Your screenshot will be accepted. That is not the same as believed.
Tribunals are not bound by the rules of evidence, so a phone screenshot goes into the file without an argument. Then the agent says the listing never said that, the landlord says the message was never sent, and a member has to decide which version to prefer. VCAT alone handles tens of thousands of disputes a year, and its residential tenancies list is the busiest part of it.
Works on Chrome and Edge. From $4.99 (about A$7) as a one-off, or a 7-day trial that requires a credit card.
Phone screenshot
- Page address
- not recorded
- Time captured
- not recorded
- File hash
- none
- Checked by
- your word
ProofSnap package
- Page address
- rental-listing/4821
- Time captured
- 03:12:47 UTC
- File hash
- a1f3…9c2
- Checked by
- anyone, offline
Anchored to the Bitcoin blockchain, so the capture time cannot be moved.
Illustrative example. Both files go into the tribunal file. Only one of them can be checked.
At NCAT, VCAT, QCAT and their equivalents in the other states and territories, the rules of evidence do not apply. That makes screenshots easy to file and easy to dismiss, because the member is weighing credibility rather than admissibility. A ProofSnap capture answers the credibility question directly: the full page, the saved source, the exact URL, the capture time in UTC, a SHA-256 hash of every file, an RSA-4096 signature and a Bitcoin blockchain timestamp, all of which the other party can check for themselves in a browser. Use it for rental listings that change, condition reports, strata correspondence, tradie quotes, marketplace ads and message threads. From $4.99 (about A$7) as a one-off purchase, with no subscription. If the matter later moves to a court where the Evidence Act does apply, the same package is what section 146 is looking for.
By Radim Motycka, Founder and Lead Engineer, ProofSnap · · Independently verifiable via Trust Verifier
How these disputes actually run
The listing changes, and suddenly it is your word against theirs
Tribunal matters are decided months after the thing that caused them. By the hearing, the webpage has been edited, the ad has been pulled and the thread has been deleted.
The ad no longer says what it said
Rental and sale listings are edited constantly. Air conditioning, parking, pets allowed, the inclusions list, the price. When the listing that made you sign is gone, you are left describing it from memory while the other side describes it differently.
The message thread gets tidied up
Agents change, portals archive, WhatsApp threads are deleted for everyone. The repair you asked for four times becomes a repair nobody remembers being asked about.
Two accounts, no way to choose
A member with two plausible stories and no verifiable record will usually go with whoever seems more organised. A package that can be independently checked is not just more convincing, it removes the guesswork.
Where you file changes what the rules are
Australia never finished harmonising its evidence law. For a tribunal it rarely matters, but knowing where you sit tells you how much weight the record has to carry on its own.
Tribunals: not bound by the rules of evidence
NCAT in New South Wales, VCAT in Victoria, QCAT in Queensland, and the equivalents in South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory. Material comes in freely, so nothing protects you from a weak record except how convincing it looks. NCAT is explicit that it decides cases on the evidence presented, which means what you cannot prove, it cannot find.
Uniform Evidence Acts
The Commonwealth, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory. Section 146 presumes that a device or process which ordinarily produces a given outcome did so on this occasion, and that presumption can be rebutted. Section 147, the business-records equivalent, does not apply to a capture made for a dispute, because subsection (3) excludes documents produced for or in contemplation of a proceeding.
Queensland, WA and South Australia
Outside the uniform scheme, each applying its own Evidence Act. The wording differs, the question does not: can you show the record is what you say it is, and that it has not changed since you made it.
Appeals and escalation
Tribunal matters can move to a court, and a matter that started as a bond dispute can end up somewhere the Evidence Act applies in full. The capture you made at the start is the one that has to survive that, so make it properly the first time.
A note for agents, property managers and strata committees
This cuts both ways. If you manage properties or run a strata committee, the same capture protects you from a tenant or owner who claims the listing promised something it never did. Capture the listing as published on the day it goes live, keep the package, and the argument ends before it starts. A subscription makes sense once you are doing this weekly rather than once in a while.
