Industry updates

Members of Real Estate Excellence, please also visit Real Estate Excellence Member Updates.

12th March 2026 - Industry update - Updated RTA Application Form 22 from 27th March 2026

Email sent to our Industry Mailing list.

Good afternoon,

I was recently part of a consultation as a stakeholder of the RTA.

The scope provided by the RTA during the consultation for this change was limited, therefore, the following is only being changed at this stage.

The updated Rental application (Form 22) will be published on the RTA website for use from 27 March 2026. The updated form must be used from this date. Your agency approved form provider should provide your agency with more information about the update in readiness for 27^th March.

Updates to the Form 22 include the following:

• clarifying that applicants when signing the form are consenting to the individuals they nominate in the application form being contacted, including employers, current/previous property managers/owners and referees
• providing a field for property managers/owners to include information about body corporate rules in relation to pets (if relevant)
• allowing tenants who do not have a rental history to provide details of former living arrangements. 

We shall email Members of Real Estate Excellence via the Real Estate Excellence Member Updates service if more information becomes available as part of the changes to the application form prior to commencement.  

19th February 2026 - Six months under the Property Law Act - What we're seeing in practice

Queensland's Property Law Act 2023 introduced a mandatory Seller Disclosure regime from 1 August 2024. Six months in, conveyancing costs have increased, compliance risks remain, and sellers must ensure disclosure statements are accurate before entering a contract.

Queensland's "new" Property Law Act has now been in operation for 6 months. Given the anxiety in the lead up to the commencement of the Act, we thought it timely to share our thoughts on the first 6 months of operation, and consider whether everyone's worst fears about the new Act have been realised.

Far and away the greatest concern was focused on the new Seller Disclosure regime, which was a new concept in Queensland. Early on, there were certainly some teething problems, including:

1. Delays in obtaining the necessary body corporate certificates, as some body corporates were unsure of the extent of their disclosure obligations and had to seek advice of their own;
2. Body corporate managers complained that the fee they are permitted charge (set by the legislation) for producing the certificate isn't nearly sufficient to cover their costs of doing so;
3. Difficulties locating the information necessary to complete the statements, particularly as different local Councils make different information available in different ways. There were also some instances of some Council mapping services being unavailable;
4. Delays while Sellers waited on other search results required to inform the content of the Seller Disclosure Statement;
5. Sellers failing to disclose encumbrances in the correct section of the Form 2; and
6. Third party providers of Seller Disclosure Statements providing incorrect Statements, despite their clients giving accurate instructions. If a third party provider does prepare an incorrect Statement and it is given to a Buyer, the Buyer's right to terminate will be the same as if the Seller had prepared the Statement. Sellers are still ultimately responsible for ensuring that their Statement is accurate at the time it is given.

It still appears that there is some uncertainty around the extent of the information required to be disclosed, particularly when it comes to statutory encumbrances, and the extent of the "prescribed certificates" or documents required to be provided as part of the Disclosure. Sellers are tending to "over-disclose", providing documents that are not required, which is resulting in increased cost for Buyers as they sift through hundreds of pages of irrelevant information.

One of the main complaints about the Seller Disclosure Statement was that it would increase the cost of conveyancing for both Sellers and Buyers. There is no denying that the Seller Disclosure Regime has introduced new complications for both Sellers and Buyers and as such, the cost of conveyancing transactions has indeed increased for both parties.

On the plus side, the delays in obtaining body corporate certificates have largely been resolved, and all parties to conveyancing transactions are becoming more familiar with the process for the collection of information required to complete the Seller Disclosure Statement and the need to give the Statement before a Contract can be entered into.

Prior to 1 August, it was anticipated that real estate agents would prepare Seller Disclosure Statements for their Seller clients. However, our experience has almost universally been that real estate agents have been asking Sellers to have their lawyers prepare the Seller Disclosure Statements while the agent is preparing the property for sale.

