Setting Up Your Own Real Estate Agency in Queensland: Licence, Structure and First Steps

You’ve spent years building a rent roll, a referral network, and a reputation. At some point, the question stops being hypothetical: what would it actually take to run my own agency? The answer involves a specific licence class, a formal business structure, a trust account with an approved financial institution, and a clear-eyed understanding of what Queensland law expects from the person whose name is on the door.

This is not a process to approach loosely. The Property Occupations Act 2014 (QLD) — the primary legislation governing real estate practice in Queensland since it replaced the old PAMDA framework on 1 December 2014 — sets out precisely what a principal licensee must hold, maintain, and be responsible for. Getting each element right before you open matters: operating without the correct authorisations is a criminal offence, and post-launch compliance failures attract the kind of OFT scrutiny that can end a business before it finds its feet.

The Licence You Actually Need to Set Up a Real Estate Agency in Queensland

The foundational requirement to set up a real estate agency in Queensland is holding a Real Estate Agent licence issued by the Queensland Office of Fair Trading. This is not the same as a real estate salesperson registration. A registration certificate allows an individual to perform real estate activities as an employee under supervision. Only the Real Estate Agent licence authorises you to carry on business in your own right, be the principal licensee, and operate a trust account.

To lawfully operate a real estate agency in Queensland and be the principal responsible for an office, you must hold the relevant licence issued by the Queensland Office of Fair Trading. The licence you’ll generally need is the Real Estate Agent licence. It authorises you and your agency to carry out real estate activities such as selling property or businesses, leasing, and property management.

Under the Property Occupations Act 2014, a principal licensee is defined as “a licensee who carries on business under the licensee’s licence on the licensee’s own behalf.” That definition is important. It distinguishes you — the person who owns and runs the agency — from an employed licensee who holds a licence but works under another principal’s banner.

A Real Estate Agent licence enables you to negotiate on behalf of a buyer, seller, landlord or tenant in the buying, exchanging or renting of houses, businesses or land; manage an apartment complex and sell any units independently without having to work through an established agency; and operate a trust account on behalf of sellers and buyers. Note the carve-out: you may not auction property under this licence. If auctioneering is part of your business model, a separate auctioneer licence is required.

The Qualification Requirements

Queensland requires completion of prescribed training for a Real Estate Agent licence. The current requirements are based on nationally endorsed real estate qualifications — specifically the CPP41419 Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice, with additional units for a full agent licence, and in some cases a higher qualification.

In practice, the full Real Estate Agent licence requires units drawn from both the CPP41419 Certificate IV and the Diploma of Property (Agency Management) (CPP51122). You’ll need to complete 19 subjects taken from the Certificate IV in Real Estate Study (CPP41419) and the Diploma of Property (Agency Management) (CPP51119). This is a materially higher bar than salesperson registration, which requires only 12 units from the Certificate IV. The diploma component specifically addresses business management, agency compliance, and trust accounting — skills the regulator expects a principal to demonstrate before issuing the licence.

The OFT also assesses suitability. You must be at least 18 years old, be assessed as a suitable person — which involves consideration of criminal history and prior disqualifications — and not be an undischarged bankrupt or fail financial suitability standards. Licence holders are required to pass a criminal check, and people who have committed serious offences in the past five years are usually not allowed to hold a licence.

Once your application is lodged: it can take the Office of Fair Trading between four and six weeks to process your application. Build that timeline into your launch plan. Commencing operations before your licence is issued is a breach of the Act, regardless of how far along your other setup tasks are.

Interstate and New Zealand Agents

You can transfer a current, valid licence from interstate or New Zealand to the equivalent licence in Queensland. This does not mean automatic recognition — the OFT will still assess suitability and may require evidence of equivalent qualifications — but the mutual recognition pathway is substantially faster than a fresh application for agents who are currently licensed and in good standing elsewhere.

Choosing Your Business Structure Before You Apply

The structure question matters before you apply, not after. The structure you choose affects who must hold what licence, how the business is taxed, and how much personal exposure you carry if something goes wrong.

