This page describes the rules as each place’s regulator or law states them. It is not legal advice about any tenancy or listing. For a particular case, the places to check are Consumer Affairs Victoria, Queensland’s Residential Tenancies Authority, Consumer Protection WA, South Australia’s Residential Tenancies Act 1995 and the ACT Government’s Renting Book, each linked at the foot of this page where it is used; a tenancy advice service or a lawyer can advise on a particular case.
A listed person can ask for a copy (in writing, in Western Australia and South Australia) and get it within 14 days in Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia. In Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, a landlord or agent who learns a listing is wrong or out of date (in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, the one who made it) has 7 days to tell the operator, and the operator then has 14 days to fix or remove it.
A copy of the listing
| Place | Ask | Within | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| VIC | The rental provider, the agent or the database operator | 14 days of asking | Free the first time in any 12 months; after that, a fee that is not excessive and is only for the copy, not for making the request |
| WA | In writing, to the database operator or to the lessor or agent who made the listing | 14 days | Free from the person who made the listing; the operator may charge a fee that is not excessive, though not for lodging the request |
| SA | In writing, to the landlord or agent who made the listing, or to the database operator | 14 days after the request | No fee may be charged |
Consumer Protection WA adds that some operators give information over the phone, where charges can be high. Queensland’s Residential Tenancies Authority notes that the database companies are private and may charge for providing information.
When a listing is wrong
In the ACT, a listing has to be accurate and up to date. Queensland puts the duty on both sides: the database company and the person who made the listing are each responsible for the quality of what it holds. When the person who made a listing learns it is wrong, the same chain runs in four states:
- Within 7 daysThe landlord or agent who made the listing tells the operator what needs changing or removing. Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia require this in writing.
- Within 14 daysThe operator changes or removes it, counted from being told.
- For 1 yearIn Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, the landlord or agent keeps a record of the notice.
The duty is wide. Queensland applies it to information that is inaccurate, incomplete or ambiguous, and the same to removing information that is out of date. Western Australia requires amendment where information is inaccurate, incomplete or ambiguous. South Australia’s section 99H covers a listing found to be “inaccurate, incomplete, ambiguous or out of date”.
In Victoria the request runs through the person who listed. A renter whose listing is incorrect asks the rental provider or agent who made it to tell the operator; renters cannot ask the operator to change it directly. If nothing changes, the renter can apply to VCAT.
An agent learns on 2 March that a listing they made is out of date. Their written notice to the operator is due by 9 March. If it arrives on 9 March, the operator has until 23 March to remove it. In Queensland, Western Australia or South Australia the agent keeps a record of the notice for a year.
When the debt is paid
Paying a debt changes a listing made for it, and how soon it was paid matters in three states.
- Victoria: a renter listed for owing more than the bond who paid within three months must have the listing removed. Paid later, it is updated to show the payment and stays for the full three years.
- Queensland: if a defaulting tenant pays the debt, the listing must come off.
- Western Australia: a listing that is out of date must be removed even before three years. Consumer Protection WA gives two examples: the tenant owed more than the bond and paid the debt within three months of its due date, or the court’s termination order was overturned on appeal.
- South Australia: the Act calls a listing out of date if the amount owed, being more than the bond, was paid within 3 months after it fell due, or if a Tribunal termination order was set aside, varied or quashed on review or appeal. Paid more than 3 months after it fell due, the listing is inaccurate instead, and the Act’s own example has the landlord tell the operator, within 7 days of learning of the payment, the payment details to add.
| Place | Paid on 20 May | Paid on 15 July |
|---|---|---|
| QLD | The listing comes off | The listing comes off |
| SA | Out of date; the operator is told it must be removed | Inaccurate; the operator is told how to amend it |
Three years at the most
Every one of these places sets the same outer limit: listings come off after three years. Western Australia puts the duty on the operator, for any listing older than three years, and adds a rule for young people: a listing made about someone under 18 must come off when they turn 18.
South Australia’s Act says an operator must not keep a person’s information for longer than 3 years, or for less, if the national privacy principles require it to be removed sooner; those principles are the ones in Schedule 3 of the Commonwealth Privacy Act 1988. The Act lets an operator keep a person’s name for longer only where other information still attached to it is not yet due to be removed, and the limit does not displace any other rule that requires removal sooner.
If a listing is not corrected or removed, the routes to a tribunal or court are in the guide to disputes and penalties. The notices that come before a listing are in the guide to the three notices.