QLD real estate agents, you’re about to become an AML/CTF watchdog. And you can’t opt out!

Not an agent - just buying or selling yourself? Here's the plain-English guide to what AML checks mean for buyers and sellers.

TLDR: From 1 July 2026, Queensland real estate agents are captured by Australia’s AML/CTF laws – no opt-outs, no small-agency exemption. You’ll need to enrol with AUSTRAC (deadline 29 July 2026), have a written AML/CTF program, verify your buyers and sellers, and report anything suspicious. Start with AUSTRAC’s free Real Estate Starter Kit and the REIQ’s agent guidance. And when the property law side of the deal needs handling, that’s us: 07 3088 7675.

If you sell property in Queensland, AML laws are about to apply to you for the first time. From 1 July 2026, real estate agents are captured by Australia’s anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime – the same rules the banks have lived under for years.

Here’s the plain-English version: what’s changing, who’s affected, and what you actually need to do about it.

Do AML laws apply to real estate agents in Queensland?

Yes. From 1 July 2026, almost certainly.

If you broker a sale, or you act as a buyer’s agent for a commission, you become what’s called a “reporting entity” under the AML/CTF laws. This is part of what’s known as Tranche 2 – the reform that pulls real estate agents, conveyancers, lawyers and accountants into a regime that previously only covered banks and remittance providers.

There’s no small-business exemption. A solo agent doing three listings a month has the same core obligations as a national franchise.

The one common exception is pure property management and leasing. If you only manage rentals and never facilitate sales, you’re likely outside the regime – but confirm your status with AUSTRAC rather than assume it.

When do the new AML rules start?

The obligations commenced on 1 July 2026, and the AUSTRAC enrolment deadline of 29 July 2026 has now passed.

If your agency is not yet enrolled, that is the first thing to fix rather than the last. Enrolling late is far better than not enrolling, and the steps below still have to be worked through either way.

Why are real estate agents now captured?

It isn’t personal. It’s that property is one of the most effective ways to launder money in Australia. Real estate holds value, tends to climb over time, and ownership is easy to obscure behind a company or trust. Agents sit at the gate of those transactions, so the law now treats them as part of the defence.

What real estate agents must do under AML/CTF

At a high level, there are four obligations. The detail lives in your program, but this is the shape of it.

Enrol with AUSTRAC. Enrolment opened on 31 March 2026 and the deadline was 29 July 2026. You’ll need your ABN, business structure, a description of your services and your compliance officer’s details.

Have a written AML/CTF program. In plain terms: who you check, how you check them, and who in the business owns the process.

Verify your customers. You confirm the identity of your buyers and sellers – real names, real ID. In a standard residential sale, that’s both sides. The timing is sensible, too: for the party you don’t act for, you generally have a short window after a contract is signed – not before you’ve lifted a finger.

Report suspicious activity. Large cash payments, behaviour that doesn’t add up, or someone who won’t reveal who they really are. There’s a process for it – and one rule you cannot break: you must never tip off the client that you’ve made a report. That’s a criminal offence.

Is there a free option for smaller agencies?

Yes, and it’s the reassuring part. AUSTRAC has published a free Real Estate Program Starter Kit aimed at smaller, lower-risk agencies – those with around 15 or fewer staff dealing mostly with local individual buyers and sellers. It gives you templates for your risk assessment and program, so you’re building on a framework rather than a blank page.

Who should real estate agents actually talk to?

This is the honest bit, because honest is how we operate.

We are a property law and conveyancing firm – not your AML advisor, and this article is not compliance advice. For AML/CTF, the right people are:

• AUSTRAC – the regulator, and the source of the free Starter Kit (austrac.gov.au)
• The REIQ – which has guidance written specifically for agents
• An AML compliance specialist – if you want your program built and reviewed properly

So why is a conveyancing firm raising this at all? Two reasons. Law firms were captured by the exact same rules on the exact same date, so we’re working through our own enrolment and program right now and we know what it involves. And we work alongside agents every day – we’d rather you heard this early from someone who’ll give it to you straight.

