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This office is a member of The Canadian Real
Estate Association (CREA) and adheres to and abides by the
principles set out in the CREA Privacy Code. All employees
and sales representatives associated with this office must
sign an acknowledgement that they will comply with the requirements
of the Code.
This office only collects personal information
necessary to effectively market and sell the property of sellers,
to locate, assess and qualify properties for buyers and to
otherwise provide professional and competent real estate services
to clients and customers.
Gerry Weir (Broker/ Owner) is the privacy
compliance officer responsible for privacy compliance in this
office. His name shall be made available to consumers. The
responsibilities of the privacy compliance officer shall include:
- establish and update information protection policies;
- ensure policies are implemented by other organizations
to which data-processing functions are outsourced;
- establish criteria for classification of information;
- evaluate the accessibility of sensitive information and
take corrective action where necessary;
- provide education to employees on the importance of information
protection;
- attempt to resolve consumer privacy complaints to the
satisfaction of the consumer.
- Only the information necessary to facilitate the real
estate transaction or otherwise provide professional and
competent service to clients and customers will be collected;
- No personal information shall be collected from an individual
without first obtaining the consent of the individual to
the collection, use and dissemination of that information;
- Express consent (whether oral or written) must always
be obtained except in the following situation. Consent may
be implied where the information is not sensitive and where
it can be reasonably assumed that the individual would expect
the information to be disclosed in this fashion;
- Once information is collected, it will be used and disclosed
only for the purposes disclosed to the individual;
- All representation agreements must include the approved
privacy clauses.
- Anyone using personal information for some new purpose
that extends beyond the consent already provided must obtain
the express consent of the person for that use;
- Requests for information by law enforcement officials,
lawyers, private investigators or other agents or subpoenas
for documents issued by the court must be referred to the
(privacy officer/office manager or broker/agent as appropriate).
Information must be protected in a manner
commensurate with its sensitivity, value and criticality.
This policy applies regardless of the media on which information
is stored, the locations where the information is stored,
the systems used to process the information, or the processes
by which information is handled.
- Meetings with customers and clients on these premises
must take place in a place and manner to ensure confidentiality;
- Mail and faxes must be routed directly to the intended
recipient;
- Information should be available to other persons in
the office only on a need-to-know basis.
- Filing cabinets designated by the office manager to
contain personal, including sensitive, information are
to be kept secured at all times;
- All personnel have computer passwords. These passwords
are confidential and are not to be shared with any unauthorized
persons.
- This office has in place a record retention and destruction
policy. Refer to that portion of the policy manual for
details.
- insofar as possible, personal information should be
collected directly from the consumer;
- public property information (taxes, assessment data
etc.) should be verified;
- disclaimers of accuracy in the form approved by the
office should always be attached to any disclosure of
information.
- Copies of any privacy brochure approved by this office
should always be available to the public in the reception
area of the office;
- The individual set out in Section 3 as being responsible
for privacy compliance is the person responsible for responding
to access requests and all such requests will be referred
to him. All staff and salespersons will co-operate fully
with the privacy compliance officer in responding to requests;
- On written request and appropriate identification satisfactory
to the organization, an individual will be advised of personal
information about him/her retained in the firm's records;
- Where information cannot be disclosed (for example the
information contains reference to other individuals or is
subject to solicitor-client privilege) the individual will
be given reasons for non-disclosure;
- An individual may have appended to a record, any alternative
information where the office is of the view that the appended
information is, in fact, correct;
- A minimal administrative fee may be charged to supply
the information.
- Any complaints from an individual concerning the collection,
use or disclosure of their personal information or concerning
the individual's ability to access their personal information
must be referred to the privacy compliance officer, who
will attempt to resolve the complaint to the individual's
satisfaction;
- In the event the complaint cannot be resolved internally
to the individual's satisfaction, he or she will be advised
of where to direct the complaint.
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