At Real Estate Pro, we strive to create a safe and trusted environment through our products, services, and unwavering commitment to your privacy.
We understand the importance of earning your trust, especially regarding how we handle your personal information.
This policy transparently outlines how Real Estate Pro collects, uses, discloses, and protects your personal data. We are dedicated to safeguarding your information and bringing diverse people together in our Real Estate Pro community. Our ultimate goal is to enhance the lives of Kiwis through exceptional online experiences that you will love.
Trust Real Estate Pro with your real estate needs, knowing that we prioritize your privacy and data security.
We’re committed to following four principles when it comes to your information:
- We’ll respect your privacy – our brand is built on trust and integrity.
- We’re committed to being transparent and honest, so you know what we do with your personal information (including if something goes wrong).
- We use personal information to add value to your life.
- We avoid getting involved in anything creepy that could breach your trust.
If you have any questions about your privacy or this policy, please contact us. You can also learn more about your privacy rights by talking to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.
1. What does this policy do?
This privacy policy applies to the products and services provided by Real Estate Pro Limited and its subsidiaries, including:
- Real Estate Pro Affiliated Services, meaning any product or service (other than the above) provided by an entity that Real Estate Pro Group Limited ultimately partly or fully owns, unless a particular Real Estate Pro Affiliated Service has its own privacy policy.
We comply with the Privacy Act 2020, any applicable Privacy Codes, and other laws when dealing with your information. We also adhere to the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to the extent that it applies to information we collect under a particular service (e.g., if we target a particular service at individuals living in the European Union). If you are an individual based in the European Union, you can email us to clarify how we treat your information.
2. What information do we collect?
We collect information so that we can provide you with our services, and so we can build new services that make life better for Kiwis through online experiences they love. We may collect the following information, some of which is personal information:
Account Information
When you sign up for a service, we may require your name, username, password, email address, date of birth, demographic information or other personal information.
Profile Information
Certain services may require you to complete a profile, which may include personal information such as your postal and delivery addresses, phone number, and gender. Parts of your profile (like your member number, user name, and feedback history) may be part of your public profile page and will be publicly visible to others. For other services, we may also collect photos connected to your profile if you upload or publish these.
Application Forms
We collect information when you complete an application for any of our services or for services that we connect to. Some information on application forms is particularly sensitive, and our use of this is subject to the service-specific terms.
Listing Content
We collect listing content when you create a listing, which may include your description of the listing, photos, your user name, and in certain cases, your contact details. Listing content may include embedded information or other metadata (e.g., EXIF data in photos, such as when and where each photo was taken and details of the device used to take it).
Authentication Information
To help create and maintain a trusted environment, we may collect identification (like a photo of your government-issued ID, such as a firearms licence) or other authentication information. You will be told at the time of collection when this applies.
Payment Information
We collect your financial information (like your bank account or credit card information) when you make payments to us or third parties using our services.
Communications and Phone Calls
When you communicate with us or other users in relation to a service, we may collect information about your communication and any other information you provide. This includes when you call us, in which case we may retain your call for fraud prevention, internal training, and quality assurance purposes.
Other Information
You may otherwise provide us information directly (by email or in other formats), such as when you provide feedback, fill in a form, conduct a search, update or add information to our services, respond to surveys or other research activities, post to message boards, participate in promotions, upload into our services, or use other features of our services.
Usage Information
We collect information about your interactions with our services, such as the pages or other content you view, your searches for listings, trades and bookings you have made, and emails and messages generated through your use of the services.
Location Information
When you use certain features of our services, we may collect different types of information about your general location (e.g., your physical or postal address or your device’s IP address) or more specific location information (e.g., precise location from your mobile GPS). Most mobile devices allow you to control or disable the use of location services for applications in the device’s settings menu.
Analytics
We automatically collect analytics information when you use our services, even if you have not created an account or logged in. We may use third-party providers to help us with this. Information collected includes, among other things: details about how you’ve used our services (including links to third-party applications), your IP address, access times, hardware and software information, device information, device event information (e.g., crashes, browser type), and the pages, applications, or services you’ve viewed or engaged with before or after using our services.
Transaction and Financial Information
We may collect information related to your transactions on our services, including the date and time, amounts charged, and other related transaction details. Depending on your settings and the services you use, we may collect financial information relating to your use of our services and your financial history.
