Conveyancing
What this means for your firm
From 1 July 2026, a conveyancing business carries AML/CTF obligations for the property settlement work it does. Acting for a buyer or a seller on the transfer of real estate is a designated service, and the obligations attach to that engagement.
Your obligations look the same from the client's side as elsewhere: identify and verify the parties, before the work is finished.
For the general test, see Obligations overview.
Which services are designated services
Tick the services your firm provides to see which ones are designated services. The detail for each item follows below.
Step 1 of 2
Which of these services do you provide?
Tick everything your business does, including work you think is out of scope.
Conveyancing falls under Table 6 in s 6(5B) of the AML/CTF Act 2006, the professional services table, as item 1: assisting a person in the planning or execution of a transaction, or acting for them in it, "to sell, buy or otherwise transfer real estate". Table 6 has nine items and is profession neutral, so a conveyancing practice provides any other item it performs on the same terms as a lawyer or an accountant would. AUSTRAC's conveyancing starter kit is designed for practices that provide only item 1, item 2, or both.
Three conditions apply to every item:
- In the course of carrying on a business: a service you provide only once, or for free to further the business, still counts.
- An external customer: a service you provide to another member of your own business group is not a designated service (s 6(6A)).
- A geographical link to Australia: broadly, the service is provided through a permanent establishment in Australia, or by an Australian resident, or a subsidiary of an Australian resident company, through a permanent establishment overseas (s 6(6)).
How to tell whether a service counts
AUSTRAC asks whether your work is sufficiently linked to the outcome the item describes, which for item 1 is the transfer of the property. Two principles decide it:
- Who: a person whose assistance to a customer directly advances the transaction. Merely influencing how the customer proceeds, giving general advice, or providing ancillary services is not sufficient.
- When: the service starts when you act on instructions and directly advance the transaction, which is typically once two or more parties to it exist.
AUSTRAC uses conveyancing as its reference point for the whole table. A conveyancer engaged to transfer real property provides item 1. A solicitor engaged only to advise that conveyancer on the legal effect of terms in the contract for sale does not.
Item 1 in detail
What counts: AUSTRAC lists the typical conveyancing steps as part of the service:
- preparing, reviewing or lodging the contract of sale and the transfer of land instrument
- researching property titles, strata documents or land use specifications
- coordinating with financial institutions on payments and discharge of mortgage
- holding funds for a buyer and disbursing trust funds at settlement, or organising release of the deposit to the seller
- preparing for financial settlement
- preparing documents for a registry authority to transfer the property.
When it starts: you start providing item 1 when you act on instructions and a transaction exists, meaning at least one buyer and one seller, who do not need to be identified by name. In a private treaty sale, or an auction that does not meet reserve, that is when the buyer and seller agree the price, verbally or in writing, before any deposit or exchange. At an auction that meets reserve, it is when the buyer is successful.
AUSTRAC's example: a conveyancing firm gives a prospective buyer general advice on the buying process, accepts instructions and drafts a contract. No transaction exists yet, so the service has not started. It starts when the buyer wins the auction above reserve. If the buyer then has second thoughts and an accounting firm and a law firm advise on the consequences of pulling out, neither of them provides item 1, because their advice does not advance the transaction.
Who the customer is: the person you act for. Unlike a real estate agent under Table 5, a conveyancer does not take on the other side of the transaction as a customer.
What real estate means: an interest in land in Australia that is a fee simple, a leasehold of more than 30 years (not counting options to renew or extend), or a land use entitlement, such as a right to occupy that comes from owning shares in a company or units in a unit trust (s 5). Equivalent interests in land overseas also count, subject to the geographical link. The definition excludes leases of 30 years or less, easements and restrictive covenants, a mortgagee's interest, and dwellings not attached to land, such as a caravan on land leased for 30 years or less. A standalone licence to occupy, for example in some retirement villages, is not real estate either. Real estate has the full list with AUSTRAC's examples.
Transfers for no value: a transfer counts whether or not anything is paid. AUSTRAC's example is a conveyancer who helps a parent transfer the family home to their child without consideration. That is item 1.
Settlement funds: holding and disbursing a client's money within the conveyance is part of item 1, not a separate item 3 service. Section 6(5C)(e) excludes item 3 where the conduct is another designated service.
Town agents: a town agent who attends settlement for another conveyancer acts as that conveyancer's agent. The engaging conveyancer is the reporting entity. It must make sure the town agent complies with its AML/CTF policies, including by carrying out personnel due diligence on the town agent and making sure relevant training has been provided.
Transfers under a court or tribunal order
Item 1 excludes a transfer "pursuant to, or resulting from, an order of a court or tribunal". The transfer must give effect to an order that has been made, and the exclusion covers only work after the order. AUSTRAC's examples are a transfer from a deceased estate following a court-ordered grant of probate or letters of administration, and a transfer under family law consent orders.
