You need to:

• be 18 years of age or older
• be a fit and proper person
• have the right qualifications and experience.

You cannot get a licence if you:

• have had a real estate licence cancelled within the last 5 years
• have any other prohibitions
• are a lawyer or conveyancer

Practicing lawyers or conveyancers are exempt from the requirement to have a licence.

When you apply for or renew your real estate licence, you must consent to a criminal conviction history check. This lets us ask New Zealand Police Vetting Service for any information about you that could affect your eligibility to work in real estate. We also check to see if you are prohibited from being a director of a company under the Companies Act 1993.

You can’t have a real estate licence if:

• you’ve been convicted of any crime involving dishonesty in the past 10 years
• you’re an officer of a company (or other corporate entity or partnership) where someone in management has been disqualified from being licensed because they’ve been convicted of a crime involving dishonesty in the past 10 years
• you’ve been convicted of an offence under sections 14, 17—22 or 24 of the Fair Trading Act 1986(external link) in the last 5 years.

If you are unsure if a previous conviction would prevent you from holding a licence, contact us

The purpose of the ‘fit and proper’ person evaluation is to ensure that real estate licensees can be entrusted to meet the duties and obligations imposed on them in the Act and Code of Conduct. Being a fit and proper person means meeting a certain standard of conduct and character. It's up to you to satisfy the REA Registrar that you are fit and proper.

When applying for a new licence, you should tell us about:

• any convictions that haven’t been ‘clean slated’ (wiped from your record or legally withheld from us) — this includes driving-related offences
• any pending criminal charges
• any unsatisfied judgments in court
• any adverse findings against you by a court in civil proceedings
• any significant financial issues, such as bankruptcy
• any disciplinary action taken against you by another regulatory or professional body.

When applying to renew your licence, you should tell us if any of the above have occurred since the last time your licence was granted.

Any person who will be an officer of a company must also be, a ‘proper’ person to be an officer of a licensee company. The ‘fit and proper’ test for licensees is different to the ‘proper’ person test however there will be some overlap in the criteria considered.

Read the full 'Fit and proper' guidelines or download the 'Fit and proper' guidelines [PDF, 349 KB]

When applying for a licence, you must provide us with the contact details of referees that can explain why they think you are a fit and proper person to be a real estate professional. Referees cannot provide a reference if they are:

• related to you by blood or marriage
• connected to you by civil union or defacto relationship
• live at the same address as you.

 Referees should be people who have known you for some time and are people of good standing in the community.

Lawyers and conveyancers can carry out real estate work without a real estate licence. However, lawyers cannot hold both a real estate licence and a legal practising certificate.

Refer to section 7 of the Real Estate Agents Act 2008(external link)

REA doesn’t give advice about visa restrictions that apply to training or employment in New Zealand.

If you are in New Zealand on a visa and you want to become licensed, you will need to contact an approved education organisation and ask if you can enrol with them. We recommend you also contact Immigration New Zealand(external link) to ensure your visa entitles you to work in New Zealand.

View the approved education organisations(external link) offering training for real estate qualifications

If you have a property degree (see list below), you can use this to apply for any class of real estate licence.  If you have a property degree from the list below and want to apply for a Branch Manager or Agent licence, you will also need three years' licensed real estate agency work experience.

• Bachelor of Business (Property) conferred by Massey University
• Bachelor of Business Studies (Real Estate) conferred by Massey University
• Bachelor of Business Studies (Valuation and Property Management) conferred by Massey University
• Bachelor of Commerce (Valuation and Property Management) conferred by Lincoln University
• Bachelor of Land and Property Management conferred by Lincoln University
• Bachelor of Property conferred by University of Auckland
• Bachelor of Property Administration conferred by University of Auckland
• Membership of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors as a member or fellow with chartered designation in general practice, commercial property, residential property, or valuation.

You must apply for a licence within 10 years of completing your property degree. If you completed your qualification outside of the specified period, from 1 February 2022 the Registrar may grant your licence if they are satisfied that you have demonstrated that you have sufficient knowledge of real estate agency work (see Specified period for prescribed qualifications).

You also need to complete an assessment against unit standard 23137, which covers sale and purchase agreements, unless you’re already licensed and are applying for a licence of a higher class. 

Amendments to the Real Estate Agents (Licensing) Regulations 2009 came into force on 1 February 2022. These changes give the Registrar the discretion to accept a prescribed qualification that has been completed by an applicant outside a period specified in regulation 12(2), if the Registrar is satisfied the applicant can demonstrate sufficient knowledge of real estate agency work. 

Please note that the changes to the regulations only relate to the education requirements for a licensing application. All other eligibility criteria in the Act must still be satisfied before a licence can be granted. For instance, to be licensed as an Agent or Branch Manager an applicant must have three years’ experience in licensed real estate agency work, within the 10 years preceding the application.

Find out more about the eligibility criteria you must meet

Applicants will need to provide additional information and evidence at the time of applying for their licence. Below are the types of information the Registrar is likely to ask for to consider an application:

• References (Employer or previous employer/s)
  • Written references from previous and/or current employer(s) that corroborates the applicant’s licensed real estate agency work experience
• Required training completion certificate
  • Evidence that the applicant has completed any training including any REA-approved required training
• Evidence of verifiable CPD completion or other training
  • Including training from REA accredited trainers or other professional bodies such as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Property Institute of New Zealand, New Zealand Institute of Valuers
  • Certificates, portfolios etc
• Overseas real estate agency work experience and related industry experience
  • Details of overseas work experience and how it compares to New Zealand real estate environment
  • Details of work experience in a related industry and how it relates to real estate agency work.
  • Details of licensed real estate agency work

Read more about your pre-application requirements

If you have any difficulty uploading additional information and evidence through the application process in the licensing portal(external link), please send your information to licensing@rea.govt.nz.