If you have questions about the Seller Disclosure regime or you are considering listing your property for sale, talk to our Property + Business Transactions team early, to ensure that you're prepared and ready to proceed to contract once a Buyer is found.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.

Sourced article. Written by Carly Brailak from CLIFFORD GOULDSON LAWYERS Six months under the Property Law Act: what we're seeing in practice - Conveyancing - Australia

5th February 2026 - Industry update - RTA offering CPD for Property Managers

Emailed to our FREE industry mailing list.

Communication and resolving disputes in a tenancy

Session code: QLDCPD20250168

Location/delivery: Online (2x 1 hour sessions) and in-person (1x 2-2.5 hour session)

Cost: Free (a small fee to cover costs may apply for in-person training sessions)

Session description and learning outcomes

 

Rental law changes and knowing Queensland's tenancy laws

Session code: QLDCPD20250169

Location/delivery: Online (2x 1 hour sessions) and in-person (1x 2-2.5 hour session)

Cost: Free (a small fee to cover costs may apply for in-person training sessions)

Session description and learning outcomes

Understand the lifecycle of a tenancy and legislative requirements

Session code: QLDCPD20250170

Location/delivery: Online (2x 1 hour sessions) and in-person (1x 2-2.5 hour session)

Cost: Free (a small fee to cover costs may apply for in-person training sessions)

Session description and learning outcomes

Upcoming sessions

4th February 2026 -  RTA launches CPD training for Queensland property managers and agents

Queensland property managers and agents can soon choose to register for 3 new continuing professional development (CPD) training sessions developed and delivered by the RTA’s experienced tenancy law subject matter experts.  

As an approved CPD training provider, these sessions will be offered online and in-person across Queensland and will count towards mandatory CPD requirements.  

RTA Acting Chief Executive Officer Cassie Broomfield said the RTA was well-positioned to deliver CPD training to help property managers and agents learn more about rental laws in Queensland.

‘The RTA has been providing tenancy information to Queenslanders for over 36 years. We’re in a strong position to identify emerging trends and provide education and practical support to help the renting community understand and comply with legislation.

‘Our data shows 87.6% of Queensland rental properties are managed by real estate agents, property managers/providers and other managing providers.  

‘As Queensland’s rental regulator, we are a vital and trusted source of information for property managers and agents, so this is an exciting next step for us in supporting the sector.’  

The RTA’s CPD training sessions will be offered on various dates throughout the year and will be delivered online and in-person on the following topics:

• Communication and resolving disputes in a tenancy (Type 2 CPD: QLDCPD20250168)
• Rental law changes and knowing Queensland's tenancy laws (Type 2 CPD: QLDCPD20250169)
• Understand the lifecycle of a tenancy and legislative requirements (Type 2 CPD: QLDCPD 20250170)

Content for the sessions has been informed by relevant sections of the legislation, case studies, and trending topics seen in RTA Contact Centre enquiries and dispute resolution matters.

The requirement for Queensland property professionals to complete CPD training came into effect from 6 June 2025 and is designed to ensure real estate professionals stay up to date with industry best practices and regulatory requirements to enhance their skills, knowledge and professionalism. Visit the Office of Fair Trading website to learn more about CPD requirements.

For more information about the RTA’s CPD training sessions including course outlines and learning outcomes, visit our continuing professional development webpage. Sourced from RTA launches CPD training for Queensland property managers and agents | Residential Tenancies Authority

2nd February 2026 - Compliance sweep to be undertaken by the OAIC

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (the OAIC) has kick-started the year by beginning its first compliance sweep. The OAIC will select approximately 60 businesses whose privacy policies will be reviewed to ensure they comply with the requirements under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Privacy Act).

The businesses will be selected from sectors that generally collect information in-person, including:

• Rental and property
• Chemist and pharmacists
• Licensed venues
• Car rental companies
• Car dealerships
• Pawnbrokers and second-hand dealers.

