Are buyers agents caught by AML Tranche 2? The designated service explained
Very likely, yes. Brokering the sale, purchase or transfer of real estate on behalf of a buyer is a "designated service" under the AML/CTF Act, in those statutory words. So if you broker a property purchase in the course of carrying on a business, you have been an AUSTRAC reporting entity since 31 March 2026, which then applies the Privacy Act to your AML customer-due-diligence activities and to the client-identity data you handle in them. Whether a search-only or advice-only service amounts to brokering is fact-specific.
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 a "designated service" is
AML Tranche 2 works by listing specific "designated services". Provide one of them in the course of carrying on a business, and you are a reporting entity with anti-money-laundering obligations. You are not caught because of your job title or your industry.
For a buyers agent, the relevant activity is brokering the sale, purchase or transfer of real estate on behalf of a buyer (Table 5 item 1, AML/CTF Act s 6(5A)). That is the designated service. The point that trips people up is the word "broker", which the Act does not define in the item itself. AUSTRAC does: it says "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". The ordinary meaning is acting as an intermediary or agent for another person for consideration, which on most buyers-agency engagements is met well before anyone sits at a negotiating table, because you are engaged to act for the buyer in acquiring a property. How far that reaches a pure search-and-shortlist service is not something we can settle for you.
The Act names the buyer, not just the seller
This is not an inference we are stretching to fit buyers agents. The designated service is defined as "brokering the sale, purchase or transfer of real estate on behalf of a buyer, seller, transferee or transferor in the course of carrying on a business" (Table 5 item 1, AML/CTF Act s 6(5A)). Both "purchase" and "on behalf of a buyer" appear in the statutory words themselves, so acting for the buying side is not an edge case someone has read into the regime. It is in the definition.
Two things follow that are easy to miss. There is no monetary threshold in the item: the only qualifier is "in the course of carrying on a business". And the same item makes an agency brokering a sale answerable for two customers, the seller and the buyer, which is why a firm that runs its checks on one side only has done half the job.
When you start providing the designated service: at the mandate, not at settlement
The trigger is earlier than most people expect. AUSTRAC states that a person acting as a buyer's agent "starts providing a designated service to a buyer or transferee when an agreement to find or identify a property is signed", that is, at the buyer's-agency or mandate agreement, before any property has been found. The Act defines what the designated service is; this timing comes from AUSTRAC's guidance for newly regulated real estate entities, which attributes it to paragraphs 320 and 321 of the explanatory memorandum. You do not wait until a purchase completes.
There is a two-sided element as well. AUSTRAC states that you also start providing the designated service to the other party, the seller or transferor, "when it's reasonably expected that the transaction will proceed", which it glosses as "typically when the buyer's offer has been accepted and the contract to buy or transfer ownership of the real estate is signed". So both the buyer and the seller can be your "customer" for AML purposes. The practical takeaway is simple: the compliance clock starts at the front of the engagement.
Enrolment with AUSTRAC was due by 29 July 2026 for anyone providing a designated service covered by table 5 or table 6 at any time before 1 July 2026. That date is fixed by statute, Sch 3 Part 4 item 12 of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Act 2024, which applies s 51B(1) as if its reference to 28 days after you commence to provide the designated service "were a reference to 29 July 2026". It is not counted from your own start date, so do not work it out by adding a number of days. If you started providing a designated service after that, the ordinary s 51B(1) enrolment rule applies and you should confirm your own date with AUSTRAC.
Why buyers agents are the cleanest fit
A mixed sales-and-rentals agency is only partly caught, because table 5 lists only brokering the sale, purchase or transfer of real estate and a direct sale or transfer not brokered by an independent agent, so property management and residential leasing are not designated services under it. A buyers agent has no such shelter. Finding or identifying a property to buy, and negotiating the purchase, is the substance of the work, so the caught activity accounts for much of what a boutique buyers agent does. That is a structural consequence of how the designated service is scoped, not a sentence AUSTRAC prints: the list covers broking, not leasing, and a pure buy-side broker has no leasing side to sit outside it.
