Students are facing privacy breaches, despite it being super fucking illegal

TLDR: Landlords still suck  

Hidden away in the fine print of tenancy applications is often an illegal request: the consent to 'share your (and any co-applicant's) information with third parties' to complete tenancy checks and credit reports. This essentially forces tenants to sign away their rights to privacy, and authorise illegal and intrusive information collection. So often, giving this consent is a required part of the application process, meaning you cannot submit your application without it. 

According to the Privacy Commission, asking for broad consent to collect unspecific information from "other sources" is an illegal breach of privacy. However, completing a credit report once a preferred tenant has been selected is legal. To rephrase, this means that collecting information on your credit strength is legal, but only if you have passed the application stage and been selected as a “preferred tenant”.  

On the other hand, it’s illegal for a landlord not to clarify what type of information they’re collecting and where they’re getting this information from. Technically, a broad consent for information collection would let them get access to your browser history if they had access to it, and we all know that wouldn’t help anyone get a home. Especially students... ya weirdos. 

Many of those applying for tenancies in 2021, especially in competitive cities such as Wellington or Auckland, know that privacy laws do not stop this information from being collected. Between previous rent, employment history, citizenship, and many other breaches, it seems tenancy applications often collect intrusive information. Sam*, a young student, has been flat hunting continuously over the last few months. They think that the privacy laws are “a fucking joke”. Both unregulated and unenforced, they have had to give away so much of their personal (and protected) information in the hunt for a home. 

Sam brought up one of the requirements for their last tenancy, stating "I have been required to obtain contents insurance. It was a caveat to the contract… all of my flatmates purchased contents insurance." For something that is illegal for landlords even collecting information on, requiring insurance, and proof of, in the contract itself puts up red flags pretty fast. 
 

When asked about their privacy rights, Sam stated, "No one has ever explained them to me, and I have never sought them out because the (renting) process is shitty as is… I looked up Tenancy Services, but privacy was not one of the main things I saw in my research. It seemed to be pretty far down the list." They go on to say that "for almost every tenancy application I have submitted… I have been asked to disclose my spouse/marital status. I have submitted my passport as proof of ID, and that has both my gender and citizenship status on it." There seems to be little genuine regulation on information collected in the housing market; especially for those who don't know their rights or the correct avenues to report privacy violations. As Sam summarises, “[It’s] a fucking joke. That means that the tenancy process is not being monitored at all in terms of legality." 
 

Another renter, Bee* said that application sites and landlords should be mandated to provide “a statement or something or some information alongside the application, saying: ‘These are your rights and this is what we’re taking information for’.” Bee said she didn’t know her privacy rights, and that “I just assumed that they are following whatever guidelines there are and that any information that they ask for is necessary.”  

Bee also confirmed that in her last tenancy application she’s had to provide information which cannot legally be collected until after a preferred tenant has been selected. She was required to give an alternate contact person, vehicle information, consent for a credit report, and criminal record in the initial application process. She stated that so often “any information on privacy that they (landlords and property managers) give you is at the very very end of the application in a little box and it’s like, well now I have to keep going.” There haven’t been ways to know more details about information collection, or its use. Having it clearly articulated alongside the rights that you as a tenant hold in the application process would be “very helpful”, says Bee. "Who the fuck do I complain to? Now I'm just pissed. I'm fucking blown away. Every online application website requires all of the details that you just said to me."  

According to the Privacy Commission, privacy breaches should first be taken up with the organisation or individual who has caused the violation. For renters, this means that many may not even approach a landlord, for fear of retaliation. Currently, a complaint in the application process is likely to affect whether you get offered a home. If the option is between sharing intrusive information and homelessness, what option do renters have but to comply?  

Regardless of legality, most tenants simply don't know their rights well enough to be aware that these qualify as breaches of privacy. So, it’s time to scrub up on your knowledge. Massive has collected some examples of details that landlords and property managers are legally not allowed to collect according to the Privacy Commission. These include:  

• "Marital and family status." 

• "Gender and Sexual orientation." 

• "Proof of Insurance." 

• "Nationality… or Citizenship." 

• "Physical or mental disability." 

• "Rent Paid previously" 

• "Employment History" 

There are also many aspects of privacy that are only legal to collect once a preferred tenant or applicant has been chosen to pursue. Some of these include: 

• "Credit report." 

• "Date of Birth." 

• "Contact details of an emergency contact person." 

• "Proof of income." 

• "Criminal record." 

• "Vehicle information (only if necessary, to provide for parking on the property)." 

Between a dwindling housing supply and tenancy laws coming into effect, competition for housing and an increased cautiousness by landlords has pushed many tenants to desperation. Whether from a lack of legal knowledge or fear of homelessness, many young people consent to this illegal collection of information without knowing their rights. If you’re providing the above info on a flat application, make sure to question your property manager, or drop a line to Massive. Know your stuff, know your rights.  

*Names have been changed to protect identity.