When a landlord or agent checks an applicant against a tenancy database, the law in each of these five places sets who may be listed, what they must be told, and when a listing has to come off. In all five, no listing stays longer than three years.
What a tenancy database is
A tenancy database holds the renting history of some tenants. Consumer Affairs Victoria notes that people also call them ‘blacklists’ or ‘bad renter databases’.
They are private businesses. Consumer Protection WA describes them as run by private companies rather than the government, open only to members (usually real estate agents) who pay to join. Members can list a former tenant for certain reasons and can search for an applicant another member has listed. Queensland’s Residential Tenancies Authority says it does not run a database or keep any of their information. Its pages add that property managers and owners use them while an application is being considered, to check the applicant’s rental history, and that the companies may charge for providing information.
The ACT’s Renting Book calls a residential tenancy database commercially owned, holding information about people who have been tenants and have breached their agreements. South Australia’s Act defines one by what it is for: personal information arising from a tenancy, kept so that landlords and their agents can check a person’s tenancy history before deciding whether to rent to them. A database an organisation keeps only for its own use, a government department’s included, is outside the Act’s database rules.
Privacy law reaches them too. The Renting Book says privacy laws also govern how the information is collected and used, and in Queensland a tenant or a property manager or owner may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
The five places at a glance
| Place | Rules published by | Before a listing | A dispute goes to |
|---|---|---|---|
| VIC | Consumer Affairs Victoria | The renter is told in writing and given 14 days to object. | VCAT. A renter can also ask the rental provider to remove a listing. |
| QLD | Residential Tenancies Authority | The tenant is advised in writing with the details, or reasonable steps are taken to advise them, and given a reasonable opportunity to consider it. | QCAT, which hears disputes about proposed and existing listings. |
| WA | Consumer Protection WA | Reasonable steps to tell the tenant the details in writing, then 14 days to object. | The Magistrates Court, or a complaint to Consumer Protection. |
| SA | Residential Tenancies Act 1995, Part 5A | A free copy of the information (or other reasonable steps to disclose it), at least 14 days to review it and make submissions, and those submissions considered, with exceptions, for example where the person cannot be found after reasonable enquiries. | The Tribunal (the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal), on the application of the listed person or the Commissioner. |
| ACT | ACT Government, The Renting Book | The tenant is told when the listing is proposed and given the chance to object to all or part of it. | ACAT, which can be asked to prohibit, remove or amend a listing and for compensation. |
The five guides
- Who can be listed, and on what groundsThe tests a listing must pass in each place, and who can never be listed.On its ruler: 3 years.
- Family violence and tenancy database listingsWhen a listing must not be made because of violence against the tenant, and what Victoria asks for as evidence.On its ruler: no deadline, only the cases where no listing may be made.
- The three notices: at the application, after a search, before a listingWhat a landlord or agent must put in writing, and by when.On its ruler: 7 days, 14 days.
- Copies, corrections and the three-year limitGetting a copy of a listing, fixing a wrong one, paid debts, and when every listing comes off.On its ruler: 7 days, 14 days, 3 months, 1 year, 3 years.
- Disputes over a listing, and the penaltiesWhere a disagreement goes in each place, the time limits, and the fines as each regulator states them.On its ruler: 1 day, 6 months.
The words each place uses
Victoria now says renter and rental provider, where it used to say tenant and landlord, so its regulator notes that a renter database may still be called a tenant database. Queensland’s pages speak of the lessor and of the property manager or owner, Western Australia’s of lessors (landlords), and South Australia’s Act and the ACT’s Renting Book of landlords and tenants.
These pages say tenant and landlord when speaking of all five places, and each place’s own words when stating its rules. Other states and the Northern Territory are not covered.