Privacy Policy

1 INTRODUCTION

Australian privacy laws have recently changed. As a result of the changes, we have changed our privacy policy

2 RELATIONSHIP TO AGREEMENTS

To the extent that it is incorporated by reference into any agreement between you and us, such as our website terms and conditions, the terms of this policy form part of that agreement (ReNet Agreement).

3 COLLECTION

3.1 Collection

We collect Personal Information about you:

(a) We collect Personal Information about you when you provide it to us in the course of completing information fields (eg name, email address, phone number, interaction data) on a website operated or hosted by us or via email tracking and analysis, social media or mobile interaction operated by us.

(b) We also collect the following kinds of Personal Information about you:

Financial information such as the value of properties you have looked at and gathered from financial tools that you may have used across the site
Any information that you may volunteer in forms, widgets or tools by virtue of using them or submitting information through them.

3.2 Reasons

(a) We collect only such Personal Information as we need to collect in order to supply our services to our customers and to enable real estate agents and other third parties to market their goods and services to you directly. To the extent (if any) that the Personal Information is Sensitive Information, we will not collect that information without your consent. To the extent that we do not need to collect Personal Information about you, you are not obliged to provide that information to us.

(b) Specifically, we collect Personal Information (as relevant):

to enable us or third parties to lawfully communicate information to you regarding their products and services;
to enter into contractual relations with you, eg the ReNet Agreement;
to identify you as a party to the ReNet Agreement;
to enable us or third parties to supply services to you;
to enable you to use any goods we or third parties may supply;
to assist our customers to improve our services;
for certain Legal Reasons; and
to otherwise comply with our obligations under law.

3.3 If you do not enable or permit us to collect this Personal Information, then we may not be able to all of the things set out in paragraph (b).

3.4 Collecting entity

The entity collecting Personal Information is ReNet Pty Ltd (ABN 96 099 866 878) of 16 First Avenue, Sawtell NSW 2452, Australia.

4 USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION

(a) We use Personal Information to supply our services to our customers who use our services to send you communications.

(b) If you provide your name and mobile phone number or email address to our customer or us, you thereby consent to our customer instructing us to using your Personal Information to market our corresponding customer’s services to you, such as by adding you to our customer’s mailing list and notifying you of its promotional offers.

(c) If you provide your IP address or cookies to us or our customers, you thereby also consent to our customer instructing us to use that Personal Information about you to market our customer’s services to you by way of displaying targeted banners or similar. You have control over whether you provide cookies or an IP address. We will not use your Sensitive Information (if any) in relation to direct marketing unless our customer instructs us to and says that it has your consent to do so.

(d) You may withdraw your consent at any time at no cost. All our direct marketing communications include an unsubscribe or other opt-out mechanism. Simply click on the ‘unsubscribe’ link at the bottom of each email or inside the email’s body copy. This will set the status of your email address to ‘Blocked’. Alternatively, contact us and we’ll remove your details manually. You can rejoin the mailing list by retyping your contact details into our Newsletter Sign Up form.

(e) We may also use Personal Information for compiling general information that is not itself Personal Information (General Information). General Information may include aggregated statistical information about your attributes, interests and activities. We may use General Information to, among other things, enable our customers to better understand their customers’ needs and improve their services.

(f) We may also use Personal Information for Legal Reasons.

5 DISCLOSURE & TRANSFER OVERSEAS

5.1 Disclosure by us

(a) Generally speaking, we will disclose Personal Information only to sub-contractors supplying us with hosting facilities or data management. We do this so that those parties can provide their services to us, enabling us in turn to supply our services to our customers, and in turn, their services to you.

(b) However, please note that we also disclose Personal Information to third party agents such as real estate agents.

(d) We may disclose General Information to any person for any commercial purpose.

5.2 Disclosure by you

You may have the practical capacity to disclose Personal Information to the general public when using our services, eg posting an online comment or ‘like’ etc. You take full legal and practical responsibility for any such disclosure of Personal Information.

5.3 Transfer overseas

We may, and likely will, transfer your Personal Information to a person or organisation in a foreign country, but only if one of the following applies:

if we provide the Personal Information to a cloud service provider located overseas for the limited purpose of storing and managing the Personal Information, our contract with the provider: (a) obliges the provider not to use or disclose the Personal Information unless storing and managing the information; (b) obliges any of the provider’s sub-contractors to agree to the same obligations; and (c) gives us effective control of the information;
we have taken such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that the overseas recipient does not breach the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Overseas Compliance);
we reasonably believe that the recipient of the information is subject to a law, or binding scheme, that has the effect of protecting the information in a way that, overall, is at least substantially similar to the way in which the APPs protect the information and there are mechanisms that you or the relevant individual can access to take action to enforce that protection of the law or binding scheme;
we tell you that Overseas Compliance will not apply and you consent to the transfer; or
the disclosure of the information is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court / tribunal order.

