For conveyancers
Delayed CDD for conveyancing: exchange and settlement deadlines
Delayed initial CDD is a controlled exception, not permission to identify a property customer at settlement. The current AML/CTF Rules include a property-specific route for a buyer or transferee customer receiving relevant table 6 professional services. Its specified period ends at the earlier of 28 days after exchange of contracts and three days before the initially agreed settlement date. General delayed-CDD safeguards still apply, including necessity to avoid interrupting ordinary business, low additional risk and completion as soon as reasonably practicable. The rule must be reflected in the conveyancer's program and applied to the correct customer. This guide separates that route from real-estate-broker duties and from structured arrangements for sharing collection or verification.
See the conveyancers AML/CTF workspaceStep-by-step process
Confirm buyer-side eligibility
Record the table 6 property service, the buyer or transferee customer and why the specific delayed route applies.
Test the general safeguards
Evidence ordinary-course necessity, low additional risk and the controls that will complete CDD as soon as reasonably practicable.
Calculate both outer dates
Calculate 28 days after exchange and three days before the initially agreed settlement date, then use the earlier result.
Assign and monitor outstanding checks
List every missing matter, assign an owner, set alerts before the outer date and restrict progression if risk changes.
Close or escalate the delay
Complete verification promptly, retain the evidence and stop or escalate under the program if required CDD cannot be established.
Confirm that the customer and service are eligible
The property-specific table 6 route applies to a buyer or transferee customer of the relevant professional real-estate transaction service. For a conveyancer, the table 6 customer is generally the person the conveyancer assists or acts for. Do not assume the route applies to seller-side work merely because settlement is approaching, and do not import the table 5 broker rule that makes both sides customers.
Record the designated service, customer, transaction and reason CDD was not completed before service began. If the file involves another table 6 service, such as entity creation or managing property, assess its CDD timing separately. A delayed permission tied to the purchase service does not silently defer every other obligation on the matter.
Satisfy the general delayed-CDD safeguards
The Rules require more than an eligible transaction. Delaying CDD must be essential to avoid interrupting the ordinary course of business, the additional money-laundering or terrorism-financing risk must be low, and the reporting entity must complete the outstanding matters as soon as reasonably practicable. The conveyancer's AML/CTF program needs policies capable of managing the delay and setting stop points.
A busy team, forgotten request or client's preference is not evidence that the legal test is met. Make a contemporaneous risk decision based on information already available, identify what remains outstanding, assign a person to obtain it and restrict the work that may proceed. New risk information should end the delay or trigger escalation even if the outer period has not expired.
Calculate the earlier of two deadline limits
For the relevant table 6 property service, the specified period ends at the earlier of 28 days after contracts are exchanged and three days before the settlement date initially agreed by the parties. Calculate both dates and use the earlier. A later settlement extension should not be used to reset the three-day calculation because the rule refers to the initially agreed settlement date.
Treat that date as an outer limit, not the target. The separate obligation to complete CDD as soon as reasonably practicable can require completion much earlier. Record exchange and initial settlement dates from reliable matter evidence, account for the Rules' method of calculating time, and build alerts with enough lead time to pause work safely if verification fails.
Use shared collection or verification arrangements carefully
The Rules provide structured property-transaction arrangements under which reporting entities can allocate collection or verification work and receive specified compliance treatment when all conditions are met. Responsibilities should be documented, required information made available within the prescribed periods and the receiving entity satisfied that the arrangement and evidence meet the Rules. Informal statements that the other practitioner did KYC are not enough.
Distinguish reliance from outsourcing and from merely receiving copies. A conveyancer remains responsible unless a statutory reliance or other defined mechanism applies. Test the other entity's status, the customer and transaction match, the information collected, verification method, timing, access and escalation for discrepancies. Keep the agreement and evidence with the matter.
Do not confuse conveyancer rules with broker non-cooperation relief
Table 5 real-estate brokers have a special position because both parties are customers, including the unrepresented counterparty. The Rules can provide deemed compliance where that counterparty does not cooperate, but only after all reasonable steps and prescribed records and consideration of suspicious reporting. That specific relief should not be assumed to solve a conveyancer's inability to complete CDD on its own table 6 customer.
If the conveyancer's customer fails to provide required information, follow the program's inability-to-complete, escalation and service-restriction process. Consider the behaviour in the risk assessment and whether the facts support a suspicion, but do not treat non-cooperation alone as automatic proof of money laundering. Record the decision and protect tipping-off restrictions.
Official sources
Use these primary AUSTRAC pages to confirm the current rules and apply them to your circumstances.
Frequently asked questions
Is delayed CDD available for every conveyancing customer?
No. The property-specific route described here is for an eligible buyer or transferee customer receiving the relevant table 6 service and still requires the general safeguards. Seller-side files and other services need their own analysis under the current Act and Rules.
Does a settlement extension extend the three-day CDD deadline?
The current rule refers to three days before the settlement date initially agreed by the parties. A later extension should not be treated as resetting that limb. Calculate both outer limits at exchange, aim to finish earlier and obtain legal review if the dates are uncertain.
Can the conveyancer wait the full 28 days after exchange?
Not automatically. The period ends at the earlier of that limit and three days before initially agreed settlement, and CDD must still be completed as soon as reasonably practicable. The outer date is not a routine service standard.
Can the other side's KYC simply be copied?
Not without a compliant basis. The reporting entity should establish whether the Rules' structured arrangement, statutory reliance or another lawful mechanism applies and whether its conditions are satisfied. Informal assurance or unidentified copies do not transfer responsibility.
Put it into practice
Cassandra AML turns these obligations into a working system: designated-service decisions, customer due diligence, screening, monitoring and reporting records — hosted in Sydney, free to start.
This guide is general information for Australian professionals. It is not legal advice and does not replace the AML/CTF Act, the AML/CTF Rules or AUSTRAC guidance. Confirm your specific obligations with AUSTRAC or a qualified legal adviser. See our editorial and correction standards.