Sole Trader

A sole trader structure is the simplest entry point. You trade under your own name or a registered business name. The Real Estate Agent licence is held in your individual name, and you are the principal licensee in every legal sense. There is no separation between you and the business — all profits are your income, all liabilities are yours personally. For an agent launching solo with a modest rent roll and no immediate plans to take on staff, this structure has merit. It is low-cost to establish and straightforward to administer.

The limitation is liability. If a client sues your agency, your personal assets are exposed. Your PI insurance (discussed below) addresses some of that risk, but not all of it.

Company (Corporate Trustee or Trading Company)

The most common structure for an agency with growth ambitions is a proprietary limited company. If you trade through a company, the company itself can hold a licence as the “corporate” licensee. You’ll still need a properly licensed person to supervise the office.

Corporate agencies in Queensland need to have a corporate real estate agent licence. If there are any directors who carry out real estate agent work or an officer in charge of the business, they need to have an individual licence. However, directors of these agencies who do not perform any real estate work are not required to have licences.

In practice, this means if you are both director and the person running the office, you need both an individual Real Estate Agent licence and a corporate licence for the company. If you bring on a co-director who is purely an investor with no hands-on role in agency work, they do not need a licence, but you do — and you are the one the OFT holds responsible for the office’s conduct.

The company structure creates limited liability, separates the business’s financial affairs from your personal finances, and makes it substantially easier to eventually bring in business partners, sell equity, or structure a succession plan. If you’re going down the company route, think about governance, decision-making, and ownership early. Where there are multiple founders, a Shareholders Agreement helps set expectations and reduce disputes, and a tailored Company Constitution can support how your agency actually operates.

Trust Structure

Some agents operate through a discretionary trust with a corporate trustee. This structure can provide tax flexibility and asset protection benefits beyond a straightforward company. It does add administrative complexity and cost, particularly around annual trust deed compliance and tax returns. If you are considering this structure, engage an accountant with specific experience in small professional services businesses before committing — the licensing framework does not change, but the entity structure underlying your licence application does.

What the OFT Requires: Registered Office and Place of Business

Queensland law requires certain particulars around your place of business, business signage, and the appointment of a suitably licensed person in charge. You must ensure your office location, supervision arrangements, and signage comply before you open the doors.

The Property Occupations Act 2014 (s.93) requires every property agent to maintain a registered office. This is a physical address in Queensland — not a post office box — where the principal carries on business and where OFT correspondence can be directed. If you intend to operate from a home office, be aware that your local council’s planning rules may apply, and that the OFT’s expectations around professional presentation and accessibility are tied to this address. Any change of registered office must be notified to the OFT promptly under the Act (s.94).

Under the Property Occupations Act, a licensee or registered salesperson are both able to run a place of business except for the registered office of the principal licensee. The registered office itself — the formal anchor of your licence — must be under the direct supervision of you as principal licensee, not merely delegated to an employed salesperson. The requirement to display a licence in a place of business and a sign with the licensee name and status is removed under the current Act, but the licence must still be produced if requested.

Trust Account Setup: The Non-Negotiable Compliance Foundation

If your agency receives deposits, rent, or other trust money, you must open a compliant trust account with an approved financial institution. Trust accounting mistakes are one of the most common reasons agencies face enforcement action.

The term approved ADI (authorised deposit-taking institution) is the operative phrase under Queensland trust accounting requirements. Your trust account must be held with an ADI — a bank, building society, or credit union — that is authorised under Commonwealth banking law. This rules out using a payment platform, a business account, or a third-party holding service as a substitute. The account must be specifically designated as a trust account, and the agency’s licence number is typically required at account opening.

You must open your trust account and document procedures around receipting, reconciliations, and refunds, and confirm who can authorise transactions. Professional bookkeeping support and periodic internal audits are strongly advisable from the outset.

The Property Occupations Act 2014 and its associated trust accounting provisions (administered under the Agents Financial Administration Act 2014) require:

• Trust money to be paid into the trust account by the end of the next business day after receipt
• Separate ledger accounts maintained for each client
• Monthly reconciliations of the trust account
• Annual audits conducted by an approved auditor and lodged with the OFT

Failing to maintain a compliant trust account — or allowing trust money to be used for operating expenses — is among the most serious compliance breaches a Queensland agency can commit. The OFT can impose financial penalties, suspend or cancel a licence, and refer matters for prosecution. Building robust processes and segregation of duties into your trust accounting framework from day one is essential.