Three steps, about forty seconds
No forensic training required. The proof is in the package, not in your testimony about how careful you were.
Capture while it is live
Open the listing, the portal message or the thread and capture it. The full page is saved, including the parts below the fold that a phone screenshot would cut off.
Everything is hashed and timestamped
SHA-256 for every file, an RSA-4096 signature over the manifest, and a Bitcoin blockchain anchor so the date cannot be moved afterwards.
File it with your application
Attach the PDF evidence report to your application and keep the ZIP. If anyone disputes it, they can verify the package themselves rather than take your word for it.
What lands in the evidence package
Between 11 and 15 files depending on your plan, delivered as one ZIP that anyone can check without installing anything.
Full-page screenshot
The whole page, not just the visible window, stitched and hashed.
Saved page source
The document as rendered at capture time, including the head, meta tags and structured data.
Extracted page text
Searchable plain text, so a quote can be found and cited without retyping.
Technical metadata
URL, page title, HTTP response headers, browser, operating system and the capture time in UTC.
Signed manifest
SHA-256 for every file, signed with an RSA-4096 key whose public key ships in the package.
Blockchain timestamp
The manifest hash anchored to Bitcoin via OpenTimestamps, so the capture time cannot be backdated.
Chain of custody and forensic log
A record of what happened during the capture, in the order it happened.
Evidence report as PDF
A readable summary you can attach to an application, a notice or a report.
Verification instructions
Written steps plus scripts, so the other side can re-check the hashes offline.
Where all of that comes from
Every file above is produced by one press in the side panel, while the listing, the chat or the invoice is still on screen. Nothing has to be assembled afterwards, which is usually where a self-represented applicant loses a day and still ends up with loose images.
Capture as many pages as the dispute needs. Each one becomes its own sealed package, so a member can take them one at a time instead of weighing a folder against an explanation.
Want to see what comes out before you install anything? Download a sample evidence package and open it yourself.
Anyone can verify it, including the other side. Drop the ZIP onto the public Trust Verifier and the hashes, the signature and the timestamp are checked in the browser. Nothing is uploaded and nothing depends on ProofSnap still existing.
Three ways to get the evidence
Prices are charged in USD. Approximate Australian figures are shown for orientation only, and your card issuer sets the actual rate.
One dispute
$4.99 once
about A$7
A SnapPack is a single up-front purchase for a set number of captures. No subscription, no auto-renewal, no trial. Best when you have one problem and you want it documented today.
Get a SnapPackOngoing matters
$8.99/month
about A$13
For anyone who captures regularly: practitioners, property managers, HR, investigators. The 7-day free trial requires a credit card. Cancel any time during the trial and you are not charged.
Start the 7-day trialWe do it for you
$44.99 per URL
about A$64
Send us the link and our team captures the package for you, with nothing to install. Useful when the capture should not come from a party to the dispute.
See the capture serviceProofSnap is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. Qualified timestamps are issued by Disig a.s., a Qualified Trust Service Provider on the EU Trusted List. Australia has no equivalent regime, so that timestamp is independent corroboration here rather than a legal presumption.
Official sources
Every figure and deadline on this page comes from the following primary sources. Check them yourself rather than taking our word for it.
- NCAT: tenancy and housing cases the New South Wales process, forms and fees.
- VCAT the Victorian tribunal, including its residential tenancies list.
- QCAT the Queensland tribunal, including minor civil disputes.
- Evidence Act 1995 (Cth) section 146, for matters where the rules of evidence do apply.
Practical presentation matters as much as the capture itself. Number your paragraphs, label each document, and give the tribunal and the other party identical copies. If your evidence is in colour, provide it in colour.
Questions people actually ask
Capture it now, argue about it later
The listing you are looking at today is the evidence you will need in four months. It will not be there then.