Home › Professional discipline › Real estate agents
The Real Estate Authority (REA) receives complaints about licensed real estate agents, branch managers and salespeople under the Real Estate Agents Act 2008. Complaints are investigated by a Complaints Assessment Committee, which can find unsatisfactory conduct itself or refer serious matters to the Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal (READT). The Tribunal can suspend a licence for up to 24 months, cancel it, fine, and order compensation. The process is nationwide, and much of it happens in writing.
If a complaint has been made about you
The single most important step comes early: when the Committee inquires into a complaint, it must send you the particulars and invite a written explanation. That explanation is your best structured chance to keep the matter at the lower level, unsatisfactory conduct, or to end it altogether. A Committee’s decision to refer a matter to the Tribunal cannot be appealed, so you fight the referral by getting the written explanation right, not by objecting afterwards.
The distinction between the two thresholds is where most cases are won. Unsatisfactory conduct covers real estate agency work that falls short of proper standards. Misconduct is much more serious: conduct that is disgraceful, work that is seriously incompetent or seriously negligent, a wilful or reckless breach of the rules, or a conviction that reflects adversely on your fitness. Those words, seriously, wilful, reckless, are the defence, and arguing them at the Committee stage is what keeps a matter out of the Tribunal.
We act for licensees at every stage. Wellington based, acting nationwide.
How the process works
- The complaint. Any person may complain in writing to the REA.
- Registrar triage. The Registrar can filter out complaints that are inconsequential, frivolous, vexatious, better dealt with elsewhere, or already resolved. Others go to a Complaints Assessment Committee.
- The Committee inquires. You receive the particulars and an invitation to give a written explanation. The Committee usually decides on the papers, without an in-person hearing. Negotiation, conciliation and mediation are available and underused.
- The Committee determines. It can take no further action, find unsatisfactory conduct on the balance of probabilities, or refer the matter to the Tribunal, in which case it frames a charge and prosecutes it.
- The Tribunal. A panel of three, chaired by an experienced lawyer. Hearings are public by default. If misconduct is proved, penalty and costs follow.
- Appeal. Committee determinations can be appealed to the Tribunal within 20 working days. Tribunal decisions go to the High Court within 20 working days, and to the Court of Appeal on questions of law.
What is at risk
A Committee finding unsatisfactory conduct can censure you, order an apology, training, a fee reduction or refund, rectification, and a fine of up to $10,000 for an individual.
If the Tribunal finds misconduct, the stakes rise: cancellation of your licence, suspension for up to 24 months, a bar on supervisory functions, orders ending your current engagement and preventing any agency from engaging you, a fine of up to $15,000 for an individual, and compensation of up to $100,000 for loss caused by the misconduct.
Decisions are published, and a disciplinary finding stays on the public register for three years. For a working salesperson, that entry is often the real penalty.
Interim suspension. Once you have been charged, the Tribunal can suspend your licence pending the outcome where the public interest requires it. It must first give you written notice and reasons, and you then have 10 working days to make written representations. That window is the intervention point: a well-argued response proposing supervision or conditions as a proportionate alternative can hold your licence while the case is decided.
The first week
- Do not send a quick, informal reply to the REA. Your written explanation to the Committee is the most important document in the case, and it deserves proper preparation.
- Diarise every deadline. Twenty working days for appeals, and 10 working days to respond to any notice of intended interim suspension. These periods are short and strict.
- Tell your agency at the right time and in the right way. Your agency relationship and your regulatory position affect each other, and how you handle one shapes the other.
- Notify your insurer if you have relevant cover, before responding.
- Preserve the file. Agency agreements, correspondence, marketing material, and a diary of events while memories are fresh.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose my licence?
Cancellation and long suspensions are reserved for serious misconduct. Most complaints that go anywhere end at the unsatisfactory conduct level, with orders such as censure, training or a fine. The realistic goal is usually to keep the matter at that level or end it entirely, through the written explanation.
Are READT hearings public?
Yes, by default, and decisions are published with names. The Tribunal can prohibit publication of names and details in a proper case, and breaching a suppression order is an offence. Suppression must be sought; it is not automatic.
Who pays the costs?
The Tribunal can make any costs award it thinks fit, and it looks expressly at whether the parties acted in good faith, helped or obstructed the gathering of information, and helped resolve the matter. Cooperating early, and being seen to, has a direct cash value.
Can I keep working while the case runs?
Usually yes. Interim suspension requires notice and a chance to respond first. And if the Tribunal cancels or suspends your licence and you appeal, the High Court can make an interim order allowing you to keep doing real estate agency work until the appeal is decided. Ask for it; it does not happen by default.
Can I just give up my licence?
Surrendering your licence does not end the process. The Act expressly covers former licensees, so a complaint can be investigated and determined even after you have left the industry.
Does a complaint stay on my record?
A disciplinary finding is published and stays on the public register for three years.
How Andy Bell can help
Andy Bell is an employment lawyer at Lane Neave who defends licensed professionals in regulatory matters. In real estate cases the leverage is early: the written explanation, the fight between unsatisfactory conduct and misconduct, and the 10 working day window on interim suspension. Andy also advises on the agency and employment consequences alongside. The first consultation is free, and confidential.
Back to professional discipline | Home
This page is general information, not legal advice. Take advice on your own situation before acting.