PRIVACY POLICY

LJ Hooker Strata understands the importance of your privacy and recognises that the protection of your personal information is to be taken seriously. LJ Hooker Strata is committed to protecting your personal information in a responsible way and in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Act) and the related Australian Privacy Principles.

This Privacy Policy describes the manner in which LJ Hooker Strata collects, holds and deals with personal information, and outlines your rights in relation to personal information that we collect or hold about you.

This policy was updated in January 2019.

Personal Information

‘Personal information’ is defined in the Act as any information or opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether the information or opinion is true or not and whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.

We collect personal information only when it has been knowingly and voluntarily submitted. You are not required to provide us with your personal information, however, we may be unable to conduct
business with you or provide you with certain services if you do not.

We are required to collect and hold personal information in accordance with the following legislation:

  • Australian Privacy Principals (APPs);
  • Agents Act 2003;
  • Agents Regulation 2003;
  • Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and where relevant associated legislation;
  • Privacy Regulation 2013;
  • Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011;
  • Unit Titles (Management) Regulation 2011.

By using our services, visiting our website or providing us directly with your personal information, you
agree to your information being collected, used and disclosed in accordance with this Privacy Policy
and our legislative obligations.

Collection

LJ Hooker Strata will only collect and store an individual’s personal information as required by legislation and as necessary to carry out our business as a strata managing agent.

In the course of carrying out our business, we may collect personal information in a variety of ways.

For example, we collect information when a client, member of the public or other individual:

  • Provides that information directly to us for a specific purpose;
  • Enquires about our services;
  • Requests to access relevant Body Corporate Minutes and associated documentation;
  • Requests information about a Unit Plan;
  • Visits our website; or
  • Applies for a job with us.

Kinds of Personal Information

We will typically collect and hold the following kinds of personal information about our clients:

  • Name, job title and contact information;
  • Communications between you and us or our Related Bodies Corporate;
  • Financial information;
  • Other personal information that you provide to us or that we collect in the course of our relationship with you.

Use and Disclosure

We will generally only use the personal information that we collect for the primary purpose for which it was collected. LJ Hooker Strata will only use personal information for a secondary purpose – that is, in a way different from the original reason for collection, in any of the following circumstances:

  • Where the relevant party has consented to the secondary purpose;
  • Where the secondary purpose is directly related to the primary purpose, and the individual whose personal information was obtained would reasonably expect us to use or disclose the information for another purpose; and
  • Where we are permitted and required to do so by law, or it is in the interests of public safety to do so.

We will not release any personal information to a third party, unless it is in the following circumstances:

  • Where we have been given direct instructions by the individual to do so;
  • Where we are required to do so to fulfil our statutory obligations as strata managing agents;
  • Where we are required to do so to fulfil our legal obligation to make repairs to the common
    property; or
  • Where we are given legal instructions or orders to do so.

Our employees and other authorised representatives may use email addresses provided for contacting new and existing clients in the future. We will not sell or pass on email addresses or other
contact information to third parties except in circumstances outlined above.

Holding Personal Information

We store personal information in a number of ways, including in hardcopy files and in electronic form, and we use our best efforts to protect personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access and modification.

Hardcopy files are stores in our offices within an access-controlled premises. We may apply additional security measures to certain kinds of personal information as necessary.

Electronic records are kept in a secure network and held by third party storage providers, who are required to protect personal information in accordance with applicable laws and take appropriate
technical measures again unlawful access. Personal information within our network and portals are password protected and access is appropriately limited.

Security

LJ Hooker Strata will take reasonable steps to protect your personal information against loss, theft, unauthorised access, disclosure, copying or modification, irrespective of the format in which it is held. We strive to protect the security and privacy of all personal information submitted to or collected by us.

The steps that we take to ensure that your personal information is protected include:

  • Ensuring that we retain your personal information for no longer than it is reasonably required by us, unless we are required by law to retain it for longer;
  • Providing computer and network security measures, including firewalls, anti-virus, password access and secure servers; and
  • Storing hardcopy information in an access-controlled premises.

We note however, in the case of electronic communications, networks and portals, there is no guarantee that these transmissions will be totally secure. While we use our best efforts and take all
reasonable steps to ensure that personal information transmitted electronically is protected, we will not be held responsible for events arising from unauthorised access to personal information.

Where we no longer require your personal information, and when we are not required to retain it by law, we will ensure that it is de-identified or destroyed as appropriate.

Access and Correction

You have a right to request access to the personal information that we hold about you by contacting us. You may also request to correct that information if you believe that it is out-of-date, inaccurate,incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. We will respond to such requests for personal information within
a reasonable time.

In some cases, in accordance with the Act and or Unit Titles (Management) Act 2011, we may charge you a fee to access personal information that we hold about you if your request requires a substantial effort on our part. We may also deny you access to that information, and in the event that we choose to do that, we will provide you with a written notification of the basis for that denial.

If you have requested that we correct personal information that we are holding, and we do not agree with your request (for example, because we consider that information to be accurate), we are not required to make corrections. However, where we refuse to do so, we will provide you with a written notice setting out our reasons.

Concerns and Complaints

If you have concerns about how your personal information is being dealt with, or you would like to make a complaint, please contact our office. You will need to provide us with details of your complaint and any supporting information or evidence.

We review all complaints received and we will respond within a reasonable time period. If you are unhappy with our response, you may direct your complaint to the Office of the Australian information Commissioner by visiting www.oaic.gov.au, calling 1300 363 992 or emailing enquiries@oaic.gov.au.

Changes to Privacy Policy

We may review and amend our Privacy Policy from time to time, and we may notify you about changes to our Privacy Policy by posting an updated version to our website. We do suggest that you check our website regularly to ensure that you are familiar with our latest Privacy Policy.