Privacy Policy

Berkely Residential is committed to protecting your privacy and your personal information and aims to maintain a high standard of compliance with the Privacy Act 1988 (C’th) and the National Privacy Principles. This Privacy Statement forms part of the Berkely Residential Privacy Policy and is intended to inform you about the following:

  • how Berkely Residential collects your personal information;
  • what type of personal information Berkely Residential collects;
  • the purposes for which Berkely Residential uses that information;
  • how Berkely Residential maintains and keeps the information secure; and
  • how you may access, correct or update any personal information that Berkely Residential holds about you.

How does Berkely Residential collect personal information about me?

In addition to information submitted through the Berkely Residential website or provided directly to Berkely Residential directors or employees as a prospective seller or purchaser or tenant/landlord of a property, Berkely Residential may collect information about you from the following sources:

  • various databases in the public domain such as Telstra White Pages, Australia Post DPID database, Titles Office or other property databases; and
  • referrals and recommendations from existing clients of Berkely Residential Pty Ltd .

As part of its due diligence process prior to entering into lease or rental agreements with you, Berkely Residential may disclose your information to authorised credit-checking agencies.

What type of personal information does Berkely Residential collect about me?

Berkely Residential may collect any of the following information about you if you are a prospective vendor, purchaser or landlord of real estate:

  • contact details (including, address, telephone number and email address);
  • current property ownership details;
  • desired property ownership details; and
  • details of properties sold or acquired by you.

If you are a prospective tenant for a rental property, Berkely Residential may collect the following additional information from you:

employment details such as your employment status, employer, salary, length of employment;

  • other sources of income; and
  • personal and financial referees whom we may contact about your application.
  • Sometimes Berkely Residential may also need to ask you for other personal information to enable Berkely Residential to provide its services to you.

Why does Berkely Residential collect this information?

Berkely Residential collects this information to: enable Berkely Residential to provide you with the services and/or products you may require;

  • to comply with local, state or federal legislation or regulations with respect to real estate property sales, rental and administration;
  • to enable subsidiaries and third party partner businesses to assist you with related or ancillary services, as required; and
  • for our internal administrative, marketing, planning, product development and research requirements.

How does Berkely Residential use the personal information held about me?

Any personal information about you that Berkely Residential collects and records will only be used or disclosed by Berkely Residential for the purpose of:

  • compliance with obligations under real-estate regulations and laws applicable for the ACT & NSW;
  • helping Berkely Residential efficiently and effectively deliver and improve on products and services;
  • any other purpose you would reasonably expect Berkely Residential to use or disclose that personal information for that other purpose and that other purpose is related to the purpose for which the information is collected;
  • offering to provide you with products or services provided by Berkely Residential and third party business partners; or
  • sending you news and other information about Berkely Residential’s activities and general promotional material which Berkely Residential believes may be of interest to you. However, when Berkely Residential does this, Berkely Residential will provide you with an express opportunity to decline receiving any further communication from Berkely Residential of this type via an opt-out mechanism.

Berkely Residential may also use or disclose the information it collects for any other purpose specified to you at the time of collection.

If Berkely Residential wishes to use or disclose any of your personal information in any other ways than described above, Berkely Residential will not do so unless it:

  • has your express consent to do so;
  • has reasonable grounds to believe that the use or disclosure is necessary to prevent a threat to life or health; or
  • has reasonable grounds to believe that the use or disclosure is required by law or to enforce the law.

Can I be anonymous when I deal with Berkely Residential ?

To some extent you can preserve your anonymity when you deal with Berkely Residential. You can browse our website without providing any personal information, you can access our real-estate advertising in various publications and you can generally attend auctions without providing personal details if you do not intend to bid.

However, when you enter into transactions with Berkely Residential that involve the sale, purchase or rental of real estate property, then various Acts, statutory legislation and regulations require you to provide Berkely Residential with personal information to identify you.

What happens if I want to access or correct the personal information held about me?

You may access your personal information held by BerkelyResidential, subject to some exceptions. We will respond to your request for access within 14 days and endeavour to provide the requested information within 30 days.

If you believe that personal information Berkely Residential holds about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, then you may request amendment of it. We will consider if the information requires amendment. If we do not agree that there are grounds for amendment, then we will add a note to the personal information stating that you disagree with it.

Berkely Residential may charge you a reasonable fee to recover its costs for providing access based on the quantity of material and time involved in providing access.

Berkely Residential may not be able to provide access to information in some situations, including:

  • where in Berkely Residential’s opinion providing you access may create a serious threat to the life or health of any individual or may be an unreasonable intrusion into the privacy of another individual;
  • where your request for access is in Berkely Residential’s opinion frivolous or vexatious; or
  • where providing access would be unlawful, may prejudice an investigation of possible unlawful activity, may prejudice enforcement of law, or denying access is specifically authorised by law.

If for any reason Berkely Residential does not allow you to access your personal information, Berkely Residential will provide you with reasons in writing for its decision.

Does Berkely Residential provide my personal information to third parties?

There are some instances when we need to provide your personal information to third parties. We may be bound by law to provide your details to government-related bodies, including the Titles Office or the Residential Bond Board.

Sometimes we may need to outsource some administrative & other property-related functions to external organisations such as advertising agencies, sign writers, building & garden maintenance contractors or consultants such as accountants, lawyers, surveyors & advisors. Most of the above organisations are bound by express or implied confidentiality obligations to Berkely Residential.

Berkely Residential may also provide your details to third party business partners for the purpose of offering to provide you with products or services provided by Berkely Residential or these business partners that Berkely Residential considers relevant to you.

Berkely Residential does not sell your personal details to other organisations. We may however use the information about you to assist us with internal marketing and research.

How does Berkely Residential keep my personal information secure?

Berkely Residential will take reasonable steps to ensure information Berkely Residential collects, uses or discloses is stored in a secure environment that is accessed only by persons authorized by Berkely Residential so as to prevent misuse, loss, un- authorized access, modification or disclosure.

If the personal information is no longer needed for any purpose, Berkely Residential will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify the personal information.

Berkely Residential endeavour to provide a secure environment and a reliable system but you should be aware that there are inherent risks associated with the electronic storage and transmission of information (particularly via the Internet) which cannot be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

Who do I contact for further information?

Our Privacy Officer can assist you with any enquiries you have about the information that we hold about you. He can be contacted Monday to Friday on 6295 1600.

You can also write to the Privacy Officer at:

Berkely Residential

2 Trevillian Quay

Kingston ACT 2604

Fax: (02) 6295 1600

e-mail: mail@berkely.com.au

What if I have a complaint or concern ?

If you have a complaint or concern you can phone the Berkely Residential Privacy Officer on (02) 6295 1600 or write to the Privacy Officer at the address above. We will do our best to resolve your complaint within 60 days.

What if you are unable to resolve my complaint or concern?

If we are unable to resolve your complaint within this time, or you are unhappy with the outcome, you may refer your complaint to the Privacy Commissioner in your State capital. The Privacy Commissioner can be contacted by telephone from anywhere in Australia for the cost of a local call on 1300 363 992, or you can write to the Privacy Commissioner at the following address:

The Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner

GPO Box 5218

Sydney NSW 1042

Fax: (02) 9284 9666

e-mail: privacy@privacy.gov.au

TTY: 1 800 620 241 (Teletype access for the hearing impaired)