1 Prior
Foreword. We respect the privacy of our customers and visitors to our website. We therefore treat your personal data with care. With this privacy policy, we want to inform you how we handle your personal data when you use this website, as well as when you use our services.
Brief introduction to personal data protection legislation. With effect from 25 May 2018, legislation is in force regulating your rights in relation to your personal data. The key concepts in this new legislation (often referred to as GDPR) are data subjects, personal data, and processing operations. The data subject, that is you, the natural person who visits this website or uses our services. Your personal data is any data that relates to you: that can be your name, your email address, but also your contacts with us, your preferences regarding the property you are looking for, or what you have communicated to us in a contact form. What we do with your personal data is process it. This ranges from retrieval, storage to use for multiple purposes.
2 What personal data?
Why do we process your personal data? We process your personal data to enable us to sell or rent your property, to find a match between your wants and needs and the properties we offer for rent and sale, to allow you to stay informed about properties that may interest you.
On what legal basis do we process your personal data (the "legal basis"). Any use of your personal data must have a legal basis, must be "lawful". We process your data on the basis of our legitimate interest, your consent, the pre-contractual phase or the performance of a contract, and legal obligation.
Sometimes we have a "legal obligation" to request personal data. For example, to draw up a sales compromise, we must have your national registration number.
For certain things, such as sending newsletters by email, we ask for your consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time. You can do so easily, usually by clicking the 'unsubscribe' button found in each of these emails.
We also retain data based on our "legitimate interest". This "legitimate interest" includes those things that you as a client can expect us to need as a real estate agent to carry out our work properly. This includes, for example, the preparation of client lists (more on this below) or specific information that is important in the context of certain properties or certain clients.
Finally, we naturally need personal data to be able to perform the agreement we have with you, such as identification details, address details and contact details.
What personal data do we keep from you? Which personal data we keep from you depends on the relationship you have with us. We call these categories of data subjects.
|
Relation |
Description |
|
“VISITOR” |
the natural person who visits the website without identifying themselves and providing us with personal data |
|
PROSPECTIVE TENANT |
the prospective tenant who provides us with extensive information in the context of a specific property or in the process of searching for a rental property in general, and who may visit one or more properties |
|
PROSPECTIVE BUYER |
the prospective buyer who provides us with extensive information in the context of a specific property or in the process of searching for a property for sale in general, and who may visit one or more properties |
|
LANDLORD |
the landlord with whom a rental agreement is signed |
|
SELLER |
the seller with whom a sales agreement is signed |
|
RESIDENT |
the person who occupies a property, where this resident is not the landlord or seller in the transaction |
|
PROSPECT |
the natural person whom we contact or who contacts us with the aim of offering for sale or rent a property owned by this person |
Below, we will go over how we process your personal data for each customer category, whether you can object to this and what the consequences are. We then go over what rights you have against us as a data subject.
What personal data do we process from visitors? If, as a visitor to our website, you do not communicate any personal data, we do not store any personal data. Depending on the browser settings, cookies may be placed on the user's device. Please refer to the cookie policy.
What personal data do we process with non-binding services? Some of our services are entirely without obligation. In this case, we only process the data necessary for this service.
These services include: creating a profile, saving searches, a free estimate of your property, filling in a contact form, subscribing to a newsletter. When creating a profile, the following information may be requested: identification details and contact details. When saving a query, in addition to an email address, the information that is necessary or useful to create the query you requested is saved. A free valuation of your property requires some investment and it is normal that we may retain a variety of personal data, such as property details, identification details, contact details, the reason why you are requesting the valuation. Having a free valuation carried out implies consent to the collection of this data. Once an appraisal is carried out, we retain this appraisal, both on the basis of your consent and a legitimate interest, as well as from potential liability from this appraisal. When filling in a contact form, we save your contact details and your question or comment, as well as any further communication. When subscribing to a newsletter, we will store your e-mail address.
Except as indicated above, any processing is done within the framework of your consent.
We store this personal data as long as the processing is ongoing and for 6 months or more after your last activity.
What personal data do we process from prospective tenants? You are a prospective tenant as soon as you have explicitly registered with us for this purpose. For a prospective tenant, the following processing is possible. A pre-screening allows us to establish your tenant profile. This is in no way an "automated decision". We collect this data to let you visit properties that may meet your needs and not to let you visit properties that in some way are not a match for you. These personal details may include: your pay slip or details about your income, your family situation, the date you wish to start renting, your budget, as well as all information about the desired property. If a property is visited, we also make a note of this. When entering into a rental agreement, all data necessary to conclude the rental agreement are collected and stored.
We store this personal data with a view to possibly entering into a rental agreement. The legal basis for the processing is therefore the "pre-contractual phase". The storage period of the personal data is at least 6 months, depends further on your level of activity as a prospective tenant, and can be extended within a reasonable framework in order to establish a long-term profile of you as a tenant. If, based on your reduced activity as a prospective tenant, it is decided to no longer process your data, you may be informed in advance.
