New South Wales will introduce new guidelines on the personal data security of renters in a bid to crack down on cyber-attacks and identity fraud.
The rule change, announced by the state government on Saturday, will come into effect early next year and replace the need to give copies of documents in rental applications from passports to birth certificates.
The minister for customer service, digital government, small business and fair trading, Victor Dominello, said there were “essentially no rules” over how personal information was used once it was handed over.
“This puts renters at risk,” he said.
“Following discussions with key stakeholders … we will develop enforceable guidelines on how personal information is stored, used and destroyed.
“We are aiming to have these guidelines ready by end of February 2023.”
Prospective tenants can be asked for immense amounts of information during rental applications including identification documents, background checks, bank statements, employment and rental history.
There are 1.8 million rental applications each year in NSW.
— Victor Dominello MP (@VictorDominello) December 16, 2022
That’s 1.8 million times people are required to provide copies of sensitive personal information contained in driver licences, passports etc. pic.twitter.com/2OWlE5r9Dp
Digital experts have warned the masses of information raise red flags for potential data breaches while also giving companies the power to discriminate and influence markets.
Last month a Guardian Australia investigation found one of Australia’s fastest growing rental application platforms was using renters’ data in obscure and potentially discriminatory ways to “score” their applications against rental properties.
Snug, which collects data such as legal identification, payslips and references, is one of several online platforms used by agencies to outsource the application process. Another, Ignite (formally 1Form), is part of REA Group and majority owned by News Corp.
Dominello said the state government would also develop an opt-in digital ID to be used for rental applications, removing the need for renters to provide other documents such as bank statements and driver licences.
“We will work with industry so that one of the first use cases for opt-in digital ID can be rental applications,” he said.
“The NSW digital ID will be world leading – decentralised – with you in control, and significantly improve your privacy and security settings.
“We will start consulting on the legislation around digital ID in about May 2023 and aim to have the product in the market by about this time next year.”
The reforms followed discussion with key stakeholders including NSW Fair Trading, the Real Estate Insitute of NSW and the Tenants Union of NSW.
The union said it was “hopeful” the reforms would deliver effective privacy protection for renters.
“The detail will matter, but having binding guidelines on what data can be collected and how it’s to be stored is very important,” it said.
This week NSW also announced it was banning solicited rent bidding, to come into effect from Saturday.
The reforms to regulations require real estate agents to advertise a rental property with a fixed price – not with a price range or “by negotiation”.
If real estate agents invite, suggest or induce a prospective tenant to offer an amount higher than the advertised rent, they risk a $550 fine, or $11,000 for a corporation.
Agents will still be able to accept formally unsolicited offers.
