Settlement agents are reporting entities, full stop
There is no carve-out for WA settlement agents under the Commonwealth Act. If you provide the service of assisting in the buying or selling of real estate, you are a reporting entity from 1 July 2026, regardless of whether the licensing label is 'conveyancer' (eastern states) or 'settlement agent' (WA). The same 11 obligations apply.
The Australian Institute of Conveyancers (WA) and the Settlement Agents Supervisory Board between them cover the practitioner population. Most Perth practices are sole traders or small partnerships handling 20 to 200 settlements a year. Caltury is sized and priced for exactly that cohort.
WA-specific scenarios worth knowing about
Two patterns are common in Perth that are less common east. First, mining-sector buyers (individuals on FIFO income, sometimes with offshore residency) who present deposit-funds histories that need careful source-of-wealth documentation. Second, regional vendors selling pastoral or rural blocks via Perth-based agents, where the contracting parties are corporate trustees rather than individuals.
Caltury's customer form branches on entity type, so the corporate-trustee scenario captures the trustee, the settlor and the class of beneficiaries. The mining-sector buyer scenario gets enhanced due diligence prompts, with source-of-funds and source-of-wealth fields surfaced as required rather than optional.
Implementation timeline for the 1 July 2026 commencement
Working back from 1 July, a defensible timeline for a small Perth practice runs roughly: complete the readiness assessment by end-March 2026, enrol with AUSTRAC by mid-June 2026, have the Program signed and customer onboarding flow live before 1 July, and train any staff exposed to designated services in the same week. Caltury supports each of these milestones without any one of them needing a consultant.
If you wait until June 2026 to start, the path narrows but is still workable. The 14-day trial means you can be live within a fortnight of signing up. Most practices spend 4 to 6 hours of operator time over the trial, not 40.
Common questions
Does the Settlement Agents Supervisory Board enforce AUSTRAC obligations?
No. The Board continues to regulate WA settlement-agent licences and conduct. AUSTRAC regulates AML/CTF independently. Two separate regulators, two separate inspection regimes, two separate record sets. Caltury maintains the AML/CTF side; your state filings continue to sit with your existing tooling.
We act mainly on regional WA settlements, anything different to know?
The obligations are identical. Regional and remote settlements do bring more frequent capacity-to-verify-ID questions when a vendor or buyer cannot present themselves at a metropolitan office; Caltury supports remote ID verification via Stripe Identity, so that gap closes without travel.
Is there a discount for the Founding-10 program?
Yes. The first 10 paying customers across Caltury get 50 percent off for three years on whichever tier they choose. Several of those slots are already taken; details and remaining count are on the founding page.
Can Caltury operate in our Perth time zone without lag?
Yes. The application is hosted in Sydney (Supabase ap-southeast-2) with edge delivery via Cloudflare, so AWST users see comparable latency to AEST users. Support is async written and replies usually come within a few business days from Ben Horne, the founder.
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.