Gold coast real estate agents privacy policy
Gold Coast Real Estate Agents and its related companies understand the importance you attach to your personal information and are committed to protecting your privacy. Gold Coast Real Estate Agents is bound by the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) set out in the Privacy Act 1988
What personal information is collected about you?
The nature of personal information obtained and collected from you will depend on the service(s) you have requested and may include (but is not limited to) name, address, date of birth, contact details, income, assets and liabilities, account balances, tax and financial statements and employment details. Most of the information is obtained directly from you through the completion of application forms and client profiles. This information about you is recorded and maintained in the course of ongoing customer service. Before financial products are able to be arranged for you, your identity by law will need to be verified. Therefore, your personal identification documents will be requested and a copy taken. If you choose not to provide the personal information or identification documents required, the requested service(s) may not be able to be provided.
How do Gold Coast Real Estate Agents use your personal information and who may it be
disclosed to?
We collect, use and exchange your personal information to enable us to:
• verify your identity;
• assist in applications for products and services offered by either third parties or Gold Coast Real Estate Agents
• contact you while you are a client of Gold Coast Real Estate Agents;
• ensure fraudulent activity does not occur;
• comply with legal obligations imposed on GCREA;
• comply with requests from government agencies, law enforcement or regulators; and
• Identify how Gold Coast Real Estate Agents may be of assistance to you.
Gold Coast Real Estate Agents will only use the information you provided for the purpose of providing you with the service(s) you have requested, unless:
• You consent to Gold Coast Real Estate Agents using that personal information for another purpose;
• The other purpose is related to the main purpose and you would reasonably expect Gold Coast Real Estate Agents to use the personal information for that other purpose; or
• It is permitted or required by law; or
• Gold Coast Real Estate Agents believes it is necessary on public safety grounds to use the personal information for another purpose. Depending on the product or service,
personal information may be disclosed to:
• Other areas within the Gold Coast Real Estate Agents group who provide other services to you;
• Service providers and specialist advisers to Gold Coast Real Estate Agents who have been contracted to provide administrative, financial, insurance, research or other services
to you;
• Anyone authorised by you in writing, such as by a power of attorney; and
• Courts, tribunals and regulatory authorities as authorised by law.
Generally, it is required that organisations outside Gold Coast Real Estate Agents who handle or obtain personal information as service providers to the group, acknowledge the confidentiality of this information, undertake to respect any individual’s right to privacy and comply with the APPs and this policy. Where permitted by law, Gold Coast Real Estate Agents may also exchange your information with third parties. From time to time, GCREA may also use your contact details for marketing communications activities. We respect your choice to opt out of these activities. Should you decide you do not wish to receive marketing or promotional material from GCREA at
any time, please send an e-mail to [email protected] Any unique identifiers you may provide to GCREA such as Tax File Numbers, Medicare or other numbers, will not be adopted.
Cookies, tracking technologies and advertising platforms
When you interact with Gold Coast Real Estate Agents websites, online tools or assessments, we may use cookies, tracking pixels and similar technologies to understand how our services are used and to deliver relevant marketing. These technologies may collect information such as the pages you view, the actions you take on a page (including answers you provide in interactive tools such as the Seller Quiz), the device and browser you use, your approximate location based on IP address, and how you arrived at our site.
We use both browser-based tracking (cookies and pixels loaded in your browser) and server-side tracking (information sent directly from our servers to advertising platforms). Server-side tracking is used to improve the accuracy and reliability of advertising performance measurement, particularly where browsers restrict third-party cookies.
Where you provide personal information through our forms or interactive tools (for example, your name, email or phone number when requesting a free assessment), Gold Coast Real Estate Agents may share a hashed (irreversibly encoded) version of that information with advertising platforms including Meta (Facebook and Instagram). Hashing means the platform receives a one-way encoded representation that allows them to match you to an existing account on their platform without revealing your raw details to other parties. We do not share unhashed personal information with advertising platforms.
