Scope: every conveyancer, every state but QLD
The AML/CTF Act picks up two designated services that capture conveyancing work cleanly: assisting in the buying or selling of real estate and assisting in the transfer of a leasehold interest. Both apply whether you act for the buyer, the seller, or both, and regardless of whether you handle the deposit or only the settlement.
State-by-state, the practical scope is:
- NSW: licensed conveyancers under the Conveyancers Licensing Act 2003 — all in scope. ~1,500 practitioners.
- VIC: licensed conveyancers under the Conveyancers Act 2006 — all in scope. AIC VIC reports 600+ members.
- WA: licensed settlement agents under the Settlement Agents Act 1981 — all in scope.
- SA: registered conveyancers under the Conveyancers Act 1994 — all in scope.
- TAS, NT, ACT: smaller practitioner populations; same scope where licensed conveyancers operate.
- QLD: conveyancing is performed by solicitors only. There is no separate conveyancer profession; QLD practitioners are captured via the law-firm obligations, not the conveyancer obligations. If your QLD practice is a law firm doing conveyancing, see the law guide instead.
For an independent conveyancer running solo or with one paraplegal, the obligation set is exactly the same as a twenty-conveyancer firm. The implementation can be smaller (one named compliance officer, fewer customer files, shorter training cohort) but the obligations cannot be scaled down.
The 11 obligations, mapped to a settlement
A standard residential settlement runs roughly: client intake, contract review, source-of-funds confirmation, deposit receipt (if you handle the trust account), pre-settlement enquiries, settlement, post-settlement adjustments. The AML/CTF obligations attach at specific points in that sequence.
AUSTRAC enrolment, before you act on a designated-service matter
Enrol with AUSTRAC within 28 days of the first time you provide a designated service. Practically, lodge by mid-June 2026 so the enrolment is in before 1 July settlements start triggering obligations.
ML/TF risk assessment for the practice
One assessment per practice. Cover customer types (local owner-occupiers vs interstate investors vs overseas buyers), geographies, transaction values, and how deposits flow into your trust account. A typical local-residential practice can complete the assessment in a single afternoon.
AML/CTF Program (Part A + Part B)
Part A covers how the practice identifies and mitigates risk. Part B covers customer identification. Both signed off by the practice principal. The Program is the document AUSTRAC asks for first in any review.
Customer due diligence, before settlement
Both parties verified before settlement, not after. For individuals: full name, DOB, address, photo ID. For companies (more common in commercial conveyancing): incorporation details, beneficial ownership down to a 25 percent threshold. Conveyancers acting for the buyer typically also verify the seller's identity through the standard exchange of identity documents at contract.
Sanctions and PEP screening, at intake and at risk-cadence
Every party screened against DFAT, OFAC, UN, EU consolidated lists and PEP databases at intake. New hits trigger an enhanced due diligence workflow. Re-screening cadence depends on risk band (high 6-monthly, medium yearly, low every 3 years). For a one-off settlement the re-screen rarely fires; for repeat clients (developers, frequent investors) it does.
Suspicious Matter Report, within 3 business days
Form a suspicion about money laundering, terrorism financing, or proceeds of crime → lodge an SMR with AUSTRAC. Common triggers in conveyancing: deposit funds wired from an unrelated third party, structuring of deposit payments to stay below threshold, buyer who insists on settling in cash, source-of-funds documentation that does not add up. SMRs are confidential; do not tell the customer.
Threshold Transaction Report for cash >= A$10,000
Physical currency received in the capacity of a reporting entity, within 10 business days. Rare in residential conveyancing where deposits arrive via electronic transfer, but not impossible. The obligation still exists.
IFTI Reports for cross-border deposit funds
International Funds Transfer Instructions you give or receive as part of a designated service, within 10 business days. The canonical conveyancing example: an overseas buyer wires deposit funds from offshore directly into your trust account. The transfer instruction is yours; the IFTI is yours to lodge. Foreign seller wiring net proceeds offshore after settlement is another.
7-year records retention
Customer identity records, transaction records, AML/CTF Program versions, training records. Customer-identity records run from the date the client relationship ends; transaction records run from the transaction date. Keep settlement files for 7 years; many practices already do this for trust-account audit reasons.
Staff training, every member exposed to designated services
Includes the named Compliance Officer and anyone touching a settlement file. New hires trained before they start client work. Existing staff get annual refreshers. Training records retained alongside operational records.
Independent review of the Program
The Program must be independently reviewed at least once every 3 years (annual is the safer cadence). Reviewer must be independent of day-to-day program operation. For a sole-trader conveyancer the reviewer is typically an external auditor, an AML consultant, or a peer-practice principal.
Settlement-day pressure
The single hardest part of running AML/CTF in conveyancing is the timing. Customer due diligence has to be complete before you provide the designated service. The designated service is the assistance with the transaction itself, which starts materially before settlement day. Practical implication: if you wait until the week before settlement to run CDD, the obligation is already late.
A defensible CDD cadence for residential conveyancing:
- At intake (file opened, instruction received): identity verification kicked off, sanctions and PEP screening run. The CDD package is the first thing on the file, not the last.
- Within 5 business days of intake: CDD complete enough to act. If verification has stalled (e.g. waiting on a passport document from an overseas seller), the file is blocked from further action.
- At any change in risk (new party joins the transaction, deposit funds arrive from an unexpected source): re-screen, re-document.
- At settlement: a final CDD freshness check. If anything has changed since intake (new ID document, new corporate structure for the company buyer), it gets captured.
