Image: AI doctored rental listing in Sydney’s Inner West / Supplied
Last night, the NSW government passed the Residential Tenancies (Protection of Personal Information) Amendment Bill 2025, aiming to strengthen protections for more than 2.3 million renters across NSW.
The bill, expected to come into effect in early 2027, will prohibit landlords and agents from collecting unnecessary personal information from renters, rental applicants, and tenants. It will also require landlords and agents to disclose when rental advertisements include images generated or digitally altered by AI, a practice known to misrepresent room proportions and deceive rental applicants.
It follows a host of new protections for renters under the Minns Labor Government, including a ban on no-grounds evictions and capped rent increases, introduced in 2024.
“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,” said Minister for Better Regulation and Fair Trading Anoulack Chanthivong.
“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.”
How Do The New Renters Protections Work?
Under the new rules, agents and landlords will be required to use a standardised application form, one which won’t require renters to supply previously sought after information unrelated to their occupancy, such as personal photos, social media accounts, details about their children, tattoos etc. Rules around the storage and destruction of personal data have also been tightened.
“These laws put an end to the practise of excessive and intrusive data collection in the rental process,” said Chanthivong, “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.”
The bill will also ensure that ID documents like driver licences and passports are only collected from the preferred applicant before signing the lease, significantly reducing the estimated 187,000 pieces of ID collected from all rental applicants each year.
Agents and landlords will also be required to inform applicants if a property is connected to an embedded utility network, such as a private electricity or gas system, which would restrict occupants to a single energy provider.
Agents and landlords who breach the terms of the bill can expect strict penalties, including up to $11,000 for individuals and $49,500 for corporations for privacy violations, and $22,000 for businesses who fail to disclose altered photographs.
The Government is currently consulting stakeholders as it works to the new standard application form.
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