In February 2023 the REINT reached out to a group of Principals to have an informal Property Managers Meeting based on issues concerning independent agencies specialising in Property Management brought up during recent Member Visits.

During these discussion concern over the current format of education requirements for licensing and prices were of major concern and were thought to be some of the contributing factors to the difficulty with PM retention for both staff and employers.

The REINT met in depth about how we could come up with a realistic way to support whilst still working within the regulations and structure out of our immediate control.  We focused on 3 main questions.

• How can we reduce training-related costs for principals?
• How can we provide a level of training before the Interim Registration?
• How can we implement long-term support for industry skills development and recruitment?

The Real Estate Institute of the Northern Territory is in discussions with the Department of Education to introduce Real Estate training as part of the VET in Schools / School-Based Traineeship Pilot Program in 2024. This program will allow students in Darwin (initially) to complete a real estate qualification at a Certificate III level as part of their Year 12 Certificate.

With this implementation, students who complete the real estate training as part of their year 12 Certificate will have the skills to be an “Assistant/Trainee Agent” and the required units of competency to apply for an Interim Registration once they turn 18. This means that essentially you could employ them straight out of school with an Interim License and have them assist in the field with a degree knowledge already all while they complete the remainder of the education requirements for Licensing!

How can we reduce the training-related cost for Principals?

School-based Traineeships and Vet In School programs cover the cost of Training.  You could take on a trainee and have their initial training cost covered.  In this Certificate III Level qualification, the 5 core units of competency from Certificate IV required for an Interim Registration are completed.

This means if you employ a School-based Trainee or a Graduated yr. 12 Student who completed the Real Estate training through VET in Schools, they will only require 9 units for a restricted Property Management Registration which reduces the cost of training by $1295.00!

How can we provide a level of training before the Interim Registration?

Members spoke of how backward they felt the current system was, they would have to pay for a new employee to train to be able to get an Interim Registration before they could work in the field supervised, yet they haven’t started any training about how to work in the field.  The pressure was put back on the employer to be teaching before the student starts the remaining units of competency.

Bringing in the Certificate III qualification gives the student the ability to complete the interim units and units of competency that will give them the knowledge to “Assist” in areas of property management and sales.  With this prior understanding and education, you will have a much more rounded employee working for you when eligible who can complete their Cert IV level studies much easier.

How can we implement long-term support for industry skills development and recruitment?

Time to recruit a new cohort.  Real Estate has never before penetrated a school-aged person thinking about future career options.  We will raise the profile of our industry which may have not seemed obtainable or even thought of before!

Providing a more supportive training solution that can help provide new workers to our industry real experience before they get out into the field means there will be a better likely hood they will have the capacity to enjoy and grow with their careers in Real Estate instead of falling unsupported through the gaps.

We are excited to see how this unfolds, there are still lots of meetings to be had, and nothing is official yet, but this is the update.  We hear you members!!