REIV scraps real estate training courses, leaving aspiring agents scrambling

The REIV recently announced it was discontinuing its Certificate IV in Real Estate Practice and Diploma of Property (Agency Management), citing a shift in focus to building industry standards.

It said that students currently enrolled in the qualifications would not be impacted and will continue to receive full support and assistance to successfully complete their courses.

The body said it had reviewed how its resources could deliver the greatest impact and chose instead to prioritise building capabilities to create a high-performing, professional real estate sector.

“The REIV remains firmly committed to being the centre of excellence for practising real estate professionals and to supporting a capable, confident, and future-ready sector,” it said.

On Wednesday, the REIV announced a new partnership with the Real Estate Employers’ Federation (REEF) to strengthen industry-wide knowledge, compliance, and capability.

It said the partnership will see REEF deliver employment-focused sessions, forums, anti-money-laundering discussions, and targeted webinars to REIV members.

“The collaboration comes at a time of increasing complexity in real estate employment, with ongoing legislative changes placing greater pressure on agency owners and operators to remain compliant,” REIV said.

Following the scrapping of its training courses, the REIV was slammed for leaving aspiring agents worrying about the future of their education, according to a report from realestate.com.au.

Entry Education chief executive, Matthew Trounce, said when the REIV announced the changes, his company was contacted by students panicking about what they were going to do.

“It’s a pretty big thing for an organisation that says they are the peak industry body to cease a product they have done for many, many years without discussion or a plan,” Trounce said.

The realestate.com.au news also said that up to 25 students who were already being trained will finish their face-to-face education in late April, and have 12 months to finalise assessments.

Meanwhile, 50 others who were already enrolled in upcoming courses will be refunded up to $2,500 and connected with other training providers.

According to REIV data, about 21,000 budding agents in Victoria trained for the Certificate IV in the past year.