Victoria's estate agency trust accounts: deadlines, audit and the Fund

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Kooky

Builder of Shaka, the payment router that pays every agent their commission on closing date.

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A deposit on a house, a month of rent, a few hundred dollars paid ahead for advertising: none of it belongs to the agency that takes it in. In Victoria, the Estate Agents Act 1980 treats that money as trust money, and Consumer Affairs Victoria, the state regulator, sets out in detail how it must be banked, receipted, recorded and checked by an outside auditor every year. The regime is built on short clocks. Some run in business days, some in calendar days, one in months, and missing them can lead to a fine, a suspended licence or, at the far end, prison.

This guide follows the money in the order an agency meets it: what counts as trust money, how the account is opened and named, how fast money must reach it, what a receipt and a ledger must show, what happens when the balance falls short, how the annual audit works, where the interest goes, and what the Victorian Property Fund pays when an agent misuses what was entrusted. Every rule below is the Victorian rule, as published by Consumer Affairs Victoria on its trust account, audit, penalty and compensation pages. It does not describe the rules of any other state.

Consumer Affairs Victoria, trust account and audit pages for estate agents, read in October 2026.

What Victoria counts as trust money

Consumer Affairs Victoria starts from a simple test: money an agent receives in advance from a client must be deposited into a trust account held with an authorised financial institution. The regulator's examples are the ones an agency handles every week. Sales deposits are trust money. So is rent. So are advertising or maintenance fees received in advance. The same page groups with them rental bonds or security deposits, and the costs of outgoings and utilities for properties for sale or lease.

The other side of the line is money the agency is entitled to keep. Commission, management fees and disbursements can go into the agency's general business account, according to the regulator. The two accounts are meant to stay apart. Consumer Affairs Victoria says payments should generally not be made from a general business account into a trust account, with one exception: putting right a deficiency in the trust account.

Two kinds of deposit sit outside the trust account. Residential tenancy bonds are dealt with on the regulator's property management page and involve the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority. Retail security deposits, the regulator notes with reference to the Retail Leases Act 2003, do not have to go into a trust account.

Where an agent is unsure whether a sum is trust money, the regulator's guidance is to treat it as trust money, or to seek independent legal advice. Whether a particular payment falls on one side or the other depends on what it was paid for and on the terms of the authority the client signed.

Consumer Affairs Victoria also names two exemptions from the trust account rule. The first covers agents who act solely in letting residential property for 90 days or less. Under the Estate Agents (Exemption) Regulations 2014, those agents do not need to deposit trust money in a trust account.

The second covers agents licensed in another state or territory. They do not need to follow the Victorian requirement, provided the transaction relates to property in that other jurisdiction and they comply with that jurisdiction's trust account law.

Opening and naming the account

A Victorian trust account can only be held at an institution that Consumer Affairs Victoria has approved to hold estate agents' trust money. Its page, last updated on 12 October 2023, lists nine as currently approved: ANZ, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Hume Bank, Macquarie Bank, NAB, Bank of Melbourne, WAW Credit Union Co-operative and Westpac.

An agency may open one trust account or several. Each must carry a prescribed name. According to Consumer Affairs Victoria, the account name must include the name the agency is licensed to trade under, followed by the words "estate agency business statutory trust account" or the shorter "estate agency business statutory trust a/c". If "estate agency business" is already part of the agency's name, the words are not repeated.

Two further rules apply from the first day. The agency must notify Consumer Affairs Victoria through myCAV, the regulator's online account, within 14 days of opening the account. And all trust account banking fees are paid from the general business account, never from the trust money itself.

Closing an account starts the same clock: notice through myCAV within 14 days. The regulator's penalties page ties both notices to section 59(7) of the Estate Agents Act 1980, paragraph (a) for opening and paragraph (b) for closing.

The regulator also has its own view of the accounts. Approved institutions report to Consumer Affairs Victoria every month on the number of trust accounts they hold and the balances in them.

