Privacy Policy
Effective date: 12 April 2026 · Applies to reviewmyrental.com.au and all sub-paths
The short version
- Reviews are published under your chosen display name — never your real name.
- Lease documents are deleted automatically within 7 days — not stored long-term.
- We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. Ever.
- You can request deletion of your account and all data at any time.
- We comply with the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
1. Overview & Scope
This Privacy Policy explains how ReviewMyRental ("we", "us", "our") collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information in connection with the website at reviewmyrental.com.auand any related services (collectively, the "Platform").
By accessing or using the Platform, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this Policy. If you do not agree, please do not use the Platform.
This Policy covers current operations and is written to accommodate planned future features including landlord/agent response tools, suburb analytics, subscription plans, and a mobile application. Where a feature is described as "planned" or "future", this Policy puts you on notice of our intended data practices before that feature launches.
2. Who We Are
ReviewMyRental is an Australian platform operated as a sole trader / private entity by its founder, based in Australia. We are subject to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
For privacy inquiries: admin@reviewmyrental.com.au
3. Information We Collect
3.1 Information you provide directly
When you create an account or submit a review, we may collect:
- Email address — for authentication and transactional emails only
- Display name — a pseudonym of your choosing, never your real name
- Tenancy information — property address, tenancy start/end month and year (not exact dates)
- Ratings and review text — your written review and 1–5 star ratings
- Photos — optional property photos (up to 5 per review, 10 MB each)
- Lease document — optional, for verification only; auto-deleted within 7 days
- Dispute/report information — if you flag a review or raise a complaint
3.2 Information collected automatically
- IP address — for security and country/state-level geolocation only
- Browser and device type — for compatibility
- Pages visited and actions taken — to improve the Platform
- Referrer URL — the page that brought you to the Platform
- Timestamps — when reviews and accounts are created or modified
3.3 Information we deliberately do NOT collect
- Legal name or government identity documents
- Phone number
- Financial information (credit card, bank account)
- Exact tenancy dates (month and year only)
- GPS or precise location
- Social media profiles
3.4 Future planned collection (advance notice)
In planned future phases we may collect: billing information via a third-party payment processor (e.g. Stripe — we will never handle raw card data); landlord/agent contact details if they register to respond to reviews; suburb-level analytics data; and push notification tokens if a mobile app is released. This Policy will be updated before any new collection type is introduced and you will be notified.
4. How We Use Your Information
We use personal information only for the following purposes:
| Purpose | Legal basis |
|---|---|
| Authenticating your account and maintaining sessions | Necessary for service |
| Publishing your review under your display name | Consent (submission) |
| Verifying tenancy via lease document | Consent (voluntary upload) |
| Moderating reviews for guideline compliance | Legitimate interest / legal obligation |
| Responding to disputes and takedown requests | Legitimate interest / legal obligation |
| Sending transactional emails (login links, notices) | Necessary for service |
| Preventing fraud and platform abuse | Legitimate interest |
| Improving the Platform via aggregate analytics | Legitimate interest (anonymised only) |
| Complying with laws and court orders | Legal obligation |
| Future: processing subscription payments via third party | Consent / contract |
| Future: allowing landlords/agents to respond to reviews | Consent (opt-in) |
We will not use your personal information for direct marketing without your explicit consent, and will never use it for automated profiling that produces significant legal effects.
5. Lease Documents — Special Handling
⚠️ Lease documents contain sensitive personal information and receive the highest level of protection on this Platform.
5.1 Purpose limitation
Lease documents are collected solely to verify that you rented the property you are reviewing. They are used for no other purpose whatsoever.
5.2 Access controls
Documents are stored in a private, access-controlled storage bucket — never publicly accessible. Admin access is granted only via time-limited signed URLs with a maximum validity of 1 hour. No permanent download links are ever generated. All access is logged.
5.3 Automatic deletion
All lease documents are automatically and permanently deleted within 7 days of upload by an automated process running every 24 hours. This is enforced by code, not a manual process. You do not need to request deletion.
5.4 Audit trail (non-identifying)
After deletion, we retain only: the review ID, upload timestamp, and deletion timestamp. The document itself is not retained. This record exists solely for compliance demonstration.
5.5 Early deletion on request
To have your lease document deleted before the 7-day window, email admin@reviewmyrental.com.au and we will action it within 48 hours.
