NSW domestic abuse rental reforms shift key compliance duties onto agents

Property managers across NSW are operating under new tenancy rules this week, with responsibility for notifying remaining co-tenants shifting onto landlords and agents, new controls applying to property photography and advertising, and stronger restrictions now governing tenancy database listings.

The domestic abuse tenancy reforms commenced on Monday, 21 September, changing several procedures that sit directly within day-to-day property management operations.

For agencies, the significance extends beyond understanding a tenant's right to leave an unsafe tenancy.

The reforms create new deadlines, notification requirements, privacy obligations and record-handling procedures that property management teams now need incorporated into their workflows.

They also significantly increase the consequences of mishandling sensitive information or tenancy database records.

Agent now responsible for notifying co-tenants

One of the most immediate operational changes occurs when a tenant gives a Domestic Violence Termination Notice.

Previously, responsibility for notifying other tenants rested with the departing tenant.

That obligation has now moved to the landlord or agent.

Where a tenant ends their tenancy through the domestic abuse provisions, each remaining co-tenant must be notified individually using the required notice.

The notification cannot be given before the departing tenant's termination date and must be issued no later than seven days after that date.

It must also explain the temporary rent arrangements applying to the remaining tenants.

For the first two weeks after the affected tenant leaves, a remaining co-tenant who is not the alleged perpetrator is generally required to pay only their own share of the rent rather than absorb the departing tenant's portion.

The reforms therefore create a process that property managers will need to manage carefully across notices, rent ledgers and communication with remaining tenants.

Importantly, agents are not required to investigate whether domestic abuse occurred.

Their role is to ensure the required termination notice and supporting evidence have been provided and then administer the tenancy in accordance with the legislation.

Confidentiality becomes a significant compliance issue

The documents accompanying a domestic abuse termination can contain highly sensitive personal information.

Agents cannot disclose the termination notice, supporting evidence or information contained within those documents to remaining co-tenants, an alleged perpetrator or another unauthorised person.

They must also be stored and disposed of securely.

Maximum penalties for breaching the confidentiality provisions can reach $11,000 for an individual and $49,500 for a corporation.

That puts the handling of domestic abuse documentation well beyond an ordinary filing issue.

Agencies will need to consider who can access these records, where they are stored, how they are transmitted internally and how they are eventually destroyed.

Photography rules change for occupied rental properties

The reforms also introduce new requirements around photographs and videos taken for property advertising.

Before entering a rented property to take advertising photographs or video, the landlord or agent must provide at least seven days' notice and give the tenant a reasonable opportunity to move, remove or cover personal belongings.

Where photographs or video show the personal belongings of a tenant or their dependent child, the agent must provide the tenant with copies of the proposed images free of charge and obtain written consent before those images are published.

That applies to belongings visible both inside and outside the property, including items visible through windows.

Where multiple tenants occupy the property, consent may need to be obtained from each person whose belongings, or whose dependent child's belongings, are visible.

The change means the traditional sequence of booking a photographer, photographing an occupied property and then immediately loading the campaign online may no longer be sufficient.

Property managers and sales teams will need greater coordination where a tenanted property is being prepared for sale or reletting.

If consent is not obtained for images containing personal possessions, those images cannot simply be published.

Agencies may instead need to use alternative photographs, remove or redact the relevant possessions where appropriate, or wait until the property is vacant.

Tenancy database rules carry heavier penalties

The reforms also strengthen protections surrounding residential tenancy databases.

A landlord or agent cannot list tenancy information relating to a person who has ended a tenancy through the domestic abuse provisions.

The protection also extends to a person who provides the landlord or agent with prescribed evidence that they or a dependent child experienced domestic abuse during the tenancy.

Where prohibited information has already been listed and the requirements for removal are met, the landlord or agent must notify the database operator and seek its removal within seven days.

Under the new provisions, the maximum penalty for contravening the domestic abuse listing restrictions is 50 penalty units for an individual and 200 penalty units otherwise, currently equivalent to $5,500 and $22,000 respectively.

This is separate from the existing general tenancy database rules, under which landlords and agents can face penalties for failing to follow requirements such as notifying a tenant and providing an opportunity to respond before a lawful listing is made.

For property managers, it makes checking the circumstances behind any proposed tenancy database listing particularly important before information is submitted.

Changes extend beyond the three headline obligations

The 21 September reforms reach further than notification, advertising and tenancy databases.

The legislation also expands circumstances in which locks and security devices can be changed without a landlord's prior consent where domestic abuse or safety concerns are involved.

There are new protections relating to damage caused during domestic abuse where the affected tenant was not responsible for the conduct.

The framework governing who can provide evidence supporting a domestic abuse termination has also been expanded.

New tenancy agreements record each co-tenant's original contribution to the rental bond, while revised provisions provide a clearer mechanism for recovering and resolving a departing co-tenant's share of a bond.

The Real Estate Institute of NSW had urged property managers ahead of commencement to review their policies, procedures and workflows, identifying property photography, confidentiality, termination notices, temporary rent adjustments, bond arrangements and security changes among the areas requiring attention.

It also raised concerns during consultation about property manager safety, interactions with alleged perpetrators and the need for practical regulatory support as agencies implement the new framework.

What agencies need to change

The immediate challenge for principals is ensuring the reforms are embedded at an operational level rather than simply circulated as another legislative update.

Domestic abuse termination notices now trigger specific actions and deadlines.

Photography and marketing workflows need to account for notice and consent requirements.

Tenancy database procedures need an additional domestic abuse check before a listing is created or maintained.

Access to sensitive documents needs to be tightly controlled.

And property managers responsible for the same portfolio may need to coordinate across leasing, accounts, bonds, maintenance and sales departments when one of these matters arises.

The reforms are designed to allow victim-survivors to leave unsafe tenancies without carrying responsibilities that could expose them to further risk.

For NSW real estate agencies, they also mark another material change to the compliance framework governing residential property management, with several of the responsibilities for making that system work now sitting directly with the agent.