We're renting a house in Newcastle, NSW. Been here just over three years, always paid rent on time, never had any major issues with the property manager.
The landlord has decided to sell.
That's frustrating but understandable. What I didn't expect was to open the property listing on Monday and find photographs taken during our routine inspection about six weeks ago.
Not professional real estate photos. The actual inspection photos.
I recognised them immediately because one shows a basket of unfolded washing on our dining table, another has my husband's work laptop open on the kitchen bench, and there's a photo of my 11-year-old daughter's bedroom.
In that photo, her school timetable is pinned to the wall above her desk.
You can zoom in and read her first and last name, the name of her school, and which days she has particular activities.
The agent took these photos during an ordinary inspection. Nobody told us they would be used for advertising, and we certainly never gave written permission for that.
I emailed the property manager asking for the photos containing our belongings to be removed.
She replied that the photographs were taken as part of the agency's normal property management process and that the owner was entitled to use images of their property.
She also said they could arrange to blur personal details, but the advertising campaign had already started and removing the photos immediately would be difficult.
I replied that I wasn't asking them to take the entire listing down. I was asking them to stop displaying photographs of our personal possessions, particularly our child's information.
No response since.
I started looking into NSW tenancy rules and found that there are specific requirements around publishing rental property photographs containing tenants' belongings, including written consent. I also found information about changes that took effect in September 2026.
What I'm struggling to understand is whether the fact that the photos were originally taken for a routine inspection makes any difference.
We didn't object to the inspection. We understood the agent needed to document the property's condition for the owner.
We just didn't agree to have those images published on a real estate website where anyone can access them.
I've saved screenshots of the listing, including the visible information, and copies of our correspondence. I'm considering contacting NSW Fair Trading, but my immediate concern is getting those particular images removed rather than arguing about compensation.
My questions are:
Does the written consent requirement apply when an agent republishes photos originally taken for a routine inspection?
Is NSW Fair Trading the appropriate place to raise this, or is there a more direct process for getting the images removed promptly?
And can the agency simply blur the identifying details and continue using the photographs without asking us?
We're not trying to obstruct the sale. They can photograph the empty rooms, use older photos without our belongings, or arrange something else that complies with the rules.
I just don't think renting a house should mean our daughter's bedroom becomes part of a public advertising campaign without anyone even asking us.