The mistake most independent conveyancers will make in the first year of Tranche 2: treating CDD as a settlement-week item, the same way they treat title searches. AUSTRAC views CDD as a precondition for providing the designated service, which means it has to start at intake.
Foreign buyer scenarios
The foreign-buyer (especially Asia-Pacific and Middle East) residential settlement is the scenario most likely to attract AUSTRAC attention to a conveyancing practice. The pattern is not new to conveyancers; what is new is the structured reporting that has to wrap it.
For a foreign-buyer settlement, expect to do all of the following:
- Enhanced due diligence on the buyer, not standard CDD. Passport + national ID + proof of overseas address + documented source of wealth.
- Source-of-funds documentation for the deposit. Bank statement chain from the original earnings event to the trust-account deposit. If the funds passed through a third party (parent transferring to child), document that step.
- IFTI lodgement on the deposit transfer if it crosses the border via your trust account. Within 10 business days of receiving the instruction.
- Sanctions and PEP screening run with the buyer's overseas address and any associated entities, not just the buyer's name.
- Risk band: almost always high. Re-screen 6-monthly even if there is no further activity.
- If anything in the documentation chain does not add up (round numbers, unrelated third-party payer, refusal to provide source-of-funds evidence), an SMR is the right call.
The practical question for an independent conveyancer: do you want to keep accepting foreign-buyer matters once Tranche 2 is live? The workflow is heavier and the regulatory exposure higher. If they are 5 percent of your matters but generate 50 percent of your AML risk, you may want to selectively decline or refer them on. That is a commercial decision, not a compliance one; but it is worth making consciously rather than by default.
Records and retention
Most conveyancing practices already retain settlement files for 7 years because of state-level trust-account and professional-indemnity reasons. The AML/CTF 7-year retention aligns broadly with existing practice. The trap is the start date: customer-identity records run from end-of-relationship, not from intake. If you onboard a client today, settle in August, then act for them again in 2029, the retention clock on the original identity records keeps running.
Practical mitigation: do not hard-delete client records on file close. Soft-archive instead, so the retention obligation continues to be met even if the client comes back years later.
What to do this quarter
Concrete sequence for an independent conveyancer that has not started yet. None require external help if your practice is small.
- Read AUSTRAC's starter materials for conveyancing (one evening).
AUSTRAC publishes starter guidance for the Tranche 2 cohort. Get the vocabulary down before you spend money on tooling or consultants.
- Score readiness honestly (15 minutes).
Twelve-question self-assessment, free, no signup. The result is a numbered score, a band, and a per-obligation diagnostic.
Try the readiness check - Cost it out (15 minutes).
Whatever you pick (Caltury, a competitor, a consultant, internal time), get a realistic dollar figure on the page so you can budget.
Open the cost calculator - Decide build / buy / hire by 31 March 2026.
Three options. Build it in spreadsheets (cheap, painful, fragile under audit). Buy software (recurring cost, less custom). Hire a consultant (high cost, dependent on their availability). The Tranche 2 deadline does not move; pick the path with time to settle.
- Enrol with AUSTRAC by mid-June 2026.
Even if your program is not fully finalised, lodge the enrolment. Penalty for late enrolment is greater than penalty for an early enrolment with a thin program.
Common questions
My practice only does residential conveyancing. Do I still need all 11 obligations?
Yes. Residential conveyancing is squarely a designated service. The obligations apply to your practice the same way they apply to a commercial conveyancing practice or a property-law firm. The volume of customer files differs; the obligation set does not.
Can I use the buyer's solicitor's identity verification instead of doing my own?
Generally no. The obligation to verify the customer's identity sits with the reporting entity providing the designated service. You are providing the designated service; you do the verification. There are limited reliance arrangements available under the Act but they require formal sign-off and a written agreement with the relying party; in practice, most independent conveyancers will run their own CDD.
What about a one-off matter for a client I have known for 20 years?
The duration of the relationship does not change the obligation. New designated service, new CDD. The CDD can be quick (you already have ID, address and recent contact) but it has to be documented as run at that point in time, not assumed to be 'still valid from 2018'.
Trust account audits already exist. Does AML compliance replace them?
No. The trust-account audit obligations under your state's conveyancers legislation are separate from AML/CTF obligations under the Commonwealth Act. Both apply, in parallel. The auditors are different; the obligations are different; the reports are different. Plan for both.
My state body offers an AML training package. Is that enough?
Possibly. The Act requires staff training, but does not prescribe a single accredited provider. A state-body training package usually covers the foundational material. The practice still has to keep its own training records (who did what, when) and supplement with practice-specific scenarios. Treat the state-body course as the foundation; the practice's own program is the implementation.
What happens if a settlement falls through after I have run CDD?
The CDD records still have to be retained. The designated service was attempted; the records of the customer due diligence attached to that attempt are part of the retention obligation. Soft-archive the matter file, do not delete it.
How does Caltury work for an independent conveyancer?
Self-serve 14-day trial, no credit card. Enrolment wizard, program builder, CDD workflow and sanctions screening usable on day one. Designed for the practice settling 5 to 50 matters a month. CSV import for moving an existing client book across from your practice management system. No call required, no demo, no consultant.
Caltury is AML/CTF software for independent Australian practices entering Tranche 2. Founded by Ben Horne (ex-ADF, sole trader, ABN 49 452 393 782, Australian-based). Sydney hosted on Supabase and Vercel. Async written support, no calls or demos. The readiness assessment is the right next step if this guide was useful and you want it applied to your specific practice.
This guide is general information about Australian AML/CTF obligations for conveyancers. 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.