Know Your Customer (KYC): Why Real Estate Agents Must Take It Seriously Before 2026
As the property sector prepares for the 2026 expansion of Australia's anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) regime, one of the most critical components of compliance is Know Your Customer — more commonly referred to as KYC.
From 1 July 2026, real estate professionals including agents, buyer's advocates, developers, and conveyancers will be legally required to perform due diligence on every client involved in a property transaction. This means identifying and verifying who the buyer or seller really is, assessing their risk profile, and retaining a clear audit trail of that process.
"You can't monitor for suspicious activity if you don't know who your client is."
What is KYC?
KYC is the process of collecting and verifying key identification information from your clients before providing services. This typically includes:
- • Full legal name
- • Residential address
- • Date of birth
- • Government-issued photo ID
- • Source of funds and, where necessary, source of wealth
The aim of KYC is not just to check boxes. It is to ensure you are not inadvertently facilitating a transaction for someone involved in criminal activity — or someone hiding behind a complex trust, proxy, or offshore identity.
Why is KYC Critical in Real Estate?
Real estate is uniquely vulnerable to money laundering. It allows large amounts of money to be transferred and parked in high-value assets, often with minimal scrutiny. Criminals can use property purchases to launder illicit proceeds by integrating them into the legitimate economy.
AUSTRAC has made it clear that:
"Compared to other methods, money laundering through real estate can be relatively uncomplicated. It requires little planning or expertise."
In cross-border transactions, the risks are even higher. Foreign buyers from high-risk jurisdictions or deals involving shell companies raise immediate compliance red flags.
KYC helps mitigate these risks and ensures agents can detect when something is unusual, inconsistent, or suspicious.
What Happens If You Don't Comply?
Failure to properly implement KYC procedures will carry serious consequences under the 2026 regime. Penalties may include:
- • Regulatory fines
- • Loss of license
- • Criminal liability for wilful non-compliance
- • Reputational damage
AUSTRAC will expect every real estate business to demonstrate that they took reasonable steps to verify their clients and assess the risks of each transaction.
How AML RealEstate Solutions Can Help
At AML RealEstate Solutions, we've made KYC simple, secure, and compliant. Our platform connects you to trusted identity verification services and walks you through what information you need to collect, store, and assess.
Key features include:
- • Government-approved digital ID verification
- • Politically exposed person (PEP) and sanctions list checks
- • Secure recordkeeping with audit-ready logs
- • Real-time risk scoring for each client
- • Source of funds and source of wealth screening tools
- • Optional analyst-reviewed checks for high-risk profiles
We don't just help you meet your KYC obligations. We help you understand and manage client risk with confidence.
Get Ready Before the Deadline
Starting your KYC systems now means you'll avoid a last-minute scramble and position your agency as a trusted, compliant operator. You'll protect your business, your clients, and the industry's integrity.