AML software for real estate agencies, not bank monitoring

A search for “aml software for real estate” usually returns a platform built for a bank’s monitoring team, then a price for a seat. An agency is not that team. The designated service is brokering the sale, purchase, or transfer of real estate. Checked against AUSTRAC’s real estate designated services on 2 October 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. This page does not reproduce that table. The sector map is /tranche-2. Who you check, and when, is AML for real estate agents: who does CDD.

An agency file is not a bank monitor

Banks monitor flows because that is their designated world. An agency’s program asks who the seller is, who the buyer is, and whether this brokering needs a check before the relationship proceeds. Transaction monitoring, in the sense of watching an account over time, is a different article: transaction monitoring. Do not buy that product because the word AML appeared in a software list.

AUSTRAC’s words are seller and buyer. Each agency applies that to its own retainer. The two offices do not share one file by default. Who those people are, when the other side has its own agent, is who is the customer on a real estate sale. A wider compliance map for the sector is real estate AML compliance.

Client-pays fits fee disclosure

Agencies already disclose searches and disbursements on a listing authority or a buyer agreement. A check the client pays can sit in that same conversation: a named disbursement, for a named verification, on this file. A subscription the agency absorbs is a practice cost. Recovering it later inside commission, or inside a vague admin fee, is a harder disclosure. Client-pays does not make the charge a government fee. Say what it is. The note on that conversation is charging the client for an AML check, and the commercial version is client-pays KYC.

• A quiet month. A seat you cannot drop is still there when the agency lists nothing. An A$0 firm suite does not multiply by the empty weeks.
• A busy listing. The check attaches to the seller or the buyer the program names. The firm sends the request by email. The client completes it.
• What not to promise. The software does not decide that brokering has started, does not monitor the trust account, and does not lodge a report for the agency.

Where FreeAML fits an agency

The FreeAML firm suite is A$0. It holds the customer file for the listings that need one. When the program requires a verification, the firm emails the request and the check is client-pays. On the public list a personal KYC check is A$20 and a company or trust KYB check is A$40. Confirm the live amounts on FreeAML pricing before you put a figure in an agency agreement. What the check covers for an agent is AML checks for real estate agents. The path to send one is /aml-check.

FreeAML does not watch account activity, does not decide the designated service, does not enrol the agency, and does not replace austrac.gov.au. If a vendor is offering bank-style monitoring as the whole of agency AML, ask which customers of which brokering the product actually checks, and who pays that check.

Frequently Asked Questions