Employing Agents: Licence and Registration Requirements for Your Team

As principal, you’re responsible for ensuring your salespeople, property managers, and administrators hold the right registration or licence and work within the law.

Real estate salespeople must be registered to be the employee of a licensed property agent in Queensland. A salesperson registration is not a licence — it does not authorise the holder to operate independently, be the person in charge of a place of business, or manage a trust account. Real estate salespeople are not permitted to conduct property auctions or manage real estate trust accounts.

When you hire a salesperson, the first thing to check is that their registration certificate is current and in their name. Registration certificates can lapse, and an agent working under an expired certificate is a compliance issue that sits squarely with the principal. Licences must be renewed on time. As principal, you’ll also be responsible for making sure your team’s registrations don’t lapse. Keeping training records, renewal diaries, and internal checklists helps you remain compliant year-round.

Under s.87 of the Act, a property agent is responsible for the acts and omissions of salespersons in the carrying out of real estate activities. That responsibility is not merely administrative — it means that if your salesperson makes a misrepresentation to a buyer or mishandles a deposit, you as the licensee-in-charge carry legal accountability. This is the weight that comes with the principal licensee role, and it is why supervision systems matter from day one.

Mandatory CPD Applies to Your Whole Team

From 6 June 2025, Queensland real estate agents and auctioneers are required to complete annual CPD training to maintain their licence or registration. This obligation applies to principal licensees and employed licensees alike. As the principal, you bear the administrative responsibility of ensuring every team member is tracking their CPD hours and meeting annual requirements. A salesperson whose registration lapses for want of CPD is your compliance exposure, not just theirs.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

Professional indemnity (PI) insurance is not technically mandated by the Property Occupations Act 2014 itself, but it is effectively mandatory in practice and, for any REIQ member agency, is a condition of membership. PI insurance protects against claims arising from professional negligence — for example, a client who alleges you gave negligent advice leading to a financial loss, or that you failed to disclose a material defect you knew about or should have discovered.

The REIQ recommends that member agencies hold PI insurance with a minimum limit of indemnity appropriate to the scope of their business. Industry practice for a Queensland residential sales and property management agency suggests a minimum of $2 million per claim, though agencies operating in commercial property or managing larger rent rolls typically carry higher limits.

The premium cost depends on the size of your rent roll, the nature of your transactions, and your claims history. For a new agency, budget approximately $1,500–$3,500 per annum for a basic PI policy, though this figure can vary significantly. Obtain quotes from multiple specialist insurers with experience in real estate professional indemnity — the policy terms and exclusions differ materially between providers, and the cheapest policy is rarely the most appropriate.

Separate from PI insurance, public liability insurance is also standard practice for any agency with an office that clients physically attend.

REIQ Membership vs OFT Registration: What Is Mandatory and What Is Optional

This is a question that genuinely confuses new principals. The distinction is clean:

OFT registration is mandatory. In order to legally perform the duties of a real estate agent, auctioneer, resident letting agent, salesperson, or property manager, individuals must meet the fair trading real estate requirements and hold a registration certificate or real estate licence. This involves completing the required training and meeting eligibility and suitability requirements stipulated by the Office of Fair Trading. An individual must not undertake any activities involved in appraising, listing, showing, renting, or selling real estate while unlicensed or unregistered. OFT registration is the legal prerequisite. No licence, no business.

REIQ membership is voluntary. The Real Estate Institute of Queensland is an industry body, not a regulatory authority. Membership is not required to hold a licence, operate an agency, or employ staff. There is no legal obligation to join. However, REIQ membership carries material practical advantages, including access to industry-standard contract templates (including the REIQ contracts for residential sales and property management), professional development resources, and access to educational programs including training for your team’s qualification requirements. For a new agency, the REIQ Contract Suite alone — the Form 6 and associated residential and commercial contracts — represents significant practical value that most independent principals choose to access through membership rather than obtain separately.

