Advice-only or research-only buyers agent: are you caught by AML and privacy?
It depends on what you actually do. Brokering the purchase of a specific property for a fee is the caught activity, and a buyers agency retained to acquire property is in scope from 31 March 2026. A genuinely advice-only service that never finds property and never negotiates for a commission may fall outside that brokering item, but brokering is not the only designated service the AML/CTF Act attaches to real estate, so falling outside it does not end the question. This is fact-specific, so confirm your own position rather than assuming either way.
By Jon Oates, Founder of Privaproof · Last updated
General information, document templates and tools you tailor, not legal advice. Privaproof is not a law practice and does not assess your AML/CTF obligations, which are administered by AUSTRAC.
What the caught activity actually is
The obligation does not attach to the label on your business card. It attaches to a function. Brokering the purchase or transfer of real estate for a buyer, in the course of carrying on a business, is a designated service under the AML/CTF Act (Table 5 item 1, AML/CTF Act s 6(5A)). Providing that service is what makes you an AUSTRAC reporting entity from 31 March 2026.
The item does not define "broker", but AUSTRAC does. AUSTRAC's published position is that "a broker is a person who acts as an intermediary or agent for another person for consideration", and that "a common indicator of this will be if your services include negotiating on behalf of the person you represent or seeking to find a person for the person you represent to transact with, in return for a payment of a commission". On that reading it is acting as an intermediary or agent for another person for consideration, which on a normal buyers-agency engagement is met once you are retained to acquire a property for the client, whether or not you personally sit at the negotiating table. ⚠️ How far that reaches a pure search-and-sourcing service is the open question, and it is the one this page exists to be honest about: we have seen the reading that seeking out a party for your client to transact with, for a commission, is itself broking, but we have not pinned that to a primary source. So treat finding or identifying a specific property for a fee as likely caught, and confirm rather than assume. Read: are buyers agents caught by AML Tranche 2?
Where "advice-only" might land differently
Some operators describe themselves as advice-only, research-only or education-only. Think of a service that produces a suburb report, a market briefing or a due-diligence checklist, charges a flat fee for that document, and stops there: it never shortlists a specific property, never inspects or bids on the client's behalf, and never takes a commission on a purchase.
A service structured that way may fall outside the brokering item, because it is not seeking to find a person to transact with for a commission and is not finding or identifying a property to buy. Brokering is not the only designated service that reaches real estate, though, and this is the part an advice-only operator is most likely to miss. Section 6(5B) of the AML/CTF Act sets out a second table, and its item 1 covers "assisting a person in the planning or execution of a transaction, or otherwise acting for or on behalf of a person in a transaction, to sell, buy or otherwise transfer real estate", where the service is provided in the course of carrying on a business and the transfer is not pursuant to, or resulting from, an order of a court or tribunal. That table is headed "Professional services" and AUSTRAC points lawyers and conveyancers to it, but item 1 names no profession in its own terms, so a model built on helping a client plan a purchase should be tested against it as well as against brokering. AUSTRAC does not expressly address advice-only buyers agents, so this is not a bright line, and it is one we cannot resolve for you. Whether a given advice-only model sits inside or outside a designated service is fact-specific and turns on the exact scope of what you deliver and how you are paid. Confirm your position with AUSTRAC or a qualified adviser before relying on any carve-out.
What we can say honestly is the shape of the work. A buyers agency retained to find property, negotiate, and be paid on or toward a purchase is doing the caught activity on any reading of the item. A genuinely advice-only service is a different shape, and describing yourself as advice-only does not put you outside the Act if the substance of what you do is still finding or brokering a purchase.
