Scope: what is in, what is out
Sales-side work is in scope: representing a vendor selling property, or representing a buyer purchasing. Property management is not currently in scope. Buyers' advocacy is in scope when it amounts to assisting in the buying of real estate. Auction work is in scope on the same basis as private treaty.
The obligation set is independent of office size. A single-principal boutique in Carlton has the same enrolment requirement as a 50-agent group with offices across Hawthorn, Toorak and South Yarra. Caltury is sized for both ends.
Melbourne risk patterns
Melbourne's inner-east and bayside premium markets attract significant offshore buyer interest. A meaningful proportion of buyer-side files in these submarkets will require enhanced due diligence rather than standard CDD. The pattern is similar to Sydney's eastern suburbs but with different source countries weighted into the buyer mix.
Developer-vendor transactions on house-and-land projects across the outer-west and outer-north growth corridors generate a different pattern: corporate-trustee vendors with complex beneficial-ownership chains, sometimes with multiple project SPVs sharing a single corporate parent. Caltury's customer form captures each beneficial-owner layer and re-screens on the natural-person controllers.
What an enrolled Melbourne agency needs in place
Eleven obligations: enrolment, ML/TF risk assessment, AML/CTF Program (Part A and Part B), CDD on every buyer and vendor, ongoing CDD, sanctions and PEP screening, SMR workflow, TTR workflow (rare in residential sales), IFTI workflow (rare but present for cross-border deposits), 7-year retention, and staff training for any agent or principal exposed to designated services.
Caltury covers all eleven on every tier. The Program template is specific to AU real estate agencies; it does not pretend to be a generic financial-services template repurposed.
Common questions
Does Caltury work with REINSW or REIV training requirements?
AUSTRAC training is separate from REINSW or REIV continuing professional development. Caltury's training module covers the AML/CTF Act obligations specifically; CPD continues to sit with your existing provider. Both are required and both are kept on the practice record.
We have 8 sales agents and 2 principals across 2 offices. What tier?
The Firm tier (A$499/mo plus GST) covers up to 15 named users and suits the 8-plus-2 profile across multiple offices. Customers and reports are unified across the agency; each user has their own login and the audit log records actions per user.
What happens if a Melbourne buyer wires deposit funds from offshore?
That transfer instruction is captured as a possible IFTI event in the matter. Caltury drafts the IFTI in AUSTRAC format and tracks the 10-business-day lodgement clock. You review and lodge in AUSTRAC Online; Caltury keeps the lodged report and source data in the retention vault for 7 years.
Can Caltury operate alongside our existing CRM without double entry?
Customer data can be imported by CSV at any time. A typical agency does an initial bulk import at setup, then adds new customers in Caltury at the point of engagement. Direct API integration with the major AU CRMs is on the roadmap.
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.