Canberra Renters and Buyers Say Fake Listing Photos Are Costing Them More Than Time

Property hunters across Canberra are raising alarm about a practice that has become a quiet constant in the ACT's overheated rental and sales market: listings that reuse photographs from previous tenancies, neighbouring units, or entirely different properties — leaving prospective tenants and buyers to show up at inspections that bear no resemblance to what was advertised online.

The complaints are concentrated in Gungahlin and Belconnen, the two growth corridors where new apartment stock turns over quickly and managing agents handle large volumes of similar-looking units. A Lawson resident who contacted The Daily Canberra described spending three consecutive Saturdays driving to inspections in the Gungahlin Town Centre precinct only to find interiors that were markedly smaller, differently configured, or in poorer condition than the photos suggested. She is not alone.

A Market With No Slack for Mistakes

The timing matters. Sydney recorded its hottest June since 1859 this week, a data point that has renewed urgency around climate-conscious housing choices — including insulation, aspect, and cross-ventilation — all features that are difficult to assess when listing photos are inaccurate or duplicated from a different floor plan. In Canberra, where the median advertised rent for a two-bedroom unit sat above $550 per week through the first half of 2026 according to figures from the ACT Rental Snapshot published by the ACT Government's Housing and Suburbs Division, the decision to attend an inspection carries real cost. Petrol, parking near the Civic interchange, time off work — it adds up fast for public servants already stretched by stagnant wage outcomes from the 2024 enterprise bargaining cycle.

Tenants' Union ACT, based on Girrahween Street in Braddon, fields calls on the issue regularly. The organisation does not attribute specific quotes to caseworkers without formal sign-off, but its published guidance encourages renters to request a statutory declaration from agents confirming that listing photographs were taken of the specific unit being offered — not a display suite or an identical but separate dwelling. That advice has circulated through community Facebook groups covering suburbs from Tuggeranong to Ngunnawal.

The ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal, known as ACAT, has jurisdiction over disputes involving misleading rental advertising under the Residential Tenancies Act 1997, though lodging a complaint requires documentation that many renters do not think to collect at the point of inquiry. Fair Trading enforcement in the ACT sits with Access Canberra, which can investigate real estate agents licensed under the Agents Act 2003.

What Residents Are Asking For

People affected by the issue want two things, based on the accounts shared with this reporter over the past fortnight: mandatory date-stamping of listing images, and a straightforward online mechanism through the Access Canberra portal to flag suspected duplicate or misleading photos without having to lodge a formal tribunal complaint. Several pointed to New South Wales Fair Trading's online reporting tool as a model worth adapting.

One Belconnen renter described cross-referencing a listing on a major property portal against Google Street View of a complex on Aikman Drive and finding the balcony orientation in the photo was physically impossible for the unit number being advertised. She screenshot the discrepancy and sent it to the agent. The listing was quietly updated within 48 hours. No formal complaint was ever filed.

The ACT Real Estate Institute, headquartered in the city, has previously published guidance urging member agencies to ensure photo libraries are kept current and unit-specific, though enforcement of that guidance is a matter for individual principals.

For anyone currently searching, the practical advice from Tenants' Union ACT's published materials is consistent: ask in writing before any inspection whether the photographs in the listing depict the specific premises at the specific address being offered for lease. Keep that correspondence. If the answer is evasive or the inspection reveals a material difference, that paper trail is the foundation of any future Access Canberra complaint. The regulator's online complaints form is available at accesscanberra.act.gov.au, and lodging costs nothing.