Canberra Renters and Buyers Say Duplicate Property Listings Are Costing Them Time, Money and Trust

A growing number of Canberra residents searching for rentals and homes to buy say they are repeatedly misled by duplicate or outdated photographs on major property listing platforms — images that show renovated kitchens that no longer exist, gardens that have been concreted over, or floor plans from a previous tenancy that bear little resemblance to what turns up at the inspection.

The frustration is particularly acute right now because the ACT rental market remains one of the tightest in the country. With vacancy rates hovering near historic lows and public servants on fixed salaries facing rising rents across suburbs like Dickson, Lyneham and the Gungahlin town centre corridor, any friction in the search process carries real financial cost. Missing an inspection because a listing looked wrong — or attending one based on images from a completely different unit in the same block — wastes leave, fuel and application fees.

What Renters Are Actually Experiencing

At the Gungahlin Community Hub on Anthony Rolfe Avenue, a Saturday morning housing information session run by the Canberra Community Law service in late June drew more than 40 residents. Several raised the image problem unprompted when discussion turned to the stress of the search process. Community members described finding listings on platforms like Domain and realestate.com.au where photographs were clearly pulled from a previous listing of the same address — sometimes years old — showing carpet that had since been replaced with vinyl, or a balcony enclosed since the original shoot.

The issue is not limited to rentals. In Belconnen, where units in complexes around the Westfield shopping precinct regularly cycle through the market, buyers attending open homes have described arriving to find a property that looks nothing like its advertised photographs. One Latham resident, who asked not to be named, said she submitted an expression of interest on a Macquarie Street unit based on images that turned out to have been taken for a listing in 2021 — a full five years before she inspected it in May this year.

Real estate industry self-regulation on this point is handled primarily through the Real Estate Institute of the ACT and the broader national standards framework. The ACT's Agents Act 2003 requires agents to avoid misleading conduct, but enforcement on image accuracy specifically is complaint-driven rather than proactive. Consumer protection complaints in the ACT are handled by Access Canberra, which sits within the ACT Government's Regulatory Services division.

The Cost of Getting It Wrong

The practical costs add up. A standard ACT rental application typically involves a $20-to-$50 background check fee through services like 1form or Snug, and taking two hours of personal leave to attend an inspection that does not match its listing represents a direct wage cost for public servants on Australian Public Service pay scales — where base salaries for APS3 and APS4 staff sit between roughly $68,000 and $82,000 annually under current enterprise agreements.

Consumer advocacy group CHOICE has previously identified image accuracy as a gap in how Australian real estate platforms self-police listings, though the organisation has not published ACT-specific figures. The ACT Tenants Union, based in Civic, has documented complaints about misleading listings as part of its annual intake data, though its most recently published summary covers the 2024-25 financial year.

For Canberrans navigating the market right now, housing advocates suggest a few practical steps before committing to an application: request the date photographs were taken directly from the agent in writing, cross-reference listing images against Google Street View at the address, and use the ACT Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate's property records to check whether building approvals for renovations post-date the images. Complaints about misleading listings can be lodged with Access Canberra at its shopfront on Callam Street in Phillip or via the online portal.

The ACT Government has signalled it is reviewing tenancy regulation settings as part of its broader rental affordability work, with a policy paper expected later in 2026. Whether image accuracy standards feature in that review will be watched closely by housing groups in Civic and Gungahlin alike.