The distinction matters most when you’re budgeting your launch. OFT fees are non-negotiable line items. REIQ fees are an investment decision — one that the majority of Queensland principals make, but which does not carry legal compulsion.

Franchise vs Independent: The Real Comparison

The franchise-versus-independent question deserves honest analysis, not advocacy for either side. Both models work. The choice should be driven by your specific situation, not received wisdom.

The Franchise Case

A franchise provides an established brand, a national marketing presence, a structured onboarding process, and — in most cases — a designated territory. For an agent launching in a market where consumers are highly brand-conscious, or in a geographic area where the franchise brand has strong existing recognition, the brand advantage is real and can accelerate the growth of your listing appraisal pipeline from day one.

The commercial terms matter enormously. Franchise fees typically include a set-up fee, an ongoing royalty expressed as a percentage of GCI (typically ranging from 6% to 12% of gross commission income), and marketing levies. Over a full financial year, total franchise costs can represent a material proportion of gross revenue. Before signing any franchise agreement, have an independent solicitor review the agreement — franchise agreements in real estate are long, complex documents with restraint-of-trade clauses that can significantly limit what you can do if you exit. The franchise body’s disclosure document, which is mandatorily required under the Franchising Code of Conduct, must be provided at least 14 days before signing.

The Independent Case

An independent agency retains 100% of its GCI (minus operating costs), builds its own brand equity, and is free from franchisor oversight of how it operates. For an agent with an established local reputation, a strong referral base, and a clear market positioning, independence can generate substantially better margins than a franchise once revenue reaches a sustainable threshold.

The trade-off is that brand building takes time and money. Without franchise support infrastructure, you are responsible for your own technology stack, your own marketing collateral, your own training programs, and your own compliance systems. These are costs a franchise partially internalises in exchange for its fees.

The pragmatic answer for most experienced agents: if your existing client relationships are strong enough that you could maintain a viable pipeline on reputation and referral alone for the first 12–18 months, independence may serve you better financially. If you are entering a new market, changing suburbs, or building from a low listing base, a franchise brand may be worth the cost during the establishment phase.

What This Means for Queensland Agents Ready to Go Independent

Setting up your own real estate agency in Queensland is not an especially complex process, but it is an unforgiving one. Every step is sequential: your qualifications must be complete before you can apply for your licence; your licence must be issued before you can operate; your trust account must be open before you accept a single dollar of client money; and your PI insurance should be in force from the moment you hold yourself out as trading.

The critical checklist for a Queensland agent going independent is:

• Hold (or apply for) a Real Estate Agent licence as an individual, including the CPP51122 Diploma of Property (Agency Management) — this is the licence class that authorises you to operate as a principal licensee
• Determine your business structure before lodging your licence application, as the OFT application requires your business address and entity details
• If trading through a company, obtain a corporate Real Estate Agent licence for the entity in addition to your individual licence
• Establish your trust account at an approved ADI before your first exchange, settlement, or rental disbursement
• Have a licensed or registered person in charge of every place of business you operate
• Verify that every team member’s registration or licence is current, and set diary reminders for renewal dates
• Obtain PI insurance at an appropriate coverage level before commencing trading
• Budget for OFT licence fees as a mandatory cost, and evaluate REIQ membership on its practical merits for your operation

The distinction between mandatory and optional keeps your budget honest. Your OFT licence fees, trust account obligations, and compliance infrastructure are non-negotiable. Your franchise affiliation, REIQ membership, and industry association participation are choices — valuable ones for many agencies, but choices nonetheless.

The obligation that catches new principals most often is the supervision and vicarious liability exposure that comes with employing even a single salesperson. Operating as an agency principal brings ongoing duties that regulators take seriously — particularly around money handling and supervision. Build your internal systems — file review processes, trust accounting procedures, and CPD tracking — before you need them. The principals who attract OFT scrutiny are rarely the ones who made a deliberate decision to cut corners; they are the ones who were too busy generating revenue to notice that their compliance framework had silently broken down.