Legal Updates
Tenant Blacklists Under Fire: Privacy Ruling Forces TICA Database Changes
Bondinator Team· Content Team
··3 min read
The Office of the Australian Privacy Commissioner (OAIC) ruled that TICA's 'virtual manager' database violated the privacy rights of a renter whose rental activities were tracked for seven years. This landmark decision reshapes tenant screening in Australia.
The Hidden Database Problem
The virtual manager system appears to have been designed to get around the rules on data retention that apply to traditional 'blacklist' renter databases. TICA created a parallel system to circumvent three-year data limits, keeping tenant information indefinitely.
Privacy Commissioner Acts
In cases where a renter's data ends up on a tenancy blacklist, it must be deleted after three years. The OAIC ruling confirms:
Your Blacklist Rights
A tenant can only be listed on a database for one or both of the following reasons: they have left the property and owe money for a breach of the tenancy agreement that is more than the rental bond.
Legal listing requirements:
Checking Your Status
Three of the biggest are the National Tenancy Database, Tica, and Trading Reference Australia. Each charges fees to check your listing:
Fighting Unfair Listings
If you think you've been wrongly listed, or if the listing is 'out of date' or 'inaccurate', you can apply to have it removed or amended.
Steps to challenge:
RentTech Concerns
When CHOICE gave the third-party rental platform industry a Shonky award last year, we knew we were onto something. Platforms collect excessive data that may end up in screening databases without your knowledge.
Protecting Your Privacy
Use Bondinator to maintain comprehensive rental records that counter unfair blacklist claims. Document property conditions thoroughly at move-in and exit, creating professional reports that prove your reliability as a tenant. Clear evidence protects against malicious listings.