How fast money must reach the account

The banking deadline is the shortest in the regime. Consumer Affairs Victoria says trust money must be deposited by the end of the next business day after it is received. An agency more than 16 km from an authorised financial institution has until the end of the third business day after receipt.

An agent's representative has no holding period at all. A representative who receives trust money must immediately pay it to the licensed estate agent they represent, or into a trust account that agent specifies.

A worked example, with assumptions stated: an agency in Melbourne receives a sale deposit by cheque on Monday 5 October 2026, there is no public holiday that week, and an approved institution is within 16 km. The cheque must be banked by the end of Tuesday 6 October. For a country agency in the same example that is more than 16 km from any approved institution, the deadline is the end of Thursday 8 October, the third business day after receipt.

Receipts and deposit forms

A receipt must be given whenever trust money is received. Consumer Affairs Victoria requires printed receipts to be issued in numerical sequence and to carry the words "trust account". The agency keeps a duplicate of each receipt, marked "duplicate", for seven years.

The receipt books themselves are tracked. The regulator requires a register that records the number printed on each receipt, the date a batch of receipts arrives from the printer, the name of any employee or agent's representative who receives receipts, the date the receipts are handed over and the date they are returned.

Electronic payments soften two of these rules. No receipt is needed for a cheque or an electronic funds transfer if the payment was recorded electronically and the payer did not ask for one. And duplicate receipts need not be kept for cash, cheque or electronic transfers that were recorded electronically.

When cheques or cash, rather than an electronic transfer, are paid into the bank, the agency gives the institution a completed trust account deposit form with each deposit. The agency may draft the form itself. The regulator says it must show the deposit date, the trust account name and number, the amount, the totals of cheques and of cash, and for each cheque the drawer's name, the institution and branch or BSB it is drawn on, and its amount. A duplicate of each completed form is kept.

The records behind every dollar

The standard the regulator sets is that an agency keeps full and accurate records showing the true position of all trust money received, in a form that allows the trust accounts to be audited. The records must show who is entitled to the money, the details of each transaction and its date. They must be updated by the end of the next business day after any trust money transaction. The penalties page places the record-keeping duty in section 63 of the Estate Agents Act 1980, and the detail in the Estate Agents (General, Accounts and Audit) Regulations 2018.

Consumer Affairs Victoria describes four sets of books.

• A cash receipts journal, written up daily. Each entry carries the receipt number, the date the receipt was issued and the date the money was received if different, the amount, its form (cash, cheque or electronic transfer), the payer's name, the beneficiary's name and reference, the reason for the payment and the ledger account credited.
• A cash payments journal, recording all withdrawals daily in the order they were made. For a cheque: the date, serial number and amount, the payee, the person on whose behalf it was drawn, the ledger account debited and the purpose. For an electronic transfer, the same, plus the reference and the account name and number, including the BSB.
• A transfer journal, used only for movements between trust ledger accounts. Each entry gives the date, the amount moved to and from each ledger, the names and references of the accounts and the purpose.
• Trust ledger accounts, one separate, identifiable account for each person and each transaction, titled with the client's name and address and the purpose of the money. Transactions are entered in the order they occur and the account shows a continuous running balance.

Transfers between ledgers are allowed only where the agency is entitled to make them. The regulator's example is moving money from a landlord's ledger to a commission ledger where the property management authority allows the commission.

An agency that holds securities, documents of title or receipts for trust money on behalf of others keeps one more book, a register of securities, showing what each item is, its value, whom it is held for and when and to whom it was delivered.

Reconciliation, storage and software

Once a month the books are tested against the bank. Consumer Affairs Victoria requires an agency to balance, and prepare statements for, its cash journals, its ledger accounts and its accounts at the authorised financial institution. The principal agent, or the officer in effective control of the agency, must then verify the statements as true and accurate within 14 days of the month end. A worked example: for the month of August 2026, which ended on Monday 31 August, the verification was due by Monday 14 September 2026.

Trust records are kept for at least seven years. Electronic records are backed up at least monthly; the principal agent or officer keeps the back-ups, and a complete set is stored at a separate location.

