AML/CTF reforms: what property and owners corporation clients should expect

From 1 July 2026, Australia's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws apply to certain services commonly provided by legal professionals, conveyancers, real estate professionals, accountants and trust and company service providers. The reforms bring customer checks, risk controls, reporting and record-keeping into parts of the property and professional-services market that were not previously regulated in the same way.

Why real estate is a focus

Real estate can combine high values, layered ownership structures, companies and trusts, third-party payments and cross-border funds. Those features can make a legitimate transaction complex. They can also be used to conceal who controls an asset or where money came from.

The expanded regime includes designated services connected with brokering, planning or executing the sale, purchase or transfer of real estate. For AML/CTF purposes, real estate includes ordinary freehold interests, certain leases longer than 30 years and some land-use entitlements, including forms of company-title ownership. A transfer may be covered even where no money changes hands.

Routine residential property management and incidental private sales are not automatically captured as real estate brokering services. Lawyers and conveyancers are covered through separate professional designated services when their work directly assists a relevant transaction. The exact scope depends on the facts and the service being supplied.

Where owners corporation matters may intersect

The reforms do not make every owners corporation matter an AML/CTF matter, and they do not replace the ordinary framework for meetings, rules, repairs, fees or disputes under Victorian owners corporation law. Those issues remain part of our broader owners corporation legal services.

Routine governance advice, rule enforcement, repair disputes and VCAT proceedings will not necessarily be designated services simply because they concern a building. The AML/CTF position may require closer attention where the work includes:

• planning or carrying out the sale or transfer of a lot or another qualifying interest in land;
• a long-term lease, redevelopment, collective transaction or disposal affecting common property;
• company-title property or another arrangement that gives a person a right to occupy land;
• the creation, transfer or restructuring of a company, trust or other legal arrangement connected with the property;
• receiving, holding, controlling or managing money or other property as part of assisting with a relevant transaction; or
• a real estate, development or management business that also provides a regulated service outside its routine owners corporation work.

These examples are indicators for assessment, not a conclusion that every transaction of that kind is regulated. Coverage can turn on the provider's role, the nature of the interest, the steps performed and whether the service has the required connection to Australia.

What clients may notice

Where a designated service is involved, a reporting entity must conduct customer due diligence. In practical terms, clients may be asked for more information earlier in a matter and may need to refresh information already provided in another context.

Depending on the customer and the risk, the process can include establishing:

• the customer's identity and, for an organisation or trust, its structure and beneficial owners;
• the identity and authority of a person acting for the customer;
• whether relevant people are politically exposed persons or subject to targeted financial sanctions;
• the nature and purpose of the relationship or transaction; and
• where required by the risk, the source of particular funds and the source of a person's broader wealth.

A request for this information is part of a risk-based compliance process. It does not, by itself, mean that a client or transaction is suspected of wrongdoing.

What documents may be requested

The documents will depend on whether the client is an individual, company, owners corporation, trust or another structure. It is useful to have:

• current identity documents for individuals;
• company extracts, constitutions and details of directors and beneficial owners;
• trust deeds, amendments and information about trustees, appointors and beneficiaries;
• resolutions, delegations or other evidence that a representative is authorised to act;
• a clear explanation of the transaction and the commercial reason for it; and
• where relevant, reliable material showing how transaction funds were obtained or how wealth was accumulated.

Providing a clear ownership diagram can be particularly helpful where several companies, trusts, nominees or overseas parties are involved.

What regulated businesses must do

A business that provides a designated service with the required geographical link becomes a reporting entity for that service. Core obligations include:

• enrolling with AUSTRAC within the required period;
• developing, using and maintaining a risk-based AML/CTF program;
• appointing an AML/CTF compliance officer and training relevant personnel;
• conducting initial and ongoing customer due diligence;
• identifying and reporting suspicious matters and certain transactions when required; and
• making and retaining required records.

For businesses that began providing newly regulated services on 1 July 2026, 29 July 2026 was the typical enrolment deadline. A business commencing a designated service later must generally apply to enrol no later than 28 days after the day it starts providing that service. A business should not assume that using AUSTRAC's starter documents without tailoring them to its actual clients, services and risks is enough.

Confidentiality, privilege and suspicious matters

Legal professional privilege remains protected. However, confidentiality and legal professional privilege are not the same thing, and not every confidential communication is privileged.

Legal practices that are reporting entities may need to meet reporting or information requirements without disclosing privileged material. The legislation and AUSTRAC process also address how privilege is asserted. Separate tipping-off rules restrict disclosure of suspicious matter report information where disclosure could prejudice an investigation.

This means a lawyer may not always be able to tell a client whether a suspicious matter report has been considered, prepared or submitted. It does not prevent the lawyer from continuing to provide ordinary advice about identification requirements, the transaction or the limits of the retainer.

Common property-sector risk indicators

No single indicator proves money laundering. A reporting entity considers the full context, including whether the transaction is consistent with what is known about the customer. Matters that may require closer examination include:

• an unnecessarily complex ownership or trust structure with no clear commercial explanation;
• funds coming from an unexplained third party or changing source shortly before completion;
• a customer who is reluctant to identify beneficial owners or explain who gives instructions;
• an unusual transfer for no consideration, a materially inconsistent price or unexplained urgency;
• funding or parties connected with higher-risk jurisdictions; and
• documents, instructions or transaction behaviour that do not match the stated purpose.

Practical steps now

Property, legal and owners corporation businesses should map the services they actually provide rather than relying on their business description. For each service line, ask:

1. Is this service listed as a designated service?
2. When does the service begin, and who is the customer?
3. What customer, beneficial ownership and authority information is required?
4. What risks are specific to the clients, transactions, delivery channels and locations involved?
5. What prevents the service from proceeding if required checks cannot be completed?
6. How will concerns be escalated, recorded and reported without breaching privilege or tipping-off restrictions?

Clients can reduce delay by raising complex ownership, third-party funding, overseas elements and tight transaction dates at the beginning of the engagement.

How Southbank Legal can assist

Southbank Legal can help assess how the AML/CTF framework intersects with a property or owners corporation instruction, explain the information likely to be required and identify when apparently routine work moves into a regulated transaction.

For legal, real estate and owners corporation businesses, the starting point is a precise service map. From there, advice can be directed to coverage, governance, customer onboarding, contractual terms, privilege and the practical controls required for the risks the business actually faces.

Official starting points

• AUSTRAC: key steps and support for newly regulated businesses
• AUSTRAC: professional designated services
• AUSTRAC: real estate designated services
• AUSTRAC: legal profession program starter kit
• Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006

This article is general information only and is not legal advice. AML/CTF obligations depend on the particular service, customer, transaction, provider, geographical link and current law. AUSTRAC guidance may be updated. Current at 4 August 2026.