Tenants personal Information

M

mflying

Hi,

I been informed by PM that we are not allowed to see Application form, applicant financial due to privacy Act.

Is is true?? property is in country NSW.

I asked around to other investors and they said they never heard of it before.

can any PM or experienced investor direct me to legal link that i can forward it to my PM?

or may be shed bit of light on issue

many thanks
 
Sadly, I have heard the odd industry trainer make those claims, so it may be that your PM is just following what she has been taught. The reality is that they are your "agent" and they are acting for "you". The tenant is making appliation to "you" and the agent is receiving it on "your" behalf. The Privacy Statement that the agent gives the tenant at the time of the tenant completing the application, will confirm what the agent will do with the information on the application, and the tenant by signing, gives the agent the authority to deal with it. Perhaps asking the PM to provide you with the evidence in writing so you can check it for your self.
 
That is true Property Management trainers have advised us not to pass on the application forms to the owner due to the Privacy Act as once the information is out of the agents hands they cannot control how many copies the Landlord makes or what they do with the information. As a solution we are happy for the Landlords if they live locally to come and view the applications at our office otherwise we will summarise the information and reference checks for them in an email or over the phone whichever they prefer.
 
I've heard this one before, but cannot see how it could be the case. Firstly, does the Privacy Act apply to this sort of situation?

Secondly the agent is acting as your agent, ie in the legal sense, they are acting on your behalf. So what they see you can see.
 
Terry

I am sure you are correct. I guess what happens is PM staff go to training, the PM trainers scare the pants off PM's and business owners about what can happen to them if they act in certain ways and businesses change their procedures to hope that doesn't happen to them.

Logic and sanity should prevail in a lot of these situations but you can't blame agencies for wanting to protect themselves from expensive litigation.

I guess in this particular situation the wording of your privacy statement which the tenant signs is of utmost importance.
 
Privacy Statements

If you have a query about what the agency will disclose, ask the agency for a copy of their Privacy Statement. It should state what they will and won't do with the information that they collect about their clients whether it is a tenant, landlord, purchaser or vendor.

Most will say that they won't disclose or sell the information to third parties but there is probably nothing preventing them from disclosing the information to interested parties ie owners, the tenant themselves etc.

See the proforma for what may be disclosed: National Tenancy Database - proforma
 
Scott No Mates said:
If you have a query about what the agency will disclose, ask the agency for a copy of their Privacy Statement. It should state what they will and won't do with the information that they collect about their clients whether it is a tenant, landlord, purchaser or vendor.

Most will say that they won't disclose or sell the information to third parties but there is probably nothing preventing them from disclosing the information to interested parties ie owners, the tenant themselves etc.

See the proforma for what may be disclosed: National Tenancy Database - proforma
Click to expand...


i checked with our PM (one that we rent from for 9 years) and he said that is it a privacy issue and his agency doesn't disclose tenants personal info with out consent. I know he is good and knows what he is doing.

For my IP, i may keep the agency and PM, so far they have been good. i will let you know how it goes in 6 months.
 
My thoughts exactly Lizzie.

Why do you want to see their financials/applications etc? If you have concerns that your property manager isn't screening tenants well enough then that is easily fixed. By changing PM.

If you're checking everything twice what are you paying for? A deposit box for rent?
 
Terry_w said:
I've heard this one before, but cannot see how it could be the case. Firstly, does the Privacy Act apply to this sort of situation?

Secondly the agent is acting as your agent, ie in the legal sense, they are acting on your behalf. So what they see you can see.
Click to expand...

The Privacy Act seems to get bandied about a lot these days :cool:

I recall going into a REA and asking for a list of properties for Sale in the area, I did get a list but there were no addresses on the paperwork, when I asked the lady at the counter about why there were no addresses listed, she said it all had to do with the Privacy Act...what the :confused:
 
redwing said:
The Privacy Act seems to get bandied about a lot these days :cool:

I recall going into a REA and asking for a list of properties for Sale in the area, I did get a list but there were no addresses on the paperwork, when I asked the lady at the counter about why there were no addresses listed, she said it all had to do with the Privacy Act...what the :confused:
Click to expand...

