
• CPPREP4122 - Manage tenant relationships 30
• CPPREP4123 - Manage tenancy 50
• CPPREP4124 - End tenancy 30
• CPPREP4125 - Transact in trust accounts 50
Plus any three additional elective units that meet the packaging rules for the Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice.
Total Hours
555+
Background
The training requirements for estate agents and agent representatives has been under review by the state government of Victoria. The findings have, in part, indicated that the amount of training a person receives reduces the likelihood of consumer complaints and increases agent professionalism and ethical behaviour. In other words, better for consumers.
We’ve simplified the changes here to avoid information overload. The current Agent Representative educational course requirements has changed from 3 units from the CPP40307 certificate to 18 units from the new CPP41419 certificate.
However, Consumer Affairs Victoria will still be accepting the current 3 units from the CPP40307 (which must be completed before the 30th of September 2021) up until October 2025.
Connect Skills Institute supports any move that increases standards, promotes ethics and strengthens best practice for estate agents, their clients and customers. How these changes will actually impact the industry in the short term will have to be seen.
If you have any further questions, please contact me using the form below and book in for a call. I’ll attempt to remove any ambiguity and clarify your situation. 🙂
The information contained in this blog post reflects our opinion of the information available from Consumer Affairs Victoria & Engage Victoria at the date of publication.
More details can be found on the Engage Victoria & Consumer Affairs Victoria websites:
https://engage.vic.gov.au/real-estate-education-review
https://www.consumer.vic.gov.au/licensing-and-registration/estate-agents/agents-representatives
