Privacy statement

Property owners – We may collect personal information about you if you invite us to provide you with a market report or appraisal for your property or if you appoint us as your real estate agent for the purposes of managing or selling your property. We will require your personal and property details in order to provide you our real estate agency services. We may also collect property details from third parties such as government authorities. If you would prefer not to provide your personal information, then we may refuse to provide you our services.

Real estate buyers and renters – We may collect personal information from you if you rent or buy a property through us, take steps to do so or choose to subscribe for property alerts, newsletters and similar content or submit an enquiry about a property for sale or rent through either our website or another third party website containing property listings marketed by us. This may include your contact details and other personal information required for inclusion in a contract of sale. If you apply to lease a property that we manage, we will collect details to evaluate your tenancy application. Before you may enter a property for an open for inspection, you will be asked to provide your name, telephone number and email address. You must also be able to identify yourself by producing your current drivers’ licence or passport. Our staff will record your personal information: your name, telephone number, email address and your drivers’ license / passport number. If you would prefer not to provide your personal information, then we may refuse you entry or permission to inspect a property.

Utility connection customers – Homeowners, home buyers and tenancy applicants may elect to use our free utility connection service. If you make such an election you authorise us to disclose your personal information to third-party service providers for the purposes of providing you with this service.

Financial service customers – We may collect personal information about you if you apply for a financial product or service. We collect this information for the purpose of arranging or providing credit, insuring credit, confirming referrals made by referral partners including real estate agents and other referrers and for direct marketing of products and services offered by us or our affiliates.

Website visitors and content subscribers – You may provide personal information to us to receive information about products or services offered through our website, to purchase such products and services, to submit enquiries about properties for sale or lease, to request a local area market report, to request a property appraisal, to receive newsletters or participate in promotions, competitions or surveys conducted by us. This personal information may include details such as your name, age, gender, contact information, the products and services you are interested in or require more information about. If you purchase or request products and services from us we may also request your preferences for receiving further marketing or promotional material from us.

We also use cookie tracking technologies on our website and social media accounts to recognise and record your visits to our website and social media accounts. You may disable our tracking cookies using your browser however this may affect your experience when visiting our website and social media accounts.

The choice of how much information you provide to us is yours. We seek information through our website either to process your request for information and provide that information to you, to improve the quality of our products and services or to assist you to determine which products and services best meet your needs.

We may also collect and store information about your visit to our website, including:

> the name of the domain from which you accessed the internet;
> the date and time you accessed the website;
> the internet address of the website from which you linked directly to the website;
> the pages you accessed while visiting the website.

This information does not in itself identify individuals and is used to measure the number of visitors to the website and how it was navigated. This information assists us to make the website more useful to you.

We also collect information from website content subscribers (persons registering their details with us through the website) or website visitors for the purpose of improving our quality and effectiveness and to provide you with information. We welcome feedback from you about all aspects of our website. We store feedback that users send to us. This feedback is used to administer and refine our services and to improve or promote our website. We will not publish your name in connection with any information you provide without your permission.

Competitions – We may collect personal information from you if you submit an entry in a competition conducted by us. We collect this information to enable us to identify and notify competition entrants about winning entries in the competition.

Social Media – We may collect personal information from you when you visit and engage with any of our social media sites, including by not limited to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn. If you choose to complete an online enquiry form by authenticating your details through Facebook or LinkedIn we will receive your Facebook or LinkedIn username, email address, phone number and home address where you have provided that information to Facebook or LinkedIn. Subject to your privacy settings we may also be granted to access to your social media accounts where you like or follow our social media accounts.

We will continue to hold personal information that we collect about you unless you request that we de-identify this information from you.

If you appoint us to manage or sell a property, we will use your personal information for that purpose. We will also use this information to help us maintain contact with you both during and after the sale of the property.