When the property law side of a deal needs handling – contracts, conveyancing, the parts we’re actually qualified for – that’s us. Fixed fees, no kickbacks, no surprises. Your AML compliance, though, is yours to own, and we’re happy to point you to the right people.

On the property law side, we have set out exactly how we work with agencies on our page for real estate agents, and there are separate pages for mortgage brokers and buyers agents.

Bottom line for Queensland agents

Start with AUSTRAC’s Starter Kit, get enrolled, and don’t leave it to July. The framework is more manageable than the headlines suggest once you work through it.

And when you’ve got a settlement in the diary and you want a conveyancer who keeps property law refreshingly un-boring, get in touch.

AML/CTF for real estate agents: FAQs

What are the new AML/CTF laws for real estate agents starting 1 July 2026? From 1 July 2026, real estate agents and buyer’s agents are regulated under Australia’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) laws for the first time – the so-called ‘Tranche 2’ reforms. Agencies that broker the purchase, sale or transfer of property must enrol with AUSTRAC, carry out a risk assessment, put a written AML/CTF program in place, train staff, verify customers and report suspicious matters. Banks have operated under these rules for around 20 years; from July 2026 the property industry joins them. For compliance guidance, QLD agents should lean on the REIQ and AUSTRAC.

What is Tranche 2? Tranche 2 is the reform that extends Australia’s AML/CTF laws to real estate agents, conveyancers, lawyers, accountants and similar professions for the first time, with obligations commencing 1 July 2026.

Which real estate services trigger AML/CTF obligations? The ‘designated service’ that triggers AML/CTF obligations is brokering the purchase, sale or transfer of real estate. That captures sales agents, buyer’s agents and property developers who sell their own properties without an independent agent. Services like building inspections, appraisals and marketing advice do not trigger obligations on their own, and neither does property management. If your agency brokers property sales in any form, you should assume the new rules apply to your sales operation from 1 July 2026.

Do property managers have AML/CTF obligations under the new laws? No. Leasing and managing tenancies is not a designated service under the AML/CTF reforms, so property management on its own does not trigger obligations from 1 July 2026. The rules apply to brokering the purchase, sale or transfer of real estate. Keep in mind that most agencies do both – in that case the agency still needs to enrol with AUSTRAC and run a full AML/CTF program covering its sales activity, even though the property management side isn’t captured.

What is an AML/CTF program and can I just use AUSTRAC’s starter kit? An AML/CTF program is a written plan with two parts: one covering how your agency identifies, mitigates and manages its money laundering and terrorism financing risks, and one covering how you identify and verify your customers (including beneficial owners and politically exposed persons). AUSTRAC’s free Real Estate Program Starter Kit is a great base, but it cannot be used as-is – it must be customised to reflect your agency’s actual business, customers and risks before it counts as your program.

Who acts as the AML/CTF compliance officer in a real estate agency? Every regulated business must appoint an AML/CTF compliance officer, and in most real estate agencies that role falls to the licensee in charge. The compliance officer is responsible for customising the AML/CTF program, keeping it current and overseeing day-to-day compliance. Senior management also has oversight obligations, and every agent involved in sales needs AML/CTF training – the compliance officer carries the title, but compliance itself is a whole-of-agency job.

Why is real estate commonly used for money laundering? AUSTRAC identifies real estate as commonly used for money laundering because property is valuable, tends to increase in value and can generate rental income – making it an attractive way to park and ‘clean’ criminal funds. Large sums can move through a single transaction, and ownership can be obscured through companies and trusts. That’s why the AML/CTF reforms put real estate agents on the front line from 1 July 2026: agents see the buyers, sellers and money flows before almost anyone else in the transaction.

What does a real estate agency need to have in place now? Five things: enrol with AUSTRAC (enrolment opened 31 March 2026 and the deadline was 29 July 2026, so an agency that has not enrolled is already late), complete a written risk assessment, put a customised AML/CTF program in place, train all staff involved in sales, and have customer due diligence processes ready to run on every new transaction. The REIQ and AUSTRAC both publish resources to help QLD agencies prepare.

Do real estate agents need to enrol with AUSTRAC? Yes. If you provide a designated real estate service, you must enrol with AUSTRAC. You’ll need your ABN, business structure, a description of your services and your compliance officer’s details.