The advice-only question is fact-specific
If your service genuinely never finds or identifies a specific property and never negotiates the transaction, only advising or educating, you may fall outside the brokering definition. But that is a narrow position, and it turns on what you actually do rather than what you call yourself. AUSTRAC does not expressly address advice-only buyers agents, so this is fact-specific and not something we can resolve for you. A buyers agency engaged to acquire a property for a client is doing the caught activity. Confirm your own position rather than assuming you are exempt in either direction. Read: advice-only or research-only buyers agent, are you caught?
Why this matters for privacy, not just AML
Being a reporting entity is an AUSTRAC obligation. The reason it lands on this site is the knock-on effect. Once you are a reporting entity, Privacy Act s 6E(1A) applies the Privacy Act to you "as if the small business operator were an organisation", but only "in relation to the activities carried on ... for the purposes of, or in connection with, activities relating to" the AML/CTF Act and its Rules, and it does so regardless of the A$3 million small-business exemption. In practice that is your customer-due-diligence work and the personal information you handle in doing it. Your AML pack handles the checks themselves. It does not give you the privacy policy, collection notice, breach plan and retention schedule the same trigger now expects.
That is scope-limited on purpose, and the limit is drawn by activity rather than by data category. s 6E(1A) reaches what you do for AML/CTF purposes and the personal information you handle in doing it, not your general buyer CRM, your newsletter list or your property alerts. Those stay under the small-business exemption unless a separate trigger applies. Read: does becoming an AML reporting entity trigger the Privacy Act?
A note on penalties
You will see large AML/CTF penalty figures quoted. Those maximums are set by the AML/CTF Act itself, not by AUSTRAC: a civil penalty is a pecuniary penalty the Federal Court may order under s 175 of that Act, and only the AUSTRAC CEO may apply for one (s 176). That is a separate regime from the Privacy Act, and Privaproof does not assess your AML/CTF obligations or your exposure under them, which is AUSTRAC's domain. We cover the privacy half only, and there the structure is the same shape: the Commissioner's determination power in Privacy Act s 52(1) contains no penalty limb, and a civil penalty requires a court order, which only the Commissioner may apply for and only the Federal Court or the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Division 2) may make (ss 13G, 80U). The point of getting this right is not a maximum figure, it is having the client-facing privacy documents the change now expects.
Common questions
Do I have to actually negotiate a purchase to be caught?
Probably not. The item catches brokering the purchase on behalf of a buyer, and a firm engaged to act for the buyer in acquiring a property is doing that whether or not it personally runs the negotiation. Where an engagement is search-only and the client transacts entirely on their own account, it is fact-specific and worth confirming rather than assuming either way.
When exactly does the AML clock start for a buyers agent?
At the front of the engagement. AUSTRAC states that a buyer's agent starts providing the designated service "when an agreement to find or identify a property is signed", before any property is found, not when the purchase settles. Enrolment is a separate step: it was due by 29 July 2026 for anyone providing a designated service before 1 July 2026, a date fixed by Sch 3 Part 4 item 12 rather than counted from a start date.
I only advise buyers, I never find or negotiate. Am I exempt?
Possibly, but do not assume it. A service that genuinely never finds or identifies a specific property and never negotiates may fall outside brokering, but this is fact-specific and turns on what you actually do. A buyers agency retained to acquire property is doing the caught activity on any reading, so confirm your own position before relying on an advice-only carve-out.
Does being caught put my whole business under the Privacy Act?
No. Becoming a reporting entity applies Privacy Act s 6E(1A) to the activities you carry on for the purposes of, or in connection with, the AML/CTF Act, and to the personal information you handle in those activities, rather than to your general buyer CRM, marketing list or web enquiries. The obligation is scoped to that AML work, not to your whole business. Read: does the Privacy Act apply to buyers agents under $3 million?
Is Privaproof telling me whether I am an AML reporting entity?
No. Whether you provide a designated service is an AML/CTF question administered by AUSTRAC, and their free starter kit is the place to work through it. Privaproof covers only the privacy documents that follow once you are caught.
Read the cornerstone: Privacy compliance for Australian buyers agents. Related: does the Privacy Act apply to buyers agents under $3 million? · does becoming an AML reporting entity trigger the Privacy Act? · VOI and source-of-funds: the privacy rules for identity checks
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, including whether you provide a designated service, which are administered by AUSTRAC. The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), the AML/CTF Act 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.