Key findings:
- NSW Fair Trading ran more than 2,200 unannounced inspections of agencies in 2024–25.1
- The same year it issued $1.58 million in fines and suspended 55 licences.1
- Maximum penalties under the Property and Stock Agents Amendment Act run to $110,000 and $55,000, and a missed trust audit alone is $22,000.23
- Fair Trading's public register, which lists fines, suspensions and cancellations by name, took 118,000 visits in its first months.4
Inspections of NSW agencies are unannounced. The Amendment Act's "Anywhere Anytime" audits mean an inspector can arrive at any office on any day and ask to see the records, and the person answerable for what they find is the Licensee in Charge, personally.
This page gathers the figures Briesa works from — the ones quoted across this site — in one place, with where each one comes from. It adds no figures of its own.
The year in three numbers
In 2024–25, NSW Fair Trading carried out 2,200+ unannounced inspections, issued $1.58 million in fines and suspended 55 licences.
The three figures are totals for the year. They do not say how many of the fines or suspensions followed an inspection rather than a complaint or an audit, so this page does not divide one by another.
2024–25 in three numbers
- unannounced inspections
- 2,200+
- in fines
- $1.58m
- licences suspended
- 55
What a single breach can cost
Behind the year's totals are the penalties for a single breach. The Property and Stock Agents Amendment Act raised the maximum penalties to $110,000 and $55,000.
The trust account carries a figure of its own: a missed trust audit is $22,000. NSW asks for a monthly reconciliation signed by the licensee and an annual audit, and the audit is the one that cannot be done late without a cost.
The cost of a single breach
- Maximum penalty$110,000
- Maximum penalty$55,000
- Missed trust audit$22,000
Australian dollars
Fifty-five licences
A fine is paid and the office carries on. A suspension stops the person holding the licence from working under it, and in 2024–25 that happened 55 times.
For a Licensee in Charge the licence at stake may be their own, or it may be the one the whole office trades under.
55 licences suspended
The register that remembers
Fines, suspensions and cancellations are published. Fair Trading's public register lists them by name, and it took 118,000 visits in its first months.
The Name and Shame Register is permanent, so an outcome outlives the inspection that produced it. What answers it is a paper trail that proves the conduct was lawful: every action, every actor, every timestamp.
What an inspector asks to see
The records an inspection reads are the ones the Licensee in Charge is personally liable for: the trust records, the policies and who has signed them, and the licences of the staff.
The policies an inspector asks to see include:
- Work health and safety
- Trust accounting procedures
- Anti-money laundering
- Open homes procedure
- Suppliers and contractors
- Complaints handling
- CPD and training
- Marketing and advertising
- Repairs and maintenance
- Risk and incident
- Supervision guidelines
- Privacy and data retention
Discussion
None of these figures is a forecast. They describe one year, and the next year's will be different. What they show is the shape of the risk: inspections are frequent and unannounced, penalties are set per breach, and the outcome is public.
An agency cannot choose the day of its inspection. It can choose whether the file is ready on every day, which is the whole of Briesa's reason for existing: every trust record, policy sign-off and staff licence that a Licensee in Charge is personally liable for, audit-ready, every day.
Sources
- NSW Fair Trading, 2024–25: unannounced inspections, fines issued and licences suspended.
- Property and Stock Agents Amendment Act (NSW): maximum penalties of $110,000 and $55,000, and unannounced "Anywhere Anytime" audits.
- The cost of a missed trust audit, $22,000, as quoted on Briesa's pricing.
- NSW Fair Trading's public register: visits in its first months, and the fines, suspensions and cancellations it lists by name.
General information, not legal advice.Briesa quotes these figures; it did not produce them. Read the originals before relying on them.