Every NSW agency that held trust money in the year to 30 June works to the same deadline. The trust account audit has to be lodged with NSW Fair Trading by 30 September. Most agencies have it done by August. This one is for the agencies still waiting on an auditor as the month runs out, because this is a bad year to be late.
In August, Fair Trading wrapped up a statewide operation aimed at agents who hold other people’s money. Overdue audits were a big part of what it found, and one agency lost its licence over them. The maximum penalties for mishandling trust money also went up in June. So this is what the rules say, what a late audit costs now, and what to do if you’re behind.
The short version
- Your auditor lodges the audit through Fair Trading’s Auditor’s Report Online portal. Making sure it’s in by 30 September is the licensee’s job.
- A late audit can bring a $550 fine for an individual or $1,100 for a corporation. It also makes you a “disqualified person” under the Act, and you may not be able to renew your licence until it’s lodged.
- Fair Trading’s August operation put 34 businesses on notice of possible licence suspension and brought in 41 overdue audits. One agency lost its licence.
- Since 29 June 2026, mishandling trust money can cost a corporation up to $110,000 and an individual up to $55,000.
- Extensions are only granted in exceptional circumstances, with evidence. If you need one, ask before the deadline.
Who has to lodge
You need an audit if you received or held trust money at any time in the audit period, which is the year ending 30 June. That applies to licensed corporations and individual licensees. It also applies to former licensees and to the personal representative of a licensee. Selling the business or giving up your licence doesn’t end the obligation for the year you traded.
A registered auditor lodges the audit through Fair Trading’s Auditor’s Report Online (ARO) portal. The auditor works to the Australian Standards on Assurance Engagements, ASAE 3000 and ASAE 3100. Any breach of the Act or Regulation they find goes into the report.
The part that trips people up is who carries the can. The auditor does the lodging, but Service NSW is clear that it’s the licensee’s responsibility to make sure the report goes in by the due date. An auditor running behind is your problem, not theirs.
There’s one small exception. If you kept a trust account open but it had no transactions and a zero balance all year, you don’t need a full audit. Fair Trading asks you to email its audits team a copy of the bank statement for the whole audit period instead. The address is on Fair Trading’s trust account page, and the rest of the state’s rules, including bond lodgement timeframes, are on our NSW trust accounting page.
What happens if it’s late
Fair Trading counts an audit lodged between 1 October and 31 December as late, unless it has agreed to more time in advance. Its guidance sets out three consequences.
- A fine. Fair Trading can issue a $550 fine to an individual or $1,100 to a corporation for a late audit.
- Disqualification. Missing the due date makes the individual or corporation a “disqualified person” under the Act, and liable to disciplinary action.
- Licence renewal. If the audit hasn’t been lodged, you may not be able to renew your licence until it is.
The fine is the least of it. Being a disqualified person puts your licence, and your ability to run the business, on the table. That’s the one I’d be worried about.
What the August crackdown found
On 13 August 2026 the NSW Government released the results of a statewide operation by Fair Trading’s Strata and Property Taskforce. It targeted agents who hold consumers’ money.
| Outcome | Number |
|---|---|
| Businesses put on notice of possible licence suspension | 34 |
| Overdue audits submitted | 41 |
| Warnings issued | 32 |
| Industry bans | 3 |
| Mandatory training orders | 6 |
| Total fines | More than $200,000 |
Two of the published cases were about audits and nothing else. A Western Sydney agency lost its licence and was fined $22,000 after repeatedly failing to provide trust account audits, despite reminders and extensions. It’s barred from running a licensed property business until the outstanding audit is complete. A Sydney agency was fined $5,500 for failing to submit an audit, then another $11,000 when it happened again. Its licensee in charge was ordered to do extra training.
The Government has put $8.4 million into the taskforce. A missing audit is the easiest breach for it to find, because nobody has to visit your office. Fair Trading only has to check who hasn’t lodged.
The penalties went up in June too
The Property and Stock Agents Amendment (Underquoting and Other Agent Conduct) Act 2026 started on 29 June 2026. Among other things, it lifted the maximum penalty for offences including mishandling trust money to $110,000 for a corporation and $55,000 for an individual.
It also gave Fair Trading new powers. It can now require a licensee to publicise misconduct, suspend an agent from certain activities and direct further training. The rest of the Act, mostly about underquoting, is expected to start towards the end of 2026. Victoria is a step ahead there, with reserve price laws that start on 1 October.
None of this changes what a well-run trust account looks like. It raises the cost of a badly run one, and the annual audit is where a badly run one shows up.
Running late? Work through this list
If your audit isn’t lodged yet, this is the order I’d work in.
- Call your auditor today. Ask what they still need and when they expect to lodge in ARO. If they can’t make 30 September, you want to know now, not on 1 October.
- Send everything in one go. That means signed monthly reconciliations for all twelve months, bank statements, receipts and payments records, ledger reports and your bond lodgement records. Sending documents one request at a time is how an audit drags into October.
- Answer questions the same day. Put one person in charge who knows the trust account. Audits stall on unanswered emails far more often than on hard problems.
- Don’t tidy up history. If the auditor finds an error, fix it with a correcting entry and a note that explains it. Deleting or back-dating transactions to make a report look clean turns a finding into a far bigger problem.
- Can’t make it? Talk to Fair Trading before 30 September. Its guidance says the deadline will only be extended in exceptional circumstances that have existed over a period of time and can be backed by evidence. A busy month won’t qualify. Asking after the deadline has passed is a much harder conversation.
Not in NSW?
The audit for the year to 30 June also has to be done by 30 September in Victoria, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory. What gets lodged, and when, differs. In Victoria, for example, the audit is due within three months of 30 June. The report is then lodged through Consumer Affairs Victoria’s myCAV portal within 10 business days of receiving it.
Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and New Zealand run on different cycles. Our trust account compliance calendar has every date in one place.
Making next September boring
The agencies that never worry about this date have one thing in common. Their trust account is reconciled and signed off every month, and nothing sits unexplained for long. When the auditor asks for something, it already exists.
If you’d rather find problems in July than hear about them from your auditor, a pre-audit check is worth doing. The five red flags that trigger an adverse finding are a good place to start looking.
And if this year’s audit is stuck because the records aren’t ready, get in touch. We’ve stepped in mid-audit before, and the sooner we start, the more options you have.
Sources: Real estate trust accounts and audit requirements (NSW Government). Lodging audits for real estate and conveyancer trust accounts (NSW Government). Lodge real estate or conveyancer trust account audits (Service NSW). More than $200,000 in fines as NSW Government targets rogue real estate operators (ministerial media release, 13 August 2026). Changes to property and stock agents laws (NSW Fair Trading, 8 July 2026). Dates and amounts are current as at September 2026. This article is general information, not legal advice.