What does NSW's new rental privacy law say about AI listing images?

A virtually staged lounge room now takes a few clicks, and so does a rug that was never there, laid over a crack in the floor. In September 2026 the NSW Parliament passed a rental law that deals with the second of those directly.

Most of the law is about personal information: what an agent can ask a rental applicant, when ID can be collected, and what must be destroyed. One part is about listing images. None of it applies in Queensland, but the rule it builds on already does, and the other states are moving the same way.

What did NSW pass in September 2026?

The Residential Tenancies Amendment (Protection of Personal Information) Bill 2025 passed NSW Parliament on 24 September 2026, REINSW reports. It changes how landlords and agents collect and handle renters' personal information, and adds new rules for rental advertising.

The NSW Government's announcement lists the main changes:

• A standard application form. Agents and landlords must use it, and renters can no longer be asked for personal photos, social media accounts, information about their children, or tattoos.
• ID from the preferred applicant only. Driver licences and passports are collected only from the applicant the landlord intends to sign, before the lease is signed. The government estimates that about 187,000 ID documents are collected from all applicants every year.
• Privacy penalties of up to $11,000 for individuals and $49,500 for corporations.

REINSW adds that landlords, agents and other businesses handling rental application information must comply with the Australian Privacy Principles. Information collected in breach of the new rules generally cannot be used, and must be destroyed within two business days of the business becoming aware of it.

What does it say about AI-generated or altered listing images?

Rental advertisements must disclose images that are digitally altered or AI-generated in a way that could mislead prospective tenants. The government's example is fake furniture used to hide structural damage. A business that fails to disclose faces a penalty of up to $22,000.

The test is whether the image could mislead. A brightened photo of a real room tells a renter the truth about that room. A sofa added by AI over a water-stained floor does not. Between the two sits a lot of ordinary practice, including virtual staging of an empty unit, which is why the detail matters.

That detail is still to come. REINSW notes that a supporting regulation is being developed and will set out how many of the new requirements work in practice.

When does it start?

The NSW Government expects the laws to take effect in early 2027, and has begun consulting stakeholders on the standard application form and the documents that can be collected. Agencies managing NSW rentals have a few months to change their application forms, ID handling and photo workflow.

Why should a Queensland agency care now?

Because a misleading listing image can already break the law in Queensland, and the rest of the NSW package looks like rules Queensland and Victoria already have.

The Australian Consumer Law applies in every state. The ACCC says the information a business gives about what it offers, including images and descriptions, must be accurate and truthful, and that "it makes no difference whether a business intends to mislead or not". Queensland's Office of Fair Trading reminds licensed agents that they must not engage in misleading or deceptive conduct when advertising property for sale. NSW is adding a disclosure duty on top of a prohibition that already applies everywhere.

Queensland already has rules like these for application data. Since 1 May 2025, property managers must use the standardised rental application form, Form 22 (RTA, Rental law changes). They cannot ask for an applicant's tribunal history, breach notices, bond history, or credit and bank statements (RTA, Application process). For tenancies that commenced on or after 1 May 2025, unsuccessful applicants' personal information must be securely destroyed after three months, and that applies regardless of the size of the business. Our post on rental applications and privacy covers those rules in detail.

Victoria and NSW are changing both rental and sales rules this year:

The direction is the same in each state: collect less from renters, and show renters and buyers an honest picture.

What should an agency do about listing images now?

Treat every edited image as one you may have to explain. In practice:

• Keep the unedited original of every listing photo, with the date it was taken.
• Never remove or cover a defect, a fixture or a neighbouring structure. Deleting a power pole is the same problem as adding a sofa over a stain.
• Label virtually staged or AI-generated images in the image or its caption, so nobody has to guess.
• Ask your photographer or editing service what they change as standard, and get the answer in writing.
• Check that the description and the photos agree with each other, and with the property on the day the ad runs.

The listing now feeds more than the portal. Renters quote it back in enquiries, and some of the answers they get now come from software reading it. AgentFront's phone and rental enquiry email assistants answer questions about a property only from what its public realestate.com.au listing says, which makes an accurate listing the starting point for every accurate answer.

This is general information, not legal advice. For how a rule applies to a particular property, check with NSW Fair Trading, Consumer Affairs Victoria, or in Queensland the Residential Tenancies Authority and the Office of Fair Trading.