Via Cookies and Similar Technologies
We use cookies, pixels, beacons and other similar technologies to collect and store information when you use our services and this collection may occur across devices. Cookies may be “session” cookies (which temporarily store information and expire when you close your browser) or “persistent” cookies (e.g., when you select “remember me” when logging in). We may also allow our business partners to use these technologies on our services (e.g., for advertising and remarketing) or engage others to track your behavior on our behalf. You may disable the usage of cookies through your browser settings. Some services also use social media features (e.g., the Facebook Like button or widgets, such as a share button or mini-programmes running onsite) which may collect your IP address and the pages you visit, and which are generally governed by the terms of the social media business providing the features.
Information from Third Party Services You Use
If you link, connect, or log in to your account with a third-party service (e.g., Facebook), the third-party service may send us information such as your registration and profile information from that service. This information varies and is controlled by that service or as authorized by you via your privacy settings at that service.
Background Information About You
For some services, to the extent permitted by applicable laws, we may request that you provide or are subject to background or credit checks, and we may obtain reports from public records (e.g., the firearms register in relation to inquiries regarding firearms). If you refuse to provide or undergo a background or credit check in these circumstances, we may refuse you access to the service. If we collect the information described in this paragraph, you will be notified before we do so.
Analytics Information
We may collect analytics information from third parties (e.g., we may use Google Analytics, Google Analytics Demographics and Interest, Google AdWords, Flurry, data.ai, and Online Counting System). Analytics information is generally anonymized but may include the device you’re using, the applications you use, your operating system, your IP address, and your geo-demographic information.
Advertising Information
We may receive information about you and your activities on and off our services through third parties, including through our partnerships or about your experiences and interactions from our partner ad networks. We will honor the opt-out when using this information.
Affiliated Services
We may receive information about you from entities providing Affiliated Services.
Information from Public Sources
To the extent permitted by applicable law, we may receive additional information about you that is publicly available (e.g., we may collect your property information held by local councils for our Property Insights service).
3. How Do We Hold and Protect Your Information?
We’re big on security. At Real Estate Pro, we prioritize the security and privacy of your personal information. We publish numerous tips on how you can keep your personal information secure. In addition, we work tirelessly to safeguard your personal data against potential threats and unauthorized access. Here’s how we do it:
adhere to widely accepted industry norms to protect your personal information during its transmission and once received. Our administrative, technical, and physical security measures are continually updated to guard against unauthorized access, loss, destruction, or alteration of your data. However, despite these efforts, we can’t entirely guarantee the security of data transmission and storage.
If a potentially harmful data breach occurs, we would notify you and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner promptly. We also ensure that personal information is deleted once it’s no longer reasonably necessary for our operations.
Key Measures We Employ:
- We are committed to following generally accepted industry standards for securing your personal information.
- We continuously implement and update our security measures to protect your data.
- You authorize us to transfer, store, and process information in New Zealand and possibly other countries. Where information is stored overseas, we ensure compliance with New Zealand privacy laws.
- We retain your data only as long as necessary for operational needs or legal requirements. For example, recordings of your phone calls may be kept for up to two years, longer if needed for business purposes, fraud prevention, or legal processes.
- Listing content is retained after listings expire for various reasons, including dispute resolution and fraud prevention.
- Credit and debit card information is protected in compliance with PCI standards, and we securely store card details for subsequent use if you opt for it.
Other personal information you’ve deleted may persist temporarily in our backup systems.
How Can I Manage My Information?
Recognizing that your needs and preferences evolve, we’ve developed a suite of tools to help you manage your personal information effectively. Here’s how you can take control:
Managing Your Profiles:
Some of our services allow for customized profiles with different privacy settings, giving you flexibility in how your information is displayed and used.
Updating Your Account Information:
Most of the time, you can update your account details (like email, password, and phone numbers) directly by logging into the relevant service and making changes. If that’s not an option, you can reach out to us for assistance.
Managing Your Listings:
Certain listings allow you to modify the visible details on our services.
Managing Privacy Options:
You can control your information options on the ‘Privacy options’ page or unsubscribe from marketing emails. For specific requests to access or delete personal information, contact our privacy team. We respond within 20 working days, evaluating each deletion request based on the service terms and legal obligations.
Should you wish to cancel your account, please contact us directly.
How Do We Amend This Policy?
We periodically update our privacy policy to reflect changes in our practices or legal requirements. Typically, we provide at least two weeks’ notice via a site announcement or other notification method. In certain urgent cases, immediate changes might be required, but we will strive to inform you promptly.
We may seek your feedback on significant changes through the Real Estate Pro message board or other consultation forms. We encourage you to review this page periodically for the latest updates to our privacy practices.
Feel free to reach out to us with any questions or concerns about this policy. Your trust and security are paramount to us.