Real estate advertising rules in WA for agents

In Western Australia, real estate agents are governed by the Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978, its regulations, the Code of Conduct for agents and sales representatives, and the Australian Consumer Law. Consumer Protection is the regulator. Your website, digital card, email signature and social posts all count as advertising.

WA also has rules about correspondence and documents, which matter for email signatures and letterheads. This page covers both, with links to the sources we read. It’s part of our guide to advertising rules in every state and territory.

This is general information, not legal advice. Rules change, and your licensee may have its own requirements. Check with your licensee or Consumer Protection before you publish.

What an ad must show

Section 62 of the Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978 says an agent’s advertisement must be authorised by the agent, and that it “shall contain such details as are sufficient to identify the agent”.

Consumer Protection’s real estate bulletin Do you know your advertising requirements? gives the Department’s view of the minimum: the agency’s registered business name as endorsed on its triennial certificate, and the office phone number. An agent’s or sales representative’s mobile, email or website can be included as well.

That bulletin dates from October 2015 and refers to a Code of Conduct that has since been replaced by the 2016 Code, so check with Consumer Protection that its view hasn’t changed.

Correspondence and documents

Two sections apply beyond ads, to letters, emails and documents:

• Section 41(2): on all correspondence, and on the outside of all documents, the licensee “shall be identified as a real estate agent or business agent, or both, and the registered office of his business shall be shown”. The regulations make this an infringement offence.
• Section 40(1)(b): licensees trading under a business name must have their surnames and initials on all correspondence.

For most agents, the practical effect is that your email signature and letterhead should identify the agency as the licensee and show its registered office.

Who can call themselves what

• Under section 26(1), no one may hold themselves out as a real estate agent unless licensed. The penalty is up to $100,000.
• Under section 44(3), a sales representative must not hold themselves out as acting for a licensee unless that licensee is their employer, principal or partner.
• Consumer Protection’s bulletin says sales representatives can use titles such as “salesperson” or “sales consultant”, as long as they don’t mislead, but can’t advertise themselves as an “agent”, “principal” or “licensee”.

Price and other rules

The Code of Conduct 2016 for agents and sales representatives adds:

• Advertise only as authorised. An agent or sales representative must have the client’s written consent before advertising (rule 23(1)), and must not advertise a property at a price or on terms “other than as authorised by the client” (rule 23(2)(a)).
• Market price opinions in writing. An opinion on market price must be given in writing with the reasons and comparable sales (rule 26).
• Disclose referral relationships. Relationships with, and commissions from, suppliers you recommend must be disclosed (rule 16).

Under section 64 of the Act, an agent must not have an interest in a transaction without the principal’s prior written consent.

Business cards, websites and social media

We didn’t find rules written specifically for websites or social media, but the correspondence rules above clearly reach your emails and documents. A sensible approach:

• Name the agency as the licensee, with its registered office, on your email signature, letterhead and website.
• Use a title that matches your licence or registration: not “agent” if you’re a sales representative.
• Advertise properties only as your client has authorised in writing, and keep sold results accurate.
• When you change agencies, update everything the same day. See our changing agencies checklist.

Our free email signature generator lays these details out for you, and on a Real Agent Marketing website the footer of every page names your agency as the licensee, with its office address.

Sources

• Real Estate and Business Agents Act 1978, as at 1 July 2022: sections 26, 40, 41, 44, 62 and 64.
• Real Estate and Business Agents (General) Regulations 1979, as at 1 July 2026, and the Real Estate and Business Agents and Sales Representatives Code of Conduct 2016: rules 16, 23 and 26.
• Consumer Protection, real estate agents and sales representatives, and real estate bulletin issue 98.

Based on the legislation and guidance as we read them in October 2026. This isn’t legal advice and doesn’t cover every rule that applies to you.