YOUR GUIDE TO
REAL ESTATE AML/CTF
COMPLIANCE

AML laws have been in place since 2006 with banks and casinos (Tranche 1) being heavily regulated. Tranche 2 reforms officially take effect on 1 July 2026, requiring real estate agents, lawyers, conveyancers, and accountants to also monitor transactions.

Whether you are selling a studio apartment or a multi-million dollar estate, these regulations apply universally across the country. We are all now part of a unified national effort to keep the Australian economy secure and transparent.

You can find out more on the official Austrac website.

As a Vendor (the person selling the property), this needs to occur before the agent can even list the property or start marketing it.

As a Buyer, your agent is required to verify your identity once your offer is accepted and within 15 days of the contract being signed. The settlement of the property cannot happen until this process is successfully completed.

When you sell your home, you aren’t just selling a building; you are conducting a major financial transaction for one of your most important and valued assets. AML laws ensure that the money coming into your bank account is “clean” and the transaction is secure.

Your Barry Plant team will help you through the process, however it’s important to note that your agent legally cannot provide a ‘designated service’ to you until this check is complete.

For sellers, Identity Verification and Proof of Ownership checks are required.

• Proof of ownership: At the time of point of signing authority, we must verify that you have the legal right to sell the property. This protects you against title fraud (where someone tries to sell your home without your knowledge).
  
  
• Identity verification: You will be asked to provide 100 points of ID early in the listing process. This ensures that by the time we find a buyer, your file is “settlement-ready.”
  
  
• Verified buyers: You can take comfort knowing that the person making an offer on your home has been vetted. It reduces the risk of the deal falling through due to financial irregularities.

For most buyers, this is the largest purchase of their lives. AML checks ensure that the “dream home” transaction is secure.

Once offer has been accepted and within 15 days of contract being signed Identity Verification and Source of Funds checks will be required.

• Identity verification: Buyers will be asked to provide 100 points of ID to prove who you are before a contract is finalised.
  
  
• Source of funds: If you are making a significant deposit, we may ask for a brief explanation of where the funds originated (e.g. savings, inheritance, or equity). This is a legal requirement to prevent the property market from being used for money laundering.

The short answer - yes, the law requires the agent to do it too. Under the AML/CTF Act, every “reporting entity” (the bank, the lawyer, AND the real estate agent) has an independent legal obligation to verify you.

Barry Plant has partnered with My Databoss. Their system ensures you are always in control: you can see exactly who has access to your data and revoke that access at any moment.

To safeguard your most valuable assets against identity theft and “deepfake” fraud, My Databoss employs advanced biometric ‘liveness’ checks to verify that the person behind the screen is truly you, ensuring every transaction they handle is 100% legitimate and ironclad.

Most importantly, they respect your privacy by never holding your data a second longer than necessary; their system is programmed to automatically manage data deletion the moment legal retention periods are met, giving you total peace of mind throughout your real estate journey.

My Databoss is a secure, easy to use platform that will protect your data and allow you to have control over your information.

There are five easy steps to create your account with My Database and verify your identity.

1. The Invitation

Your real estate agent will send you a secure link or invite. This starts the “onboarding” process.

2. Create Your “Digital Wallet”

You set up your secure account on the My Databoss platform.

3. Fast ID Verification (The “Selfie” Step)

The system uses “Biometric Verification” (similar to how you unlock a modern smartphone).

Scan your ID: You take a photo of your Driver’s License or Passport (100pts).

Liveness Check: You’ll take a quick “video selfie” or a photo. The biometric software checks that you are a real person and that your face matches the photo on your ID.

4. Add “Entity” Details (If needed)

If you are buying or selling as a Company or a Family Trust, you upload those legal documents here. The system automatically helps the agent find the “Ultimate Beneficial Owners” (the actual people) as required by the new AML/CTF laws.

5. Grant “Dynamic Consent”

This is the smartest part of My Databoss.

You choose to share your verified status with the agent.

You stay in control: You can see exactly who has access to your data and for how long. If you stop working with that agent, you can “revoke” their access, and they can no longer see your private documents.

Because this is a Federal Requirement, the agent legally cannot provide services to you (including processing your offer or facilitating the sale) until the ID checks are complete. Failure to provide these documents will prevent the transaction from moving forward.