$180k From Illegal Rental Practices Has Been Returned To NSW Renters In The Last Year

One year on from the state government’s rental reforms, the NSW Rental Taskforce has returned almost $180,000 to renters stung by illegal rent payments, or background check fees.

Through a robust compliance crackdown over almost 8,000 rental matters in the past year, NSW Rental Taskforce has discovered more than 3,000 renters have been charged with illegal fees for dishonoured payments and illegal background checks undertaken by Rental agencies statewide.

“After one year of the Minns Labor Government’s game-changing rental reforms, we are seeing outstanding results,” said Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading, Anoulack Chanthivong.

According to the Government, one agency was found to have issued 2,071 illegal dishonoured charges to 795 tenants between July 2020 and April 2025, despite such penalties being issued being illegal in NSW since October of 2024.

The investigation resulted in the NSW Government enforcing the agency to refund over $124,000 as well as a $10,000 contribution to the NSW Consumer Law Fund.

An additional investigation also found nearly 2,400 applicants were illegally charged $19.95 for background checks through an online rental platform, where the company consequently refunded tenants over $48,000 in charges and disabled the background check function on its website.

Introduced in 2025, with an $8.4 million investment, the NSW Fair Trading’s Rental Taskforce was tasked with analysing activities and trends within the rental market and conducting compliance activities to prevent breaches of law by agencies and landlords.

In accordance with the Residential Tenancies Amendment Act 2024, as well as the Residential tenancies Amendment Regulation 2025, the Government said the taskforce is prioritising an end to solicited rent bidding, implementing renting reforms to prevent no grounds evictions and ensuring improved responses to repairs and maintenance in the rental market.

“Renters can’t afford a Liberal government” Said Minister Chanthivong. “Only a Labor Government delivers for renters.”

The City of Sydney last month pushed for stricter affordable housing definitions, where the City argues that its own stipulations should apply, thereby capping rent at 30 per cent of gross household income in perpetuity.

According to the Domain Rental Report for March 2026, weekly rental costs for houses in Sydney increased by 2.6 per cent over last year from $780 to $800 a week, whilst unit and apartment rent increased by 4.2 per cent from $720 to $730.

Comparing the rental prices of the country’s major cities, Sydney remains as the most expensive city to rent on average, with the weekly rent for houses between $60 to $210 higher, and unit weekly rent mirroring this trend being $55 to $250 more expensive.

Any rental applicants who have been charged for a background check can lodge a complaint with NSW Fair Trading.