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An NSW MP has revealed the state government will look to overhaul the rental application process for tenants and property managers alike.
In a post to LinkedIn, Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government and Minister for Fair Trading Victor Dominello has acknowledged that there are 1.8 million rental applications each year in the state of NSW — and essentially no rules as to what is done with that personal information.
“That’s 1.8 million times people are required to provide copies of sensitive personal information contained in driver licences, passports etc.,” he wrote.
Querying the rigour of how documents are stored, used, and deleted, Mr Dominello acknowledged that this puts renters at risk of cyber attacks and identity fraud.
To combat such risks, the minister, who has previously spearheaded reforms in the digital sphere such as digital certificates of title and digital licences for tradies, as well as the introduction of a mandatory notification scheme for data protection, has shared that the state government “will develop enforceable guidelines on how personal information is stored, used and destroyed”.
According to Mr Dominello, the government is aiming to have such guidelines ready by the end of February 2023.
As well as guidelines around personal information, another set of guidelines will be developed “around how other personal information [is] contained when renters are required to provide copies of bank statements etc.”
The minister also shared that the government “will work with industry so that one of the first use cases for opt-in digital ID can be rental applications”.
The material effect of this would be that no copies of driver’s licences or passports “will need to be provided in the first place”, he shared.
According to the minister, the government will begin consulting on legislation around digital IDs circa May next year, with the aim of having the product to market “by about this time next year (December 2023)”.
Thanking the Tenants’ Union of NSW, the Real Estate Institute of NSW (REINSW), NSW Fair Trading and other key stakeholders on the “vastly improved pathway forward”, Mr Dominello expressed that the new NSW digital ID will be “world leading”.
Acknowledging the decentralised nature of the digital ID, he said it has “you in control” — and will “significantly” improve privacy and security settings for NSW residents.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
