Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy ("Policy") explains how PublicSquare collects, holds, uses, discloses and otherwise handles Personal Information, and describes how we comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the "Privacy Act") and the Australian Privacy Principles (the "APPs"). By accessing or using the Platform, our website or our Services, by dealing with us as a homebuyer, investor, partner, vendor, supplier or other contact, or by otherwise providing Personal Information to us, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Policy and that we may handle your Personal Information as described in it.
WHO WE ARE
PublicSquare Technology Pty Ltd (Trading as: PublicSquare) ABN 74 653 185 356 of Level 1, 57 Berwick St, Fortitude Valley, QLD 4006 ("PublicSquare", "we", "us" or "our").
PublicSquare operates a rent-to-buy and rent-to-sell homes business, together with related proprietary property investment models, processes, materials, a public website and a partner platform (the "Platform"), and provides related products and services (the "Services"). This Policy applies to PublicSquare and to each of our related bodies corporate.
1. INTERPRETATION
(a) Jurisdiction
This Policy is governed by the laws of Queensland, Australia. To the extent any dispute concerning this Policy is dealt with by a court, the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Queensland and the courts competent to hear appeals from them, without limiting your right to complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner or any other regulator.
(b) Definitions
"APPs" means the Australian Privacy Principles set out in the Privacy Act. "Personal Information" has the meaning given in the Privacy Act, and broadly means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable, whether or not true and whether or not recorded in a material form. "Sensitive Information" has the meaning given in the Privacy Act, and includes information about an individual's health, racial or ethnic origin, and certain other categories that attract additional protection. "Client" means any owner-occupier (PPOR) buyer, homebuyer, investor or other prospective or actual customer. "Platform", "Services", "Information" and other capitalised terms carry the meanings given to them in this Policy or, where the context requires, the meanings given to them in our Terms of Service. "You" or "your" means the individual whose Personal Information we handle.
(c) Interpretation
I. References to legislation include changes or re-enactments of the legislation and statutory instruments and regulations issued under it;
II. Words denoting the singular include the plural and vice versa, and words denoting persons include bodies corporate and vice versa;
III. Grammatical forms of defined words or phrases have corresponding meanings;
IV. Where an obligation is expressed by reference to a time, that time is fixed by reference to Brisbane, Queensland; and
V. Headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.
2. APPLICATION OF THIS POLICY
(a) Scope
This Policy applies to Personal Information we handle in the course of our business, including information about homebuyers, investors, partners, referrers, vendors, contractors, job applicants, website and Platform users, and other individuals with whom we deal. It applies to information collected through the Platform, our website, our forms, our calculators, our communications channels (including telephone, email, messaging and any artificial-intelligence assisted agent), and our offline dealings.
(b) Information that is not Personal Information
Where information does not identify you and you are not reasonably identifiable from it, the Privacy Act and this Policy do not apply. We may collect, use and disclose de-identified, aggregated or anonymised information (including for analytics, research, product improvement and marketing) without restriction under this Policy.
(c) Third-party information
If you provide us with Personal Information about another individual (for example, a co-applicant, guarantor, referee, spouse or joint household member), you represent that you are authorised to provide that information to us and that you have made, or will make, that individual aware of this Policy.
3. PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
(a) Categories of Information
Depending on your dealings with us, the Personal Information we collect and hold may include:
I. Identity and contact information — your name, date of birth, residential and postal address, email address, telephone number, and similar details;
II. Financial and eligibility information — information relevant to assessing eligibility, affordability, budget and pre-approval, including income, expenses, assets, liabilities, employment status, household composition and other financial circumstances you or a third party (such as a broker) provide;
III. Verification and identifier information — information and documents used to verify your identity and to meet our legal and regulatory obligations, which may include copies of government-issued identification and government-related identifiers, handled in accordance with clause 8;
IV. Transaction and program information — information about the properties, programs, referrals and arrangements you are interested in or a party to, including rent-to-buy, rent-to-sell and related arrangements, and records of payments, fees and settlements;
V. Communications and interaction information — records of your communications and dealings with us, including enquiries, correspondence, form submissions, survey responses, and interactions with our support and artificial-intelligence assisted agents, which may be recorded, transcribed and logged;
VI. Technical and usage information — information about your device, browser, IP address, and how you access and use our website and Platform, collected as described in clause 6; and
VII. Sensitive Information — we do not generally seek Sensitive Information, and will only collect it where you consent and it is reasonably necessary for our functions or activities, or where the collection is otherwise required or authorised by law.
