Rental Bonds Online - privacy collection notice

Who we are

Personal information is being collected by the Department of Customer Service (the Department) on behalf of the Commissioner for NSW Fair Trading. NSW Fair Trading gives priority to protecting the privacy of personal information, in accordance with the Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (PPIP Act) and Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002 (HRIP Act).

If you have any questions about this document, or how we handle personal information, you can contact our Privacy team using the contact details at the end of this notice.
 

Why we collect your personal information 

NSW Fair Trading is collecting personal information for the purposes of providing access to Rental Bonds Online (RBO) services and to allow for the administration of rental and retail bonds in accordance with the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 and Residential Tenancies Regulation 2019 or Retail Leases Act 1994 and Retail Leases Regulation 2022. Where applicable, this includes the transfer of a rental bond from one property to another via Smart Rental Bonds.
 

The kinds of information we collect 

We may collect the following information: 

• Name, contact details (emails and phone numbers), dates of birth, gender and security question answers 
• Proof of identity information if we are unable to identify an individual with their RBO security information or a signature. This may include photo identity documents, like a passport or driver licence, Medicare card details and/or other proof of identity, such as photo and signature capture.
• Third party details which may include names and contact details (address, email, and phone number) for tenants, co-tenants, landlords, owners and managing agents (including staff).
• Bank details 
• If you are the Principal Tenant, information regarding any unrecoverable debt via Smart Rental Bonds. In this instance, additional personal information may be collected from Revenue NSW. 
• Additional personal information if it is required within RBO. 

Failure to provide information 

Under sections 157A and 159(1A) of the Residential Tenancies Act, a landlord or landlord’s agent is legally required to be registered as a user of RBO to require or receive a rental bond.

The collection of certain personal information in RBO is mandatory for the purposes of issuing notifications regarding bond transactions or for certain transactions to be conducted within the system. These fields are marked with an *.

Other personal information is provided voluntarily however if it is not provided, the online bonds may be unable to be administered and actions within RBO may not be processed.

Personal information is provided voluntarily for retail bonds, however if this information is not provided, bonds lodged online may be unable to be administered and actions within RBO may not be processed.
 

How we may use this information 

We may use the personal information we collect in the following ways:

• To provide access to RBO services and allow for the administration of rental bonds under the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 and Residential Tenancies Regulation 2019 or security bonds under the Retail Leases Act 1994 and Retail Leases Regulation 2022. Where applicable, this includes the transfer of a rental bond from one property to another via Smart Rental Bonds.
• Internal administrative purposes, including:
  • Liaising with principal tenants, co-tenants, landlords and managing agents in relation to RBO accounts and any information lodged in the system (this includes email, post and SMS phone notifications)
  • Compliance, investigations, and enforcement of the legislation administered by NSW Fair Trading, including the Residential Tenancies Act 2010, Residential Tenancies Regulation 2019, Retail Leases Act 1994, Retail Leases Regulation 2022 or Fair Trading Act 1987.
• To confirm details if enquiries are made with NSW Fair Trading.
• To send you information that we consider important.
• To update the Smart Rental Bonds Disqualification Register in line with Part 3B Division 5 of the Residential Tenancies Regulation 2019.  This register will prevent further access to Smart Rental Bonds for the disqualification period and will include the disqualified individual’s name, mobile number, email address, reason for disqualification, date from and to, bond number and notes regarding the disqualification.
• To send the end of tenancy survey when a bond claim is finalised.
• To support more informed policy making, reporting, program management, education, evaluation, research and service planning as it can facilitate more efficient service delivery for residents and business in NSW.
• Other directly related purposes.
   

Who we may share your information with

We may disclose the personal information we collect in the following ways:

• To other NSW Government agencies, or other States, Territories and/or the Commonwealth where we are required to make enquiries and exchange information.
• To other registered users of RBO associated with the address for your bond that have ‘view only’ access in RBO to certain details related to the bond.
• To Revenue NSW if a bond has been transferred from a previous property to a new property under Smart Rental Bonds and a claim is made on the original bond. This includes disclosure of a Principal Tenant’s name, date of birth, address, contact number and email address if agreed deductions from a current bond exceed the amount transferred to a new bond.
• To other registered users associated with the address for your bond via SMS and email notifications. If a bond has been transferred from a previous property to a new property under Smart Rental Bonds these notifications will include whether a debt has been referred to or returned unrecovered from Revenue NSW.

To administer Smart Rental Bonds, NSW Fair Trading must maintain a disqualification register as required under Part 3B Division 5 of the Residential Tenancies Regulation 2019. If you are added to this register, you (and any future tenancy cohort you are part of) will be ineligible to access Smart Rental Bonds for the period of your disqualification. Your inclusion on the disqualification register may be inferred by a future tenancy cohort should a Principal Tenant attempt to access Smart Rental Bonds and be restricted. 

We will not disclose personal information to anybody else unless we are authorised or permitted to do so by law or where the individual has given consent. Our Privacy Statement describes when this may occur.

Service NSW 

Service NSW collects and uses personal information where an individual attends a Service Centre or contacts Service NSW in relation to Rental Bonds Online. 

Service NSW may use information for the following purposes:

• To assist with RBO enquiries and updating account details 
• Share details with NSW Fair Trading.

Service NSW also maintains and uses personal information for internal administrative purposes, including for the purposes of our interactions with individuals.  

Other information provided will be collected and stored by NSW Fair Trading only.

For more information about how Service NSW handles personal information, please visit the Service NSW Privacy Statement.

Protecting your information 

We will store and manage personal information in accordance with the provisions of the PPIP and HRIP Acts. We have measures in place to help protect personal information from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, disclosure, or other misuse.

See our Privacy Management Plan for more information about how we handle personal information.
 

Your rights 

Subject to certain conditions, an individual has the following rights in relation to their personal information:

• The right to request access to their personal information
• The right to request correction of their personal information

If you wish to invoke any of the above rights, please contact our privacy team using the details below. RBO account holders can also update their details by accessing the “Your Details” section in RBO.