It is an offence for an estate agent to allow or help a non-licence holder to use their licence to act as an estate agent.
Examples of licence lending include a principal agent or officer in effective control allowing:
- an agent’s representative to manage a principal office or to control and supervise an estate agency business
- a receptionist, who is not an agent’s representative, to negotiate the sale or lease of a property.
An agent found guilty of licence lending may have their licence cancelled and be disqualified either temporarily or permanently from holding a licence, along with other penalties. For more information, view Penalties - estate agents.
It is also an offence for an unauthorised person to use an agent’s licence or for anyone else to help them to do so.