The regulator also sets a floor for trust accounting software. A computerised system must:

1. keep a record of the creation, amendment or deletion of a seller's or landlord's name and address, reference, transaction description and ledger reference, showing the details before and after the change;
2. refuse entries that would create a debit balance in a trust account, unless a chronological record of the change can be produced on request;
3. refuse to delete a trust ledger account unless its balance is zero and all outstanding cheques have been presented, and retain a permanent copy on deletion;
4. allow a recorded transaction to be amended only by a separate correcting transaction;
5. require input in every required field of its transaction entry screens.

Money that cannot be matched to an owner has its own route. Where the person entitled to trust money cannot be identified, Consumer Affairs Victoria says the funds may be unclaimed money under the Unclaimed Money Act 2008, and points agencies to the State Revenue Office for the procedure. The regulator's page gives no threshold or holding period for that step.

When the account is short

A deficiency is the event the whole system is designed to catch, and the rule is strict about who must be told and how quickly. On becoming aware of a deficiency in a trust account or a trust ledger account, an agent must notify Consumer Affairs Victoria, the agency's director and the auditor within three business days. The notice must give the date of the deficiency, its amount, the reason for it and any action taken to restore the money.

Section 90 of the Estate Agents Act 1980 makes it an offence to have what the penalties page calls a reportable deficiency in trust accounts.

The annual audit, step by step

Every trust account that held or managed trust funds at any time during the audit period must be audited. Consumer Affairs Victoria sets the period as 1 July to 30 June, and the audit must be completed within three months after 30 June. For the period from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026, that placed the deadline at 30 September 2026. The penalties page ties the duty to section 64(1) of the Act.

The agency must keep its trust accounts in a way that allows a proper and convenient audit. It must give the auditor all books, papers, accounts, documents, securities, statements and reports reasonably necessary, and any information the auditor reasonably requires. And it must prepare, certify and produce for the auditor a statement of the trust money held on the last day of the audit period, together with any negotiable or bearer securities, or deposit receipts, held that day that represent money drawn from the trust account.

The report is written on the audit report form approved by the Director of Consumer Affairs Victoria; the regulator says the current form applies from 1 July 2020. Once the auditor hands the report over, the agency lodges a copy with Consumer Affairs Victoria through myCAV within 10 business days. It keeps the signed report for seven years, a duty the penalties page places in section 64(3).

An account that held no trust funds during the entire audit period does not need an audit. The agency must still confirm that through its myCAV account.

Failing to lodge is an offence, with a penalty of up to 120 penalty units according to the regulator's audit page. It also puts the licence at risk: the Business Licensing Authority may suspend an agent's licence if the trust accounts are not audited or the report is not lodged within the 10 business days.

Not every accountant qualifies to do the work. Consumer Affairs Victoria defines an approved auditor as a practising public accountant who is a member of at least one of three bodies: CPA Australia, the Institute of Public Accountants or the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, as the regulator's page names it.

Independence is written into the rule. The auditor cannot be an estate agent or an employee of one; a partner of the agent being audited; a person who was an employee or partner of that agent within the last two years; a member, director, employee or officer of an estate agency corporation; or a person who keeps, controls or has custody of estate agent trust accounts.

The auditor also answers to the regulator. Consumer Affairs Victoria says the auditor must give it a written report on finding that the accounts cannot be properly audited, that there has been dishonesty or a breach of the law by the agent, that there is a loss or deficiency of trust money, that the agent has failed to pay or account for such a loss, or that the agent has failed to comply with the Act. The estate agent receives a signed copy of that report.

An agency that wants a different year end applies to Consumer Affairs Victoria on its application to vary the trust account audit date. The new date cannot be more than 12 months after the previous auditor's report, and if the change is approved, the audit and report must be completed within three months of the new year end.

Closing the business does not close the obligation. An agency that ceases business must notify Consumer Affairs Victoria in writing within 28 days and have its trust accounts audited within three months, under section 64B(1) of the Act as cited on the penalties page.

