Licensee-in-Charge/Principal Agent
Without an exemption, each place of business must be in the charge of a licensee, who is
responsible for the business carried on there, including supervision of all employees. A
licensee-in-charge/Principal Agent must hold a class 1 licence.
Employers are ordinarily responsible for the acts of their employees, with some exceptions.
At common law it is referred to as ‘vicarious liability’.
The definition of vicarious is:
If you act in someone’s stead, you take his or her place, at least temporarily. The oldest
meaning of "vicarious," which was first recorded in 1637, is "serving in someone or
something’s stead."
In real estate the licensee is responsible for anything done or not done by an employee:
o Within the scope of the employee’s authority or
o For the benefit, or the purported benefit, of the licensee or the licensee’s business.
An individual licensee is responsible for the supervision of their own place of business. A
licensee who has more than one place of business must employ a licensee in charge at each
other place of business unless they hold an exemption. A corporation that holds a corporation
licence must employ licensees to oversee each of the corporation’s places of business.
Reception
The face of the agency, often the first point of contact with the public so needs to be
knowledgeable, well presented, and able to deal with both the internal and external clients
with grace and tact.
Sales & Administrative Support / Business Development Officer
(BDO)
Usually deals with the correspondence concerning the sale of properties. Business
Development Officer’s task is to grow the business, often through ‘cold calling’, letter box
drops, etc.
Property Management
A Property Manager is responsible for the main functions of property management. Including
supervision of Property Officers.
A Property Officer is graded 1, 2 or 3 depending upon experience and generally works under
the supervision of a property manager.
Sales Agent
A Sales Agent is responsible for listing and selling properties. The main roles a sales agent
carries out include promotional marketing, negotiating with vendors and purchasers and
representing the agency.
Sales Manager (Lead Sales Agent)
Included in this position is the monitoring of the overall sales department, to motivate staff
to meet their targets. Sales peoples’ performances are monitored closely to ensure
profitability for the agency, and for the salespeople too.
Office Manager
Often doubles as the property manager or is a director of the company. They are responsible
for the overall management of the agency.
Accounts Manager
Not all agencies will have an accounts manager, this person usually deals with the payment
of invoices, organizing contractors and may oversee the running of the trust account.
There are also many administrative positions, especially within larger agencies. These are
usually covered under the Clerical Award however, if they deal with introducing the public to
property, or handling trust accounts they are required to hold an Agents’ Representative as a
minimum.