In this article
Kooky
Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.
About Kooky and Shaka →AUSTRAC, the federal financial intelligence agency, revised its guidance for the real estate and conveyancing sectors on Friday 12 June 2026, less than three weeks before those sectors come under the anti-money laundering regime on 1 July. According to the agency's log of guidance updates, the time allowed for a delayed customer check in a property sale has been revised from 15 days to 28 days after exchange of contracts, or three days before settlement.
The change matters to anyone with a contract that will be running on or after 1 July, because it ties a federal compliance deadline to the settlement date for the first time. The deadline does not appear in a Queensland sale contract, and it is not one the buyer or seller can extend. It sits on the desks of the agent and the conveyancer or solicitor, and it has to be met before the money moves.
AUSTRAC, latest guidance updates, entry of 12 June 2026, and its guidance on delayed initial customer due diligence.
What the updated guidance says
The starting point of the regime is that a regulated business identifies its customer before it provides a regulated service. AUSTRAC calls this initial customer due diligence. Its guidance allows the check to be delayed only where the business has decided, on reasonable grounds, that two conditions are met: that delay is essential to avoid interrupting the ordinary course of business, and that it carries a low additional risk of money laundering, terrorism financing or proliferation financing. The business must also have policies to finish the check as soon as reasonably practicable. The agency says plainly that convenience is not enough.
Related readOne network or two: where e-conveyancing competition standsProperty sales have their own version of this allowance. For real estate agents, the guidance separates the two sides of a sale. An agent must complete the check on the client it represents before providing its service. For the other party, which for a selling agent is the buyer, the agent may delay the check until the earlier of two points: 28 days after the exchange of contracts, or at least three days before the settlement date as originally scheduled.
For conveyancers and legal practitioners, the allowance applies when they act for a buyer or transferee. They may begin work before the check is complete, and must finish it by the earlier of 28 days after exchange or no later than three days before the settlement date first agreed.
The same entry in AUSTRAC's log records a second change for real estate businesses: they are now expected to document the steps they have taken where a counterparty does not cooperate, and to report suspicious activity.
Why the window was 15 days, and who asked for 28
The rules as first made gave 15 days after exchange. The Real Estate Institute of Australia argued that this was too short to be usable in parts of the country. In a submission announced on 16 December 2025, the institute asked AUSTRAC to amend the two relevant sections of the rules, 6-32 and 6-33, so that the period ran for 28 days after the exchange of contracts for the sale, purchase or transfer.
Its reasoning was about how contracts work in practice. The submission said that in all states and territories a typical settlement period is 30 to 90 days, with 42 to 60 days the average. It pointed to Western Australia, with more than 90,000 settlements a year, where conditions for finance, inspections and the sale of another property routinely run past 15 days, and to Tasmania, where it said a finance condition of 28 days is used in 80 to 90 per cent of transactions. A check that fell due before a contract had become unconditional, the institute argued, would be done twice or done for sales that never proceeded, which it described as duplication of customer due diligence.
Related readPaying out the seller's mortgage at settlement: how the funds line upThe guidance as updated on 12 June uses the figure the institute proposed. AUSTRAC's log does not give its reasons, and this article does not attribute any to it.
How the deadline falls in a Queensland sale
Queensland contracts are generally shorter than the national range the institute described. The Queensland Government's guidance for home sellers says settlement typically takes place four to six weeks after both parties sign, within a general range of 30 to 90 days. Queensland practice has no separate exchange step of the kind used in some other states; the nearest equivalent to the "exchange" in the federal guidance is the contract date, when the last party has signed.
Because the rule takes the earlier of two dates, which one applies depends on the length of the contract. Twenty-eight days plus three days is 31 days. For any settlement set fewer than 31 days after the contract date, the three-day rule is the one that bites. For anything longer, the 28-day rule does.
| Settlement period | Settlement date | 28 days after exchange | Check due by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14 days | 15 July | 29 July | 12 July |
| 30 days | 31 July | 29 July | 28 July |
| 45 days | 15 August | 29 July | 29 July |
| 60 days | 30 August | 29 July | 29 July |
Illustrative dates computed from AUSTRAC's guidance on delayed initial customer due diligence. The guidance summary does not say whether days are calendar or business days; calendar days are assumed here.
