PRIVACY POLICY

Empower Estate Agents

OVERVIEW

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that Empower Estate Agents manages personal and sensitive information responsibly, transparently, and in compliance with the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988. This policy outlines how personal information is collected, used, disclosed, stored, and protected by Empower Estate Agents.

This policy applies to all personal and sensitive information collected by Empower Estate Agents in relation to clients, customers, personnel, contractors, and other stakeholders. It covers all methods of information handling, including digital, physical, and verbal communications.

Empower Estate Agents is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals and ensuring the confidentiality, security, and integrity of personal and sensitive information. The agency will comply with the Australian Privacy Principles and other relevant legislation while fostering trust and transparency in all interactions.

Empower Estate Agents complies with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) including the 13 Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) as outlined in the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012 (Cth). Providing an overall framework for our privacy practices, Empower Estate Agents has developed and implemented this APP Privacy Policy.

APPLICABLE LEGISLATION

This policy is designed to maintain requirements with additional jurisdictional requirements including:

Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Act 2017 (Cth),
Information Privacy Act 2014 (ACT),
Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998 (NSW),

AUSTRALIAN PRIVACY PRINCIPLES (APP)

Empower Estate Agents manages personal information in an open and transparent way. This is evident in the implementation of practices, procedures and systems we outline in this policy, that ensure our compliance with the APPs and any binding registered APP code and provide suitable procedures for Empower Estate Agents personnel to be able to deal with related inquiries and complaints that may be received from time to time.

The following sections of this policy outline how we manage personal information.

Purpose Of Collection (APP1.4c)

Empower Estate Agents collects your Personal Information for the primary purpose of providing real estate services to our clients and marketing. We may also use your Personal Information for secondary purposes closely related to the primary purpose, in circumstances where you would reasonably expect such use or disclosure. You may unsubscribe from our mailing/marketing lists at any time by contacting us in writing.

When we collect Personal Information, we will, where appropriate and where possible, explain to you why we are collecting the information and how we plan to use it.

You do not have to provide us with your personal information, however, if you do not, we may not be able to provide you with our services or information or allow you to any inspect property under our control.

We request the information from you so that we can provide you with the services and products you have requested from us, and the manage our obligations to you under any customer contract or applicable law. Some of the services we provide as a real estate agency include: -

Any service or information we provide acting as an agent for the buying, selling, leasing, managing properties:
Marketing purposes and to provide you with information about products or services that may be of interest to you
Enabling us to conduct our business, including meeting any legal or regulatory obligation placed upon us.

We will only collect your sensitive information if you have provided us with consent to do so.

Where possible, we will give you the option of interacting with us anonymously.

The Kinds of Personal Information Collected and Held

(APP1.4a)

Empower Estate Agents collects personal information, which can include: -

Contact information, including name, address, phone number and email.
Date of birth.
Occupation.
Next of Kin in case of emergency.
Identification information, including driver licence or passport details.
Financial information, including bank account details and income information.
Rental and employment references.
Property information, including details of properties owned, rented, or being sought.
Buyer preferences.
Tenant application details.
Photos, videos, CCTV, inspection records.
Other relevant information required to provide real estate services.

How Personal Information is Collected and Held and Used

APP1.4b; APP1.4c; APP1.4f; APP1.4g

We only use your personal information for the purpose for which it was provided to us, or

related purposes that you would reasonably expect, and
as permitted or required by law.

Such purposes would include: -

a) Internal Use

In the ordinary course of conducting our business such as
Assisting you with purchasing, leasing or managing property
Responding to your enquiries and feedback
Informing you of property we have for sale or lease or may be open for inspection
Reporting to vendors or owners of properties that you, may have inspected or made enquiries about
Providing you with marketing information regarding the services we or third parties acting on our behalf provide.
Performing general administration or management functions
Website enquiry forms, email, phone/SMS, in person at office, open home registration forms/apps, rental applications, sales agency agreements, property management agreements, social media messages, CRM/database forms and third-party portals such as realestate.com.au or Domain.
Any other purpose associated with our core function as a real estate agency

We may use the information to contact you by phone, email or text.

b) Disclosure to Third Parties

We may disclose your personal information to related companies, service providers, contractors’ business partners other parties involved in the transaction, but only if one or more of the following apply:

You have consented to the disclosure
You would reasonably expect us to disclose your information this way
We are authorised by legislation to do so
Legislation requires us to disclose the information
If an urgent health emergency or threat to life emergency arises

We may disclose your personal information to vendors and landlords, buyers and tenants, solicitors/conveyancers, mortgage brokers, tradespeople, strata managers, NSW Fair Trading or government authorities, insurance providers, CRM/software providers and property portals such as realestate.com.au, Domain, Rent.com.au and similar platforms.

We may disclose property details to building/pest inspectors, utility connection providers, marketing suppliers, photographers, floor plan providers and signboard companies where required for the purpose of providing our services.

c) International Disclosure

In some cases, we use third-party service providers who are located, or who store information, outside Australia. This may include providers of cloud-based software, data storage, IT support, or customer relationship management systems used in the real estate industry.

Where this occurs, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that any overseas recipient handles your personal information in a way that is consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles. This includes ensuring that appropriate privacy and security measures are in place through our contracts and service agreements.

At present, we may disclose or store personal information in the following countries:

United States – while federal privacy laws are limited, our providers are required under contract to meet standards equivalent to the APPs and NSW Fair Trading privacy requirements.
Singapore – subject to the Personal Data Protection Act 2012.
New Zealand – recognised for strong privacy protections under the Privacy Act 2020.
Ireland and/or European Union countries – subject to the General Data Protection Regulation.