If you sign a tenancy agreement, we must retain personal data for at least 10 years for our contractual liability.
You have a right of inspection and an effective right to rectification of objectively incorrect data. No personal data belonging to special categories (such as race, religion, sexual orientation, health) will be kept unless you exceptionally explicitly request this yourself.
What personal data do we process from the prospective buyer? You are a prospective buyer as soon as you have explicitly registered with us for this purpose. For a prospective buyer, we process the following personal data. We save your name, e-mail address and mobile phone number. We note your wishes and needs regarding the property you are looking for, as well as any other information you tell us about your situation or which we understand may be useful in finding a suitable property. If you visit a property, we will note this as activity associated with that property. The seller, who can access the activity record via an online profile, will only see that a visit has taken place. If you make an offer, we save your offer, and the seller's response. If an offer or counter-offer is accepted, all legal data necessary to make a compromise are collected and stored (such as a copy or a reading of your identity card). The compromise is also kept. If you have shown strong interest in a property or visited a property, and our assignment ends without a sale of the property, the seller will receive a list of all (serious) prospective buyers by registered mail. This list includes your name, your email address and a partially unreadable mobile phone number. We transfer your data to the seller because of a compelling legitimate interest, in particular because of compelling contractual provisions in the sale order. This means that you cannot oppose this. In this context, the following precautions are taken: the seller is prohibited from contacting you directly on the basis of this list; he or she is also prohibited from informing anyone else that you are on this list, as well as passing this list on; and after 6 months, the seller is obliged to destroy the list, as well as any copy or scan he or she may have of it. In addition, we ourselves may pass this list on to a real estate agent who takes over the sales assignment, or with whom we work.
Except where stated above, processing is done on the basis of your consent and our legitimate interest to serve you better. Your data will be kept for a minimum of 2 years.
If you make a binding offer, sign a promise to buy or compromise, we need to keep personal data for a minimum of 10 for our contractual liability. By default, we keep your data for a period of 30 years, but after 10 years you can ask for your data to be deleted.
You have a right of inspection and an effective right to rectify objectively erroneous data. To this end, you must provide us with proof of your identity, communicate the correct information, as well as sufficient proof of this correct value where necessary. No personal data belonging to special categories (such as race, religion, sexual orientation, health) will be stored unless you explicitly request this yourself.
What personal data do we process from the landlord? Within the framework of a letting assignment, we store all data necessary to perform the letting assignment, such as property details, your identity and contact details. We also retain any additional information we learn about the property or other useful information to help us find a suitable tenant for your property. Please note that the GDPR prohibits the processing of personal data relating to race, religion, sexual orientation, health, so the "other useful information" we record cannot relate to such matters in any way.
Personal data will be held in order to perform the rental assignment. Personal data is kept for at least 10 years, given the legal obligations in this regard and our contractual liability. By default, we keep your data for a period of 30 years, but after 10 years you can ask for your data to be deleted.
If you entrust us with the task of drawing up an EPC, an electrical conformity certificate, the necessary personal data will be forwarded to our partner. If a tenancy agreement is concluded, the data required to draw up the tenancy agreement will be retained.
If you decide to publish your property on one or more real estate portals, we will only send these portals the property details, i.e. no contact or other data from you.
What personal data do we process from the seller? In the context of a sales assignment, we store all data necessary to carry out the sales assignment, such as property details, your identity and contact details. We also save any additional information we learn about the property or other useful information to find a suitable buyer for your property. In view of the legal obligations in this respect and our contractual liability, personal data will be kept for at least 10 years. By default, we keep your data for a period of 30 years, but after 10 years you can ask for your data to be deleted.
If you entrust us with the task of drawing up an EPC or electrical conformity certificate, the necessary personal data will be forwarded to our partner. If a compromise is concluded, the data required to draw up the compromise will be retained. If you decide to publish your property on one or more real estate portals, we will only send these portals the property details, i.e. no contact or other personal details.
See below for important information on your possible responsibilities as a seller.
What personal data do we process from the resident? As part of a sale or rental assignment, we keep all data necessary to carry out the assignment, namely your contact details. We keep these until the assignment is completed. After that, the data will be deleted if you have no further relationship with our office.
What personal data do we process from the prospect? We distinguish between the prospect who approaches us and the actively approached prospect. When you approach us yourself without obligation with a view to a possible rental or sales assignment, we store your identity, your contact details, the information we obtain regarding your property, and other information that allows us to assess your property and the context or reason for your contact. We do the latter on the basis of a legitimate interest, in particular efficient handling of this non-binding contact. We keep the data you provide us with for a standard period of 2 years.
It may also happen that we contact you, if we learn that you might put or want to put your property up for sale or rent. Publicly made contact details may be stored, in accordance with the GDPR. If you wish further contact with us, we will treat your personal data as we do for people who contact us spontaneously. If you do not wish to be contacted by us again, or only after a certain time (e.g. three months), we will note this, and no more.