(b) If you do not provide Information
You are not obliged to provide us with your Personal Information. However, if you choose not to provide information we reasonably require, we may be unable to assess your eligibility, provide the Services, respond to your enquiry, process a referral or transaction, or meet our legal obligations.
4. HOW WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION
(a) Direct collection
Wherever reasonable and practicable, we collect Personal Information directly from you — for example, when you complete a form, use a calculator, create or use an account, apply for or enquire about a program, communicate with us, or otherwise interact with our website, Platform or Services.
(b) Collection from third parties
We may also collect Personal Information about you from third parties where direct collection is not practicable or where you would reasonably expect us to do so, including from partners, brokers, referrers, vendors, agents, service providers, identity-verification and data providers, and publicly available sources.
(c) Automated collection
We collect certain technical and usage information automatically through cookies, pixels, tags and similar technologies, as described in clause 6.
5. WHY WE COLLECT, HOLD, USE AND DISCLOSE
(a) Purposes
We collect, hold, use and disclose Personal Information for purposes connected with our business, including to:
I. provide, administer and improve the Platform, our website and our Services;
II. assess eligibility, affordability, budget and pre-approval, and to facilitate referrals, programs, transactions and settlements;
III. verify your identity and meet our legal, regulatory and risk-management obligations, including those referred to in clause 8;
IV. communicate with you, respond to enquiries, and provide support, including through artificial-intelligence assisted agents;
V. operate our partner and referral arrangements, including exchanging referrals and related information with partners;
VI. conduct marketing and analytics in accordance with clauses 6 and 7;
VII. protect our lawful interests, enforce our terms, manage disputes, and prevent, detect and investigate fraud, misuse or unlawful activity; and
VIII. comply with our legal obligations and any lawful request of a court, regulator or authority.
(b) Use consistent with collection
We use and disclose Personal Information for the purpose for which it was collected, for a related purpose you would reasonably expect, where you have consented, or where the use or disclosure is otherwise required or authorised by or under law.
6. COOKIES, ANALYTICS AND ONLINE TRACKING
(a) Cookies and similar technologies
Our website and Platform use cookies, pixels, tags, software development kits and similar technologies to enable functionality, remember your preferences, measure performance, and understand how our sites are used.
(b) Analytics and advertising
We use third-party analytics and advertising services, which may set their own cookies and identifiers and collect information about your interactions with our sites and advertising. These services may include, without limitation, website analytics and session-behaviour tools and the advertising and conversion-measurement technologies of major advertising platforms. We may also share limited information with advertising platforms (including through server-side conversion interfaces) to measure and improve the effectiveness of our advertising and to present relevant advertising to you and to audiences with similar characteristics.
(c) Managing tracking
You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings, and you can adjust certain advertising preferences through the relevant platform's tools. Disabling cookies may affect the functionality of our website and Platform.
7. DIRECT MARKETING
(a) Marketing communications
We may use your Personal Information to send you marketing and promotional communications about our products, services, programs and offers (including newsletters and property-related content) where permitted by law.
(b) Opting out
Each marketing communication will contain a means to unsubscribe, or you may contact us using the details in clause 14 to opt out. We will action opt-out requests within a reasonable time. Opting out of marketing does not affect communications we are required to send you in connection with the Services or our legal obligations.
(c) No sale of Personal Information
We do not sell your Personal Information.
