![\"Woman](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/735cfb045e78895e058861fc9d92cf2a.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nTenants are being forced to hand over excessive personal data when applying for rental properties, with new research warning that applicants’ personal information could be at risk in the event of a data breach.<\/p>\n
The report from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) found some rental applications on property technology (or “prop tech”) platforms included up to 50 questions \u2014 more than was reasonably required to assess suitability.<\/p>\n
“In the private rental sector, there’s a minimum amount of data that’s realistically needed to make an assessment,” said lead author Sophia Maalsen, from the University of Sydney.<\/p>\n
“Some of the prop tech platforms have been asking for more data on lifestyle choices and \u2026 that shouldn’t come into an assessment on a tenant.”<\/p>\n
Like many industries, the housing sector has ramped up its use of technology to help streamline its processes, often referred to as property technology.<\/p>\n
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Sophia Maalsen says some property technology platforms ask up to 50 questions. (University of Sydney: Stefanie Zingsheim)<\/p>\n
Dr Maalsen said there was now an expectation that the one-third of Australians who rented would hand over more private information without question.<\/p>\n
“If you think about the old rental applications \u2026 [it] was just evidence of income, maybe a reference or two, your identity documents, and you talk to the real estate agent, they get a bit of a sense of you,” Dr Maalsen said.<\/p>\n
“But now if you’re doing it online \u2026 you still have to meet the agent, but all those other sort of characteristics, which are lifestyle, smoking, non-smoking, are a lot easier to collect because you can just put it in [the digital form].”<\/p>\n
Rental market growth stalls as tenants hit limit of what they can pay<\/a><\/p>\n Australia’s rental market is “starting to rebalance” with prices flat in some capital cities but affordability remains a concern, according to property portal Domain.<\/p>\n The platforms have also allowed real estate agents to filter applications based on what they are looking for.<\/p>\n “They’re able to tweak which characteristics they like to come up with a selection of ideal candidates based on their own industry experience and things like that.”<\/p>\n The report from AHURI, an independent not-for-profit research organisation, argued that as the use of such platforms increased, as they had done overseas, regulations were becoming unfit for purpose and needed to be reviewed.<\/p>\n Protective mechanisms lag behind<\/p>\n As technology has advanced, so too has the opportunity to make application processes more specific and onerous.<\/p>\n Tenants’ Union of NSW CEO Leo Patterson Ross said agents in particular felt like they had a professional obligation to act in the best interest of landlords.<\/p>\n Leo Patterson Ross says renters are becoming frustrated by the excessive personal data asked of them in applications. (ABC News: Warwick Ford)<\/p>\n “They see themselves as needing to take up the new offering because it offers them, even if it’s only marginal, slightly more information, a slightly better ‘assessment’ of the applicants,” he said.<\/p>\n Mr Ross said tenants were becoming more and more frustrated when expected to hand over personal data, particularly when there were no protective mechanisms in place.<\/p>\n “If the request for information is there from the agent, you have to give it in order to get your foot in the door, in order for your application to be considered,” he said.<\/p>\n “[Otherwise] you’re just not going to get assessed, and you’re going to be at the bottom of the pile.”<\/p>\n ‘While renting, we’re investing’: Planning for future as ‘forever renter’<\/a><\/p>\n If entering the market is no longer an option for some Australians, is it still possible to achieve financial security while renting long term?<\/p>\n Renters who share their personal data through property technology platforms often have that data distributed between a wide range of organisations that use the systems.<\/p>\n “The idea is that you can use it to apply for not just one property, but multiple properties,” Dr Maalsen said.<\/p>\n “There’s clearly a convenience-factor sell to tenants there, but it also means that they are collecting and holding information that otherwise they don’t need.”<\/p>\n She had concerns that policies guiding the industry have not been able to keep up with the pace of tech.<\/p>\n “It’s not necessarily that these things are always a bad thing, but where are the safeguards and the protections?” she said.<\/p>\n “It’s just moving so quickly, and now stuff is outdated \u2026 because [regulation] is struggling to keep up with the rapid tech development and AI.”<\/p>\n Cyber attacks that occurred in 2025 and how you can protect your data<\/a><\/p>\n More than 500 data breaches were reported in Australia over the first half of 2025 alone, but there are some ways you can minimise your risk of being caught up in one.<\/p>\n As it stands, some real estate agents and property technology platforms are exempt from the Privacy Act (legislation protecting people’s personal information) because they have an annual turnover of less than $3 million.<\/p>\n![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/7274a1d1ed26ce4212196a871477a68e.jpeg\")
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