'My landlord used the same photo for three different units': Canberra renters speak out on duplicate property images

A Dickson renter spent three weekends inspecting apartments she'd already eliminated from her search — because photographs from a Braddon listing she'd rejected in February reappeared attached to a different unit on Northbourne Avenue in May. She is not alone. Across Canberra's strained rental market, community members are describing a pattern of duplicate, recycled or outright misrepresentative property images circulating on major listing platforms, distorting decisions at a moment when the ACT's vacancy rate leaves little room for error.

The issue has landed squarely in a city where public servants on fixed Commonwealth salaries are hunting for housing within tight budgets, and where a median weekly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the inner north sits well above what many entry-level APS staff can comfortably absorb. Renters who spoke to The Daily Canberra described wasted inspection trips, failed bond applications based on inaccurate room dimensions, and the particular misery of discovering — after signing — that the sunlit kitchen in the listing photographs belonged to a different floor plan entirely.

A suburb-by-suburb problem

The complaints are concentrated in Canberra's highest-turnover corridors. Gungahlin, where new apartment blocks along Gungahlin Drive have added hundreds of near-identical units to the market over the past four years, appears frequently in accounts. Several people described photographs clearly taken in a display suite — distinctive pendant lighting, furniture not left by any previous tenant — attached to listings for occupied, unfurnished apartments in the same complex. Belconnen's town centre precinct, around the Westfield and the bus interchange on Chandler Street, drew similar descriptions.

A University of Canberra student who relocated from regional New South Wales for a postgraduate program said she made a bond payment of $1,950 — four weeks rent — on a Watson unit whose listing images showed a second bathroom that did not exist in the actual property. She said the property manager acknowledged the photographs were from a different unit in the building but maintained the listing did not explicitly guarantee the layout shown. She did not pursue formal action through the ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, describing the process as too time-consuming during semester.

An APS4-level public servant based at the Department of Finance offices on King Edward Terrace told The Daily Canberra he had flagged a duplicate image issue directly to a real estate agency operating in Lyneham, asking them to update a floor-plan photograph that had appeared across at least two separate listings over eight months. The agency updated one listing. The other remained live for a further six weeks.

What protections exist — and what the community wants

The ACT's Residential Tenancies Act 1997 does not contain provisions specifically governing the accuracy of listing photographs, though the Australian Consumer Law — administered federally through the ACCC — prohibits misleading representations in trade or commerce. The ACT Fair Trading office, part of Access Canberra, handles complaints relating to property transactions, but community members described the complaints process as oriented toward post-tenancy disputes rather than pre-lease misrepresentation.

A UNSW Cities Futures Centre analysis published in April 2026 found that renters in high-competition urban markets were making binding financial commitments — including holding deposits and bond payments — based on digital listing content without in-person inspection, a behaviour accelerated since 2020. Canberra, with its concentration of interstate arrivals taking up public service postings, has a higher-than-average proportion of renters who first view a property remotely.

What community members say they want is straightforward: a requirement that listing photographs carry a date stamp and a unit-specific identifier, so a photograph taken in apartment 4B cannot legally accompany a listing for apartment 11F. Several pointed to New Zealand's Tenancy Services guidelines, which encourage landlords to ensure photographs accurately reflect the specific property being advertised, as a model worth adopting here.

Renters with concerns about misleading property listings in the ACT can lodge a complaint with Access Canberra online or by calling 13 22 81. The ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal accepts tenancy applications and provides a self-represented litigant guide on its website. Consumer advocacy group CHOICE also maintains a guide to Australian Consumer Law rights in property transactions, updated as of March 2026.