If you enquire about a property that we have available for rent or sale or you attend an open for inspection we may hold and use your personal information:

> for your safety and security, the security of the occupants of the property and the safety and security of our staff;
> to report to the vendor on who inspected the property;
> to provide additional information in relation to the property to you, unless you advise us differently;
> if an accident occurs or the property sustains damage, to provide information to relevant authorities, including but not limited to ambulance and hospital staff, police, and insurers;
> if a crime is committed or is suspected of being committed at the property, to provide information to relevant authorities, including but not limited to ambulance and hospital staff, police, and insurers;
> to enable us to promote other properties we have for sale or lease, our real estate finance and utility connection services and to offer you a local area market report, property appraisal and our property management services; and
> we may be required to collect and use your personal information under Commonwealth and Victorian laws relating to the sale of real estate, taxation, foreign investment, money laundering and terrorism.

If you make a tenancy application, we may use the information to evaluate your application and we may also disclose the information to a landlord for that purpose. In addition, where you elect to use of free utility connection service you authorise us to disclose your personal information to third-party service providers for the purposes of providing you with this service.

The personal information that you provide to us when you apply for a financial product or service may be disclosed (for example by our mortgage brokers) to organisations involved in providing, approving or managing credit (including for example banks, mortgage aggregators and other financial institutions).

The personal information you submit when requesting services or making enquiries through our website is used:

> to promote and provide you with our products and services;
> to provide you with information, newsletters or other communications requested by you; and
> to enable you in participate in promotions, competitions and surveys conducted by us.

The information we collect through tracking cookies on our website and social media accounts may also be used to determine demographic and usage patterns. We use this information to help us understand your interests, needs and preferences so that we can personalise your experience when engaging with us. We also collect this information to enable us to promote our products and services to you online and on social media.

The personal information we collect when you enter into a competition conducted by us may be used to notify you about the winning entries in the competition; and other competitions that may be conducted by us from time to time. This information may also be used to promote our other products and services to you.

We may use your personal information for direct marketing or promotional activities. However, if we do undertake such activities, you will be provided with an opportunity when first contacted to decline to receive any further communications from us.

Other than for the purposes described above, we will not use your personal information without your prior consent. The only exception to this rule is where disclosure is necessary to prevent injury to life or health, to investigate any suspected unlawful activity or where it may be required by law such as in a response to a warrant, subpoena or other legal process.

We take reasonable steps to ensure the security of all information we collect from risks such as loss or unauthorised access, destruction, misuse, modification or disclosure of data. For example, your personal information will be maintained in a secure environment which can be accessed only by authorised personnel. However, no data transmission over the internet or information stored on servers accessible through the internet can be guaranteed to be fully secure. These activities are undertaken at your own risk.

Information may be provided to third parties:

> where any functions or services are being outsourced or you would reasonably expect us to disclose it to a third party for a particular purpose; and

> where disclosure is necessary to prevent injury to life or health, to investigate any suspected unlawful activity or where it may be required by law such as in a response to a warrant, subpoena or other legal process.

We may also disclose your personal information to overseas recipients where that is required to enable us to provide you with our services. This includes use of third-party software systems and social media sites used by us where those service providers store data on servers that are based overseas. We may also disclose your data to our administration support team based in Cebu, Philippines. Where we disclose your personal information to overseas recipients we will not do so before taking reasonable steps to ensure that an overseas recipient is compliant with Australian Privacy Principals (“APP’s”), other than APP 1.

We will not otherwise sell, disclose or pass on your personal information to third parties unless it is in accordance with this privacy statement or with your prior consent.

You may request access at any time to the personal information that we hold about you:

> in the case of information you provide through this website, by emailing us at the coNtact address shown on this website; and
> in the case of information you provide directly to an agent, by contacting the agent directly.

If any information is incorrect, incomplete or out-of-date please advise us and we will update it.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of any other website that is linked to this website. It is your responsibility to investigate the privacy policies of those other sites.

This privacy policy may change from time to time particularly as new rules, regulations and industry codes are introduced.

This privacy statement is made on behalf of The Barry Plant Group Pty Ltd ABN 96 088 069 952 and the various real estate agents, agent’s representatives and finance brokers operating under the Barry Plant trademark.

If you have any concerns or questions or would like to opt-out of direct marketing promotions, please use contact details as found in this website, alternatively please email us.