If you are caught: the privacy half switches on too
If your service is a designated service, becoming a reporting entity does more than create AML duties. Via Privacy Act s 6E(1A), the Act applies to you as if you were an organisation "in relation to the activities carried on by the small business operator for the purposes of, or in connection with, activities relating to" the AML/CTF Act and the regulations and AML/CTF Rules under it, regardless of the A$3 million small-business threshold. Note what that scopes to. It is the AML-related activities you carry on, not a named list of data fields, so the Australian Privacy Principles attach to the identification, verification and customer-due-diligence work itself rather than to your whole buyer CRM, newsletter list or property alerts. Where the edge of those activities falls is a question about your own processes, and the rest of your business can still be caught by a separate trigger. Read: does the Privacy Act apply to buyers agents under $3 million? · Read: does becoming a reporting entity trigger the Privacy Act?
Two things follow from that. First, the AML question and the privacy question are separate: AUSTRAC administers the designated-service and reporting-entity rules, and we do not assess those for you. Second, if you conclude you are caught, the privacy documents are the half an AML pack leaves out, and they are what Privaproof is built for.
The honest bottom line
Do not let a job title decide this. If you find, identify or negotiate the purchase of a specific property for a client for a fee, you are very likely a reporting entity from 31 March 2026, and s 6E(1A) then applies the Act to the activities you carry on for the purposes of, or in connection with, the AML/CTF Act. If you genuinely only advise, without ever finding property or taking a purchase commission, you may sit outside the brokering item, but s 6(5B) item 1 separately covers assisting a person in the planning or execution of a transaction to buy real estate, so this is a fact-specific call you should confirm rather than assume. Get the AML side settled first, because it decides whether the privacy obligations below apply to you at all. Read the cornerstone: privacy compliance for Australian buyers agents.
Common questions
I only give research and advice, no property search. Am I exempt from AML?
Possibly, but not automatically, and there is more than one item to check. If your service never finds or identifies a specific property, never negotiates a purchase and takes no brokering commission, it may fall outside the brokering designated service in s 6(5A) Table 5 item 1. Separately, s 6(5B) Table 6 item 1 covers assisting a person in the planning or execution of a transaction to sell, buy or otherwise transfer real estate in the course of carrying on a business, and it names no profession in its own terms, so a research or planning service should be tested against that item too. AUSTRAC does not expressly address advice-only buyers agents, so this is fact-specific. Confirm your own position with AUSTRAC or a qualified adviser before relying on it.
Does calling myself "advice-only" keep me out of the Privacy Act?
Not on its own. The trigger is the substance of what you do, not the label. If the work still amounts to finding or brokering a purchase for a fee, you are likely caught, and s 6E(1A) then applies the Australian Privacy Principles to the activities you carry on for the purposes of, or in connection with, the AML/CTF Act. The name of the service does not change that.
If I am advice-only and outside AML, do I have no privacy obligations at all?
Not necessarily. The s 6E(1A) route applies the Act to the activities you carry on for the purposes of, or in connection with, the AML/CTF Act, so if you are not a reporting entity that route does not reach you. Other routes still can. Section 6D(4) sets out several ways a business stops being a small business operator, including an annual turnover of more than A$3,000,000 for a financial year that has ended, disclosing personal information about another individual to anyone else for a benefit, service or advantage, and providing a benefit, service or advantage in order to collect personal information about another individual, which is the limb to read carefully if you have referral arrangements. The turnover limb runs one way: s 6D(4)(a) turns on a business that "has had an annual turnover of more than $3,000,000 for a financial year that has ended", so a later fall back under the threshold does not undo it. Check your own numbers and your own arrangements against the section rather than treating turnover as the only question.
Where do I get a definitive answer on whether I am caught?
From AUSTRAC or a qualified adviser, based on the specifics of your service and fee structure. Privaproof does not assess AML/CTF obligations, which are AUSTRAC's domain. We cover the privacy half that applies once you know you are caught, kept current as the law changes.
This is general information and document templates you tailor to your own business, not legal advice. Privaproof is not a law practice and does not provide legal advice. This page does not assess your obligations under the AML/CTF Act itself, which are administered by AUSTRAC. The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and related guidance change over time, so check you are working from a current version. For advice on your specific circumstances, consult a qualified Australian legal practitioner.