The exclusion does not reach a transfer under a binding financial agreement between separating parties. There is no order, so conveyancing the property under the agreement is item 1.
The other items
A conveyancing practice is not limited to item 1. The descriptions below paraphrase s 6(5B).
| Item | What it covers | When a conveyancing practice might meet it | Not covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Assisting in, or acting in, a transaction to sell, buy or transfer a body corporate or legal arrangement | Acting on the transfer of a controlling interest in a company or trust | Transfers under a court or tribunal order |
| 3 | Receiving, holding and controlling (including disbursing), or managing, a client's money or other property as part of a transaction | Holding client money for a transaction other than a conveyance you act on | Settlement funds in your own conveyance; the s 6(5C) cases below |
| 4 | Equity or debt financing for a body corporate or legal arrangement | Acting on a client company's loan or capital raising | General advice on financing options |
| 5 | Selling or transferring a shelf company | Selling a registered company that has not traded | |
| 6 | Assisting in the creation or restructuring of a body corporate or legal arrangement | Forming a company or drafting a trust deed for a client | Testamentary trusts |
| 7 | Acting as, or arranging for someone to act as, a director or secretary, partner, trustee of an express trust, or power of attorney of a body corporate or legal arrangement, on a client's behalf | Acting as trustee of a client's express trust, or preparing a power of attorney for a company or trust | Power of attorney for an individual; court-appointed roles |
| 8 | Acting as, or arranging for someone to act as, a nominee shareholder | Holding shares for a client on its instructions | |
| 9 | Providing a registered office or principal place of business address | Letting a client entity use the practice's address as its registered office | The address a business operates from |
AUSTRAC's conveyancing starter kit covers items 1 and 2 only. If the practice provides any of the other items, the kit's risk assessment and program have to be adapted to cover them.
Exemptions and edge cases
- Court and tribunal orders: the exclusion applies to items 1 and 2 only. Items 3 to 9 have no general court-order exclusion, apart from money payable under an order (s 6(5C)(c)) and fiduciary roles under an order (s 6(5E)(a)).
- Item 3 exclusions (s 6(5C)): item 3 does not apply to payment for your own services; to money received or payable under a court or tribunal order; to payments to or from a government body, a court or tribunal, a public international organisation or a licensed insurer (s 6(5D)); to conduct that is another designated service; or to a circumstance specified in the Rules.
- Incidental payments: the s 6(5C)(b) exclusion is not available to a conveyancing practice. It applies only where the business provides no designated service other than item 3. AUSTRAC gives real estate conveyancing as the example of another designated service that takes a practice outside it.
- The when test: the service starts when a transaction exists and you act on instructions, not at general advice or early drafting. Record when that point was reached, because it drives when initial due diligence has to be done.
AUSTRAC guidance used for this section:
- Professional designated services
- Real estate designated services, for the definition of real estate
- Conveyancing program starter kit: getting started
What to watch for in conveyancing
The dual risk assessment
Conveyancing and other professional services carry different risks, and AUSTRAC treats them separately. The starter kit for this vertical is built around two service lines, conveyancing and other professional services, with separate risk assessments for each and service-specific client forms.
Item 1 work and items 2 to 9 work are different activities. One moves a property, the other moves an entity or a structure, and the money laundering risk is different.
For that reason the two service lines are recorded separately even where the same firm does both for the same client.
The delayed CDD window, shared with real estate
You are on the same window as a real estate agent, not a shorter one.
For a real estate transaction, a firm may commence before initial due diligence is complete, inside a defined window: as soon as reasonably practicable, and no later than 28 days after exchange of contracts, or 3 days before the initially agreed settlement day, whichever is earliest.
Where a conveyancer acts for a buyer or a transferee in a real estate transaction, that same rule applies. The Rules frame it by Table 6 item 1 (s 6-32(3)), not by profession, so it is one rule rather than two similar ones.
The window, its gateway conditions, and the exact wording are on Customer due diligence, together with the general allowance that applies to other work. They are not restated here.
What is not different
Beyond the scope of the items, the dual risk assessment and the shared window, conveyancing is treated like the rest of the baseline. There is no separate record-keeping rule, no separate reporting deadline, and no conveyancing-specific reporting obligation. Where you find a template or an article implying otherwise, the general rules on Reporting and Record keeping apply.
Where to start
In the order you will need them:
- Obligations overview: the designated service test, since scope turns on what you are instructed to do.
- Customer due diligence, which carries the delayed CDD window you share with real estate.
- Enrol with AUSTRAC and Appoint your AMLCO, which run to deadlines.
- Creating a matter and Onboarding a customer, to open a settlement file and bring the parties in.
Related pages
- Real estate, for agencies you work alongside, on the same window.
- Legal, where a practice does conveyancing under the same item 1.
- Deadlines, for the window and the setup dates.