Canberra Renters Speak Out as Duplicate Listing Photos Leave Them Chasing Homes That Don't Exist

The property looked perfect on screen: a three-bedroom townhouse on Hibberson Street in Gungahlin, freshly painted interiors, a rear courtyard, two parking spaces. When the family of four drove out on a Tuesday afternoon last month to inspect it, they found a different property entirely — smaller rooms, cracked cornicing, a kitchen that bore no resemblance to the listing photographs. They had already paid $85 in Uber costs to get there. They walked away with nothing.

Duplicate and replaced listing images — photographs reused from previous tenancies, from different properties, or sometimes from interstate listings altogether — have become a persistent headache in Canberra's rental market. With vacancy rates sitting well below two percent across the ACT for much of 2025 and 2026, prospective tenants are under pressure to move fast, and many are booking inspections, preparing reference packages, and in some cases submitting applications before ever setting foot in the actual property. That urgency is precisely what makes misleading images so damaging.

The Pressure Is Sharpest in the Growth Suburbs

Gungahlin and Belconnen carry the weight of Canberra's housing growth, and both suburbs have seen rental competition intensify as the public service workforce absorbs new entrants and housing construction struggles to keep pace. The ACT Government's 2024-25 budget allocated funding toward accelerating residential approvals in both corridors, but supply has not yet caught up with demand.

Community groups in both areas say the duplicate image problem is not new, but it has worsened as property managers juggle larger portfolios. The Belconnen Community Service, based on Benjamin Way, and the Gungahlin Community Council have both fielded complaints from residents who describe making decisions based on photographs that no longer reflect the actual property condition. One scenario that comes up repeatedly: a property is renovated between tenancies, but the listing continues to carry photographs from the pre-renovation state — meaning the updated property looks worse in person than expected. More damaging, though, is the reverse: images from a renovated or superior property used to market one that has since deteriorated or was never equivalent in the first place.

Tenants ACT, the territory's peak renter advocacy body based in Civic, confirmed it receives inquiries about misleading rental advertising, though the organisation has noted that current ACT tenancy law focuses primarily on lease terms and bond disputes rather than pre-application advertising accuracy. The ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal's tenancy division handles disputes once a lease is signed — which means renters misled before signing have limited formal recourse under existing rules.

What Renters Say They Need

The calls for reform share a common thread: transparency at the listing stage. People describe wanting a mandatory photograph date stamp on rental listings — a simple disclosure of when images were taken — so they can judge whether the photos are from the current tenancy cycle or carried over from years earlier. Several describe the experience of finding a listing on Domain or realestate.com.au that carries images from a previous listing they recognise from 2023 or 2024.

The ACT's existing rental reforms, which came into effect in stages from 2023 onward under amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, strengthened protections around rent increases and minimum standards, but did not specifically address pre-lease advertising image accuracy. Consumer protections under Australian Consumer Law, administered federally by the ACCC, technically prohibit misleading conduct in trade, but enforcement action against individual real estate agencies over listing photos is rare.

For renters already stretched by Canberra's median asking rent — which, according to Domain's March 2026 rental report, sits at $680 per week for houses in the ACT — the practical cost of a wasted inspection is not trivial. Transport, time off work, and the emotional toll of a market where a single bedroom can attract dozens of applications all compound the frustration.

The immediate practical advice from Tenants ACT is to request confirmation from the agent, in writing before inspection, that listing photographs reflect the current state of the property. Prospective tenants are also encouraged to use the ACT's Access Canberra complaint portal if they believe a listing is materially misleading. Whether that mechanism has the teeth to deter repeat behaviour is a question advocates say still needs answering.