Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing

Because the law now requires it. From 1 July 2026 real estate agencies became reporting entities under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006, which brought agents into the same regime that has applied to banks, accountants and financial planners for years. Verifying who you are is one of the obligations that comes with that, and it applies to every agency in Australia — not just Bell.

Customer due diligence, or CDD, is the process of establishing who our customer is before we provide a service. In practice it means confirming your identity from official documents, understanding who ultimately owns or controls the property where a company or trust is involved, and — in some cases — understanding where the money for a purchase is coming from.

No. The obligations cover the sale, purchase and transfer of real estate. Leasing a property, and the day-to-day management of a rental, are not designated services under the Act, so our renting and property management customers are not asked to complete AML/CTF verification. We still collect and handle information about renters under our Privacy Policy and the Residential Tenancies Act.

If you are selling, we start the process when you engage us and complete it before your property is advertised. If you are buying, we start after you have signed a Contract of Sale. Doing it at those points keeps verification off the critical path — nobody wants to be chasing a passport scan on the morning of settlement.

No. We are not permitted to provide the service without completing the required checks, and there is no ability for an agent to waive them. If verification cannot be completed we may have to stop acting, which is why we ask early rather than late.

Usually not from scratch. Where we already hold current verified identification for you we can rely on it, though we may ask you to confirm your details are unchanged or to top up information for the new transaction. If it has been some time, or if your circumstances have changed, we will run the check again.

For most individuals with their documents to hand, a few minutes. Verification is completed online through a secure link — there is no need to visit an office or post anything. Companies, trusts and self-managed super funds take longer because we need the governing documents and details of the people behind the entity.

For some transactions we are required to understand the source of the funds being used. It is a standard part of the regime rather than a judgement about you, and it is the same question a bank asks when a large deposit arrives. A short explanation — sale of another property, savings, a gift, a loan — is normally all that is needed.

We understand the reluctance, but we have no discretion here. Without the required information we cannot complete the verification, and without verification we cannot provide the service. In some circumstances the law also limits what we are able to tell you about why particular information is being sought.

Bell Real Estate uses First AML and its AMLHUB platform to collect and verify identity information. You will receive a secure link by email or SMS, upload your documents through it, and First AML verifies them against authoritative sources. Your documents go to that platform rather than being emailed around, which is a large part of why we use it.

They are held securely and used only for the purpose they were collected for. The Act requires reporting entities to keep customer due diligence records for seven years after the service ends, so we cannot delete them on request during that period. Everything else about how we handle your personal information is set out in our Privacy Policy.

AUSTRAC, the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre, is the regulator for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing in Australia. Its website has plain-English guidance on the reforms and what they mean for customers.