Privacy Policy

Housequest Pty Ltd Privacy Policy

In compliance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) Privacy Policy Guidelines

Who are we?

'We', 'us', 'our' or "The Group" refer to Housequest Pty Ltd ABN 34 148 891 785, related employees, real-estate agents, service providers, contractors and any referred agent/broker that will assist you.

Commitment to Privacy

This Privacy Policy sets out the way in which we will use, manage and protect your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) contained in the Privacy Act.

We recognise that any personal information we collect about you will only be used for the purposes we have collected it or as allowed by law. It is important to us that you are confident that any personal information we hold about you will be treated in a way that ensures protection of your personal information.

Our commitment in respect of personal information is to abide by the Australian Privacy Principles for the protection of personal information, as set out in the Privacy Act, Spam Act 2003, Do Not Call Register Act 2006 and the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009, and any other relevant laws.

Personal Information

When we refer to personal information we mean information from which your identity is reasonably apparent. This information may include information or an opinion about you.

The kinds of personal information we may collect about you include your name, mailing or street address, telephone number, email address, facsimile number, age or birth date, occupation, profession and any other information relating to you that you provide directly or indirectly through our websites, through our representatives, agents and employees, service Open For Inspections forms or visits by our representatives from time to time.

If you give us personal information about another person, you represent that you are authorised to do so and agree that you have obtained consent from that person for us to use and disclose their personal information and that they may access any personal information we hold about them.

Why we collect personal information

We collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information so that we can conduct our business activities.

Your personal information is used for the following purposes

• to assist you with buying or selling a property
• to enable us to assess your suitability and eligibility for buying or selling property
• to provide marketing including direct marketing, real estate agents and employees, contractors, service providers or other third parties;
• to provide conveyancing and property settlement services
• to manage our relationship with you;
• to answer any enquiries and provide information or advise about existing products and services or new products and services offered by us;
• to update our records to keep your details up to date;
• to provide you with access to the protected areas of our website

Your personal information will not be used in any other way other than what is described in this Privacy Policy.

How do we collect your personal information?

When collecting information from you we may collect it in ways including:

• Our websites, telephone, letter, fax or email,
• Conversations between our representatives
• Contracting with us,
• Open For Inspections,
• By entering into competition, promotions or requesting material from us.
• From third parties such as your representatives (Lawyers, Accountants, Finance/Mortgage Brokers and Financial Advisers)
• Your Employer, Credit Reporting Agencies, Law Enforcement Agencies and Government Entities
• Any other Organisation where you have given consent

To whom we disclose your personal information

To ensure you receive the highest possible service levels and best possible outcomes, we may disclose your personal information to our business partners or other organisations that provide products or services used or marketed by us.

Personal information that you provide to us will only be disclosed to a third party either in Australia and/or overseas, if we are required or authorised by law to disclose the information.

Any information that is disclosed will be done in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APP).

The types of organisations to which we are likely to disclose information about you include mortgage intermediaries, financial planners, Insurance brokers, valuers, surveyors, accountants, credit reporting bodies, recoveries firms, debt collectors, building and pest inspection contractors, property management services contractors and lawyers.

We may also disclose your personal information to any other organisation that may have or is considering having an interest in your property purchase/sale or in our business.

Your personal information may be disclosed between Housequest and its Agents within the company to facilitate a transaction to which the provision of that personal information relates or to enable us to properly conduct our business within the company.

Disclosure to Overseas Parties

Housequest will never sell, lease or surrender our database to any party whatsoever. At the time of writing this Privacy Policy the Housequest website and cloud-based CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) software are hosted by Australian website hosting companies with their servers located within Australian borders.

From time to time, overseas hosting companies may host our data on their servers; however Housequest will only engage reputable companies that have well established privacy and data protection service agreements.

All companies conducting business with Housequest; whether foreign or domestic are bound by robust confidentiality agreements that further protect your information.

How is your information stored?

We take reasonable steps to securely store personal details and information. This includes electronic and physical security measures, staff training, and use of password protection software. Details of our security systems are available by contacting our Privacy Officer.

When the personal information that we collect is no longer required, we will remove or de-identify the personal information as soon as reasonably possible.

We may, however, retain personal information in our IT backups for as long as is necessary to comply with any applicable law, for the prevention of fraud, for insurance and governance purposes, for the collection of any monies owed and to resolve disputes.

Direct Marketing

We may use personal information; specifically your name, telephone number, email address and relevant home or postal address details, to let you know about our services, facilities and benefits and those of our related real estate agents and employees, contractors, service providers of Housequest.

We and/or our related real estate agents, contractors, service providers or other third parties may contact you for direct marketing purposes in a variety of ways, including by mail, email, SMS, telephone, online advertising or facsimile.

Open for Inspection Collection Notice

Privacy Act 1988, Spam Act 2003, Do Not Call Register Act 2006 and the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009.

We store and use your personal information collected from you at the Open For Inspections for security purposes on behalf of our clients.

We will also use your personal information to contact you by means of any officer, contractor, employee or agent in relation to this property as well as other properties, products and services which we believe may be of interest to you.

We will also contact you for customer feedback on our services.

In providing your personal information you consent to us collecting, storing and using your personal information in the manner set out above and you consent to us disclosing your personal information to our related bodies corporate and each of their officers, contractors, employees and agents who may collect, store and use of your personal information in the manner set out above.

You are also consenting for us to give your personal information to our preferred product suppliers; for them to offer you products that we may receive a commission on.

You acknowledge and agree that this consent is effective consent for the purposes of the Do Not Call Register Act 2006, Spam Act 2003, Privacy Act 1988 and National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 and is deemed to be for an indefinite period (unless you advise us differently).

If the information is not provided by you we may not be able to provide an effective service to you.

If you require more information you can contact the Housequest Office or Housequest agent with which you have dealings, or contact us on the details provided below.

Opting Out

We may send you direct marketing communications and information about our product services that we consider may be of interest to you. Your consent will remain current until you advise us otherwise.

However, you can opt out at any time, in the following ways:

• Send an email to admin@housequestipswich.com.au
• Advise us if you receive a marketing call that you no longer wish to receive these calls

Notification of source

If we have collected the personal information that we use to send you direct marketing material from a third party (for example a direct mail database provider), you can ask us to notify you of our source of information, and Housequest policy is to do so unless this is unreasonable or impracticable.

Change in our Privacy Policy

We are constantly reviewing all of our policies and attempt to keep up to date with market expectations. Technology is constantly changing, as is the law and market place practices.

As a consequence we may change this Privacy Policy from time to time or as the need arises.

You may request this Privacy Policy in an alternative form.

This Privacy Policy came into existence on 12th March 2014

Contacting Us

You can make any requests relating to the treatment of your personal information or requests relating to your personal information held.

We will respond to your request within 30 days and/or a reasonable period of time from when the request was made.

Our Obligations

Housequest Pty Ltd is bound by the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles (APP) contained in the Privacy Act.

Please contact us if you wish to discuss any privacy issues.

Tank Lee - Principal
Housequest Pty Ltd
admin@housequestipswich.com.au
Phone: (07) 3288 6800

You can obtain further information about the Privacy Act 1988 and the protection of your personal information on the Australian Federal Government Commissioner's website: www.privacy.gov.au