Canberrans Speak Out on Duplicate Images Flooding Online Listings and Government Portals

Canberra residents are pushing back against a problem that has quietly grown across real estate platforms, government service portals and community Facebook groups: duplicate images appearing on listings, property ads and official pages, causing confusion, wasted inspections and, in some cases, financial harm to people already stretched by the capital's punishing housing market.

The issue has sharpened focus in recent weeks as the ACT's rental vacancy rate sits near historic lows, putting pressure on prospective tenants and buyers to move fast on listings — often before discovering that the photos attached to a property are recycled from a previous tenancy, show a different unit in the same complex, or have been lifted from a separate address altogether.

What Residents Are Experiencing

In Gungahlin, where new apartment blocks along Hinder Street and around the Gungahlin Town Centre have added hundreds of rental units since 2022, the problem is acute. Community members in local Facebook groups — including the active Gungahlin Community Forum, which has more than 14,000 members — have repeatedly flagged listings where the photographs shown do not match the property inspected. Some describe driving across the city from Tuggeranong or Weston Creek for an inspection, only to find the layout, condition or outlook bore no resemblance to the images posted online.

The ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which handles tenancy disputes in the territory, processed more than 2,800 matters in the 2024–25 financial year according to its annual report. Tribunal records do not currently break out disputes arising specifically from misleading listing images, but tenancy advocates at the Canberra Community Law centre on Colbee Court in Phillip say misrepresentation complaints — including around photographs — have increased in the past 18 months.

The problem extends beyond housing. Small businesses registered on the ACT Government's business directory, and community groups listed through Connect Canberra, have reported their profile images being duplicated or swapped with those of other organisations, sometimes persisting for weeks before being corrected. One Belconnen craft collective found its profile photo replaced with that of a Fyshwick auto workshop for nearly three weeks in early 2026 — a mix-up that, its members say, generated confused phone calls and at least one no-show booking from a customer who expected something very different on arrival.

Why the Timing Matters

The concern lands at a moment when Canberra's public service workforce — the city's dominant employer — is navigating significant pressure. The 2025–26 federal budget flagged reviews across multiple agencies, creating job uncertainty that has made housing decisions more fraught for thousands of families. That anxiety concentrates the mind on every detail of a property search, which makes the discovery of a duplicated or misleading listing photo feel less like a minor glitch and more like a serious breach of trust.

The Australian Capital Territory's rental median for a two-bedroom apartment reached approximately $620 per week in the March 2026 quarter, according to the Real Estate Institute of the ACT's quarterly data. At that price point, a wasted inspection trip across town, or a lease signed based on inaccurate images, is not a trivial inconvenience.

The ACT Fair Trading office, operating under Access Canberra and headquartered on Mort Street in Braddon, is the relevant body for complaints about misleading property advertising under Australian Consumer Law. Residents can lodge complaints directly through the Access Canberra online portal or by calling 13 22 81. The Tenants' Union ACT, based in the CBD, also offers free advice on whether a listing discrepancy rises to the level of actionable misrepresentation.

Community members say the most practical immediate step is to photograph every room during an inspection and note any discrepancy with the advertised images before signing anything. The ACT Tenants' Union recommends attaching a written record of those discrepancies to the condition report submitted at lease start — a step that creates a paper trail if a dispute arises later. For businesses and community groups, Access Canberra has a business profile correction request form that, under current guidelines, should result in a fix within five working days of submission.