published on Wednesday<\/a>, the privacy commissioner, Carly Kind, found 2Apply, operated by InspectRealEstate, had collected excessive personal information in an unfair manner.<\/p>\n2Apply is one of the most commonly-used rental platforms in Australia and had processed more than 8.5m applications as of March 2025, the determination said.<\/p>\n
Kind found that 2Apply did not need to collect gender information, detail on dependents, student status, bankruptcy status, retirement status, previous living history, current ownership of property, applications for other properties, bond\/rent assistance application status and citizenship status or visa expiry.<\/p>\n
Kind also found 2Apply could collect less information on emergency contacts, vehicle details, certain ID documents, proof of income documents and employment details.<\/p>\n
The privacy commissioner found that 2Apply\u2019s application system exhibited what is dubbed \u201cconfirmshaming\u201d \u2013 an online tactic that uses guilt to discourage a user from opting out of something..<\/p>\n
The form noteed that providing information would \u201chelp speed up your application process\u201d and not providing it may \u201caffect whether you are considered as a suitable tenant for the property\u201d.<\/p>\n
Kind wrote: \u201cThese statements are not necessarily untrue or misleading \u2026 However, by presenting these messages to individuals, my view is that the respondent is employing language that suggests that the volume and type of personal information provided is an indicator of their suitability as a tenant.\u201d<\/p>\n
InspectRealEstate was approached for comment. The commissioner noted that the platform had \u201claudably agreed to adapt its personal information collection practices on a without-admissions basis\u201d, but her ruling required the company to cease collection of information deemed not necessary.<\/p>\n
Kind noted in her determination the power imbalance for renters in providing this amount of information when seeking housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is an inherent and significant power imbalance in the rental property market which favours real estate agents, property managers and landlords,\u201d she said. \u201cAs an intermediary to individuals\u2019 access to housing, this power imbalance also favours platforms such as 2Apply.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis power imbalance is exacerbated by a rental crisis in which there is a shortage of rental properties, sharply rising rents and other costs of living, and intense competition for properties.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the absence of any legislated right to housing, the competitiveness of the rental market means people are at a disadvantage when trying to rent a home and are more vulnerable to unfair practices,\u201d Kind said.<\/p>\n
Although the decision applies to 2Apply, Kind said that she expects other RentTech providers to adapt their practices in line with the findings, and real estate peak bodies have been provided with the decision to assist the sector.<\/p>\n
Kind also noted that the over-collection of data could be a security risk for platforms, highlighting Guardian Australia reporting<\/a> of an analysis of seven platforms that had millions of rental documents potentially publicly available.<\/p>\nSamantha Floreani, digital rights advocate and PhD candidate analysing rental tech, said the ruling comes after a significant amount of research, advocacy and media reporting on the extensive and invasive personal information being extracted from renters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a long list of categories of personal information that are routinely being collected from renters that have no bearing on their ability to pay rent, or a likelihood that they will look after the property,\u201d Floreani said.<\/p>\n
\u201cRenters shouldn\u2019t have to choose between their data privacy and finding a place to live.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An online rental platform has been urged to stop collecting users\u2019 personal information after the Australian privacy commissioner…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-623163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=623163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623163\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}