A conveyancing matter has a cast of characters: vendor, purchaser, beneficial owners, funders, guarantors, agents and sometimes trustees. The AML/CTF obligation is to identify and verify the parties the service requires, at the depth the risk requires, before the service is provided to the limits the rules allow. Getting the party list wrong is the most common conveyancing gap. This guide sets out who needs checking, how to handle the counterparty who will not cooperate, and what the file should show for each role.
Build the party list from the matter
AUSTRAC's real-estate guidance describes the customer identification expectations for the seller or transferor and buyer or transferee, and the Rules require identification of beneficial owners for entity customers. The program should define the default party list and the risk-based additions.
- The vendor or transferor and purchaser or transferee
- Beneficial owners and controllers for entity parties
- Funders and guarantors where they are parties to the transaction
- Trustees and persons on whose behalf the service is received
- Buyer's agents and other intermediaries the program requires
Verify at the right depth
An individual vendor is verified through identity documents and screening. A corporate purchaser requires registration details, beneficial ownership mapping and verification of the individuals who control it. A trust requires trustees, beneficiaries or classes, and the controllers of any corporate trustee. The depth follows the customer type and the risk, not the fee level.
Record the source for every verification: document type, register, provider and date. A file that says 'verified' without a source is an assertion, not evidence.
The uncooperative counterparty
A counterparty who will not provide identity documents is a red flag, not an inconvenience. The conveyancer should follow the program's escalation path and must not complete the transaction where the legal preconditions are unmet. Record every request and response.
- Request the missing information in writing with a clear deadline
- Escalate to the compliance officer and the settlement timeline
- Apply the delayed-CDD rules only where they permit the timing
- Do not proceed where applicable identification is incomplete
- Assess whether refusal, exit or an SMR is required
What the file shows
The party list is the beginning of the AML file. An examiner should be able to see why the vendor and purchaser were checked, why a guarantor was or was not in scope, and how the file was resolved when a party did not cooperate.
- The party list and the reason each party was included or excluded
- Verification evidence with sources and dates
- Screening results and dispositions
- Requests to uncooperative parties and their responses
- The final onboarding decision and approval
Official sources
Confirm the current rules against these primary sources.
Questions
Do we verify both vendor and purchaser?
Yes, where both are parties to the captured real-estate service. AUSTRAC's guidance describes identification of the seller or transferor and the buyer or transferee.
Is a buyer's agent a party who needs verification?
The program should define which intermediaries receive checks. The buyer's agent may need identification where they act for a party, while the underlying purchaser remains the customer to verify.
What if the counterparty will not provide documents?
Escalate, document the requests, apply the timing rules and do not proceed where applicable identification is incomplete. Assess refusal, exit and reporting.
How do we verify a corporate purchaser?
Collect registration details, map the beneficial owners and controllers, and verify the individuals under the customer-type rules, screening each relevant person.
General information for Australian professionals, not legal advice. It does not replace the AML/CTF Act, the Rules or AUSTRAC guidance. See our editorial standards.
Keep reading
- Buyer and seller CDD5 min
Why Australian real estate brokers have two statutory customers, when each service starts and how to complete proportionate buyer and seller due diligence.
- Conveyancer checklist3 min
A matter-file AML/CTF checklist for conveyancers: designated service start, vendor and purchaser CDD, settlement deadlines, reporting and records.
- Beneficial ownership4 min
How to identify beneficial owners under the amended AML/CTF Act: the 25% ownership threshold, control through other means, trustees and appointors, walking layered structures, and what to record when no owner reaches 25%.