Agents join and leave real estate agencies often and every change opens or closes access to your real estate IT systems. When those steps are rushed, a new agent can start on a shared login, or a departed agent can keep access long after their last day.
The stakes are rising. AUSTRAC regulates real estate professionals providing certain services from 1 July 2026 and buyers and sellers may be asked for photo ID, proof of ownership and how they are paying.
AUSTRAC guidance says AML/CTF records are usually kept for 7 years, so your agency may hold more sensitive data, for longer, in the same systems.
This checklist covers what to set up on an agent’s day one, what to remove on their last day and who owns each step. Catalyst Computers provides Sydney-based real estate IT support for the account, device and email side of that process.
Why Is Every Agent Change a Real Estate IT Support Issue?
Access problems often start small: a shared password handed to a new agent, or an account nobody switches off on a departing agent’s last day.
The ACSC’s small business guidance is direct about shared accounts: “Unless you change the password, employees could also continue accessing accounts even after they have left the business.” For an agency, that can include the office Wi-Fi, shared mailboxes and any login passed around the team.
Email is where much of this exposure sits. In ASD’s ACSC Annual Cyber Threat Report 2024-25, email compromise with no financial loss made up 19% of business cybercrime reports and business email compromise fraud with financial loss made up 15%.
A consistent onboarding and offboarding process can help reduce both kinds of risk: unmanaged access on the way in and leftover access on the way out.
Day One: Which Real Estate IT Systems Does a New Agent Need?
Set everything up before the agent’s first open home, not after. How quickly a new agent can be set up depends mostly on preparation and a standard checklist with a device ready before the start date shortens the process.
- A named Microsoft 365 account, never a shared login, with multi-factor authentication (MFA) turned on before first sign-in. The ACSC recommends turning on MFA wherever possible and limiting the use of shared accounts.
- A managed business laptop or an enrolled phone, so work data sits on a device your agency can secure.
- File and folder access matched to the role and nothing more, in line with ACSC advice that each user should access only what they need for their role.
- The new mailbox added to your email filtering, with the agent’s name added to impersonation protection. New agents are announced on listings and social media, which makes their names easy to spoof.
- A short security briefing covering how to verify a change of payment details and how to report a suspicious email.
Your agency’s own administrator grants CRM and portal logins separately. Those platforms sit with your agency and its software vendors, not with your IT provider.
Last Day: What IT Access Should You Remove When an Agent Leaves?
Work through this list on the agent’s last day, ideally while they are still in the office.
- Block the agent’s Microsoft 365 sign-in, sign them out of all sessions and devices and remove their MFA methods.
- Change any shared passwords the agent knew, such as office Wi-Fi, shared mailboxes and shared logins.
- Recover agency devices, preserve and verify the transfer of required business files, then reset the devices before reuse. Follow vendor guidance when preparing devices for sale or disposal.
- Move OneDrive and working files to the principal or sales manager before the account is removed.
- Ask your CRM and portal administrators to remove the agent’s access and record the date each step was completed.
What Happens to a Departing Agent’s Email Address?
Clients and conveyancers may keep emailing a departed agent for weeks. Microsoft’s offboarding guidance allows you to convert the mailbox to a shared mailbox or forward email to another staff member, such as the principal or sales manager. Keep the associated account in place with sign-in blocked and check the licence and retention requirements for your chosen option.
Either option keeps client emails landing inside your agency’s filtered email. It also lets you check for and remove, any forwarding rules the agent set up to a personal address.
Clients still writing to an ex-agent are an easy target for lookalike email addresses, so keep those conversations with someone who can respond.
How Do You Secure Agents’ Own Phones for Work Email?
Most agents work from their own phones, so neither checklist is complete without a plan for personal devices. Securing personal (BYOD) phones for work email starts on day one.
Before an agent uses a personal phone for work, agree which supported apps and security controls your agency will use. Where Microsoft Intune app protection is configured, a selective app wipe can remove organisation data from supported apps while leaving personal data intact; completion depends on the app contacting the service.
Agree this with the agent before they start, so the last-day wipe is expected.
Who Owns Each Step: Your Agency or Your IT Support Partner?
Gaps usually appear between the office manager and the IT provider, so agree who does what in advance.
| Your agency owns | Your IT support partner can manage |
|---|---|
| HR paperwork and exit process | User accounts and MFA |
| Telling IT the start and finish dates in advance | Laptops, phones and device resets |
| CRM, realestate.com.au and Domain user admin | Email filtering and impersonation protection |
| AML/CTF program questions (AUSTRAC or your compliance adviser) | File access and backups of the departing agent’s data |
Catalyst Computers provides real estate IT support and IT security services for your agency’s accounts, email and business systems. Agree the scope of personal-phone enrolment, app protection and selective wipe separately with a provider that offers those services.
Good IT support for real estate agencies stays on the IT side of the line. Catalyst does not set up CRM or portal integrations; those remain with your agency and its platform providers.
Speak With Catalyst Computers About Agent Onboarding and Offboarding
A consistent day-one and last-day process supports continuity and can help reduce the risk of leftover access as agents come and go. Reliable technology support for real estate agencies makes that process routine rather than rushed.
Contact Catalyst Computers for a free IT assessment, or call 02 9698 4050 to speak with our team about real estate IT support for agent onboarding and offboarding.
This article provides general IT information only and is not legal, financial or compliance advice.
