20 December 2019

Changes to the Land Valuers Licensing Act 1978

Changes to the Land Valuers Licensing Act 1978 (the Act) which come into effect from 1 January 2020 include:

• Increasing penalties from $50,000 to $100,000 for falsely claiming to be, or implying they are, a licensed valuer, or demanding or receiving payment as a valuer without being licensed;
• A replacement section about providing false or misleading information; and
• Changing the late renewal period to 28 days.

Valuers to be licensed 

Section 23(1) of the Act provides that a person cannot carry out business or hold themselves out, or demand or receive commission, reward or other valuable consideration in respect of their services, as a valuer of land unless they are licensed under the Act.

From 1 January 2020 the penalty for this offence has increased from $50,000 to $100,000.

Section 24(1) of the Act provides that a person who is not a licensed land valuer and implies in any way that they are licensed under the Act will be guilty of an offence.

Offence of giving false or misleading information

There have always been provisions for penalties for providing false information in relation to a licensing application (see section 20 of the Act). 

However, from 1 January 2020, section 20 has been deleted and a new section 33A has been inserted, to provide that a person commits an offence any time that person provides false or misleading information, or omits to provide information, when required to under the Act.  

Section 20 of the Act has been deleted and replaced with new section 33A Offence of giving false or misleading information.

Renewal Period

The provision for late renewals in the Act (section 22) has been amended so that a licence may be renewed where an application is made during the period that begins on the day on which the licence expired and ends on the day that is 28 days after the day on which the licence expired, so long as any required fee and penalty for the late application has been paid.