You have signed the contract, chosen your conveyancer and are waiting for the next step. Instead of a costs disclosure, you receive a questionnaire asking where your deposit is coming from, whether you hold or have ever held a prominent public office in any country, and whether you are acting on behalf of someone else. You were not expecting this. Your agent did not mention it and you are not sure whether to feel offended or alarmed.
You are neither. You are among the first generation of property buyers and sellers to encounter Australia’s expanded anti-money laundering regime – and the questions are not going away.
What changed, and why now
From 1 July 2026, conveyancers will become regulated entities under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth). That Act has governed banks, financial institutions, and remittance dealers for nearly two decades. Real estate transactions were the conspicuous gap that has now been addressed. As such, your conveyancer will now be legally required to carry out customer due diligence before providing services to you. This is a legal obligation, not optional, nor is it something your conveyancer can waive because settlement is next week.
Why your conveyancer is asking things your bank never asked
The Financial Action Task Force, the international body that evaluates national regimes against global standards, has repeatedly flagged real estate as a high-risk channel for laundering proceeds of crime. Real estate is high-value, capable of being held through companies and trusts, and historically involving professionals who were not regulated under anti-money laundering law. Property transactions appear consistently in financial intelligence typologies as a vehicle for moving illicitly obtained income. The reforms exist to close that channel.
Your conveyancer is now required to enrol with AUSTRAC (Australia’s financial intelligence regulator), maintain a formal AML/CTF program, and carry out due diligence on every client before proceeding with a designated service, which includes any real estate transaction. The checks are not aimed at you personally. They apply uniformly to every client, regardless of transaction size or how long the firm has known you.
A ‘designated service’ is the term used in the Act to describe the regulated activities that trigger AML/CTF obligations. For conveyancers, the primary designated service is assisting in the planning or execution of a transaction to buy, sell or transfer real estate. The term also covers related activities, including receiving or managing client funds as part of a transaction.
What they will actually ask
The questions fall into three categories.
Identity: Your conveyancer needs to verify who you are – not simply accept your name but verify it against source documents. Expect to provide a current passport or driver’s licence. If you are overseas, you may need documents certified by an authorised person. This step is straightforward if your documents are current and available from the outset.
Ownership and control: If you are buying or selling as an individual, this is largely answered by your identity verification. If you are acting through a company or trust – or if another person has a financial interest in the transaction – the question becomes more involved. Your conveyancer needs to understand who ultimately owns and controls the relevant entity: the natural persons behind any corporate structure. A family trust with a corporate trustee will require identification of the trustee directors and the beneficial owners of the trust. This is the same question that any bank or financial institution would ask before opening an account for an equivalent structure.
Source of fund: This is the question that surprises most clients. If you are purchasing property, your conveyancer will ask where the purchase funds are coming from. A home loan from an Australian lender requires little more than confirmation of the lender. Savings, inheritance, the proceeds of a prior sale, or a gift from a family member each require a brief explanation and, usually, supporting documentation. Funds arriving from overseas attract closer scrutiny – bank transfer records and foreign exchange confirmations are commonly requested. The explanation does not need to be elaborate. It does need to be consistent with the transaction. Some firms will not accept physical currency over certain thresholds or virtual asset transactions as a matter of policy.
The politically exposed person question
Most AML intake forms include a question about whether you are, or are closely associated with, a politically exposed person, or a PEP. This covers current and former holders of prominent public office in any country: heads of state, senior politicians, senior members of the judiciary, senior military officers, and their immediate family members and close associates. If the answer is yes, your conveyancer is required to apply enhanced due diligence before proceeding. This does not prevent the transaction from completing. It does mean additional steps, and the time to raise it is at the start of the engagement, not the day before settlement. Foreign PEPs — those who hold or have held office in another country’s government — typically attract a higher level of scrutiny than domestic PEPs, reflecting the greater difficulty of verifying their background and the higher corruption risks associated with some jurisdictions
Why the questions might look different at different firms
Not every conveyancer will conduct identical checks, at least during the transition period, and it is worth understanding why.
Firms that were already enrolled with AUSTRAC before 31 March 2026 – typically those that also provide financial services – are permitted to continue using pre-reform customer identification procedures for certain categories of clients until 31 March 2029, provided their AML/CTF program documents cover the classes of their clients and when they will transition to the new framework. Conveyancers enrolling as newly regulated entities from 1 July 2026 begin on the new initial customer due diligence framework from the start (AUSTRAC, 2026).
In practice this means the form you receive, and the documents requested may look different depending on which firm you engage and when. Both approaches are legally compliant during the transition. The direction of travel is consistent: more verification, applied earlier in every transaction. By 31 March 2029, all regulated firms will be operating under the same framework.
What happens if you do not answer?
Your conveyancer is not permitted to proceed to exchange or settlement if customer due diligence has not been completed. That is not a position they can negotiate around. Providing a designated service without completing the required checks exposes the firm to serious regulatory consequences, including mandatory reporting obligations to AUSTRAC and potential civil penalties. Where information is incomplete, inconsistent, or not provided at all, the firm may be required to delay the transaction while they seek to resolve it. In some circumstances – where the information cannot be obtained or the explanation cannot be reconciled – they may be required to stop acting.
In some circumstances, your conveyancer may not be able to explain the reason for the delay or termination. The Act prohibits regulated entities from disclosing that a suspicious matter report has been made, is being considered, or is required — an obligation known as ‘tipping off.’ If your conveyancer cannot give you a reason, this may be why.
A settlement that collapses because a client would not answer a source of funds question is a preventable outcome. The documents your conveyancer needs at the beginning of the matter are the same documents they will need at exchange. Providing them early costs nothing. Providing them late can cost the transaction.
What to do before your first appointment
Locate your identity documents. If you are buying or selling through a company or trust, obtain a current company extract and a copy of the trust deed. Think through your source of funds and identify what documentation exists to support it – bank statements, a statutory declaration from a donor for gifted funds, a foreign exchange transaction record for overseas transfers. If you are based overseas, check whether your jurisdiction requires documents to be certified before they will be accepted.
None of this is onerous if you know it is coming. Your conveyancer is completing a mandatory process that applies to every client in every transaction. The clients who navigate it without delay are the ones who come prepared.
Jake McKinley notes that this article is written for the purpose of providing generalised information and not to provide specialised legal advice. If you require qualified legal advice on anything mentioned in this article, our experienced team of solicitors at Jake McKinley are here to help. Please get in touch with us on 02 9232 8033 today to make an enquiry.
Article Written by Seb Hain, PLT
References
- Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth). Federal Register of Legislation. https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2006A00169
- Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre. (2026). AML/CTF transitional rules 2026. Australian Government. https://www.austrac.gov.au/about-us/legislation/updates-legislation/amlctf-transitional-rules-2026
- Astraea Law. (2026). 2026 AML/CTF reforms explained. https://astraealaw.com.au/news/2026-aml-ctf-reforms-explained/
- Heffron. (2026). Anti-money laundering (AML). https://www.heffron.com.au/knowledge-centre/anti-money-laundering-aml
- Sprintlaw. (2026). AML laws for conveyancers: What you need to know for July 2026. https://sprintlaw.com.au/articles/aml-laws-conveyancers-july-2026/