5.6 Recommended redactions
Before uploading, we strongly recommend blacking out: your full legal name, co-tenants' names, your landlord's personal (non-business) details, and any financial figures. We only need to confirm: property address, tenancy start date, and that you were a party to the lease.
6. Photos
Photos you upload are stored in a public storage bucket and displayed on the property page. By uploading a photo you confirm that:
- You took the photo or have the right to share it publicly
- The photo contains no personally identifying information (faces, name tags, mail, vehicle plates)
- You consent to the photo being publicly displayed for as long as your review is published
Photos are deleted within 30 days of review or account deletion. You may request removal of a specific photo at any time by contacting us.
We do not use photos for facial recognition, identity verification, AI model training, or any purpose other than display to Platform users.
7. Review Anonymity
7.1 Display name only
Reviews are published under your chosen display name — never your real name or email address. We will not identify reviewers in response to third-party requests except where compelled by a valid Australian court order. An email from a solicitor is not a court order.
7.2 Tenancy dates — month and year only
We store and display tenancy periods as month and year only (e.g. "Feb 2023 – Mar 2024"). Exact dates are never recorded — a deliberate design choice to reduce identification risk in low-turnover properties.
7.3 Limits of anonymity
Absolute anonymity cannot be guaranteed. In properties with very low tenant turnover, a landlord may infer your identity from publicly visible date ranges. Consider this when deciding how much detail to include in your review text.
7.4 Internal account linkage
Internally, reviews are linked to your account for moderation, duplicate detection, and legal compliance. This linkage is never disclosed externally except as described in Section 8.
8. Disclosure to Third Parties
We do not sell, rent, trade, or otherwise monetise your personal information. We disclose personal information only in the following circumstances:
8.1 Service providers
We share data with third-party providers who process it on our behalf under strict contractual obligations. They are prohibited from using your data for their own purposes. See Section 9.
8.2 Legal requirements
We may disclose personal information if required by a valid Australian law, court order, or regulatory authority. We will notify you to the extent permitted by law before complying.
8.3 Safety
We may disclose information without notice where we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to prevent imminent harm to any person.
8.4 Business transfers
If ReviewMyRental is sold or its assets transferred, personal information may be included. You will be notified at least 30 days in advance and may delete your account before any transfer occurs.
8.5 Aggregated / de-identified data
We may publish aggregated, de-identified suburb or postcode-level statistics. This data cannot reasonably identify any individual.
8.6 Landlord & agent responses (future)
In a planned future phase, verified landlords/agents may post public responses to reviews. They will not have access to reviewer identity, and will be contractually prohibited from attempting to de-anonymise reviewers. This Policy will be updated before launch.
9. Third-Party Services We Use
| Provider | Purpose | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Supabase | Database, authentication, file storage (lease docs, photos) | AWS Singapore / US |
| PSMA Australia / Geoscape | Address search & validation — query strings only, no account linkage | Australia |
| Resend | Transactional email delivery (login links, account notices) | US (SOC 2) |
| Vercel (planned) | Application hosting and global edge delivery | Global CDN / US |
| Stripe (future) | Subscription payment processing — we never receive or store raw card data | US (PCI-DSS L1) |
Cross-border disclosure: Where providers store data outside Australia, we take reasonable steps to ensure privacy obligations substantially equivalent to the APPs apply (APP 8.1).
10. Data Security
- All data in transit encrypted via TLS 1.2+
- All data at rest encrypted by storage provider (AES-256)
- Lease documents stored in a private bucket — never accessible via public URL
- Admin access requires passwordless email authentication; no shared passwords
- Signed URLs for sensitive files expire within 1 hour
- Database access restricted via application-layer connections with row-level security
- No passwords, card numbers, or government IDs are stored by us
In the event of a data breach likely to cause serious harm, we will notify affected users and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) scheme under Part IIIC of the Privacy Act.