The advertising platforms we use include but are not limited to:
• Meta (Facebook, Instagram) — via the Meta Pixel and Conversions API
These platforms may use the information we share, combined with information they already hold, to show you relevant Gold Coast Real Estate Agents advertising on their services and to measure the effectiveness of our campaigns. Their handling of your information is governed by their own privacy policies.
Your choices
You can control how these technologies affect you in several ways:
• Most browsers allow you to block or delete cookies through their settings. Doing so may affect site functionality.
• You can opt out of personalised advertising on Meta platforms through your account settings on Facebook and Instagram, or through the Australian Digital Advertising Alliance’s opt-out tool at youronlinechoices.com.au.
• You can opt out of marketing communications from Gold Coast Real Estate Agents at any time by sending an e-mail to the address listed elsewhere in this policy.
Opting out of advertising platforms will not stop you from seeing Gold Coast Real Estate Agents content; it will only mean the content you see is not personalised based on your previous interactions with us.
Sending information overseas
Gold Coast Real Estate Agents generally does not use overseas service providers. However, at any stage Gold Coast Real Estate Agents may engage overseas service providers if it considers it necessary. These overseas service providers may require your personal information. It may also be the case that Gold Coast Real Estate Agents establishes overseas subsidiaries that may require access to personal information. If your personal information is transferred to overseas, Gold Coast Real Estate Agents is committed to ensuring, where reasonably possible, that the overseas recipient does not breach the APPs. If we do send your personal information overseas we will take steps to ensure that appropriate data handling and data security measures are applied.
How do Gold Coast Real Estate Agents store your personal information?
Whether you interact with Gold Coast Real Estate Agents personally, by phone, mail, over the internet, or other electronic medium, safeguarding the privacy of your personal information is one of Gold Coast Real Estate Agents key responsibilities. Gold Coast Real Estate Agents hold personal information in a combination of secure computer storage facilities and paper-based files and have robust procedures to protect your personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. Gold Coast Real Estate Agents is required to retain a record of your personal information for a period of seven years after a client relationship ends. After this period, any details that will identify you will be removed or the records will be destroyed in a secure manner.
Can you access your personal information?
You have the right to obtain a copy of any personal information GCREA hold about you and to advise of any perceived inaccuracy. You will be required to:
• Submit your request in writing;
• Verify your identity; and
• Specify the personal information you require
Gold Coast Real Estate Agents will acknowledge your request within 7 days and provide a formal response within 30 days of receipt of your complaint. If we are unable to respond to your complaint within that time period we will write to you and explain why. There is no fee charged for making a request. A fee may be charged to cover the cost of locating, retrieving, reviewing and copying any information requested however that fee will not be unreasonable. If the information sought is extensive, Gold Coast Real Estate Agents will advise the likely cost in advance and can help to refine your request if required. In certain circumstances we are allowed to deny your request, or limit the access we provide. For example if the request would reasonably be considered frivolous or vexatious. Whatever the outcome, we’ll write to you explaining our decision.
Correcting information
You can ask us to correct any information that may be inaccurate by contacting us at [email protected]
How do Gold Coast Real Estate Agents keep your personal information accurate?
Gold Coast Real Estate Agents endeavours to ensure that your personal information remains accurate and up-to-date. To enable Gold Coast Real Estate Agents to keep your records accurate, please send an e-mail to [email protected] if you believe that any information Gold Coast Real Estate Agents hold about you is incomplete or out of date.
Changes to the Privacy Policy
From time to time, Gold Coast Real Estate Agents may amend its Privacy Policy. Any changes will be published on www.goldcoastrealestateagents.au.
What if you have a complaint?
If you consider that any action of Gold Coast Real Estate Agents breaches this Privacy Policy Statement or the APPs or otherwise doesn’t respect your privacy, please send an e-mail to [email protected] If you are not satisfied with the way we handle your personal information, or any other privacy related issue, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner by calling them at 1300 363 992, online at www.oaic.gov.au, by email at [email protected] or by post at GPO Box 5218 Sydney NSW 2001.