Real estate, business and conveyancing agents

If you have a real estate, business or conveyancing licence, you must open and maintain a trust account.

This means you must audit your trust account every year unless you have an exemption.

When auditing your account, you must follow the below obligations to comply with:

• part V of the Agents Licensing Act 1979
• part III of the Agents Licensing Regulations 1979.

Failure to comply is an offence under the Act and may lead to penalties.

Exemptions

The following exemptions apply.

If you’re employed by another agent or company

You are exempt from auditing your account if:

• you’re employed by another licensed agent e.g. a real estate company and
• monies received are held in an account by them.

This exemption is provided under section 5A of the Act and formalised by the following polices.

Exemption from requirements relating to trust obligations (conveyancers) PDF (43.5 KB)
Exemption from requirements relating to trust obligations (real estate and business agents) PDF (78.8 KB)

If you didn't receive or hold any monies

If you didn't receive or hold any monies during a prescribed period, you are exempt from auditing your account that year.

Instead, you must submit a statutory declaration to the board within 2 months after the prescribed period.

For most agents, this means you must submit a statutory declaration by 30 August.

To submit a statutory declaration, follow these steps:

Step 1. Fill in the relevant statutory declaration.

Company licensee statutory declaration PDF (66.8 KB)
Company licensee statutory declaration DOCX (19.2 KB)

Individual licensee statutory declaration PDF (125.6 KB)
Individual licensee statutory declaration DOCX (19.0 KB)

You must declare that no trust money was received or held during a prescribed period (regulation 16).

Declarations that are not made using the approved form will not be accepted.

Read the policy on requirement to use approved form for declaration under regulation 16 PDF (847.6 KB).

Step 2. Submit your statutory declaration by email to board.services@nt.gov.au.

Who must audit your account

Your account must be audited by a qualified auditor who:

• is a registered company auditor under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)
• is not your employee, business partner or a close relative
• is not involved in the keeping or custody of your accounting records
• is not a licensed agent or business manager of your business
• meets the other requirements set out in section 60 of the Act.

Engaging an unqualified or conflicted auditor is an offence and may attract a penalty.

When your account must be audited

Every year, a qualified auditor must audit your account within 3 months after the prescribed period.

For most agents, the prescribed period is 1 July to 30 June the following year (section 58).

This means you must have your account audited by 30 September.

If you commence trading within 3 months before 30 June

Your first audit will not be due till 30 September the following year.

This means it will cover a longer period, starting from the date you began trading up to 30 June the following year (regulation 13).

This ensures you are not subject to an immediate audit obligation for a short period.

What the auditor must do

Once the audit is complete, the auditor must:

• prepare a report on whether you have maintained your records in line with section 62(2) of the Act and
• provide a copy of the report to you and the board by email (section 62(1)).

The audit report covering form below must also be submitted with the report, or it will not be accepted.

Audit report covering form PDF (221.3 KB)
Audit report covering form DOCX (88.5 KB)

See policy on requirement to use audit report covering form PDF (831.3 KB).

Failure by the auditor to comply with reporting requirements is an offence under sections 62 and 63 of the Act.

If the auditor identifies serious issues

The auditor must submit a special report to the board immediately (section 63).

Serious issues may include missing funds, non-compliance, or inadequate or un-auditable records.