How to report a real estate agent

Most people who feel let down by an agent never report it, usually because they cannot tell whether what happened broke a rule or was infuriating without being unlawful. That has a real answer. Agents are licensed, they work under state legislation and the Australian Consumer Law, and the conduct those laws prohibit is written down. This guide sorts agent behaviour into three tiers, sets out what regulators do with a complaint, and gives you the right body to contact wherever your property is.

When is it worth reporting?

Report when you have something a regulator can act on: conduct that appears to breach the legislation, backed by evidence you can attach. Regulators cannot referee a personality clash, but they take conduct breaches seriously and can investigate whether or not a complaint has been lodged.

Worth reporting: you were told your property was worth one figure and it was advertised at another. Written offers never reached you. A price guide sat below what the agent had estimated in writing. Money that should have been in a trust account was not. Someone with an interest in the outcome was bidding.

Probably not on its own: slow replies, thin feedback after an open home, or a campaign that underperformed. Raise those with the agency in writing. A pattern can matter, but one instance will not get far.

Poor service, unethical, or illegal

Three tiers, and the difference between them decides what you can do. This is the table to work out which one you are in before you go any further.

The complaints regulators see most

Underquoting

Advertising a property below the price the agent expects it to fetch. It costs buyers real money in inspections, conveyancing and finance applications on homes that were never in their range, and it is the biggest single source of complaints against agents in Australia.

The law is not uniform. Victoria and New South Wales have dedicated underquoting offences. Queensland runs it through the Australian Consumer Law and the minimum selling price on the agent’s Form 6 appointment. Check your own state rather than assuming rules you read about elsewhere apply.

Victoria has gone further again: agents must publish the vendor’s reserve price ahead of an auction or fixed date sale. We covered what that changes in the reserve price disclosure law explained.

Misleading advertising

False claims about a property, its condition, its approvals or its history. The Australian Consumer Law prohibits misleading or deceptive conduct and applies to agents like any other business. Photographs that misrepresent a property, claims about permits that do not exist, and silence about a known defect can all fall inside it. Screenshot the listing.

Pressure and conditioning

Conditioning is the trade term for steadily lowering a seller’s price expectations with selective feedback until they accept an offer they would have refused at the start. It is hard to prove and not in itself unlawful, which is why it is so widely used.

It is very, very prevalent. I see it every weekend. They are very well versed. Agents are less likely to get the buyer up, so they spend a lot more time getting the vendor down.

Ben Williams, founder of Unreserved and a practising auctioneer, speaking to API Magazine, 31 July 2026

The defence is a number of your own. An agent cannot condition a seller who already knows what the comparable sales say, which is why working out what your house is worth before you appoint anyone matters more than any conversation afterwards. The same applies at auction, where the vendor’s guide to selling at auction covers how bidding is meant to run.

Failing to pass on offers

Agents must present all offers to the seller, and in most states that duty is express in the legislation. Withholding an offer, or describing it inaccurately, is among the more serious things an agent can do. Ask for every offer in writing and the problem becomes documentable.

Trust account misuse

Deposits and rent sit in a statutory trust account and are not the agency’s money. This is the most serious category on the list: in Victoria, fraudulent use of trust money carries up to 10 years imprisonment or 500 penalty units, which is $104,550. Suspect it and you go to the regulator straight away, not to the agency.

What regulators actually do about it

A fair question before you spend an afternoon on a complaint form: does any of this go anywhere? The published enforcement record says it does.

The outcomes are not symbolic. In a single enforcement announcement in February 2026, NSW Fair Trading suspended one agent’s licence for 60 days over misrepresenting selling prices and withholding offers, installing a manager to run the business meanwhile, and in the same announcement cancelled another agent’s licence and disqualified them for five years over roughly $300,000 taken from trust accounts. Both started the way yours would, with someone noticing and reporting it.

The evidence to gather first

Complaints are decided on what can be documented. Collect this before you lodge, and before anything gets edited or archived.

• Screenshots of the listing, every version of the price guide, with dates. Portals let agents change a range without leaving a public trail
• The agency agreement, including the estimated selling price the agent recorded and signed
• Every email and text message, unedited, including the ones that do you no favours
• Notes of phone calls made at the time, dated. Notes written on the day carry weight; a reconstruction months later does not
• The contract and any offer documents
• Auction or inspection records, plus photos or video if you have them
• Contact details for anyone else who saw it, such as other bidders
• A dated timeline, in plain order, of what happened and when

How to report an agent, step by step

Who regulates agents in your state

Complain to the regulator in the state where the property is, not where you live.

What happens after you lodge

The regulator assesses the complaint, then investigates, refers it, offers conciliation, or closes it. An investigation can reach the agency’s files, the campaign records and the trust account, and you may be asked for more detail.

