What it does
The Land Agents Act 1994 (SA) creates a statutory regime for the registration, conduct, supervision, trust-accounting and discipline of people and bodies carrying on businesses that deal with land or businesses on behalf of others or in their own right, and for related matters including an indemnity fund and transitional schemes (long title; ss 1, 3, 4, Pt 3). The Act makes registration compulsory for agents (s 6(1)), and creates separate registration tracks and requirements for sales representatives (s 6A), property managers (s 6AB) and auctioneers (s 6B). It prescribes eligibility criteria for registration (ss 8, 8A, 8BA, 8C), gives the Commissioner for Consumer Affairs statutory powers to administer registrations and supervise registered businesses (s 5; ss 7, 9, 10, 11, 11B), and empowers the Commissioner to suspend, cancel or impose conditions on registrations in both urgent (s 11BA) and non-urgent circumstances (s 11C).
The Act imposes duties on agents and related personnel about receipt and handling of trust money (Pt 3 Div 2: ss 13-21, 22), including mandatory deposit of trust money into Commissioner‑approved accounts at authorised deposit-taking institutions (ADIs) (s 13(1)), limits on withdrawals (s 14), obligations to pay interest on trust accounts to the Commissioner (s 15) and strict record‑keeping, audit and inspection regimes (ss 21-24). The Commissioner may appoint administrators, temporary managers or examiners to intervene in an agent’s trust-account operations where reasonable grounds arise (ss 16-20, 23). ADIs must report deficiencies in trust accounts within 14 days (s 25).
The Commissioner must maintain an indemnity fund to compensate persons who suffer pecuniary loss because of a fiduciary default (Pt 3 Div 3: ss 29-41). The fund is notionally divisible into Part A and Part B for the Growden-related scheme (s 29A and Schedule 2A): Part B is ring‑fenced ($13.5 million initial credit) to meet special Growden claims under Schedule 2A; Part A is the general indemnity fund. The Act sets out claim procedures, subrogation rights, potential proportionate reductions where funds are insufficient, and the Commissioner’s powers to require claimants to pursue recoveries (ss 30-40).