This month I would like to draw your attention to the new Privacy Laws coming into effect next month.
Tauranga Rentals is concerned about these new laws.
“Housing is an emotional issue for many Kiwis and this guidance offers the sector some much-needed certainty and goes a long way to help build trust between Landlords and Tenants but doesn’t help us with the selection of new tenants.
Privacy Commissioner takes aim at intrusive landlords
What must landlords do when they rent out a house?
Landlords are being told only to ask for the minimum amount of information they need about Tenants, and to stay well clear of “bad tenants” sites or social media groups.
The sector is under the Privacy Commissioner’s spotlight, to ensure it is handling Tenants’ personal information appropriately.
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has launched a new compliance monitoring programme and Guidance to ensure that Property Managers and other Rental Sector Agencies are acting in accordance with the Privacy Act.
It will carry out regular checks on Property Managers, and annually audit application forms, contract forms and privacy policies of Letting Agencies, Property Managers, and third-party service providers.
The Commissioner has also come out strongly against “bad tenant “groups online, working with administrators to close these down.
“Landlords sometimes share information about Tenants on Tenant ‘blacklists’. Such lists might be hosted on a private social media group that’s accessible only to group members, for example,” the commissioner’s guidance notes.
“Using information supplied by Landlords, they claim to provide information about ‘bad tenants’ so that Landlords can avoid renting to these Tenants. Tenant ‘blacklists’ don’t comply with the Privacy Act. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner will use its powers under the Privacy Act to investigate any ‘blacklists’ the office becomes aware of and to take enforcement action against sites that are breaching the Act.”
It said blacklists lacked transparency and were likely to contain inaccurate or incomplete information and could unfairly keep Tenants out of the rental market.
Power imbalances in the rental market mean tenants may feel they have to comply with requests for information, the Privacy Commissioner says.
Privacy Commissioner John Edwards said Tenants and prospective Tenants needed to have confidence in the way their personal information was collected, used, stored, and disclosed by their Landlord or Property Manager.
His office has also established an anonymous tip line to enable Tenants or prospective Tenants to report concerns about the handling of their personal information.
“As we move into this compliance phase, Rental Sector Agencies must be aware of their obligations and responsibilities. There are now no excuses for over-collection and unauthorised use of personal information and there will be consequences for non-compliance,” he said.
Consequences for non-compliance include warning letters, access directions (a binding written notice issued to a business or organisation by the Privacy Commissioner), compliance notices, referral to the Human Rights Tribunal, a public interest inquiry and public naming of an Agency. The penalty for failure to comply with a compliance notice is a fine of up to $10,000.
He said the new guidance spelt out what information could be requested at every stage of the rental process.
“We want to make it easy for Landlords and Property Managers to know what they should and shouldn’t collect, and for prospective Tenants to understand what they can and can’t be asked for.”
He said everyone in the Rental Sector was now “on notice”. “Everyone knows where they stand.”
Privacy Commissioner John Edwards says the rental sector is on notice.
Landlords should only collect information that was necessary for renting a property.
“You should think about whether you really need the information before you ask for it. At every stage, you should only ask for the minimum amount of personal information you need,” the guidance says.
Landlords could not ask applying Tenants for information on a person’s sex, including pregnancy or childbirth, relationship, family status, political opinion, religious or ethical beliefs, race or ethnicity, disability, illness or age – unless inquiring whether someone is under 18, employment status, sexual orientation, spending habits including bank statement showing transactions, or for social media URLs.
It would be “unreasonably intrusive” for landlords to ask for information on how prospective Tenants spent their money.
“You shouldn’t ask for a full bank statement showing individual transactions, for example (although the Tenant could choose to provide a statement showing only the total bank balance). Exceptions could include when a Tenant has a negative credit record and wants to show that they’ve taken steps to improve their financial management; or, once a Tenancy has started, when a Tenant has become unable to afford the rent and wants to negotiate a repayment plan or rent reduction with the Landlord.”
Edwards said prospective Tenants were sometimes asked to provide very intrusive information and felt compelled to by the power imbalances in the Rental Market.
“Compliance is not the most thrilling aspect of being a landlord. But oversight is necessary if we want people to have confidence in the system. Like many Tenants, our Owners are frustrated by those Landlords who do not treat their Rentals as businesses and Tenants as customers.”