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PRIVACY POLICY
Chapter Estate Agents Privacy Policy
Privacy Statement
Chapter Estate Agents, its related bodies corporate and franchisees (together Chapter, we, our, us) understands and recognises the importance of protecting the privacy and the rights of individuals in relation to their personal information. Chapter aims to maintain a high standard of compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Act). This Privacy Policy outlines what type of personal information is collected, why it is collected and how we collect and manage this information.
What is your personal information?
When used in this privacy policy, the term “personal information” has the meaning given to it in the Act. In general terms, it is any information that can be used to personally identify you which may include your name, address, telephone number, email address and profession or occupation. If the information we collect personally identifies you, or you are reasonably identifiable from it, the information will be considered personal information.
What personal information does Chapter collect?
The following information relating to you may be collected by Chapter:
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Contact detail (name, address, telephone number and email address);
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driver’s license number;
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current property ownership details.
If you are a current of prospective tenant we may also collect the following information in addition to that mentioned above:
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profession or occupation
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employment status employer, salary and length of employment for rental applications;
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other income sources;
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personal and financial referees whom we may contact about your application.
Chapter may also collect other information about you to enable us to provide services to you and we may collect non-personal information such as anonymous answers to surveys or aggregated information about how users use our website.
How do we collect your personal information?
Chapter collects your personal information directly from you unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so. When collecting personal information from you, we may collect in ways including:
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through your access and use of our website
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by telephone, letter, fax or email
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during conversations between you and our representatives
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by contracting with us
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by entering competitions, promotions or requesting information or material from us
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completing surveys or providing feedback
We may also collect personal information from third parties including:
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companies such as credit reporting agencies, law enforcement agencies and government entities
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your representatives (lawyers, accountants and financial advisers)
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your employer
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publicly available sources of information or any other organisations where you have given your consent
What happens if we can’t collect your personal information?
If you do not provide us with the personal information described above, some or all of the following may happen:
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we may not be able to provide the requested products or services to you, either to the same standard or at all;
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we may not be able to provide you with information about products and services that you may want, including information about new properties that are available for lease or purchase; or
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we may be unable to tailor the content of our websites to your preferences and your experience of our websites may not be as enjoyable or useful.
For what purposes does Chapter collect this information?
We collect this information about you to:
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enable Chapter to provide products and services to you and to send communications requested by you;
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to answer enquiries and provide information or advice about existing and new products or services;
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to comply with local, state or federal legislation or regulations with respect to real estate property sales, rental and administration,
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to conduct business processing functions including providing personal information to our related bodies corporate, contractors, service providers or other third parties;
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for the administrative, marketing (including direct marketing), planning, product or service development, quality control, survey and research purposes,
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to share your updated personal information to our related bodies corporate, contractors or service providers;
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to update our records and keep your contact details up to date;
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to process and respond to any complaint made by you; and
Your personal information will not be shared, sold, rented or disclosed other than as described in this Privacy Policy.
To whom may we disclose your information?
We may disclose your personal information to:
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our employees, related bodies corporate, contractors, franchisees, franchisees’ real estate agents or service providers for the purposes of operation of our website or our business, fulfilling requests by you, and to otherwise provide products and services to you including, without limitation, web hosting providers, IT systems administrators, mailing houses, couriers, payment processors, data entry service providers, electronic network administrators, debt collectors, and professional advisors such as accountants, solicitors, business advisors and consultants;
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if you are a tenant of any property that we manage, to the National Tenancies Database;
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suppliers and other third parties with whom we have commercial relationships, for business, marketing, and related purposes; and
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any organisation for any authorised purpose with your express consent.
We may combine or share any information that we collect from you with information collected by any of our related bodies corporate (within Australia).
Chapter may at times be bound by law and be required to provide your personal information to government-related bodies including the Titles Office or the RTBA (Residential Tenancies Bond Authority).
Chapter may also at times need to outsource some of our administrative and other property-related functions to external organisations such as advertising agencies, sign writers, building and garden maintenance contractors or consultants such as accountants, mailing houses, couriers, payment processors, data entry service providers, electronic network administrators, debt collectors, and other business advisors and consultants. Most of the above organisations are bound by expressed or implied confidentiality obligations to Chapter.
We may disclose personal information to our related bodies corporate and third party suppliers and service providers located overseas for some of the purposes listed above. We take reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipients of your personal information do not breach the privacy obligations relating to your personal information.
Direct marketing materials
We may send you direct marketing communications and information about our products and services that we consider may be of interest to you. These communications may be sent in various forms, including mail, SMS and email, in accordance with applicable marketing laws, such as the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). We will endeavour to use your preferred method of communication, if indicated, whenever practical to do so. In addition, you may at any time opt-out of receiving marketing communications from us by contacting us (see the details below) or by using opt-out facilities provided in the marketing communications and we will then ensure that your name is removed from our mailing list.
How can you access and correct your personal information?
You may request access to any personal information we hold about you at any time by contacting us (see the details below). We will respond to your request for access with 14 days and endeavour to provide the requested information within 30 days. Where we hold information that you are entitled to access, we will try to provide you with suitable means of accessing it (for example, by mailing or emailing it to you). We may charge you a fee to cover our administrative and other reasonable costs in providing the information to you and, if so, the fees will be disclosed on our website. We will not charge for simply making the request and will not charge for making any corrections to your personal information.
There may be instances where we cannot grant you access to the personal information we hold. For example, we may need to refuse access if granting access would interfere with the privacy of others or if it would result in a breach of confidentiality. If that happens, we will give you written reasons for any refusal.
If you believe that personal information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, then you may request us to amend it. We will consider if the information requires amendment. If we do not agree that there are grounds for amendment then we will add a note to the personal information stating that you disagree with it.
What is the process for complaining about a breach of privacy?
If you believe that your privacy has been breached, please contact us using the contact information below and provide details of the incident so that we can investigate it. We will deal with the complaint in accordance with our then current Complaints Handling Procedure.
The Chapter Website and Links
As our website is linked to the internet, and the internet is inherently insecure, we cannot provide any assurance regarding the security of transmission of information you communicate to us online. We also cannot guarantee that the information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted over the internet. Accordingly, any personal information or other information which you transmit to us online is transmitted at your own risk.
Our website may contain links to other websites operated by third parties. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the privacy practices of any third party website and we are not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of any third party website. Third party websites are responsible for informing you about their own privacy practices.
How does Chapter keep my personal information secure?
Chapter will take all reasonable steps to ensure information collected, used or disclosed is stored in a secure environment that is only accessible by persons authorised by Chapter so as to prevent interference, misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
Whilst Chapter endeavours to provide a secure environment you should be aware that there are inherent risks associated with the electronic storage and transmission of information (particularly via the internet) which cannot be guaranteed 100% secure.
If the personal information is no longer needed for any purpose, Chapter will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify the personal information permanently.
Contacting us
If you have any questions about this privacy policy, any concerns or a complaint regarding the treatment of your privacy or a possible breach of your privacy, please use the contact link on our website or contact our Privacy Officer using the details set out below.
We will treat your requests or complaints confidentially. Our representative will contact you within a reasonable time after receipt of your complaint to discuss your concerns and outline options regarding how they may be resolved. We will aim to ensure that your complaint is resolved in timely and appropriate manner.
Please contact our Privacy Officer at:
Privacy Officer
Post: Level 3, 489 Toorak Road, Toorak VIC 3142
Email: commercial@chaptertm.com.au
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