YES, WE REALLY DO NEED ALL OF THAT

Yes, we really do need all of that. No, it was not our idea. If we sent you this link, it is because you asked why your real estate agent suddenly needs your ID, your life story, and proof of where your money came from. Fair question. Here is the honest answer:

We will save you the suspense. We do not want your documents. We are not interested in your finances. We would love nothing more than to sell you an apartment without first conducting a light background investigation into your entire financial existence. And yet, here we both are.

As of 1 July 2026, the federal government has decided that real estate agents are now part of Australia's anti-money laundering system. The reforms are called Tranche 2, they are run by an agency called AUSTRAC, and they hand us the same obligations the banks have had for years. We were not asked. There was no vote. A series of PDFs arrived, and now we are, legally, the property market's newest and least qualified compliance officers.

A quick word on our qualifications for this role. We sell apartments. We are excellent at it. None of us trained as forensic accountants. Some of us did not finish high school. And we are now, by act of Parliament, personally responsible for detecting laundered money as it allegedly flows through the inner-Brisbane unit market, with fines in the millions if we get it wrong. We are taking it about as well as you would expect.

So here is what we are now required to do to you, and yes, it is all mandatory.

We have to verify your identity. Government ID, the proper stuff.

If you are buying through a company or a trust, we have to work out who is actually behind it. No hiding in the org chart.

We have to ask where your money is coming from. Out loud. To your face.

And then, the genuinely fun part, you have to prove it. With documents. Bank statements, sale records, a payslip, evidence of the inheritance, whatever shows the money is yours and came from somewhere lawful. We do not get to take your word for it. The law specifically does not allow us to take your word for it.

We then keep all of this on file for seven years, watch for anything that looks odd, and report it to the authorities if we have to. Quietly. Without telling you.

We know. We know.

Now, the important bit, because we would hate for you to take any of this personally. If you are a normal human buying or selling a normal home, you are not under suspicion. You never were. The money launderers these rules were written for are not the ones moving into a two-bedroom in Teneriffe with a pre-approval and a nervous partner. You are simply standing in the same queue, holding your passport and a printout of your savings account, because Canberra could not think of a more targeted way to do this.

So when we ask for the licence, the statements, the source of the deposit, the trust details, the lot, please understand it is not nosiness, it is not distrust, and it is absolutely not our preference. It is a second job we did not apply for, do not get paid for, and are required by law to perform with a straight face.

We will make it as quick and painless as we possibly can, because the actual job, the one we chose, is selling you somewhere lovely to live. We would very much like to get back to it.

Questions? Ask away.