Buyer's agents and AUSTRAC — what you need to know

Buyer's agents are fully inside Tranche 2. Brokering the purchase of real estate is the same designated service as brokering a sale — both sit at s 6, Table 5, Item 1 of the AML/CTF Act 2006 (Cth). From 1 July 2026 every buyer's agent — sole trader, company or partnership — is a reporting entity, with the complete suite of obligations. There is no minimum transaction threshold and no small-operator exemption.

The obligations are identical to a seller's agency. Enrolment with AUSTRAC, a written AML/CTF programme, an appointed Compliance Officer, customer due diligence, sanctions and politically-exposed-person screening, transaction monitoring, suspicious-matter and threshold-transaction reporting, seven-year record-keeping, ongoing training, and an independent evaluation of the programme at least every three years. None of these are reduced or modified because you act for the buyer rather than the seller.

Who you verify is not just your client. Under table 5 item 1 the customer of the designated service is both the seller or transferor and the buyer or transferee. Instructing side is irrelevant. So a buyer's agent owes initial CDD to the vendor as well as to the buyer — AUSTRAC puts the start of that second service at the point where it is reasonably expected the transaction will proceed.

The relief is timing, not exemption: Rule 6-32(2) lets you commence the service to the seller before completing CDD on them, provided you have already commenced the item 1 service to the buyer, and gives you until the earlier of 28 days after exchange of contracts or 3 days before the initially agreed settlement day. Because s 28(9) makes each designated service a separate contravention, an agency that has verified only its own principals has been accruing one exposure per transaction.

Timing of CDD. Section 28 of the Act requires initial CDD before the designated service is provided. For a buyer's agent the engagement itself is the start of the service, so verify the client at the point the buyer's agency agreement is signed. Do not wait until exchange or settlement. Limited delayed-CDD provisions in the Rules apply to specific real-estate circumstances, but they are a fallback, not a default.

Reliance arrangements. Selling agents, solicitors and conveyancers have all been reporting entities since 1 July 2026, so all three are eligible to be relied on. There are three pathways, not one: a standing written arrangement under s 37A with the Rule 6-29 conditions; case-by-case reliance under s 38 with the Rule 6-31 conditions and no written agreement required; and a Rule 6-33 participating arrangement, which is the real-estate-specific route. The two reliance pathways remove duplicated collection and verification under s 28(3)(c) and (d), including on your own client; Rule 6-33 instead deems the s 28(2)(b), (d), (e) and (g) matters established. None moves liability, none removes your own record-keeping under s 111 (7 years from the end of the business relationship — s 111(2)), and none touches your risk rating, your programme or your reporting.

Risk profile. Your programme and risk assessment must reflect the actual nature of your client base. Buyer's agents working the premium segment, acting for foreign purchasers, or operating in higher-risk geographic markets will need to apply enhanced customer due diligence more often than a generalist suburban seller's agency. A programme copied from a selling-agency template will not reflect a buyer's-agent risk profile and is unlikely to survive an AUSTRAC inspection.

Sole traders. Self-appointment as Compliance Officer is permitted, provided you meet the eligibility rules in s 26J, including being a resident of Australia and a fit and proper person. You need an enrolment, a tailored programme, a CDD process built into your standard engagement workflow, and a record-keeping system that retains every artefact for seven years. Sections 26J and 26K place the compliance officer obligations on the reporting entity, not on the officer; as a sole trader, the reporting entity is you. Separately, a person who is knowingly concerned in, or aids, a contravention of a civil penalty provision can be personally liable (s 174).

What to do next. These obligations have applied since 1 July 2026. A business must apply to enrol within 28 days after it starts providing a designated service (s 51B); for buyer's agents already operating on 1 July 2026, that deadline was 29 July 2026, and each day late is a further contravention. If you have not enrolled, do it now. Designate a Compliance Officer within the same 28 days and notify AUSTRAC within 14 days after that (ss 26K, 26M), and build CDD verification into your standard buyer's agency agreement workflow. If you operate as a sole trader, draft your programme around what you actually do — not a download from a seller's-agent association.