Real estate, business and conveyancing agents

If you are a licensed agent, you must hold all money you receive in a trust account.

This includes sales deposits, rent and security deposits (also known as bonds).

Under the Agents Licensing Act 1979 and the Agents Licensing Regulations 1979, this applies to you if you have a:

• real estate
• business or
• conveyancing licence.

If you have just been granted one of these licences, you must open a trust account within 7 days.

Find out what the account must include and how you must manage it below.

If you’re employed by another agent or company

You are exempt from opening and maintaining an 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)

Setting up an account

You must open an account in the NT at one of the following approved institutions:

• Macquarie Bank
• Commonwealth Bank
• Bendigo Bank
• ANZ Bank
• Westpac Bank
• National Australia Bank
• BankSA.

It must have a BSB that reflects this and also have a title that includes:

• your name or your business name (if you do business under a registered business name)
• the words ‘trust account’ and
• ‘security deposits’ - if it only holds security deposits (as defined in section 63 of the Business Tenancies (Fair Dealings) Act 2003 and section 4 of the Residential Tenancies Act 1999) and any interest on them.

When you open an account

You must notify the department within 7 days of opening an account.

If you plan to have multiple, you must do this for each one.

To notify the department, fill in the notification form and email it to propertyagents.licensing@nt.gov.au.

Notification of opening a statutory trust account PDF (171.1 KB)
Notification of opening a statutory trust account DOCX (85.9 KB)

Failure to do so is an offence under the Agents Licensing Act 1979 and may result in penalties or disciplinary action.

Auditing your account

Under the Agents Licensing Act 1979, your trust account must be audited every year.

Read more about auditing your account.

If you stop trading as an agent

You must have your account audited within 2 months of stopping your business as a licensed agent.

This final audit must cover the period:

• since your last audit or
• from the date you commenced trading (if no previous audit was conducted).

Under regulation 14(5), exceptions may apply if another agent has taken over your business and has the relevant period in their audit.

Contact

For more information or to submit an audit report, email Board.Services@nt.gov.au or call 1800 193 111.