What I hate is going online to the open house list for a saturday inspection list, and most of them are "address available on request". So you say its open at 11am but wont tell people where to go to. Awesome.
 
Beats me Dave. What is the privacy issue when it comes to giving out an address? The agency is fishing for your details - I saw one of the local agents (licensee) this morning, hadn't seen her in over 2 yrs, still knew the name. Maybe I get around too much?
 
kathryn d said:
I suggest you get a different PM...now

Remind them, they work for YOU
Click to expand...

Wow, Great advice. I suggest you learn the privacy act before giving advice on something you know little about…

As a landlord, would you want your details given to the tenant? As agents, we don’t make the rules but some of us abide by them.
 
lizzie said:
hmmmm - after more than 10 years I can't say I've seen an application, only signed leases.

Screening prospective tenants is what I pay my PM for. Why do I need to get involved?
Click to expand...

Not sure about Australia, but an application is extremely important to us.
It has given us written permission to do a credit check anytime we want, and cannot ever be revoked.
Application also gives birthdates of the tenants, previous addresses.

This is information we may need in the future.
 
thepeoplesagent said:
Wow, Great advice. I suggest you learn the privacy act before giving advice on something you know little about…

As a landlord, would you want your details given to the tenant? As agents, we don’t make the rules but some of us abide by them.
Click to expand...

We follow the rules.
All details that our tenants are required to have, they are provided.
 
priscilla said:
That is true Property Management trainers have advised us not to pass on the application forms to the owner due to the Privacy Act as once the information is out of the agents hands they cannot control how many copies the Landlord makes or what they do with the information. As a solution we are happy for the Landlords if they live locally to come and view the applications at our office otherwise we will summarise the information and reference checks for them in an email or over the phone whichever they prefer.
Click to expand...



I agree with you! that is what exactly my PM (one that i rent from said) and i am glad that they follow the same practice. as a tenant, i rather keep my personal information as close as possible.
 
lizzie said:
hmmmm - after more than 10 years I can't say I've seen an application, only signed leases.

Screening prospective tenants is what I pay my PM for. Why do I need to get involved?
Click to expand...

This is the first time i have IP that i am renting it out, so wasn't sure about in's and out;s of it.

i read some post on this forum where members where discussing screening tenant and checking financial details before they make their mind up.

So when IP PM said, that they aren't allowed to share personal information, i wasn't sure what is allowed and what is not.

I agree with Terry_W and other members that AGENT works for me and should have consent signed at the time of application (Like we do when we apply for loan, for lender to check out credit file). but looks like there are different ways to do things.

But combination of response that i got from my PM (One that i rent from) + Response on this forum + and my experience with PM (For IP) and her agency has been smooth so far.

So i have decided to go ahead with it. (Also, i am at ease that my details weren't shared around when i applied for rent)



Thanks a lot guys!
 
thepeoplesagent said:
Wow, Great advice. I suggest you learn the privacy act before giving advice on something you know little about…

As a landlord, would you want your details given to the tenant? As agents, we don’t make the rules but some of us abide by them.
Click to expand...

What are the rules?

How does TICA and other tenancy databases work, considering one agent maybe accessing information another agent placed there and through a third party operator?

I'm honestly curious...as I said previously I think it gets bandied about without people actually knowing

As an Agent, what part of the Privacy Act applies when you tell Landlords they cannot have a copy of your preferred applicants application form?

How about the other issues above?
 
Just a thought, but wouldn't it preserve the applicants' privacy and also give the landlord/owner the necessary info on which to judge suitability, if the names and contact details of the applicants were whited out and they became "Applicant 1", "Applicant 2", etc?

I say this because in a recent thread the owner was asked to choose from a shortlist submitted to him by the PM, where the owner knew that the 1st applicant was a single mum on Centrelink etc, 2nd applicants were two brothers with no rental history, and so on. But seems he was not told nor needed to know their actual identities.

In the past I have never been asked (as an owner) to choose or approve a new tenant, but things seem to now be moving in that direction.
 
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