Australian compliance updates for the week ending 27 September 2026: rental privacy reforms, property disclosure deadlines, trust audits and practitioner CPE.
Weekly overview
Property-related compliance provides the strongest developments this week. NSW announced parliamentary passage of rental privacy reforms, while separate domestic violence tenancy protections are already operating. Victorian guidance clarifies approaching property disclosure requirements, and a trust-account enforcement case demonstrates the consequences of leaving audits unresolved. The Tax Practitioners Board also issued continuing professional education resources. No significant new AUSTRAC development was identified within the reporting window. For practice leaders, the practical theme is information handling: what to collect, when to disclose it, who approves publication and how to demonstrate that required work has actually been completed.
Key dates and deadlines
The Victorian dates reflect Consumer Affairs Victoria’s updated guidance. NSW’s early-2027 timing is an expectation, not a confirmed commencement date.
Legal practices
NSW tenancy protections require changes to client advice
Jurisdiction: NSW. Status: requirements in effect.
On 24 September, the NSW Government reported that new domestic violence rental protections were operating. Changes address leaving shared tenancies, recovering bond contributions, liability for damage, privacy and tenancy database listings.
A particularly important change shifts responsibility for notifying remaining co-tenants to the landlord or agent after the victim-survivor has safely left. The reforms also broaden circumstances for changing locks without landlord consent and expand the people authorised to provide supporting declarations.
Why it matters: Advice based on an old termination checklist could create unnecessary disclosure or safety risks.
Practical consideration, LawMatter analysis: Review tenancy advice templates, evidence checklists and notification procedures. Identify who may receive sensitive information and avoid automatically copying all co-tenants into correspondence. Train reception and administrative staff alongside legal advisers because initial information handling can affect client safety.
Source: NSW Government, 24 September 2026, Domestic violence rental reforms now in effect.
Accountants, bookkeepers and tax practitioners
TPB issues a continuing education refresher
Jurisdiction: National. Status: educational resources, not a new obligation.
The Tax Practitioners Board issued “CPE: Back to basics” on 24 September. Its resource page provides presentation slides and supporting links covering continuing professional education responsibilities, practical examples and frequently asked questions. This is a refresher on professional requirements, rather than an announcement of a new CPE regime.
Why it matters: Training records are easier to manage throughout the year than to reconstruct when registration or a review approaches.
Practical consideration, LawMatter analysis: Check that each practitioner’s learning register records completed activities and supporting evidence. Distinguish booked sessions from completed learning. Where AML/CTF training forms part of professional development, document its relevance to the practitioner’s actual work and check eligibility against applicable CPE requirements.
Source: Tax Practitioners Board, issued and updated 24 September 2026, CPE: Back to basics.
Jewellers and precious-metal or precious-stone dealers
No significant compliance development identified this week.
No sufficiently verified, sector-specific development within the reporting window warranted inclusion. Earlier AML/CTF guidance has not been repackaged as new news.
Practical consideration, LawMatter analysis: Use the quieter news period to check whether staff can retrieve the evidence supporting recent customer and transaction decisions. A documented policy is most useful when frontline staff understand how to apply it and where to record exceptions.
Conveyancers
Victorian guidance separates immediate and later property changes
Jurisdiction: Victoria. Status: updated regulator guidance on scheduled requirements.
Consumer Affairs Victoria updated its property-sales reform overview on 23 September. Alongside October pricing changes, it identifies later commencement dates: 1 June 2027 for earlier availability of section 32 vendor statements, and 1 July 2027 for changes to early deposit release and commission taken from released deposits.
Why it matters: These changes affect different stages of the transaction and should not be implemented under a single assumed commencement date.
Practical consideration, LawMatter analysis: Maintain a dated implementation register for contract precedents, vendor-statement preparation and deposit instructions. Agree how agents will receive confirmation that a contract has become unconditional. Any handover should identify the responsible person and preserve evidence of when the notification occurred.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria, updated 23 September 2026, New changes to property sales and underquoting laws.
Real estate professionals
NSW passes rental privacy reforms, with commencement still ahead
Jurisdiction: NSW. Status: parliamentary passage; commencement expected in early 2027.
The NSW Government’s 25 September announcement describes a standard rental application form, limits on unnecessary personal information, and rules for storing and destroying applicant data. It also addresses disclosure of altered rental images and embedded utility networks. Implementation details remain subject to stakeholder consultation.
Practical consideration, LawMatter analysis: Map information collected by your agency and third-party application services. Identify forms, retention settings and advertising approvals that may need modification. Keep preparations separate from instructions about obligations already in force.
Source: NSW Government, 25 September 2026, Rental privacy and misleading advertising reforms.
Victoria clarifies October disclosure arrangements
Jurisdiction: Victoria. Status: regulator guidance updated this week.
CAV’s Q&A explains that sold prices generally need publication within seven days after a sale becomes unconditional, with the updated Property Price Statement remaining available for at least 18 months. Transitional exceptions and protections concerning personal or family violence require attention. Reserve-price arrangements apply to auctions and fixed-date sales from 16 October.
Practical consideration, LawMatter analysis: Test listing-platform updates and allocate responsibility for publication, exemption checks and evidence retention.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria, updated 23 September 2026, Industry Q&As.
Trust-account audit failures lead to suspension
Jurisdiction: Victoria. Status: reported tribunal enforcement outcome.
On 23 September, CAV reported a six-month suspension of estate agent Crystal Goni following repeated failures to ensure company trust accounts were audited between 2021 and 2024. The outcome also included a $1,500 fine and an order to complete outstanding audits within three months.
Practical consideration, LawMatter analysis: Verify completed audit reports and outstanding actions. Appointing an auditor or promising remediation does not demonstrate completion.
Source: Consumer Affairs Victoria, 23 September 2026, Estate agent suspended after CAV enforcement action.
AUSTRAC and Australia’s AML/CTF regime
No significant compliance development identified this week.
AUSTRAC’s guidance-update register showed its latest listed September change dated 18 September, outside this reporting period. That clarification is not repeated here as a new development.
Practical consideration, LawMatter analysis: Keep AML/CTF monitoring active, but avoid changing procedures solely because an older guidance page reappears in search results.
Source checked: AUSTRAC, Latest guidance updates, latest listed change 18 September 2026; reviewed 27 September 2026.
Cross-industry insight
LawMatter analysis: This week reinforces a practical distinction between holding information and controlling its use. Practices should be able to explain why information was collected, who can access it, when it may be disclosed and what evidence supports the decision.
For AML/CTF workflows, apply the same discipline to customer checks, risk assessments and escalation records. A useful management check is to select one completed file and ask someone outside the original matter team to follow the recorded decisions.
What to watch next week
- Victorian implementation guidance as the 1 October property changes commence.
- NSW consultation details for rental application forms and data handling.
- Any new AUSTRAC guidance or enforcement announcements within the next reporting window.
For practices reviewing their AML/CTF workflows, explore Comply.LM and consider how customer checks, risk decisions and supporting records fit together.
This article provides general information only and does not constitute legal, regulatory or professional advice.