What if you belong to two categories of data subjects? Over time you may belong to more than one category of data subjects. For example, a prospective buyer can subsequently become a seller. In that case, your personal data will be processed according to both categories, possibly with multiple legal bases, and the longest storage period will be used.
What about data received from third parties, such as real estate portal sites? Properties, both for rent and for sale, can be published on real estate portal sites. Real estate portal sites contain options for searches and to collect and store your contact details. With your permission, a portal site will provide us with your contact details and the property in which you are interested.
You will immediately receive an email from us confirming that we have received your contact details and information about the property in which you are interested. This email may contain an invitation to give your consent to automatically receive messages from similar properties.
We can also automatically send you a range of properties that are similar to the property you requested information for. This is because many customers appreciate that. In that case you can always unsubscribe with 1 click.
Historical data. Historical data are personal data that are in our database from before May 25, 2018, the date of entry into force of the GDPR. For those persons with whom we have an agreement or for whom we have a legal obligation to retain personal data, we will of course continue to store that personal data. For other personal data, which are stored in our files either on the basis of consent or on the basis of legitimate interest, it is usually difficult or impossible to find out on what basis we store this personal data. A company has two ways to approach this. A first method is to send everyone in this file an email to ask to renew or confirm permission to use personal data. In that case, only the personal data of those who have actually consented will be retained. A second way is to regard the processing of personal data as a legitimate interest. In that case, the data subject has the opportunity to object to the processing during each contact and it will be terminated. Each of these methods can be combined with a clean-up operation of old customer data.
We have opted for the first/second method of dealing with historical data. It goes without saying that you always have the right to request that these historical personal data be deleted (in the absence of legal obligations and current agreements).
Your responsibilities as a seller. It is possible for several reasons that the sales order you have entrusted to us ends without the sale of your property. In that case, after completion of our assignment, you will receive the list of potential buyers who have visited your property or have shown serious interest in it. This list contains personal data of these prospective buyers, in particular surname and first name, e-mail address and mobile number, the latter possibly in part. As a private individual, you also have obligations under the GDPR in connection with that list and you are the controller of this list. We grant you permission to store and view the personal data on this list for 6 months after receipt. You are prohibited from communicating or sharing this personal data with anyone and in any way. You are also prohibited from actively seeking contact with these persons. After 6 months you are obliged to destroy this list, as well as every copy, scan and photo of it.
Contact. For questions or requests regarding the processing of your personal data, please contact us. You can contact us at the following address:
Lenny Jacobs
Gotevlietstraat 53
8000 Bruges
T: +32 50 66 70 00
G: +32 497 38 48 31
E: info@houseofhouse.eu
Your rights as a data subject. As a data subject, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. You have a right to inspect your personal data. This means that you have the right to inspect the personal data that we store about you. Please note that we have one month to respond and may request proof of your identity before responding to your request. You also have a right to rectification. This means that you have the right to have incorrect personal data corrected. In this case, we may ask you for proof of the accuracy of the data you provide. You also have a right to erasure of data. This means that you can request that your personal data be deleted. Please note that this is not always possible, especially if we have a legal obligation to retain personal data, if you have entered into a contractual relationship with us, or in other exceptional situations. The right to erasure cannot be used to terminate an ongoing agreement. You can also object to certain processing, in particular to processing that we carry out on the basis of our (non-compelling) legitimate interest. You can also withdraw your consent at any time for those processing operations for which you have given your consent. With regard to both the objection and the withdrawal of consent, we will cease processing if there are no other legal bases that make processing necessary for the time being. Finally, you always have the right to file a complaint with the Data Protection Authority (www.privacycommission.be).
Security. Your personal data will be treated confidentially. They are also appropriately secured according to the risk posed by their processing and, where applicable, stored and secured in accordance with specific legal requirements.
Transfer to third parties. We only pass on your personal data to third parties with your consent, or on the basis of a legal obligation or judicial or administrative decisions or as discussed above in the context of the implementation of the agreement.
Social media and other third parties. Our website may contain links to social media platforms or other third-party services. We have no control over how these services work and are therefore not responsible for them. Nor do we have any influence on their privacy policy and cookie policy. When you use your social media profile, the respective social media provider processes your personal data according to its policies. We recommend that you read their personal data policy thoroughly.
Direct marketing. "Direct Marketing" means all direct communications between us and you, the purpose of which is to inform you about products and services or to update your customer profile, and which does not include e-mails sent in the context of personalized searches for properties. You can always object to the use of your personal data for direct marketing by pressing the unsubscribe button in such an email or by contacting us about this.
Changes to this privacy policy. We strive to keep this privacy policy stable. However, it may be necessary to exceptionally change this privacy policy for various reasons. Therefore, please check this page regularly for changes.
Disclaimer of this privacy policy. It is possible that certain functionality has not yet been implemented or has not yet been fully implemented, or has been implemented differently than described here. We accept no liability for this. In any case, this does not affect your rights that the GDPR gives you and that you can exercise from May 25, 2018.
