3. A person is not guilty of an offence under section 12(1) of the Act (operating as a property factor without registration) where—
(a)the person is not operating as a property factor on 1st July 2012, but is so operating on 1st October 2012 having made an application for entry in the register(1); and
(b)the application has not yet been determined by the Scottish Ministers under section 4 of the Act.
The register of property factors for the purposes of Part 1 (see section 1) of the Act.