Businesses in the above sectors often collect personal information in-person from individuals (i.e. at property inspections, or as a pre-condition of providing services such as hiring out rental cars or providing access to licensed venues). In-person collection carries unique privacy risks and extra steps should also be taken by businesses collecting personal information in this way to ensure they provide adequate notice to individuals of their privacy policy and practices so individuals clearly understand how their personal information may be handled.

The OAIC has selected these sectors as the starting point for a compliance sweep due to privacy breaches and other issues that have arisen in these sectors. We expect that following this exercise, the OAIC will issue a report of its findings and further guidance on compliance with APP 1.4 based on that report, and may then look at the privacy policies of organisations in other sectors and industries as the OAIC continues the trend of increasing its compliance and enforcement activities.

Focus on APPs 1.3 and 1.4

The OAIC has indicated that the compliance sweep will focus on whether businesses' privacy policies are compliant with the requirements under the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) which require businesses to have a clearly expressed and up-to-date APP compliant privacy policy, as required by APP 1.3, and APP 1.4, which sets out a list of information that must be included in a privacy policy.

The required information under APP 1.4 includes:

• information about the kind of personal information collected and held by the business;
• details about how personal information is collected and handled by the business, including whether the information is likely to be disclosed to recipients overseas and the countries in which those recipients are located;
• the purposes for which personal information is collected, held, used and disclosed; and
• mechanisms for individuals to access and correct their personal information and for complaints.

The OAIC’s guidance on APP 1 highlights that privacy policies should contain sufficient information to describe how a business manages and handles personal information and provides examples of other information that could be included in a privacy policy (for example, how the business will update its privacy policy and if the business has any specific data retention practices and policies).

Increasing enforcement

As noted above, the OAIC has become increasingly active in undertaking investigations into the privacy practices of businesses and enforcing compliance with the Privacy Act. In recent investigations, the OAIC has focused upon lines of enquiry into compliance with APPs 1.3 and 1.4 and has found that entities have failed to comply with APP 1.3 by not providing necessary information as required under APP 1.4.

• Kmart - The OAIC issued a determination last year in relation to its investigation of Kmart’s use of facial recognition technology in its retail stores in which it determined that Kmart breached APP 1.3 by failing to include in its privacy policies details about the kinds of personal information that it collected and held, and how it collected and held that personal information as required under APP 1.4.

  Kmart’s privacy policies specified some of the kinds of personal information collected by its facial recognition technology system and provided general details on the collection of personal information (i.e. that it was collected via cameras). The Commissioner was not satisfied that this information adequately and completely described the kinds of personal information collected by Kmart or how the personal information was collected.

  This highlights that the inclusion of general high-level information about the kinds of personal information collected and the methods of collection, such as those commonly found in privacy policies, may not be enough to satisfy the requirements of APP 1.4.

• Bunnings - In 2024, the OAIC investigated Bunnings in relation to its use of a facial recognition technology system in its stores and found that Bunnings breached APP 1.3 by failing to include in its privacy policies details about the kinds of personal information that it collected and held, and how it collected and held that personal information as required under APP 1.4.

  Bunnings argued that it did not ‘collect’ personal information and therefore was not required to include details of personal information collected via facial recognition technology in its privacy policy. This argument was rejected, and it was found that personal information was collected using the facial recognition technology system and as such, details about Bunnings’ collection and handling of this personal information (including biometric information collected or derived from the use of facial recognition technology) should have been included in its privacy policies.

• Property Lovers - In 2024, the OAIC investigated Property Lovers in relation to Property Lovers’ collecting personal information of individuals from third party websites and databases for inclusion in its lead lists. The Commissioner examined Property Lovers’ privacy policy and found that it did not have a clearly expressed and up-to-date policy about the management of personal information by Property Lovers and in several instances did not provide adequate or accurate information in relation to the collection and handling of personal information that was collected for inclusion in its lead lists.

What should businesses be thinking about this year?

The current compliance sweep and the case studies above highlight the increasing focus of the OAIC on verifying and enforcing compliance with the Privacy Act, and in particular ensuring that businesses have accurate and adequately detailed privacy policies.

