Who is in scope in Victoria
Anyone holding a Victorian conveyancer's licence and providing conveyancing services to a client is captured. The Australian Institute of Conveyancers (Victoria Division) reports more than 600 members across the state, with the bulk in metropolitan Melbourne. Most are sole practitioners or 2 to 5 person practices. Larger settlement firms in the CBD, Box Hill, Dandenong and Geelong are also in scope.
Importantly, scope does not change because you only act for one side of a transaction. A buyer-only conveyancer in Brunswick has the same designated-service obligation as a vendor-only conveyancer in Frankston. The obligation attaches to the assistance you provide, not to which side of the contract you sit on.
Melbourne-specific risk patterns to plan for
Two patterns appear repeatedly in AUSTRAC's public commentary on the Melbourne property market: foreign-buyer settlements (in particular into inner-east and bayside stock) and developer-vendor transactions with complex corporate structures. Both attract enhanced due diligence rather than standard CDD, and both regularly produce IFTI obligations.
A practical example. An overseas buyer wires deposit funds from a Hong Kong account into your Melbourne trust account ahead of a Hawthorn settlement. That transfer instruction is yours, the IFTI is yours to lodge within 10 business days, and the matter risk rating is almost certainly high. Caltury captures the instruction at intake, drafts the IFTI in AUSTRAC format, and tracks the 10-day clock so it does not slip while you focus on settlement.
What you set up before 1 July 2026
A standard implementation for a Melbourne conveyancing practice covers eleven concrete obligations: AUSTRAC enrolment, ML/TF risk assessment, AML/CTF Program (Part A and Part B), customer due diligence, ongoing CDD, sanctions and PEP screening, SMR lodgement workflow, TTR lodgement workflow, IFTI lodgement workflow, 7-year record retention, and staff training. The practice principal signs the Program and acts as the AML/CTF Compliance Officer unless someone else is named.
Caltury walks through each of these in setup. You do not draft the Program from scratch, you do not build the KYC workflow from scratch, and you do not maintain a separate spreadsheet of sanctions screens. The system holds the record, the screen result and the 7-year retention clock so AUSTRAC can be answered with a single export.
- Enrolment generated and exported for AUSTRAC Online lodgement
- Program Part A and Part B tailored to a Victorian conveyancing practice
- Customer form branched for individuals, companies and trustee buyers
- Sanctions / PEP screening included at every tier
- SMR, TTR and IFTI drafts in AUSTRAC format, ready to lodge
Common questions
Does my CAV-issued conveyancer's licence change anything under the AML/CTF Act?
No. The state licence and the Commonwealth designated-service obligation are independent. CAV continues to regulate the licence, code of conduct and trust account. AUSTRAC regulates AML/CTF separately, in parallel, and asks for a separate set of records and reports.
I share a trust account with my law firm. Who is the reporting entity?
Each business providing a designated service is its own reporting entity. If you operate a conveyancing practice and a separate law practice from the same office, both enrol, both have a Program, both keep records. The trust account itself is irrelevant to the question of who the reporting entity is.
Can I use Caltury during the 14-day trial without committing?
Yes. The 14-day trial is no credit card, full feature, and lets you import a real customer list by CSV. You can run sanctions screens, draft a Program and walk through a sample settlement before you put a card on file.
What if I only settle 5 matters a month, is Caltury overkill?
The Starter tier at A$99 plus GST is built specifically for that profile. There is no per-matter pricing and no minimum volume. The obligations are the same as a 50-matter-a-month practice, so the tooling has to be the same; the price reflects the smaller cohort of customers passing through it.
This page is general information about Australian AML/CTF obligations. It is not legal advice. AUSTRAC has not reviewed this content. For situations specific to your practice consult an Australian-qualified lawyer or AML/CTF adviser.