When you apply for a lease, a real estate agent will often ask you for copies of documents that are commonly known as ‘identity documents'.

Examples: your passport, Medicare card, Australian Citizenship certificate, birth certificate or driver's licence.

If an agent is covered by the Privacy Act, they must only collect information that is necessary for that purpose, in this case, to assess your application. The agent must not collect any personal information just because they may be able to use it in the future.

You could ask the agent to consider just looking at your identity documents, and noting they have been sighted, rather than copying them.

The agent must tell you verbally or in writing

• why they want to collect that information
• who they would usually disclose it to
• that you can access that information
• any consequences if you do not provide the information.

More information about identity collection.

Rules protecting Australian Government numbers

Government documents usually have a unique number or ‘identifier'. Different rules apply to different numbers.

Examples: Medicare number, Australian Citizenship certificate, Centrelink or Department of Veterans Affairs. 

Real estate agents that are covered by the Privacy Act generally must not use or disclose these numbers. If they need a copy of one of these documents they should blank the number out on the copy.

More information about identifiers (NPP 7) can be found in the National Privacy Principles Guidelines. 

Tax file numbers

Strict rules apply to the handling of tax file numbers. These rules apply whether the agent is covered by the Privacy Act or not.

More information about tax file numbers.

Driver's licence and birth certificate numbers

Your driver's licence and birth certificate numbers are issued by State and Territory governments. The Privacy Act does not prevent an agent from collecting these numbers.

But your driver's licence or birth certificate may have information that the agent does not need.

Example: your driver's licence may include your organ donor status, which is health information and is classed as 'sensitive' under the Privacy Act.

Agents should generally not collect sensitive information without your consent.

You could also ask the agent how any information they collect will be kept secure and whether it will be destroyed if the property is leased to someone else.

Even if the agent is not covered by the Privacy Act you can still ask them these questions.