NSW rental privacy and AI ad rules: records property managers should prepare

The Residential Tenancies Amendment (Protection of Personal Information) Bill 2025 passed the NSW Parliament on 24 September 2026 and was listed as awaiting assent on the Parliament's bill page. A NSW Government release the next day said the reforms are expected to come into effect in early 2027.

The package has two practical parts for rental operators. First, landlords and agents will be pushed toward a standard rental application form, with tighter limits on what information can be collected from applicants and when identity documents can be collected. Second, landlords and agents will need to disclose when rental-ad images have been digitally altered or AI-generated in a way that could mislead applicants.

The topic quickly became public because the Government's own example of an allegedly AI-doctored rental image was challenged by the listing agency and reported by Guardian Australia as a genuine courtyard mural. That awkward example does not remove the compliance issue. It shows why agencies need a plain internal record of what was edited, why it was edited, and whether the finished ad still represents the property fairly.

Audit the application questions first

The Government says the standard form will clarify what information is required and what is off-limits. Its release specifically names unnecessary details such as personal photos, social media accounts, details about children and tattoos as examples of information renters should no longer be asked for.

For property managers, the first check is not just the PDF form. Look at portal fields, optional upload requests, pre-screening scripts, inspection follow-up emails, owner-facing shortlist templates and any third-party application platform settings. If a staff member would not be comfortable explaining why a question is needed to assess the tenancy, it belongs on the review list.

Separate the preferred applicant from everyone else

The NSW release says driver licences and passports will only be collected from the preferred applicant before signing the lease. It also says this change is intended to reduce the amount of ID collected from all rental applicants.

That means the workflow needs a clear switch point. Before preference is decided, the agency should know what it can ask for and what it should leave alone. After a preferred applicant is chosen, the file should show when ID was requested, what was collected, where it was stored, and when documents that no longer need to be held were deleted or destroyed.

Do not leave this to individual habit. A privacy rule that depends on everyone remembering the same unwritten sequence is easy to break during a busy leasing week.

Make listing edits explainable

The Government says landlords and agents will need to disclose digitally altered or AI-generated rental-ad images where the change hides faults or misleads prospective tenants. It gives examples such as fake furniture hiding structural damage or images that misrepresent room proportions.

Some editing will still be ordinary and useful: correcting poor lighting, removing a tenant's personal clutter with consent, or using virtual furniture in a labelled way. The record should explain the difference. Keep the original image, the final image, the edit note, the disclosure text used in the ad, and the approval from the property manager or campaign owner.

If the edit changes the apparent size, condition, fittings, outlook or liveability of the property, pause before publishing. A renter should not discover at inspection that the listing solved a problem the property still has.

Keep consent and belongings records together

NSW Fair Trading's advertising guidance also says that from 21 September 2026, new rules apply when photos or videos of a rented property are taken for publication. If the images show a tenant's or dependent child's personal belongings, agents must give the tenant a free copy and obtain written consent before publication.

This sits neatly beside the new AI-ad rules. For occupied rentals, keep the inspection or photo-booking notice, the image set sent to the tenant, the written consent, any editing notes, and the final published ad in the same campaign folder. If the tenant refuses consent for a particular image, do not bury that decision in an email thread.

Do not forget embedded utilities

The NSW release also says agents will have to disclose if a rental property is connected to an embedded utility network, such as a private electricity or gas system. This is easy to miss if the property manager treats it as a strata or owner detail rather than a leasing disclosure.

Add a field to the leasing checklist before the first open home. If the property is in a building or estate with embedded electricity, gas, hot water or internet arrangements, the disclosure should be ready before applicants spend time on the property.

What to do before the rules start

Start with one test file. Pick a recent NSW listing and follow the applicant journey from advertisement to approved tenant. Check what the ad said, what images were changed, what disclosures were made, what applicants were asked, when ID was collected, and where the unused applicant material ended up.

Then turn that into a repeatable checklist: approved application questions, preferred-applicant ID step, deletion or destruction step, embedded-utility check, image-edit log, tenant belongings consent, and final ad approval.

The point is not to make leasing slower. It is to stop privacy and advertising compliance from depending on memory, inbox searches or a staff member knowing which parts of an image were real.

This article is general information for rental operators, not legal advice. Check the final assented Act, commencement details, NSW Fair Trading guidance and qualified advice before changing compliance procedures.

Sources checked

Reviewed 2026-10-02.