Where a breach is made out, outcomes run from a warning or reprimand, through penalty notices and licence conditions, up to suspension, cancellation, disqualification and prosecution. Serious matters go to a tribunal or court rather than being decided by the regulator alone.

Can you sue a real estate agent?

Sometimes, through a different process. Civil claims against agents run through a state tribunal or court and are usually built on misleading or deceptive conduct under the Australian Consumer Law, breach of the agency agreement, or negligence. A regulator’s finding can support a claim without deciding it.

Three things to know first. Time limits apply and are shorter than people expect. You have to show a loss, not only that the conduct was wrong. And the cost of running a claim can exceed what is at stake, which is the calculation to make first rather than last.

This article is general information and not legal advice. Get advice from a solicitor about your own circumstances before you commit to either route.

How to protect yourself up front

Most of the complaints above are far easier to prevent than to prosecute.

• Know your number before you appoint anyone. An independent view from comparable sales is the best protection against being conditioned down
• Get the estimated selling price in writing and keep it. It is the document every underquoting complaint turns on
• Read the agency agreement before you sign. Check the fee, what is included, the exclusive period and how you end it
• Require every offer in writing. It removes the ambiguity that conditioning depends on
• Keep it in email. Confirm phone calls with a short message summarising what was agreed
• Check the licence on your state’s public register. Two minutes
• Ask who else the agent is acting for and get the answer in writing

Our guides on pricing your home, negotiating as a private seller and contracts of sale and vendor statements go deeper on the three points where sellers are caught out most, and the full process of selling a house sets out where each one falls in a campaign.

Questions people ask

How do I report a real estate agent in Australia?

Report them to the consumer protection regulator in the state where the property is: Consumer Affairs Victoria, NSW Fair Trading, the Office of Fair Trading in Queensland, Consumer Protection in WA, Consumer and Business Services in SA, the Property Agents Board in Tasmania, Access Canberra in the ACT, or NT Consumer Affairs. Most ask you to raise it with the agency in writing first, then lodge online with your evidence attached.

What can you report a real estate agent for?

Conduct that breaches the legislation your state licenses agents under, or the Australian Consumer Law. That covers underquoting, dummy bidding, false advertising, failing to pass on offers, undisclosed conflicts of interest and misuse of trust money. Slow replies and poor communication are usually a service problem rather than a breach.

Is underquoting illegal in Australia?

It is a specific offence in some states and runs through the Australian Consumer Law in others, so it depends where you are. In Victoria, marketing below the estimated selling price carries a maximum 200 penalty units, or $41,820 at the 2026-27 value. In New South Wales the maximum court penalty is $110,000, or three times the agent’s commission, whichever is higher.

What evidence do I need to report an agent?

Anything written and dated: the advertised price range and every version of the listing, the agency agreement, the contract, emails and texts, the estimated selling price the agent gave you, and a dated timeline. Screenshots matter, because listings get edited. Complaints turn on what you can document.

Does reporting an agent get my money back?

No. Regulators police conduct and can fine, restrict, suspend or disqualify an agent, but they do not award compensation or cancel contracts. Recovering money is a separate civil claim through a tribunal or court, and a regulator’s finding may help support it. Get legal advice before relying on one to deliver the other.

Can I report an agent anonymously?

Most regulators accept anonymous tip-offs and can investigate without any complaint being lodged. The trade-off is that they cannot come back to you for more evidence or tell you the outcome. Lodge it in your name if you want the matter tracked.

How long do I have to report a real estate agent?

It varies by state and some have a hard limit. Tasmania’s Property Agents Board sets two years from when the conduct occurred, with exceptions possible if you raise it with the Board first. Report early either way, because listings get edited and campaign records get archived.

What is dummy bidding?

Bids made at auction with no intention of buying, placed to push the price up, whether by the seller, someone acting for them, or the auctioneer beyond what the law allows. It is unlawful across Australia. Vendor bidding is different and is permitted in most states, provided it is announced as a vendor bid at the time.

What penalties can a real estate agent face?

A warning or reprimand, a penalty notice, conditions on their licence, suspension, cancellation, disqualification, or prosecution. Serious offences carry serious consequences: fraudulent use of trust money in Victoria carries up to 10 years imprisonment or 500 penalty units, which is $104,550 at the 2026-27 value.

Should I complain to the agency before the regulator?

Yes, in writing, unless the conduct is serious or you think evidence could be destroyed. Most regulators expect to see you tried, licensed agencies must have a complaints process, and a written complaint creates a dated record. Go straight to the regulator for suspected fraud or trust account problems.

Working out what commission would have cost you? Try the commission savings calculator, or read the best way to sell without an agent.