The Victorian Property Fund: interest in, claims out

The interest earned on a Victorian agency trust account has a set destination. Consumer Affairs Victoria states that interest on trust accounts is paid to the Victorian Property Fund, a trust fund established under the Estate Agents Act 1980 and administered by the regulator. The Fund's other income, according to the regulator, comes from licence fees paid by estate agents and conveyancers, fines and penalties under the Estate Agents Act 1980 and the Conveyancers Act 2006, and investment income. It pays compensation claims and grants.

The regulator says the Fund compensates individuals and corporations, and that a claim must meet three criteria: there was a defalcation by a licensed estate agent, a conveyancer or a representative of either; it happened in the course of business the person was required to be licensed for; and the claimant suffered a monetary loss caused by it. Defalcation, as the regulator defines it, means misusing or misappropriating trust money or property, and includes theft, embezzlement, failing to account and fraudulent misappropriation.

The Fund does not cover disappointment with service. Consumer Affairs Victoria says a claim cannot be made simply because a person believes the agent acted unprofessionally, gave bad advice or misrepresented a property; its page refers those cases to its general guidance on resolving a problem.

A successful claimant can recover the full monetary loss plus the costs of making the claim, the regulator says, less any fees or charges owed to the agent, such as commission or management fees. A worked example with illustrative figures: a landlord is owed A$9,000 in rent that the agency collected and never passed on, and under the management authority owes the agency A$450 in management fees on that rent. The recoverable loss is A$9,000 less A$450, which is A$8,550, plus the costs of making the claim. The compensation page states no monetary cap.

The process has three parts: checking eligibility with the regulator, completing the form that matches the claimant (there are separate forms for vendors, for purchasers and for rental properties, the last covering landlords and tenants) and lodging it with supporting documents. Consumer Affairs Victoria confirms receipt in writing, may ask for more information, and then approves or rejects the claim. Not answering a request for information may mean the claim is delayed or refused. A claimant whose claim is rejected can apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal within three months of receiving the decision. The regulator gives sections 79 to 81 of the Estate Agents Act 1980 as the legal basis.

Penalties, in units and in dollars

Victorian penalties are set in penalty units. The regulator's penalties page, last updated on 30 June 2026, gives the unit as A$209.10 for the 2026-27 financial year and notes that the value changes at the start of each financial year. The dollar figures below are this guide's own arithmetic at that value, not amounts printed by the regulator.

Two offences stand apart from that table because they carry prison terms. For a reportable deficiency under section 90, the regulator lists a maximum for an individual of two years' imprisonment or 100 penalty units, which is A$20,910 at the 2026-27 value, and for a corporation 200 units, or A$41,820. For fraudulently using trust money or falsifying trust accounts under section 91, the maximum for an individual is 10 years' imprisonment or 500 penalty units, A$104,550, and for a corporation 1,000 units, A$209,100.

Consumer Affairs Victoria may inspect trust account records, and its penalties page says some offences can be dealt with by infringement notice, without listing the amounts. What a court imposes in any one case depends on the facts before it; the figures above are ceilings.

The trust account is the client's ledger kept in the agency's hands, and every deadline in the Victorian regime exists so that someone else can read it.

What the regulator's pages leave open

Three points sit outside what Consumer Affairs Victoria publishes on these pages. The first is the release of a sale deposit before settlement. The trust account pages say trust money is held until it is paid to the person entitled to it, the wording the penalties page uses for section 59(1), but they do not set out when a deposit held on a sale may be released early to a vendor. That question is governed by separate Victorian sale of land legislation, which this guide has not been able to read at source, and it is left out here for that reason.

The second is the meaning of "business day". The pages use the term for the banking, record, deficiency and lodging deadlines without defining it, and the worked examples above assume ordinary weekdays with no public holiday.

The third is the infringement notice amounts for the smaller offences, which the penalties page mentions but does not list.

Kooky, from Shaka

Kooky edits Agents Estate and builds Shaka, the payment router he made for real estate professionals. One payment comes in, and every agent, agency and party in the deal receives their signed share on closing date.

About Kooky and Shaka →