{"id":772257,"date":"2026-07-01T14:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/772257\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T14:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:40:19","slug":"major-new-rule-for-aussies-buying-and-selling-properties-as-government-gives-real-estate-agents-more-responsibility-to-fight-money-laundering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/772257\/","title":{"rendered":"Major new rule for Aussies buying and selling properties as government gives real estate agents more responsibility to fight money laundering"},"content":{"rendered":"

A major rule change for buying and selling houses has rolled out, in a government bid to crackdown on money laundering and terrorism financing.<\/p>\n

The rule coincides with a list of other changes moving ahead for housing and real estate across Australia.<\/p>\n

From Wednesday, those looking to buy or sell a property will need to present a passport or driver\u2019s license to the real estate agent in order to proceed.<\/p>\n

The change comes under the government\u2019s anti-money laundering laws and counter-terrorism financing (AML\/CTF) reform.<\/p>\n

Real estate agents will be expected to take relevant steps to verify the identity of buyers and sellers and escalate situations that cause concern.<\/p>\n

Agents are also expected to request more information from \u201chigher risk\u201d individuals, including proof of source of funds and source of wealth.<\/p>\n

Suspicious activity will need to be reported to the regulator AUSTRAC, which previously estimated that more than $1 billion is being laundered through Australian real estate.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch of the money being laundered through our systems is linked to harmful crime like illicit tobacco, environmental destruction, corruption, child exploitation and human trafficking,\u201d AUSTRAC shared on its site.<\/p>\n

\"Sydney<\/p>\n

Precious stone dealers, lawyers and accountants are among the other professionals expected to check identifications during interactions with customers, even if they are long-term customers.<\/p>\n

The changes sit alongside Victoria\u2019s rental bond changes, which also came to fruition on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Renters in Victoria will now be able to transfer an existing rental bond directly to a new rental property, so that they do not have to go out of pocket while changing rental properties.<\/p>\n

From October, estate agents and landlords in Victoria will need to provide evidence for any deduction claims on a bond at the end of a lease.<\/p>\n

Buyers across popular Australian cities have been few and far between in recent weeks, with auction clearance rates hitting a six-year low in Sydney last week and a five-year low in Melbourne.<\/a><\/p>\n

Certain areas, like the Central Coast, saw just a 26 per cent auction success rate \u2013 well below the balanced market standard of 60 per cent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A major rule change for buying and selling houses has rolled out, in a government bid to crackdown…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":772258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[18073,154544,43,29882,44,1003,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-772257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-austrac","tag-counter-terrorism","tag-headlines","tag-money-laundering","tag-news","tag-real-estate","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}