We use cloud-based systems and service providers including Eagle CRM, PropertyMe, Google Workspace/Gmail, OneDrive, Google Drive, website hosting services, CRM-based marketing software, RunwayML, ChatGPT and virtual staging tools.

If we engage any additional overseas providers in the future, we will notify you and update this Privacy Policy to reflect the countries involved.

Automated Decisions

We do not use automations, computer programs or artificial intelligence in any decision-making process that uses your personal information and would significantly affect your rights or interest.

Empower Estate Agents may use artificial intelligence assisted tools for marketing content, property descriptions, generated images, virtual staging and general marketing presentation purposes. These tools are used together with human review and are not used to make automated decisions that significantly affect your rights or interests.

Website Analytics and Cookies

We may use website analytics tools to understand how people use our website, improve our services, and deliver relevant information or advertising. These tools are provided by third-party vendors, such as Google and others.

How information is collected

Analytics tools may use cookies or other tracking technologies to collect information about your visits, such as pages viewed, time spent on the site, and device information.
Information collected may include online identifiers like your IP address. When combined with other data, this may constitute personal information.

Vendors we use

Google
Google Analytics
Google Ads
Meta Pixel / Facebook Pixel

Purpose of collection

To monitor and improve website performance
To provide relevant advertising or marketing information
To understand user behaviour and preferences
To collect enquiries through our website

Opting out

You can opt out of personalised Google advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings or through YourAdChoices.
For other vendors, please refer to their privacy policies and opt-out tools.

Agency responsibility

We keep this list of analytics providers and opt-out instructions up to date.
If you do not want to be tracked by our analytics tools, you can disable cookies in your browser or follow the opt-out instructions above.

Data Security

APP1.4g; APP11

Empower Estate Agents has the following data security measures in place to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, use or disclosure.

All personal information collected by us through our platforms listed is stored in a variety of formats including electronically in databases, in hard copy files and on personal devices including laptop computers, mobile phones, cameras and other recording devices.

We take reasonable steps, both technical and organisational, to ensure that your personal information is stored both securely and is protected by: -

Having a robust physical security of our premises and database/records/files.
Taking measures to restrict access to only personnel who need that personal information to effectively provide services to you
Having technical measures in place, including password-protected systems, two-factor authentication, anti-virus software, firewalls, cloud-based CRM, secure payment portals, data backup procedures and the use of Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocols.
Staff confidentiality procedures.
Secure office filing/storage.
Restricted staff access.

When your Personal Information is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was obtained, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify your Personal Information.

Unless legislation requires otherwise, most of the Personal Information is or will be stored in client files which will be kept by us for a minimum of 7 years, in order that we can meet legislative requirements.

If you are sending us personal information, it is transmitted to us at your own risk. You must take the necessary steps to protect your information by protecting things like user names and passwords, customer details etc. You should notify us as soon as practical if you become aware of a security breach.

Data Breaches

If Empower Estate Agents becomes aware of any security breach, an internal process will be immediately commenced in accordance with our Data Breach Response Plan. This will guide a conduct of an assessment of the breach and commence notification and rectification procedures if they are necessary.

Accuracy, Access and Correction of Personal Information

APP1.4d

It is an important to us that your Personal Information is up to date. Empower Estate Agents will take reasonable steps to ensure the information we collect and hold about you is accurate, up-to-date, and complete.

You may access the Personal Information we hold about you and update and/or correct it, subject to certain exceptions. If you wish to access your Personal Information, please contact us in writing.

If you believe or find that the information we have may not be up to date or is inaccurate, please advise us as soon as practicable so we can update our records and ensure we can continue to provide a quality service.

Empower Estate Agents will not charge any fee for your access request but may charge an administrative fee for providing a copy of your Personal Information that we hold.

So that we may protect your Personal Information, we may require identification from you before releasing the requested information.

How do I Make Enquiries or Lodge Complaints?

APP1.4e

If you have an inquiry or complaint relating to our Privacy Policy or compliance with applicable APPs please contact us using the contact details below. You will need to provide us with sufficient details regarding your complaint, as well as any supporting evidence and/or information.

We will refer your inquiry or complaint to our Privacy Officer whose details are below. They will, within a reasonable time, investigate the issue and determine the steps that Empower Estate Agents will undertake to resolve any complaints. We will contact you if we require any additional information from you and will notify you in writing of the response or determination of our Privacy Officer.

If you are not satisfied with our response or determination, you can contact us or raise your concerns with the Australian Privacy Commissioner via www.oaic.gov.au.

If you believe we have breached the APPs or mishandled your personal information, or you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please call immediately us on 0424 472 388.

Revision of Our Privacy Policy

We may revise this Privacy Policy or any part of it from time to time. Please review this policy periodically for changes. If We make significant changes to this policy, We may notify you using the contact details provided by you or by putting a notice on our website www.empoweragents.com.au

Your continued use of our website, services, requesting our assistance or the provision of further personal or sensitive information to us after this Privacy Policy has been revised, constitutes your acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

How to Contact Empower Estate Agents

Agency Name: Empower Estate Agents

ABN: 43 604 348 254

Licensee-in-charge: Sana Ullah

Address: Claymore Shopping Centre, Shop 15/19 Dobell Rd, Claymore NSW 2559

Email: [email protected]

PRIVACY OFFICER

Name: Sana Ullah

Email: [email protected]

Phone No: 0424 472 388

OAIC: 1300 363 992 or www.oaic.gov.au