Trust account
The regulated bank account a licensed real estate agency uses to hold client money — rent, bonds in transit, and owner funds — kept separate from the agency's own money and subject to annual audit.
A trust account is the regulated bank account a licensed real estate agency uses to hold money belonging to other people — rent collected for owners, bonds in transit, and funds awaiting disbursement — strictly separate from the agency’s own operating money.
In New Zealand, real estate trust accounts are governed by Real Estate Authority rules and are subject to an annual audit. A single misreconciled day is a regulator-visible matter, which is why trust accounting is one of the most carefully run — and most anxiety-inducing — parts of a property management business.
Trust accounting is a core function of a property management system such as Palace, PropertyMe, or Console Cloud. It is deliberately not something a document-reading or compliance layer should touch: handling client money is the regulated system-of-record’s job, and any tool that sits alongside it must stay clear of the trust account itself.
Primary source
Real Estate Authority (REA) →Last reviewed 21 May 2026. Rates, thresholds, and deadlines change — always verify against the primary source before making decisions.
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