What is customer due diligence (CDD) for real estate agents? Customer due diligence means knowing who you’re dealing with before you provide a designated service. In practice, agents must verify a customer’s identity before brokering their transaction, apply extra (enhanced) checks where the risk is higher, and keep monitoring the relationship for anything unusual. For most everyday customers it’s standard identity verification; for higher-risk situations – unexplained funds, complex structures, foreign politically exposed persons – more digging is required. If you can’t establish who you’re really acting for, the rules say don’t proceed.

What checks are needed when a property buyer or seller is a company? ASIC registration alone doesn’t satisfy your customer due diligence obligations. When your customer is a company, you must identify the beneficial owners – generally anyone who owns 25% or more of the company – and verify their identity, not just confirm the company exists. The same principle applies to trusts: the goal is always to identify the real people who ultimately own or control the property. Criminals use corporate structures precisely because they hide the true owner, which is why beneficial owner checks are central to the new AML/CTF rules.

What is a politically exposed person (PEP) and how do agents handle them? A politically exposed person (PEP) is someone who holds a prominent public position – politicians, judges, senior government officials and military officers – along with their immediate family members and close associates. Because these positions can be exploited for bribery and corruption, PEPs attract closer scrutiny under AML/CTF rules. The key rule for agents: a foreign PEP must always be treated as high risk – no exceptions. That means enhanced customer due diligence and written senior management approval before proceeding with the transaction.

What are the money laundering red flags real estate agents should watch for? The biggest red flag is a buyer using large amounts of cash who can’t or won’t explain its source – one of AUSTRAC’s top suspicious indicators in real estate. Other warning signs include reluctance to provide identification, offers well above or below market value without explanation, disinterest in inspections or the property itself, funds arriving from unrelated third parties, and pressure to settle unusually fast. No single red flag proves wrongdoing, but each one should prompt you to slow down, ask more questions and follow your AML/CTF program.

Why are shell companies and trusts considered high risk in property transactions? Shell companies and complex trust structures are considered high risk because they make it difficult to identify the true beneficial owner of a property – which is exactly what money launderers want. The structures themselves are legal and widely used by legitimate buyers, so their presence alone isn’t proof of anything. But layered ownership demands extra care: agents must work through the structure, identify the real people who ultimately own or control it, verify their identities and document the process as part of customer due diligence.

What is a Suspicious Matter Report (SMR) and what is ‘tipping off’? If you form a suspicion on reasonable grounds that a transaction may involve money laundering, terrorism financing or other serious crime, you must lodge a Suspicious Matter Report (SMR) with AUSTRAC – you don’t need proof, just a reasonable suspicion. Critically, you must never tell the customer a report has been made about them. That’s the ‘tipping off’ offence, which carries criminal penalties including up to two years’ imprisonment. The offence was updated in March 2025 to focus on disclosures that could prejudice an investigation – but the safe rule for agents stays simple: file the report and keep it confidential.

How long must agents keep AML/CTF records, and what are the penalties for non-compliance? Identity verification records, transaction documents and AML/CTF program materials must be kept for seven years. Penalties for non-compliance are serious: civil penalties can run into the millions of dollars per breach, and criminal offences such as tipping off can carry imprisonment. AUSTRAC has indicated it will take a supportive approach with businesses making a genuine effort to comply, and a much harder line with those who ignore their obligations – so documented, good-faith compliance matters more than perfection.

Where can QLD real estate agents get help with AML/CTF compliance? For AML/CTF compliance guidance, QLD agents should go to the experts: the REIQ offers training, roadshows and resources built specifically for Queensland agencies, and AUSTRAC publishes the official Real Estate Program Starter Kit and guidance at austrac.gov.au. Empire Legal isn’t an AML/CTF consultancy – we’re a QLD property law firm. Where we help is the transaction itself: when your buyers and sellers need fast, reliable conveyancing from a team that knows the new landscape, call us on 07 3088 7675.

Note: all information is general in nature and does not constitute legal or AML compliance advice. Obligations vary depending on your circumstances, so always confirm your position directly with AUSTRAC or a qualified AML compliance specialist.