What is a "designated service" — and which of mine count?

The AML/CTF regime does not apply to real estate agents as a profession. It applies to specific activities — "designated services" — listed in section 6 of the AML/CTF Act 2006 (Cth). For real estate there is one item: Table 5, Item 1 — brokering the sale, purchase or transfer of real estate.

That single item covers both sides of a transaction. A seller's agent brokering a listing is providing the designated service to the vendor. A buyer's agent representing a purchaser is providing the same designated service to the buyer. Auctioneers acting for a vendor are inside the same item. There is no separate buyer's-agent table and no separate commercial table — it is one designated service, applied to whichever customer you contract with.

The other Table 5 items capture different professions. Table 6 captures lawyers, conveyancers and accountants providing professional designated services. If you read an article that puts real estate at "Table 3 Item 53" or "Table 6 Item 1," the article is out of date or wrong.

What is in scope

• Sales agency work (residential and commercial)
• Buyer's agent representation
• Auction marketing where you represent the seller
• Off-the-plan and project marketing where you broker the transfer
• Commercial sales transactions

What is out of scope

• Residential property management (rent collection, tenancy management, inspections)
• Residential leasing — the Act (s 5) defines "real estate" so as to exclude leasehold interests of 30 years or less, so an ordinary tenancy is not a transfer of real estate
• Short-term rental management
• Strata management
• Standalone valuations
• Pure marketing or advertising work where you do not represent a party to the transfer

The boundary that catches people

Long leases over commercial property — those exceeding 30 years — are transfers of real estate within the s 5 definition, and brokering them is a designated service. Ordinary commercial leases under that threshold are not. If you write commercial leases, ask your solicitor where each one sits before assuming the activity is out of scope.

Mixed agencies

If your agency does sales and residential property management through the same legal entity, the entity is in the regime. The property-management arm doesn't get a carve-out just because its revenue is larger. There is no partial enrolment. Once you provide a single designated service, the whole reporting entity is enrolled, with one programme, one Compliance Officer, and one seven-year record set.

Most agencies provide multiple designated services across multiple parties every week, and each engagement independently attracts customer due diligence and record-keeping.

What to do next. Map every revenue line in your agency against Table 5 Item 1 and mark each as in scope or out of scope. Keep the analysis on file as part of your programme documentation — AUSTRAC inspectors will ask how you decided.