Privacy Policy

1. Privacy Statement

The Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)(the Act) allows for ‘personal information’, including ‘sensitive information’ (which are defined in the Act) about you to be collected, used and disclosed provided we have provided you with notice and in certain circumstances also obtained your consent.  In this Privacy Policy and, where appropriate, a reference to ‘personal information’ includes ‘sensitive information’.

We may (from time to time) update, revise, amend or replace this Privacy Policy by posting any changes to it on our website or by giving you any other form of notification.

This Privacy Policy is available on our website, at our office and may also be made available to you at any property inspection or when we first communicate with you.

• What personal information do we collect?

Property Management

• if you are a prospective or current landlord and you want us to manage your property, then we will collect personal information from you in order to identify you and the property;
• if you are a prospective or current tenant and/or you inspect any rental property, then we will collect personal information from you when you attend the property inspection;  and
• if you are a prospective or current tenant and you want to rent a property, then we will collect personal information from you, usually at the rental application stage from the rental application and supporting documentation that you supply. If you are the successful tenant then we may also collect personal information from you during the continuation of any tenancy or lease agreement with the landlord.

Sales

• if you are a prospective or current vendor and you want us to act as your sales agent, then we will collect personal information from you in order to identify you and the property;
• if you are a prospective or current purchaser and you inspect any property, then we will collect personal information from you when you attend the inspection; and 
• subject to the other provisions of this Privacy Policy, we may also collect personal information from you when you make any other enquiry with us about the property.

• Collecting Personal Information

Seminara and Co stores and uses your personal information collected from you at open for inspections for security purposes on behalf of our clients.

We collect your personal information directly from you in the course of our relationship with you. Information about you must only be collected by lawful and fair means and will only be used for the purpose of the agreement. By providing your personal information, you grant Seminara & Co permission to collect your personal information and use it as required by Seminara & Co.  Information may also be collected from you for the purposes of providing you with our services now, or in the future. Any personal information received by Seminara & Co provided by you (or not provided by you) will be treated in accordance with the APP. Your personal information is dealt with by Seminara & Co in accordance with this privacy policy.

• Disclosure of Personal Information

We may collect and disclose your personal information for the following purposes including:

Property Management

• to identify and/or verify the identity of any prospective or actual landlord or tenant for any property we manage or propose to manage;
  • to process and assess any application received in relation to a tenancy or lease of any property;
  • to advertise, market and promote any tenancy or lease of any property;
  • to negotiate and prepare any tenancy agreement, lease or any other document for any property;
  • to liaise and exchange information with the landlord or the tenant as well as their agents, contractors, legal, financial and other advisors in relation to or in connection with any tenancy or lease of the property;
  • to manage any tenancy or lease agreement including the collection of rent and other amounts on behalf of the landlord and the preparation of required statements of account;
  • to ensure the safety and security of landlords and existing occupiers and of each of their property in connection with the inspection of any property by prospective tenants;
  • to provide your insurer with information relating to or connected with any property;
  • to comply with any applicable law in connection with the tenancy agreement or lease;
  • to confirm whether the landlord or tenant is registered for GST purposes;
  • to tell you about any other rental property that we are managing or any other service that we provide, unless you tell us not to (this is referred to as direct marketing);
  • We may disclose or allow access to personal information overseas through an Australian-based service provider, Stafflink, which engages offshore administrative support staff. Reasonable steps are taken to ensure that overseas recipients handle personal information in a manner consistent with the Australian Privacy Principles.

Sales

• to identify and/or verify the identity of any prospective or actual vendor for any property;
• to advertise, market and promote the sale of any property;
• to negotiate and manage the sale of any property (including to provide non-legal assistance with the exchange of the contracts for the sale of property as well as the preparation of any required statements of account);
• to liaise and exchange information with the vendor, purchaser (including any prospective purchaser) as well with their respective agents, contractors, legal, financial and other advisors in relation to or in connection with the sale of the property;
• to ensure the safety and security of vendors and existing occupiers and of each of their property in connection with auctions and the inspection of any property by prospective purchasers;
• to comply with any applicable law in connection with the sale of the property;
• to confirm whether the vendor or purchaser is registered for GST purposes;
• to tell you about any other property that we are selling or any other service that we provide, unless you tell us not to (this is referred to as direct marketing);

Automated Decision Making

• to be used in the operation of ADM (e.g. computer programs) to make various decisions that may impact our services, including but not limited to client’s rights under an arrangement and access to a significant service or support;

Dealing with us Anonymously

You have the option of not identifying yourself unless by law you are required to do so, or it is impracticable not to. If you do not provide your personal information to us, it may not be possible to provide you with the service that you have requested or applied for. We are not always able to deal with people who do not wish to identify themselves. This will be particularly the case when we are proposing to, or we do, act for a vendor or a landlord in relation to either the sale or rental/lease of any property.  This will also apply where we are also dealing with actual or prospective tenants for any rental property that we manage.

Further, we are not able to allow people through any property inspections who do not wish to identify themselves as this can create security and other concerns for the property owner (among other considerations).

However, where possible, we can provide information of a general nature such as, for example, we can respond to general telephone and related enquiries about a rental/lease or sale property to unidentified individuals. Of course, if an individual makes an enquiry by email or other electronic or written methods then there is every possibility that the mode of communication may identify you

• Information is up to date

It is important that the personal information we collect from you is accurate, complete, and up to date. You can contact us at any time to access or update your personal information or to tell us that the information we hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete.

• Personal Information Security

Seminara & Co takes all reasonable precautions to safeguard your personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure and information is securely stored and access is restricted to authorised Seminara & Co personnel only. You may request access to any of your personal information, or request that Seminara & Co remove any of your personal information it holds by sending a request to our Director.

• Marketing & opt out

We may also use the information, including personal information (excluding sensitive information), provided by you for marketing and research purposes, to analyse and improve products, services and benefits and to inform you of products, services and benefits provided by us, our related entities, suppliers or sponsors (including specifically CGU Insurance Limited (ABN 27 004 478 371) (CGU) or a related body corporate of CGU) which we consider may be of value or interest to you, unless you tell us (see the marketing opt-out below), or have previously told us not to. We will not use your sensitive information for these purposes without your consent. 

• Accessing your Personal Information

Unless we are entitled to withhold access to your personal information (there are various reasons why this may be the case), you have the right to request access to any personal information held by us which relates to you.  We may charge a reasonable fee where access to personal information is provided.  Any requests for access to your personal information should be made in writing to the Privacy Officer (details specified below).  You also have the right to request the correction of any personal information which relates to you that is inaccurate, incomplete, irrelevant, misleading or out-of-date.

• Acknowledgement

You acknowledge and agree that this consent is effective consent for the purposes of the Do Not Call Register Act 2006, Spam Act 2003 and Privacy Act 1988 and is deemed to be for an indefinite period (unless you advise us differently). If the information is not provided by you, we may not be able to provide an effective service to you.

1. Information and Complaints

If you require more information, or have any complaints regarding how Seminara & Co may have collected or used your personal information, you may contact Seminara & Co in any of the following ways:

The Privacy Officer

Jess Abrahams

PO Box 3072, Manuka, ACT 2603

02 5105 5485

jess@seminaraandco.com.au

The Office of the Information Commissioner can be contacted as follows:

Phone enquiries	1300 363 992 Mon–Thurs 10am–4pm AEST/AEDT
Online enquiries	Enquiry form
Post	GPO Box 5288 Sydney NSW 2001
Fax	+61 2 9284 9666