Whilst the current compliance sweep is targeted at particular sectors, it is likely that the OAIC will conduct similar sweeps across other sectors.

Given the changes to the Privacy Act in late 2024, the prospect of further changes and the continued focus of the OAIC, media, and consumers on privacy compliance, privacy practices should be a key focus for businesses operating in the Australian market.

Businesses should ensure that:

• Privacy policies are up to date and remain accurate. A privacy policy should reflect the actual practices of a business in the collection and handling of personal information - privacy policies should not be seen or treated as a ‘tick box’ exercise that can be satisfied by populating a template or including high level, generic statements. It should also be transparent and easy to understand.
• Any form or process for collecting personal information includes a privacy collection statement/privacy collection notice that meets the requirements of APP 5. A number of the OAIC’s recent determinations have emphasised that it isn’t sufficient to refer individuals to privacy policies. Organisations must provide appropriately specific and detailed notices in order to comply with APP 5.
• Any collection and use of data within the business is understood and mapped. Data mapping exercises are helpful to understand the kinds of personal information collected and how the personal information is used and disclosed. This is key to ensuring that a privacy policy accurately reflects the use of personal information.
• The collection of personal information is minimised, so the business is only collecting personal information that it strictly requires. This also assists in mitigating the risks associated with handling large amounts of personal information.
• White & Case LLP - Nicholas Boyle and Claire Kermond
• Sourced from Focus on privacy compliance - Lexology - practical know-how 2nd February 2026.

3rd January 2026 - Real estate agents under the microscope in Australian-first privacy ‘compliance sweep’

11th December 2025 - Privacy compliance sweep to put privacy policies under the spotlight

21st November 2025 -  Have your say - QCAT Act review deadline extended

Have your say: QCAT Act Review releases third issues paper and submissions deadline extended

 "I am conducting a statutory review of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (QCAT Act), supported by a project team within the Department of Justice". The Honourable David Thomas

The Review has now released Issues paper 3 Minor civil disputes which asks for feedback on a range of issues related to QCAT’s minor civil disputes jurisdiction.

Further papers will be progressively released on other topics relevant to the Review.

Submissions deadline extended 

The submissions deadline for the Review has been extended. Submissions on all issues papers (including this paper) are now invited until 31 January 2026.

Giving us your views 

You are invited to give us your views on the issues and questions in the issues paper by making a submission. Your submissions are important and will help the Review in developing its recommendations. It will help the Review if you respond to the questions asked in each paper. However, your submission does not need to have a specific format or answer all of the questions.

You can read more information about how to make a submission in the issues paper and on the website.

QCAT users can also tell the Review about their personal experience of QCAT by completing the online ‘Tell us your story’ form. You can share your story either in addition to, or instead of, making a submission.

What the Review is about 

You can read more about our Review, including the terms of reference, scope of the review and timeline in background paper 1 and on the website.

All of our publications will be made available on the publications portal website.

Sincerely,

The Honourable David Thomas

Reviewer

Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act Statutory Review 2025-26

19th November 2025 - Email sent to FREE industry email list.

 Good morning, I encourage all to review below and complete the short survey from the OFT. 

Office of Fair Trading response to Real Estate Excellence and CPD proposals. The below does not affect my main business of providing Membership services - Real Estate Excellence

Extract of an email response received from the OFT below.

"While REE clearly provides training and no doubt to a suitable standard, REE appears not to be registered as an RTO.  You will have your own rationale for this, I am sure.  However, it does present a slight difficulty in satisfying the OFT that you ought to be approved to provide CPD training, as the only other permissible category is ‘industry body’ (excluding, of course, ‘government agency or department’). 