The table shows the practical effect in this state. In a common 30-day contract the deadline arrives three days before settlement, on the 27th day; in a six-week contract it arrives two-thirds of the way through, about two weeks before settlement. In a fast sale, such as a cash purchase with a fortnight to settle, the check is due on the 11th day, so the buyer's documents have to be collected in the first week.
One assumption in the table needs stating. AUSTRAC's published summary speaks of days without saying how they are counted. Until that is clarified, a cautious reading treats the count as the shorter one.
Related readPEXA disputes the sums behind lower settlement fees at public hearingThe check on a professional's own client is not delayed
It would be a mistake to read the 28 days as a general grace period. The allowance is narrow, and most checks in a sale are outside it.
An agent appointed by a seller must have identified the seller before acting. The delay applies only to the other party. AUSTRAC's guidance gives auctions as the clearest case for it, noting that it will not be possible to complete the check on the successful bidder before the auction starts, since nobody knows who that will be.
For conveyancers and lawyers, the allowance described in the guidance is for buyers and transferees. A buyer's conveyancer can open the file, order searches and review the contract while the identity material is still coming in. The guidance does not describe the same latitude for a seller's representative.
The conditions also still apply. A business has to be able to show why delay was essential to the ordinary course of business and why the added risk was low. A buyer who is slow to produce documents does not meet that test merely by being slow.
What it means for settlement dates
Three features of the rule bear directly on settlement timing.
First, the deadline is measured from the settlement date as originally scheduled. Queensland's standard contract, published by the Real Estate Institute of Queensland and the Queensland Law Society, lets either party extend the settlement date by notice for up to five business days. On the wording of the federal guidance, an extension of that kind does not push back the date by which the check must be done. A file that is short of identity documents three days before the first settlement date is late even if settlement itself is then moved.
Related readPEXA counts 2.67 million property transfers in a year, expects fewerSecond, the consequence for the business is regulatory. AUSTRAC's guidance warns that civil penalties may apply if know-your-customer information is not verified within the required time. It does not say what a business should do about a settlement that is due while a check is still open, and the standard contract has no clause on the subject. Under that contract time is of the essence, so a buyer whose representative cannot proceed on the day is exposed to the ordinary rules about being late.
Third, the same buyer may be asked twice. The agent checks the buyer as the other party to the sale, and the buyer's own conveyancer or solicitor checks the buyer as a client. The two deadlines are computed the same way but run in different offices.
The deadline follows the first settlement date
AUSTRAC's guidance counts back from the settlement date as originally scheduled. Extending settlement under the contract does not extend the time for a delayed customer check. Buyers asked for identity documents early in a sale are being asked because of that limit.
What comes next
The obligations start on 1 July 2026 for real estate agents, conveyancers and lawyers providing the regulated services. AUSTRAC's transitional guidance, published in January, gives newly regulated businesses until 29 July 2026 to notify the agency of their compliance officer, and the same date applies to enrolment for those providing services from the first day.
Contracts signed in the second half of June will mostly settle in late July or August, after the start date. How the new obligations apply to a transaction already under way on 1 July depends on when the regulated service is provided, and AUSTRAC's log shows it has been adding guidance on such points through the month, including an entry of 12 June on when the services of legal practitioners and other professionals are covered.
For buyers and sellers, the visible change is modest: a request for identity documents, and sometimes questions about who is behind a company or trust, arriving earlier than they might expect. For the professions, the change is to the timetable. A settlement file has always had dates for finance, inspections and the day itself. From 1 July it has one more, and it is set in Canberra.
Kooky, from Shaka
Kooky edits Queensland Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for Queensland property professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.
