Real estate agencies across NSW will need to change how they collect and handle prospective tenants’ personal information under new rental laws passed by NSW Parliament.
The reforms will require agents and landlords to use a standardised rental application form, restrict the personal information they can request and introduce rules around how personal data must be stored and destroyed.
The changes will also require landlords and agents to disclose when property images in rental advertisements have been digitally altered or AI-generated to hide faults that could mislead prospective tenants.
The new laws are expected to come into effect in early 2027 and will affect more than 2.3 million renters across NSW.
Under the reforms, renters will no longer be able to be asked for unnecessary personal information such as photographs, social media accounts, details about their children or tattoos.
Identity documents including driver licences and passports will only be collected from the preferred applicant before the lease is signed.
The change is expected to significantly reduce the estimated 187,000 pieces of ID collected from all rental applicants every year.
The legislation also introduces new requirements around digitally altered and AI-generated images used to advertise rental properties.
Landlords and agents will be required to disclose when property images have been digitally altered or AI-generated to hide faults that could mislead prospective tenants, including fake furniture that hides structural damage or misrepresents room proportions.
Businesses that fail to disclose altered photographs will face penalties of up to $22,000.
Privacy violations will attract penalties of up to $11,000 for individuals and $49,500 for corporations.
Agents will also be required to disclose if a rental property is connected to an embedded utility network, such as a private electricity or gas system, allowing prospective tenants to know upfront if they will be locked into a single energy provider.
The Government has begun consultation with stakeholders to finalise the standard application form and the types of documents that can be collected to assess rental applications, including defining when those documents need to be destroyed.
Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading Anoulack Chanthivong said the changes would strengthen protections around renters’ personal information.
“Making renting fairer is a clear Government priority – and these new laws mean NSW has some of the strongest renter privacy protections in the country.
“This is a strong step forward to protect renters from false information in the rental market and is an important part of the Minns Labor Government’s commitment to supporting the ethical use of AI across the state.
He said these laws put an end to the practice of excessive and intrusive data collection in the rental process and make it fairer for renters and less stressful for landlords and agents.
“Whether you have a tattoo, or what school your kids go to, is not relevant to whether you’ll be a good tenant,” he said.
“They build on the Government’s landmark suite of rental protections that have banned no-grounds evictions, limited rent increases to once a year and mandated fee-free ways to pay rent.”
The latest changes follow a series of NSW rental reforms, including the banning of no-grounds evictions, limiting rent increases to once a year, ensuring renters have fee-free ways to pay rent, banning fees for background checks and making it easier to have pets in rentals.
The Government has also launched Smart Rental Bonds statewide, allowing renters to digitally transfer their bond between properties.