Every NSW agency has one person who answers for it: the Licensee in Charge. They hold a Class 1 licence, and they are personally liable for the trust records, the policy sign-offs and the licences of the people who work under them.
The 2024 Supervision Guidelines set out how that supervision is done and how it is shown. This guide walks through them in five parts:
Why supervision is worth getting right
Supervision is the part of compliance that is about people rather than paper, and it is the part that is easiest to do and hardest to prove. A licensee who checks a logbook every week and records nothing has, to an inspector, checked nothing.
The stakes are the ones on the rest of the file. The Property and Stock Agents Amendment Act puts penalties at up to $110,000 and $55,000, inspections are unannounced, and in 2024–25 NSW Fair Trading suspended 55 licences.
(1) Who answers for the office
The Licensee in Charge. The Licensee in Charge is the agency's principal and holds a Class 1 licence. They are personally liable under the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 for what the office's records say, which is why only a current Class 1 licence can sign off the trust account.
An agency can have many people who sell and manage, and several who lead teams. It has one Licensee in Charge, and supervision runs up to them.
(2) Who is supervised
Everyone whose accreditation is below the licensee's. NSW accreditations come in three kinds, and each decides what the person holding it may sign. A certificate holder works under a licence holder's supervision, and nobody supervises themselves.
The table sets out the three, as Briesa records them.
| Accreditation | Who holds it | What it gates | CPD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Who holds itThe principal, as Licensee in Charge | What it gatesTrust sign-off, and supervising the office | CPD3 units a year |
| Class 2 | Who holds itSales agents, property managers, leasing agents and managers | What it gatesTheir own work, under the Licensee in Charge | CPD12 units over 3 years |
| Certificate of registration | Who holds itAssociates and assistants | What it gatesWork under a licence holder's supervision | CPD— |
| None | Who holds itAdmin, support and finance | What it gatesNo signing | CPD— |
(3) What the Guidelines ask for
Personal verification, and a plan that says how it is done. The 2024 Supervision Guidelines make the Licensee in Charge personally verify every assistant agent's logbook. The verification is theirs; it cannot be delegated to whoever happens to sit nearest.
Around that sits the office's supervision plan. It says who supervises each certificate holder, how often files and trust transactions are reviewed, and how a concern is escalated.
(4) Keeping the evidence
A sign-off with a name and a date on it. Evidence is what turns supervision into something an inspector can read. Each verification is recorded as it happens, with the licensee's name and the date on it, rather than reconstructed afterwards out of memory and email.
The same goes for what supervision depends on. A lapsed licence is the licensee's legal problem, so expiries are watched well before they arrive, and CPD hours are tracked per person against the NSW requirement so that 30 June arrives as a formality.
- The supervision plan, with one current version and a record of who has acknowledged it.
- Each logbook verification, signed by the Licensee in Charge and dated.
- Every staff licence, with its class, number and expiry.
- Each person's CPD against the NSW requirement for their class.
(5) When the inspector arrives
Unannounced, and asking for the record. NSW inspections are unannounced: 2,200+ of them in 2024–25. An inspector who asks about supervision is asking for the plan, the sign-offs and the licences, and the answer is either on file or it is not.
The Guidelines are met on every ordinary day, not on the day of the visit. An office whose sign-offs are made as the work happens has nothing to assemble when somebody walks in.
Conclusion
The 2024 Supervision Guidelines ask for something simple and hard to fake: that the Licensee in Charge personally checks the work of the people under them, and that the checking is on record.
Write the office's own plan, record each verification with a name and a date, keep every licence and every CPD hour where they can be read, and the day of the inspection becomes an ordinary day.
Appendix: how Briesa keeps it
Briesa is built to the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 and the 2024 Supervision Guidelines. Each part of this guide maps to a record:
- The supervision plan
- A first-class record, not one policy among many, started from the REI Forms supervision guidelines template and written by each office.
- Logbook verification
- Each sign-off kept with the licensee's name and the date on it.
- Licences
- An accreditation register per person, with alerts at 90, 60, 30 and 7 days to the staff member and the licensee.
- CPD
- Hours tracked per person against the NSW requirement for their class.
- The audit log
- Every write audited, and compliance records never hard-deleted.
Sources
- Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 (NSW).
- The 2024 Supervision Guidelines (NSW).
- Property and Stock Agents Amendment Act (NSW): maximum penalties and unannounced audits.
- NSW Fair Trading, 2024–25: inspections and suspensions.
- REI Forms: the supervision guidelines template Briesa's policy starts from.