I am aware REE is an organisation that invites ‘memberships’ from property agents and provides advisory services and training to those ‘members’. However, my understanding is this is a commercial style membership offering service benefits, rather than a professional membership that represents it members and enforces compliance with a membership code of ethics.  The distinction is clear.  I am of the view an ‘industry body’ should be predominantly a membership-led organisation, with a democratic process to elect a management board that is truly representative and responsive to the sometimes dynamic, often idiosyncratic wishes of members.  I see a number of features in ‘industry bodies’, typically a constitution, collective ownership, a well developed code of conduct and an annual general meeting process, which provides the opportunity for wholesale changes to the Board and any number of other organisational functions.

With respect, and I certainly offer no criticism in any way, although no doubt REE does deliver training, provide an advisory service to agents and have ‘memberships’ of some sort, the predominant characteristics are of a formal privately owned commercial business.  In my belief, ‘industry bodies’ act with some degree of audit and control over members, exercising a self-regulatory function to exclude undesirable persons, who don’t measure up to the code of conduct.  For example, an ‘industry body’ commonly accepts complaints from the general public and may hold disciplinary proceedings against members.  I see no similar features of REE.

The rationale behind including only genuine ‘industry bodies’ to deliver CPD training, as opposed to an ASQA registered RTO, was to provide surety to the real estate sector that entities involved in the provision of CPD training possessed a degree of certitude about them.  This provided confidence to the Queensland Government and the general public CPD training was to be appropriately delivered".

Friday 28th November 2025 - Special one day event if you can join us! Or celebrate otherwise!

23rd September 2025 - Tips for using AI tools when researching Queensland tenancy law from the RTA

1. Double-check the information you’re given

The best thing you can do when using AI is double-check the information. AI can help when you’re researching a new topic, but it may not provide correct or in-depth information.

Instead, you could use AI to help learn the basics of a topic and then find detailed information on the RTA website.

2. Check the sources used by the AI

Most AI tools supply the sources they use to generate an answer. If you click on the source links, tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews will highlight the text that was referenced. In the example below, the text that’s highlighted in purple was referenced by an AI tool:

Image

Remember: AI can generate answers using more than one source. Just because it used information from one good website (like the RTA website), doesn’t mean the AI-generated answer is correct. For example, when AI is asked about Queensland tenancy law, it may provide information from other states and territories where rental laws can be different.

3. Avoid using AI for legal processes

AI tools may give step-by-step instructions for legal processes, but the information is often incomplete. Here’s an example of AI giving the incorrect steps when asked about goods and documents left behind:

 

The way you handle goods and documents left behind depends on the type of tenancy agreement used. In this example, we covered the rules for General tenancy agreements (Form 18a), but this may not apply to Moveable dwelling tenancy agreements (Form 18b) or Rooming accommodation agreements (Form R18).

4. Avoid sharing personal details

Never share personal details with AI. That information may be stored or used to improve how AI works. You don’t have any control over how that information is used or where it’s kept, and you can’t delete it.

If you have a question and need to provide your personal details, please contact the RTA. The RTA has a privacy plan that sets out how we collect, use and store personal information.

5. Contact the RTA if you’re unsure

We recommend using the RTA website or contacting us if you have questions about Queensland tenancy law. We provide information and support that’s tailored to you, so we can help answer any questions you may have.

You’re welcome to make suggestions for information you’d like to see on the RTA website, or ways we can improve our content.

Helpful ways to use AI

Here are some of the ways AI may be able to help with managing your tenancy. AI can be used to:

• write emails to your property manager/owner, e.g. when asking questions or requesting repairs
• organise information into clear categories and subheadings
• find links to useful information on Queensland Government websites.

As long as you double-check that the AI is correct, it may be a useful tool for understanding your rental rights and responsibilities.

Sourced from www.rta.qld.gov.au 

23rd September 2025 - Are you thinking of using Artificial Intelligence to produce documents for QCAT?

Litigants, and representatives of litigants, should exercise caution in using artificial intelligence (AI) tools  to help prepare court documents.

If you are thinking about using AI, please read our information on Using AI in QCAT matters.

Sourced from www.qcat.qld.gov.au