6 ACCESS

(a) You will be able to access Personal Information about you by contacting us or logging into your account with our relevant customer (if applicable). If we are to provide access to the information, we will do so within a reasonable time.

(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), we may not grant you access to Personal Information for reasons including:

if doing so would have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of other individuals;
if the request for access is frivolous or vexatious;
giving access would reveal evaluative information generated within ReNet or one of our customers in connection with a commercially sensitive decision-making process; or
for Legal Reasons or similar reasons.

7 QUALITY

(a) We will take reasonable steps to ensure that Personal Information that we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete, up-to-date, relevant and not misleading (together, satisfactory).

(b) If you believe that the Personal Information we hold is not satisfactory, you may contact us and ask us to correct the information.

(c) If you demonstrate to us that Personal Information held by us is not satisfactory, we will, within a reasonable time, take reasonable steps to correct the information. If you claim that such information is not satisfactory and we disagree, we will notify you of our reasons and, at your request, accompany the information with a note stating your position about the information.

(d) If we correct information that was not satisfactory and we have previously disclosed that information to a third party, we will take reasonable steps to notify that third party.

8 STORAGE & SECURITY

(a) We hold your Personal Information on internet servers operated by hosting service providers. We have entered into services agreements with those service providers.

(b) We will take reasonable steps to protect Personal Information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

9 DISPOSAL

(a) We will take reasonable steps to destroy, disable access to or permanently de-identify Personal Information if we no longer need it for any purpose for which we would be permitted to use or disclose the information under the APPs.

(b) However, characteristics of information storage technology mean that it is not reasonably possible to delete every last remnant of information we have collected.

10 COMPLAINTS

(a) If you wish to complain about a potential breach of the APPs by us, please write to our Privacy Co-ordinator at:

Online Privacy Manager
ReNet Pty Ltd (ABN 96 099 866 878)
PO Box 242, Sawtell NSW 2452
Fax: 02 6658 8767
Email: info@homehound.com.au

(b) If we receive a complaint from you, we will handle the complaint in the following way:

We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint.
We will conduct an investigation of your complaint.
We will notify you of the outcome of our investigation.
We will provide you with basic information about further action that you may take if you are dissatisfied with the outcome of our investigation.

11 THIS POLICY

11.1 Variation

(a) We may vary this policy at any time by amending the version of this document accessible by you on a webpage on our website.

(b) We will take reasonable steps to notify you of material variations made pursuant to paragraph (a).

11.2 Principles of interpretation of this policy

In this policy, unless expressly to the contrary and as appropriate in the context:

an expression in the plural may be read in the singular, and vice versa;
a reference to a thing or things includes a reference to any, some or all, or part or whole, of the thing or things;
a reference to an act includes an omission and to the causing to be done of that act or omission;
a reference to a person doing an act includes a reference to the doing of the act on behalf of the person;
a reference to one alternative does not, of itself, exclude any other alternative;
an expression of the exercise of a right means the exercise of that right at the sole and absolute discretion of the relevant party;
a list of rights is not to be read as an exhaustive list of rights;
a reference to a provision, clause or paragraph is a reference to a provision, clause or paragraph of this policy.

11.3 DEFINED TERMS

(a) This clause 10.3 defines terms used in this policy. Other terms are defined elsewhere in this policy.

(b) collect includes to hold or store following collection.

(d) Legal Reasons means any if the following:

It is unreasonable or impracticable to obtain your or the individual’s consent and the collection, use or disclosure of the Personal Information is necessary to lessen or prevent a serious threat to an individual’s life, health or safety, or a serious threat to public health or safety.
We believe the collection, use or disclosure of the Personal Information is necessary in order for us to take appropriate action if we have reason to suspect unlawful activity or serious misconduct in relation to our functions or activities has been or is being engaged in.
The collection, use or disclosure of the Personal Information is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or a court / tribunal order.
The collection, use or disclosure of the Personal Information is reasonably necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of a legal or equitable claim.
The collection, use or disclosure of the Personal Information is reasonably necessary for the purposes of a confidential alternative dispute resolution process.
We reasonably believe that the use or disclosure of the Personal Information is reasonably necessary for enforcement related activities by an enforcement body.

(e) Personal Information is information about an identified individual or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, including Sensitive Information.

(f) Sensitive Information is Personal Information of a sensitive nature, such as information about race, ethnicity, political opinion, religious beliefs or sexuality.

(g) use may include to disclose or transfer.

(h) we means ReNet Pty Ltd.

(i) you means:

the individual who has entered into the relevant ReNet Agreement or, if the person who has entered into the ReNet Agreement is an entity (eg a company) and not an individual, then in this policy you means any individual connected with the entity and who supplies Personal Information to us in the course of the entity’s performance of the ReNet Agreement; or
the individual reading this policy, if that individual is also an individual in relation to whom we must, pursuant to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), abide by this policy.