Code of Conduct and Client Care Rules 2012
What the exam tests
The Code sets minimum standards for licensee conduct and client care. The exam tests rule application: best interests, disclosure, misleading conduct, conflicts, and written client care agreements.
Core duties
- Skill, care, competence and diligence.
- Fiduciary obligation to the client.
- Act in the client's best interests, subject to the law and duties to others.
- Follow lawful client instructions.
- Must not mislead or withhold information that should fairly be provided.
- Must disclose conflicts of interest and any rebate or benefit.
- Must not bring the industry into disrepute.
Client care
A written client care agreement must be provided before agency work begins. It must set out the services, commission, estimated expenses, termination, and the complaints process, including the REAA. The licensee must explain it so the client understands.
Worked example
A vendor tells the branch manager, 'Don't mention the leaky conservatory.' The licensee must not conceal a known defect that a buyer would reasonably regard as material. The branch manager should advise the vendor that withholding it risks misleading conduct, record the advice, and decline to advertise in a misleading way.
Traps
- Treating 'client's best interests' as permission to mislead buyers.
- Relying on verbal disclosure instead of written client care.
- Missing indirect conflicts, such as a referral fee.
- Forgetting that the Code applies to branch managers too.