Privacy

Your privacy is important to us. This statement outlines our policy about how we manage your personal information. The statement relates only to the above businesses. Other businesses of the Agency HQ Group will be governed by their own privacy policies.

From time to time, we may find it necessary to change this Privacy Policy to reflect changes in the law or our commercial activities. The latest version of our Privacy Policy will always be available from our office.

We are bound by the National Privacy Principles and our procedures regarding personal information are designed to ensure that your rights under the National Privacy Principles are protected.

Who are We?

Our activities include:

Residential Sales; and
Property Management; and
Commercial

Openness

We will be open about how we handle personal information and will do this by:

Telling you when we collect personal information, what we will use the information for and to whom we may disclose it to;
Giving you more detailed explanation of our Privacy Policy when you ask for it; and
Giving you access to personal information that we hold about you when you ask for it.

You have the right to access personal information that we hold about you under the National Privacy Principles. Details of how to make a request for access are set out at the end of this Privacy Policy. We may charge you a small fee to cover any costs which we incur responding to your request for access such as photocopying costs.

Why do we collect personal information?

We collect personal information in the course of our real estate business for a variety of reasons including:

to use as valuation evidence and valuation services;
to advise Vendors of who has enquired on their property offered for sale/lease;
to keep ourselves informed of the prevailing conditions of the property market in the areas authorised within the businesses documents;
to identify and market to potential vendors, purchasers, landlords and tenants via telephone, post, in person, e-Brochures, email and or e-Magazines;
to administer contracts for the sale or lease of property;
to assess the suitability of prospective tenants on behalf of landlords for whom we act;
to manage tenancies;
to provide appraisal services, if required;
to provide Research / Statistics / Market Commentary and Examples; and
to advise, publicise and advertise our achievements/results for sales, leases, referrals and property management.

We also collect personal information about persons who:

apply to us for employment; or
are involved in the supply of goods and services to us.

We do not actively collect sensitive information. We may from time to time hold sensitive information about job applicants and share within the related businesses but not disclose this sensitive information to anyone else. We may hold some sensitive information from time to time about prospective tenants. This material may be used to consider a tenancy application to the extent that it is not unlawful to do so.

To whom do we disclose personal information?

We may need to disclose personal details to various people to carry out the services that we are engaged to provide. For example, we may need to give details about a tenant to a contractor to arrange repair of a premises. We may also pass on personal information to a property insurer or a landlord's insurer to process a claim on behalf of the owner of a property.

We may disclose personal information from time to time to other agents, including agents outside the Agency HQ Group, to introduce vendors to purchasers or landlords to tenants.

Unless you tell us not to do so, we will provide your details to service providers associated with the Agency HQ Group.

Management and storage of personal information

We take active steps to protect the security of personal information.

We expect our staff to comply with certain standards of behaviour when dealing with personal information. We advise all our staff about the need to protect your privacy and we will regard breaches of the National Privacy Principles as serious matters.

Some of our records are paper based. These records are kept on secure premises away from the general public. We also keep some information in an electronic form. Records kept electronically are within a secure computer system, which contains features such as password access and the latest virus protection. We obtain assistance from the Agency HQ IT Department to maintain our databases. Agency HQ IT have access to information on our databases for the purposes of data recovery, statistical analysis and reporting.

We may keep personal information for at least 7 years after the completion of a transaction for legal reasons. After that time, we may de-identify or destroy the personal information.

How do we make sure that information is accurate, complete and up to date?

We try to ensure that any personal information that we hold is accurate, complete and up to date. We do this by collecting information from you directly or from reliable sources including publicly accessible databases. If we become aware that the information is inaccurate, incomplete or out of date on our records we will correct that information or if necessary, delete it from our records.

Contacting us about privacy issues

If you wish to:

obtain more information about our Privacy Policy; or
obtain access to personal information that we hold about you; or
contact us because you believe that we have breached your privacy,

then you may contact our Privacy Officer. We will respond to an inquiry or complaint promptly (usually within 14 to 30 days). Our Privacy Officer's contact detail is 1300 009 747.

If you contact our Privacy Officer but you are not satisfied with the response that you receive, you can contact the Principal.

The Principal is the key executive who will attempt to mediate between you and us to resolve your concerns. Agency HQ observes the National Privacy Principles and will treat your complaint seriously.