Landlords’ blacklist in data hack

Outrage at sale of tenants’ private information. Samesh Mohanlall reports.

A woman was shocked to discover her decades-old criminal record had been published online, part of a blacklist of compromising information compiled by a property investor group and sold to landlords about prospective tenants.

Jessica Cross was one of hundreds of Timaru residents to have their sensitive information posted online, including a conviction for a minor offence she says she committed 15 years ago while still a teenager.

The South Canterbury Property Investors’ Association president Kerry Beveridge said its database had been hacked and the list posted online. The information should only have been made available to members, and the association was investigating the incident.

New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties spokesman Thomas Beagle said it was the association’s responsibility to keep the information private.

‘‘If they fail then being hacked doesn’t excuse them. They were still collecting it and sharing it irresponsibly.’’

Cross said the list had first and last names, criminal convictions, information about monies owed to landlords, and the state properties had been left in.

‘‘It is not fair. The part that I found on me had some charges that had since been dismissed and removed,’’ she said.

‘‘I’m lucky enough to be a home owner, I’m not a renter. But I don’t see how such a document can exist.’’

Cross discovered the list by chance after googling her name.

She was further exasperated by the association’s attitude.

‘‘I called them probably 20 times to get this off the internet, and it took me a long time to get through to somebody who will speak to me about it.

‘‘If I went to go and rent a property at the moment, there’s a possibility that I won’t be able to.’’

Another ‘‘victim’’, who did not want to be named, said his convictions from his youth were wiped out under the Clean Slate Act.

‘‘I believe this is a privacy breach. I have not reoffended since and do not think it is fair this is dragged back up 25 years later.’’

New Zealand Property Investors Federation chief executive Andrew King said the association had taken legal advice and was within the law.

But Beagle said it appeared to have breached the Privacy Act.

‘‘The whole point of landlords collecting information is for the purposes of renting a property out to someone. It’s not information to collect and then go on and give to someone else.’’