Managed Investment Schemes: Australia's Rulebook for Fractional Property
Australia regulates pooled investment through a single concept, the managed investment scheme, and fractional property sits inside it. BrickX, the one Australian platform on Threeworld, splits each property into 10,000 units called Bricks in a unit trust, registers the scheme with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and runs it through a licensed responsible entity with a custodian on the title. It is the most conventional structure in this hub: no exemption, no sandbox, no token, just the same rulebook that governs Australian managed funds. This page explains what a unit is, what ASIC requires of the operator, who may buy, how the order book exit works, and what the product disclosure statement should tell you.
Who uses this structure on Threeworld
- BrickX
A Brick is a unit in a BrickX Trust, a unit trust holding one property split into 10,000 Bricks. The trusts sit inside a managed investment scheme registered with ASIC, issued by BrickX Financial Services Limited under its Australian financial services licence, with legal title held by a custodian
ASIC, as a registered managed investment scheme under the Corporations Act. BrickX help centre, checked October 24, 2026.
Table of contents
What You Actually Own
BrickX's registry row describes a Brick as a unit in a BrickX Trust, a unit trust holding one property split into 10,000 Bricks. The trusts sit inside a managed investment scheme registered with ASIC, issued by BrickX Financial Services Limited under its Australian financial services licence, with legal title held by a custodian. A unit trust is a trust whose beneficial interest is divided into units. The trustee, here the responsible entity, holds the property for the unitholders and must act in their interests under the trust's constitution and the Corporations Act. The custodian holds legal title, so the property cannot be dealt with by the operator's own business. Your Brick gives you a proportional share of net rent distributed by the trust and of the proceeds if the property is sold, plus the right to vote on a sale. You cannot occupy the property or deal with the title. Against a US LLC series this is more protective in law: a trustee owes fiduciary duties that an LLC manager's operating agreement can narrow, and a custodian stands between the operator and the asset.
What ASIC Requires
Chapters 5C and 7 of the Corporations Act 2001 set the rules. A scheme offered to retail investors with more than 20 members must be registered with ASIC. Before registration the operator writes a constitution, which sets out the rights of members and the trustee's powers and fees, and a compliance plan, which explains how the operator will meet its duties and is audited every year. The operator itself must be a public company holding an Australian financial services licence that authorises it to act as the responsible entity of a registered scheme. The responsible entity's duties are statutory. It must act honestly, with care and diligence, in the members' best interests, treat members of the same class equally, and hold scheme property separately from its own. If it breaches these, members have remedies under the Act, not just under contract. ASIC supervises the licence and can act against the responsible entity, though it does not approve individual properties or their projected returns.
Who Can Buy
Any retail investor the platform onboards, which for BrickX means Australian residents with an Australian bank account and tax file number. There is no income, net worth or sophistication test. The regime protects the retail investor through the disclosure document, the licensed operator and the trustee's duties rather than by limiting who may enter or how much they may put in. The low entry point follows from the structure: 10,000 units per property puts a Brick in the tens of dollars. International investors are generally outside BrickX's onboarding today, and the platform page on Threeworld carries the registry's row on eligibility.
The Order Book
The registry row describes a per-property order book on the BrickX platform where buyers take the lowest listed price. There is no lock-up: you can list Bricks for sale any time after the property settles, and proceeds land in your wallet when another investor buys. If nobody buys, Brick holders can vote to sell the property and wind up the trust. BrickX says you cannot sell without a willing buyer, and its disclosure statement calls the investment illiquid, which is the honest description of any order book with a thin market. The fees are 0.5% to buy and 0.5% to sell, with property costs taken from rent, the lowest headline pair in the fees pillar. Compare the structure with Lofty's market-maker-backed exchange or Stake's twice-yearly windows in the guide to how you get your money out.
The Product Disclosure Statement
A registered scheme offered to retail clients must come with a product disclosure statement, the PDS. The Corporations Act requires it to contain the information a person would reasonably need to decide whether to acquire the product: the features, the benefits, the risks, the fees in a prescribed format, the cooling-off rights, the complaints process and how to find out more. For a property scheme the PDS or a supplementary document describes each property, its valuation, its rent and its costs. The PDS is lodged with ASIC in some cases and simply made available in others, and ASIC does not approve its contents. The responsible entity is liable for a defective PDS, and a retail investor who relied on a misleading one has a statutory claim. That is a stronger position than a Regulation D investor with a deck, and a weaker one than a Regulation A+ investor with a qualified circular, though the trustee duties on top make the comparison closer than the disclosure alone suggests.
What to Check Before You Buy
Search ASIC's registers for the scheme's registration number and the responsible entity's AFS licence, and confirm the licence authorises operating a registered scheme. Read the PDS and the specific property's supplementary document: valuation, gearing, rent, costs and the fee table. Find the custodian's name and confirm it holds the title, so the property sits outside the operator's own balance sheet. Read the constitution's provisions on fees and on the trustee's power to sell, and the voting threshold unitholders need to force a sale. Look at the order book for the specific property before you buy, since that is the market you will sell into. Note any cooling-off period the PDS gives you and its conditions.
Questions people ask
What is a managed investment scheme?
- Australia's legal category for pooled investments where members contribute money, do not have day-to-day control and share in the returns. A scheme offered to retail investors must be registered with ASIC and run by a licensed responsible entity under Chapters 5C and 7 of the Corporations Act. BrickX's property unit trusts are registered schemes.
Do I own the property when I buy a Brick on BrickX?
- You own a unit in a unit trust that owns one property, with legal title held by a custodian and the trust run by BrickX Financial Services Limited as responsible entity under its AFS licence. You receive a share of net rent and sale proceeds and vote on a sale, but cannot occupy or deal with the property.
Who regulates BrickX?
- ASIC, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, which registers each BrickX Trust as a managed investment scheme and licenses BrickX Financial Services Limited as the responsible entity. ASIC supervises the operator and its disclosure, not individual properties or returns.
How do I sell Bricks?
- On BrickX's per-property order book any time after the property settles, for a 0.5% fee, where buyers take the lowest listed price. There is no lock-up but no guaranteed buyer, and if nobody buys, unitholders can vote to sell the property and wind up the trust.
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