The protected words: who may be called an architect

Victoria: the title, a test, and three expressions

Victoria’s Architects Act 1991 (authorised version 050, as at 13 August 2025) works in three layers.

architect

s 4, s 6A person may not present themselves as an architect unless registered, and a company may not present itself as one unless the Board has approved it.

any description that points there

s 7Using the title is one way of representing someone as an architect. So is any other name, title or description that suggests, or is “capable of being understood to indicate”, that a person or body is an architect or is registered or approved under the Act. Saying that a person provides the services of an architect counts as saying they are one.

three expressions

s 8Only a registered architect, an approved partnership or an approved company may use “architectural services”, “architectural design services” or “architectural design” about their own design of buildings or their own plans, drawings or specifications for buildings. The penalty is 60 penalty units.

The Architects Registration Board of Victoria adds that a person who is not registered can be held out as an architect simply by the way a website, or a profile on a professional networking or social media site, describes them.

South Australia: the word and its derivatives

The Architectural Practice Act 2009 restricts a “prescribed word”: “architect”, or any other word or expression the regulations prescribe. Section 40(1) reads:

“A natural person who is not a registered architect must not use a prescribed word, or its derivatives, to describe himself or herself or a service that he or she personally provides.”

Architectural Practice Act 2009 (SA), s 40(1)

Section 40(2) applies the same rule to a company that is not a registered architectural business, describing itself or its services. The Board’s own summary is that people or companies using “architect”, “architectural services” or similar derivatives without registration may be in breach of the Act.

Tasmania: what sounds or looks like the word

Tasmania’s Architects Act 1929 (authorised version as at 1 July 2025) reaches past the word itself. Section 19(3) bars a person who is not an architect from describing themselves, in any practice, trade, business, office, employment or work, by the word “architect”, by “any other word or combination of letters that sounds or looks like the word ‘architect’”, or by any other title or description that “indicates or may indicate to the public” that they are registered or qualified to be. The Board of Architects of Tasmania puts it plainly: architects and architectural firms must be registered in Tasmania to use the terms architect, architectural or similar.

A second subsection, 19(3A), is aimed at building work itself. In respect of building operations, or plans, drawings or specifications for them, a person who is not an architect may not describe themselves by any title or addition indicating that they hold “a professional or legal qualification of an architectural nature”, wherever it was obtained.

Northern Territory: five titles, and what implies them

The Northern Territory’s Architects Act 1963 (as in force at 26 August 2025) names five restricted titles. Under section 23G(1) only a registered architect may take or use “architect”, “registered architect”, “architectural practitioner”, “architectural consultant” or “architectural designer”. The same subsection also restricts any other name, title or description that, in context, indicates or implies that an individual is an architect, or that a company or partnership is an architectural company or partnership. The Northern Territory Architects Board says it monitors the correct use of the word architect and associated words.

Western Australia, New South Wales, the ACT and Queensland

architect, architecture, architectural

WAThe Architects Board of Western Australia asks to hear about misuse of “Architect”, or of associated words such as “Architecture” or “Architectural”, by a person it has not registered or a corporation it has not licensed.

architect

NSWA person may describe themselves as an architect only if they are on the NSW Register of Architects. The title is protected by the Architects Act 2003, and representing a person or business as an architect when they are not is an offence.

architect

ACTRegistering under the Architects Act 2004 is what lets a person advertise their services legally and call themselves an architect.

architect

QldThe sources behind this guide name only the Board of Architects of Queensland and the Architects Act 2002. The Board is the place to check which words Queensland restricts.

Titles the Acts leave free

Several Acts name titles that contain the word but are not restricted. They differ, so the table keeps each Act’s own list.

The exceptions are narrow. In South Australia the assistant, technician and drafter titles belong only to people employed by a registered architect or a registered architectural business.