Photographing and filming tenants’ possessions for advertising purposes
Project Status:
Start Date:
Tabled in Parliament Date:
Reference
Arising out of discussions with the Tenants Union of Victoria, this Community Law Reform Project addressed concerns that the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (Vic) had not kept up with changes to how agencies and landlords advertised properties online. Increasingly, advertisers published extensive interior and exterior photographs of their properties across a range of websites, sometimes including the possessions and clues to identity of their tenants. Since this practice was not properly covered by the Act, tenants needed to rely on the goodwill and professionalism of landlords and agents to ensure their privacy and security. This project sought ways to balance the rights of landlords to advertise their properties with their tenants’ privacy and security rights.
The Commission’s preliminary research to identify issues included an examination of current law in Victoria and other jurisdictions and meetings with tenant advocates, real estate agents and government agencies. A consultation paper published in June 2014 identified options for reform and asked for submissions. Further consultations across Victoria and 20 submissions fed into the final report tabled in Parliament in May 2015.
You can read the final report, the consultation paper and other documents by clicking below.
Community Law Reform Projects are conducted in accordance with section 5(1)(b) of the Victorian Law Reform Commission Act 2000 (Vic), which empowers the Commission to initiate inquiries of general community concern, provided they are limited in size and scope. More about Community Law Reform can be found here.
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Project Stage
- Terms of reference received
- Submissions and consultations
- Submissions closed
- Final Report
- Tabled in parliament
Publications
26/05/2015
26/05/2015
14/11/2014
27/06/2014
27/06/2014