Record keeping (7 years) for Real estate agents — 2026 AUSTRAC Guide

This obligation is not just about filing documents away. You must create records that fully show how you met your AML/CTF duties in each covered matter. For a real estate agency, that will usually include customer due diligence records for the vendor, purchaser and any other customer receiving the designated service; beneficial ownership records for company or trust buyers; sanctions screening results; internal notes about higher-risk situations; copies of contracts, authorities, trust-related instructions and payment directions the customer gave you; and records showing what your staff did when something looked unusual. AUSTRAC’s record-keeping guidance also requires transaction records to contain enough detail and supporting documents to fully and accurately reconstruct the transaction.

A practical approach for an agency is to build one AML file for each property matter. First, open the file as soon as you start acting in a covered transaction. Second, save identity checks, ASIC extracts, trust deed extracts, sanctions screening results and beneficial owner notes before any designated service is provided. Third, add every key document that shows movement of money or instructions connected with the transaction, including deposit receipts, trust account directions, variations to settlement instructions and emails or text messages giving payment details. Fourth, if something is escalated internally because the structure is unusual or the buyer is a PEP, save the review notes and the outcome. Fifth, lock the file at the end of the matter and set a destruction date no earlier than 7 years after the relevant retention period starts.

Common mistakes for real estate agents are very practical. One is assuming the sale contract alone is enough; it is not, because AUSTRAC expects enough records to reconstruct what happened and what checks you performed. Another is losing payment instructions that came by SMS, WhatsApp or email, especially where deposits or settlement funds were redirected. Agencies also often keep ID documents but not the record of how they verified them, or they keep the trust deed but not the note identifying the beneficial owners behind the trust. A good system is to use a standard AML checklist in your CRM or property management platform, restrict access to sensitive records, back up electronic files, and make sure front-office staff know that printed copies, inboxes and mobile phones are all part of the record-keeping problem.