11. Data Retention
| Data type | Retention |
|---|---|
| Lease documents (file) | Auto-deleted within 7 days of upload — no exceptions |
| Lease document audit record (timestamps only, non-identifying) | Retained permanently for compliance |
| Review content and ratings | Retained while account active or review published; deleted on account closure request |
| Review photos | Retained while review published; deleted within 30 days of review/account deletion |
| Account data (email, display name) | Retained while account active; deleted within 30 days of closure request |
| Dispute records | 3 years from resolution date for legal compliance |
| Anonymised aggregate analytics | Indefinite (no individual identifiable) |
| Server logs / IP addresses | Up to 90 days, then deleted |
12. Your Rights
Under the Australian Privacy Act 1988 and APPs, you have the following rights. To exercise any of them, email admin@reviewmyrental.com.au with subject "Privacy Request". We may verify your identity. We will respond within 30 days.
12.1 Access
Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you. We may decline in limited circumstances (e.g. revealing another person's data) and will explain why in writing.
12.2 Correction
Request correction of inaccurate, outdated, incomplete, or misleading information. Actioned within 30 days.
12.3 Deletion
Request deletion of your account and associated personal information. Actioned within 30 days. We may retain de-identified content and records required by law (e.g. dispute records for 3 years).
12.4 Withdrawal of consent
Where processing is based on consent (e.g. lease upload, marketing emails), you may withdraw at any time without affecting prior lawful processing.
12.5 Objection to marketing
You may object to use of your information for direct marketing at any time. We will cease immediately upon receipt.
14. Notice to Landlords & Agents
Reviews on this Platform represent the personal opinions and experiences of individual tenants. Genuine consumer reviews are protected under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), including the prohibition on suppressing legitimate reviews (s. 18 ACL).
We will not disclose the identity of any reviewer in response to demands from landlords, agents, or their legal representatives, except where compelled by a valid Australian court order following proper legal process. An email or letter from a solicitor is not a court order.
If you believe a review contains false statements of fact, use the dispute process in Section 16. All formal legal correspondence must be directed to admin@reviewmyrental.com.au.
15. Defamation & False Reviews
We moderate all reviews before publication. Our guidelines require reviewers to:
- Only review properties where they have genuinely been a tenant
- Write only about their own direct experience
- Not make knowingly false statements of fact
- Not identify individuals by full name
- Not post content designed to harass or intimidate
Under the Defamation Act 2005 (uniform Australian legislation), genuine tenant reviews may be protected by the defences of justification (truth), honest opinion (ratings and clearly subjective assessments), and qualified privilege. Rating-based opinions are generally protected as honest opinion, not statements of fact.
Platform liability: To the maximum extent permitted by applicable Australian law, ReviewMyRental is not liable for user-generated review content. We are a platform intermediary, not the author of reviews. Nothing in this section limits rights that cannot be excluded under applicable Australian consumer protection law.
16. Disputes & Takedown Requests
16.1 How to raise a dispute
Anyone — including landlords, agents, or third parties — may dispute a review by clicking "Report" on the review card, or by emailing admin@reviewmyrental.com.au with the property address and specific concern.
16.2 Our process
We acknowledge within 5 business days and aim to resolve within 30 days. Reviews containing demonstrably false statements of fact will be removed or amended. Reviews expressing genuine tenant opinion will generally be maintained.
16.3 What we will not do
We will not remove a review simply because the subject objects, or because a legal threat is made without a supporting court order. Each dispute is assessed on its merits under Australian law.
16.4 Escalation
If not satisfied with our outcome, you may escalate to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) for privacy matters at www.oaic.gov.au, or seek independent legal advice for defamation concerns.
17. Children
The Platform is not intended for use by persons under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If we become aware a minor has provided information, we will delete it promptly. Contact us immediately at admin@reviewmyrental.com.au if you believe a minor has submitted data.
18. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. For material changes, we will update the effective date and, where changes significantly affect your rights, notify you by email at least 14 days before they take effect.
Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree, you may close your account before the effective date without penalty. Previous versions are available on request.
19. Contact & Complaints
For privacy queries, requests, or complaints:
Email: admin@reviewmyrental.com.au
Subject line: "Privacy Request" for fastest routing
Response time: Acknowledgement within 5 business days · Resolution within 30 days
If not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC):
Website: www.oaic.gov.au/privacy/privacy-complaints
Phone: 1300 363 992
Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001
This policy was last updated on 12 April 2026. ReviewMyRental is operated in Australia and this Policy is governed by Australian law. Nothing in this Policy constitutes legal advice. For specific legal concerns, seek advice from a qualified Australian lawyer.