Common Tranche 2 myths, debunked

"My agency is too small to be in scope." False. There is no minimum size threshold. A sole-trader buyer's agent who represents one buyer in one transaction provides a designated service and is a reporting entity. The programme can be smaller and simpler for smaller agencies, but the obligations themselves apply equally.

"The buyer's lawyer handles all this — I don't need to worry." False. Every reporting entity is independently responsible for customer due diligence on its own customers. Reliance on a lawyer or conveyancer is permitted under ss 37A and 38 of the Act, but only with a written arrangement that records how the reliance requirements are satisfied — and legal liability stays with you. Without a written reliance arrangement, the lawyer's CDD does not cover your obligations.

"If I don't take cash, I'm out of scope." False. The $10,000 cash threshold determines when you must file a Threshold Transaction Report. It does not determine whether you are a reporting entity. You are in scope because you provide the designated service at s 6, Table 5, Item 1 of the AML/CTF Act 2006 (Cth) — brokering the sale, purchase or transfer of real estate — regardless of how the money moves.

"We can use a generic AML template." False. The AML/CTF Rules 2025 require your programme to reflect your agency's actual risk profile, customer base and operations. Generic templates fail the tailoring requirement and are flagged immediately by AUSTRAC inspectors. They are also dangerous: most templates online still describe the abolished Part A / Part B structure and outdated section numbers.

"This only kicks in for properties over $X." False. There is no transaction-value threshold for the real estate designated service. A $400,000 first-home purchase carries the same CDD, programme and reporting obligations as a $40 million commercial sale. The risk profile differs, and your programme should reflect that, but the obligations attach regardless of price.

"If I'm a property manager, this doesn't apply." Mostly true — with a tight exception. Residential leasing is not a designated service because s 5 of the Act excludes leasehold interests of 30 years or less from the definition of real estate. So pure residential property management is outside the regime. The exception is brokering an unusually long commercial lease — anything exceeding 30 years counts as a transfer of real estate. And the moment your agency does any sales work through the same legal entity, the whole entity is in scope through that arm.

"We'll deal with it after 1 July 2026." False as a strategy. The obligations apply in full from day one — programme adopted, Compliance Officer appointed, CDD running on every transaction, records being kept. Standing the programme up after the fact means your first months of transactions sit in a compliance gap that cannot be back-filled cleanly. Enrolment itself is due within 28 days (by 29 July 2026).

"The franchisor's programme covers me." False. The franchisor is not the reporting entity — you are. A franchisor-supplied template is a useful starting point, but your franchisee company must adapt it to its own risk profile and operations, and your company carries the enrolment, the Compliance Officer appointment and the records.

The myths share a pattern: they assume the regime applies "to someone else, somewhere else, for transactions other than mine." It attaches to every designated service the entity provides, from day one.

What to do next. Run this list past your principal and senior agents and flag which assumptions your agency has been operating on. Resolve them now, while it's a meeting agenda item rather than an inspection finding.