One month on, and Raine & Horne reports a smooth transition to AML rules

One month into Australia's new AML/CTF regime for real estate, and leading Australasian real estate group Raine & Horne says the changes have quickly become business as usual across its 300-strong office network.

The reforms, which commenced on 1 July 2026, require real estate offices to verify clients' identities and undertake additional financial due diligence when completing property transactions.

Chris Nicholl, CEO of Raine & Horne, said the leading Australasian real estate group took a practical approach to the reforms, giving its offices plenty of time, training, and support to adapt to the new requirements.

“Rather than sticking our heads in the sand, we recognised these changes were coming, so we focused on preparing our offices well in advance rather than leaving it until the last minute,” Mr Nicholl said.

“By starting early, providing extensive training and partnering with a compliance provider with plenty of experience with AML/CTF in New Zealand network, where we also have a rapidly expanding office network of more than 65 offices, the signs are very good that the transition has been straightforward for our offices and our clients.”

Angus Raine, Executive Chairman of Raine & Horne, added, "I’m thrilled that many of our offices are reporting that the new regulations have been implemented with very few hitches.

“But what I’m not so pleased about is that yet again, the Federal and state governments are asking the real estate industry to do their compliance grunt work for them.”

Sydney real estate market leader says AML changes have been simple and clear

Leading Sydney real estate agent Ric Serrao, Principal of Raine & Horne Double Bay | Bondi Beach, said the office's early preparation and strong support from Raine & Horne Corporate made the rollout of the new AML/CTF requirements straightforward.

“To be honest, it’s been amazing, and the rollout and implementation support from Head Office has been very smooth, and the support from AML specialists they’re working with, such as FirstAML, has provided us with great support,” Mr Serrao said.

“From a practical perspective, it's really been about helping our agents become familiar with the new processes. They'll soon be managing the requirements themselves, but it’s simply a matter of following the process. It's not onerous thanks to preparatory work from Head Office.

“Importantly, we've had very little pushback from our clients. Once we explain why we're asking for the information, people understand and are happy to provide it. It's already becoming just another part of the property transaction.”

In Far North Queensland, David Cotton, Director of Raine & Horne Port Douglas/Mossman, said that the first month of AML has been very smooth for his team. “Once you get your head around the first few sales, it's been fine,” he said.

“Raine & Horne provided excellent training programs to have us ready to go on 1 July, and we were off and racing. The support and training were fantastic.

“There was a lot of information through our intranet portal R&Home and plenty of training courses. We were constantly getting emails telling us about the next training session, what time it started and what day it was on. If you couldn't make it, it was recorded so you could watch it in your own time. There was plenty of support."

Matt Clifton, Director of Raine & Horne Bathurst, said the first month of the AML/CTF reforms had been largely trouble-free for his Central Western NSW office, with clients accepting the new compliance requirements and the network's early preparation making the transition straightforward.

“The short answer is it's gone pretty well. We've had very little pushback from our sellers,” Mr Clifton said.

“I've only had one situation where a vendor questioned the need to provide the required information. Apart from that, we've really had no issues.”

Mr Clifton said the more complex compliance requirements typically arose where trusts and company structures were involved, although these transactions were more common in commercial real estate than residential.

“Those are the situations that require a bit more work, but at this stage, we really haven't encountered any major issues.”

Smooth rollout in Wagga Wagga, but source of wealth requirements needs refining 

In southern NSW, Grant Harris, Director of Raine & Horne Wagga Wagga and Raine & Horne Commercial Wagga Wagga, said his business had benefited from preparing well ahead of the 1 July AML/CTF commencement.

“We were ahead of the curve on getting prepared, and that made a big difference. We were definitely well prepared by the time the legislation came into effect,” Mr Harris said.

Mr Harris said the office adopted the new compliance processes across its residential and commercial operations. “Our commercial business doesn't handle the same transaction volumes as residential, so it hasn’t experienced the same initial rush to meet the AML compliance requirements in July.”

Mr Harris said the only area where his office had encountered resistance to AML from vendors was in relation to the provision of additional financial information.

“The main pushback has been from vendors being asked to provide source of wealth information. They understand the identity checks, but many vendors question why they need to provide that information when they’re selling a property.

“I can understand why purchasers are asked those questions because they're introducing funds into the transaction. From a vendor’s perspective, some, especially older clients, see those additional questions as unnecessary.

“While Raine & Horne has done everything with training and support they possibly could to help us prepare, the government still has some work to do on what information they want for proof of wealth and proof of wealth requirements. It's just been a bit clunky.”

Mr Nicholl said, “Several of our principals have flagged how vendors prove ‘source of wealth’ and ‘source of funds’, but I'm confident these issues will be ironed out as everyone, including the bureaucrats, becomes more familiar with the new regulations.”