Apply for a corporate auctioneer licence

Your company must have a current licence to work as an auctioneer of real property. To get a licence, you will need to submit an Application for a corporation's licence.

Authorised activities

A corporate auctioneer licence allows your company to sell a real property by auction. This includes attempting or offering to sell the property.

Real property includes:

• dwellings
• community title lots
• businesses
• vacant land.

It will also allow you to sell:

• other types of property by auction, but only if the property is connected to a real property auction (e.g. livestock as part of an auction for a farmhouse and rural land)
• a property by any means during the auction period.

Other than the situations set out above, you may not auction any vehicles or other goods (including livestock) without a chattel auctioneer licence.

Restrictions

Personnel

Your personnel must have individual licences if they are:

• directors of the company who actively work as auctioneers themselves
• officers in charge of a place of business.

A director does not need a licence if they don’t conduct auctions.

Business operations

You may trade under your corporation name or registered business name. If you use your registered business name, you must register the company as the owner of the business name.

If you are partners with another company, the other company must also have a current licence.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a corporate auctioneer licence, your company must have a person in charge who holds an individual chattel auctioneer licence at each place of business.

Suitability

You are not a suitable company if you:

• are currently disqualified from holding a licence
• have been convicted of a serious offence within the past 5 years
• have an unsuitable director or executive officer.

Serious offences

A serious offence is anything punishable by 3 or more years in prison, including:

• violent offences (including threats to use violence)
• fraud and dishonesty
• drug trafficking
• extortion
• arson
• unlawful stalking, intimidation, harassment or abuse
• offences of a sexual nature.

Directors and executive officers

You are not suitable for a licence if any director or executive officer:

• is an insolvent under administration
• is currently disqualified from holding a licence or registration certificate
• have been convicted of a serious offence within the past 5 years.

We also consider if they:

• have a criminal history
• have been an executive officer of a corporation, which was previously licensed, that has gone insolvent
• were the subject of a successful claim fund action
• have had their licence or registration cancelled or been suspended from holding one
• have been previously disqualified from holding a licence or registration certificate
• are disqualified from being a company director
• have previously been an insolvent under administration
• are unsuitable because of their character or the character of their business associates
• are allowed to work in Australia.

Receivership or liquidation

You must tell us if an executive officer has previously been an executive officer of a corporation that:

• was previously licensed
• has gone into receivership or liquidation.

You must also tell us:

• what circumstances caused it to happen
• whether the executive officer took all reasonable steps to avoid these circumstances
• what assets they had available to distribute
• how much money (if any) they paid in dividends
• whether they broke any laws relating to these circumstances
• whether they are now disqualified from being a company director or other officer.

You must include a report from the receiver or liquidator that gives us:

• a detailed list of the executive officer’s creditors
• the amount of money they still owe to each creditor.

Lodgement

When you lodge the form, you will need to attach formal identification for anyone named on your form. These will be:

• your executive officers
• all business partners or associates.

Your identification must be a certified copy of any of the following documents:

• Birth certificate or extract
• Driver licence
• Passport
• Citizenship certificate

You will need to pay the required fees when you lodge your application.

Criminal history check

To confirm your suitability, we will submit your application for a criminal history check. This will be thorough and may be time consuming.

The criminal history check will apply to each individual named in your application.

If you were born in New Zealand or have a New Zealand passport, you need to get a copy of your criminal history or a letter indicating you have no criminal history from New Zealand. For more information, visit the New Zealand Ministry of Justice website.

You don’t have to pay any fees to get a New Zealand criminal history check. We can only accept original documents dated within one month of the date you send them to us. Please note it takes 20 working days to process a request for a New Zealand criminal history check.

Processing time

The processing time is 4–6 weeks. This can take longer if your application is not complete. This might be because of:

• missing information
• unpaid fees.

We will contact you if you submitted an incomplete application. You will need to complete the application before we can proceed. Otherwise, we may withdraw your application.

Refunds

Depending on your circumstances, you may be entitled to a partial refund if:

• you withdraw your application
• we refuse your application.

You may also get a refund on the fee for your criminal history check if it hasn’t been started yet.

Training

You do not need to do any training. You will have done your training to get an individual licence.