Estate Agent Licensing vs Salesperson Registration (CEA)

The Council for Estate Agencies (CEA) was set up in 2010 under the Estate Agents Act to regulate the industry. The most reliable exam theme here is precise terminology: who is *licensed*, who is *registered*, and who is accountable.

Three roles, side by side

What counts as 'estate agency work'?

Broadly, estate agency work is doing things to bring about a property transaction for another person, for reward — introducing parties, marketing, negotiating. To do this for a fee you must be a registered salesperson under a licensed agency.

• Exempt: a person dealing with their own property; an advocate & solicitor acting in the course of legal practice; certain other limited cases.
• Doing estate agency work for reward without the required licence/registration is an offence under the Estate Agents Act.

Becoming a registered salesperson

• Be at least 21 years old and satisfy the minimum academic requirement (e.g. 4 GCE 'O' Level passes or equivalent).
• Pass the RES examination.
• Be fit and proper (CEA checks bankruptcy/criminal records), and register through a licensed agency.
• Registration is renewed annually and subject to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements.

A salesperson may be registered with only one agency at a time, and the public register on CEA's website lets anyone verify a salesperson's status.

What CEA does

• Licenses estate agencies and registers salespersons.
• Sets and enforces the Code of Ethics & Professional Client Care and practice standards.
• Runs disciplinary proceedings and maintains the public register.
• Drives public education and consumer protection in the industry.

Common mistakes

• Saying a salesperson is 'licensed' — they're registered; the agency is licensed.
• Thinking a salesperson can register with two agencies — only one.
• Assuming you can do estate agency work for a fee without registration — that's an offence.
• Quoting the old 6 CPD credits on an Oct–Sep cycle — from 1 Jan 2026 it is 16 training hours on a Jan–Dec cycle.

CEA's regulatory powers

• CEA administers the Estate Agents Act — it licenses agencies, registers salespersons, and keeps a Public Register anyone can check.
• It can discipline breaches: financial penalties, suspension, or revocation of a licence/registration, through a disciplinary process.
• A salesperson may hold registration with one agency at a time — no dual registration or moonlighting.

CPD, indemnity & the KEO

• Salespersons and KEOs must meet Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements each cycle to stay registered — a revised CPD framework took effect on 1 Jan 2026 (see the table below).
• Agencies must have proper systems in place — including AML/CFT controls and record-keeping — and professional standards of client care.
• Every licensed agency must hold a valid professional indemnity insurance (PII) policy covering the agency and all its registered salespersons for the validity period of the licence. CEA will not grant or renew a licence without it — the minimum sum insured scales with how many salespersons the agency has (confirm the current limits with CEA). PII is what stands behind a negligence claim against a salesperson; it is not a substitute for getting the work right.
• The Key Executive Officer (KEO) is the accountable head of the agency, responsible for its compliance and the supervision of its salespersons.

The 2026 framework replaced the old 6 CPD credits on an October–September cycle, so a candidate carrying the "6 credits" figure from older notes is quoting a retired rule. A newly registered salesperson is exempted in their first CPD cycle but must comply from their second cycle onwards.

When the client has a grievance — CEA's Dispute Resolution Scheme

Not every unhappy client is making a misconduct complaint. Many disputes are ordinary contractual arguments — most often over commission — between a client and the agency they signed an estate agency agreement with. Those go to CEA's Dispute Resolution Scheme, established under the Estate Agents (Dispute Resolution Schemes) Regulations 2011. The point candidates miss: if the client starts the process, the estate agent and salesperson must participate. It is not an invitation the agency can decline.

The Scheme has two sub-schemes, and the difference between them is the testable bit:

• Mediation timing: having written to the agency to request mediation, the client selects a mediation centre within 4 weeks of that request; if the dispute is not resolved within 6 weeks of the client being informed of the first mediation session, the client may move to arbitration.
• Arbitration timing: the client has 3 weeks to reply to the agency's arbitration enquiry, and a further 3 weeks after replying to commence proceedings at the chosen centre. Miss either window and neither side is bound to arbitrate.
• Scope: it is a client-versus-agency scheme resting on a signed estate agency agreement. A co-broking dispute between two salespersons or two agencies is not covered by it.

Now keep it apart from the complaint route, because a Section B answer often needs both. A dispute is about money owed under the agreement, is resolved between the parties by a mediator or arbitrator, and can end with the client being paid. A complaint is about misconduct, is investigated by CEA, and ends in a Letter of Censure or a Disciplinary Committee — a sanction on the agent, not a payment to the client. A client who wants compensation uses the Scheme (or sues); a client who wants the salesperson disciplined complains to CEA. The two are independent and can run at the same time.