Ask a question or make a complaint
The Real Estate Authority is responsible for answering questions and managing complaints about licensed real estate professionals.
Ask a question or raise a concern
If you have a question about your real estate transaction or the behaviour of a real estate professional or agency, contact us.
By phone: 0800 367 732
By email: info@rea.govt.nz
(Please include your phone number if you send an email).
If we can't help you
There are some issues we can’t help with, for example, we can't assist with most complaints about residential property managers. If we're unable to help with your complaint, we’ll explain why and help you decide where else you can go.
We can’t intervene in a real estate transaction or stop a sale going through — if you find yourself in that situation, talk to your lawyer.
Make a complaint
We are responsible for addressing complaints about the behaviour of licensed real estate professionals, and we run an independent, fair and open complaint process.
Step 1: Use the real estate agency's complaint process
Real estate agencies must have procedures to deal with complaints. We encourage you to talk to the real estate agency concerned first, because this may be the quickest and easiest way to resolve an issue.
Step 2: Contact us
If you are still not satisfied, please call us to talk about your complaint. We can help you decide the best way to resolve the problem and check if we’re the right agency for you to make a complaint to. We can also talk through any questions you might have about the complaint process.
By phone: 0800 367 732
It is best to call, but if you prefer, you can email us at info@rea.govt.nz and one of our early resolution team members will contact you. Please include your phone number.
Learn more about REA's complaints process here.
Step 3: Make a formal written complaint
Before you submit a formal complaint using the complaint form, it's important to call us to make sure we can help you with your complaint.
If you have already spoken to us and we've confirmed the problem is something we can help with, we'll ask you to formalise your complaint by putting it in writing using the complaint form.
You can post or email the completed form to us. Make sure you include any supporting evidence with your complaint.
Download the complaint form here[DOCX, 911 KB] [DOCX, 911 KB].
We will either work with you and the agency to resolve your concerns or refer your complaint to a Complaints Assessment Committee (CAC).
Send the complaint form to us:
By email: complaints@rea.govt.nz
By post: Early Resolution Team, Real Estate Authority, PO Box 25 371, Wellington 6140
What happens next?
When we receive your formal written complaint, REA will consider whether we are able to look into it. We will consider:
- whether there are any alleged breaches of the Real Estate Agents Act (2008) or Rules, and what the impact of any breach has been
- whether we've looked at your complaint before, and whether the complaint is a correct use of the REA complaint process
- whether the complaint would be better managed by another organisation.
Learn more about REA's complaints process here.
Complaint decisions are published
CAC and Disciplinary Tribunal decisions are published in our decisions database(external link) and the public register(external link).
Disciplinary Tribunal decisions are also published on the Tribunal website here(external link).
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