8. IDENTITY VERIFICATION AND REGULATORY OBLIGATIONS
(a) Verification
We may be required to verify your identity and to conduct related checks in connection with our functions and activities, including under applicable anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws. For these purposes we may collect, use and disclose identification information, government-related identifiers and verification results, and may engage identity-verification and data providers to assist us.
(b) Government-related identifiers
We handle government-related identifiers in accordance with APP 9. We do not adopt a government-related identifier as our own identifier of you, and do not use or disclose such identifiers except as permitted under the Privacy Act.
(c) Legal restrictions on disclosure
Where the law restricts us from disclosing to you the fact or details of a report, check or enquiry (including any "tipping-off" restriction), we will comply with that restriction, and nothing in this Policy requires us to disclose information in a manner that would contravene it.
9. DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
(a) To whom we disclose
We may disclose your Personal Information to:
I. our related bodies corporate, personnel and contractors;
II. partners, brokers, referrers, vendors and agents, where reasonably necessary to facilitate referrals, programs, transactions or the Services;
III. service providers who support our business, including technology, hosting, communications, payments, identity-verification, analytics, advertising and professional-services providers;
IV. payment providers and financial institutions in connection with fees, charges and settlements;
V. our professional advisers, insurers and financiers;
VI. a purchaser or prospective purchaser of, or successor to, all or part of our business (including in connection with any corporate restructure); and
VII. courts, regulators, law-enforcement and government authorities, and other persons, where required or authorised by or under law.
(b) Service-provider obligations
Where we disclose Personal Information to a service provider, we take reasonable steps to require that provider to handle the information consistently with this Policy and applicable law.
10. OVERSEAS DISCLOSURE
(a) Overseas recipients
Some of the service providers we use (including technology, hosting, payments, communications, identity-verification, analytics and advertising providers) are located, or store or process data, outside Australia. As a result, your Personal Information may be disclosed to, or accessible from, recipients in overseas jurisdictions, which may include (without limitation) the United States and other countries in which our providers operate.
(b) Reasonable steps
Before disclosing Personal Information to an overseas recipient, we take steps that are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure the recipient handles the information in a manner consistent with the APPs, except where an exception under the Privacy Act applies.
11. DATA QUALITY, SECURITY AND RETENTION
(a) Quality
We take reasonable steps to ensure the Personal Information we collect, use and disclose is accurate, up to date, complete and relevant, having regard to the purpose for which it is held. Please help us keep your information accurate by notifying us of any changes.
(b) Security
We hold Personal Information in electronic and, where applicable, physical form, and take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, interference and loss, and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure, using organisational, technical and physical safeguards appropriate to the information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
(c) Retention
We retain Personal Information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, to provide the Services, and to comply with our legal, regulatory, accounting, tax and record-keeping obligations. Where the law requires us to retain particular records for a minimum period, we will retain them accordingly. When Personal Information is no longer required to be retained, we take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify it.
12. ACCESS AND CORRECTION
(a) Access
You may request access to the Personal Information we hold about you. We will respond to your request within a reasonable time and, where we provide access, in the manner requested if reasonable and practicable.
(b) Correction
If you believe any Personal Information we hold about you is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, you may request that we correct it, and we will take reasonable steps to do so.
(c) Refusal
We may decline a request for access or correction where the Privacy Act permits us to do so. If we refuse, we will give you written reasons (except where it would be unreasonable to do so) and information about how to complain. We may recover our reasonable costs of providing access, but do not charge for making a request.
13. THIRD-PARTY LINKS AND SERVICES
Our website, Platform and communications may contain links to, or integrate with, third-party websites, applications and services that are not controlled by us. This Policy does not apply to those third parties, and we are not responsible for their privacy practices. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third party before providing them with your Personal Information.
14. COMPLAINTS AND ENQUIRIES
(a) Contacting us
If you have a question about this Policy, wish to make a request under clause 12, or wish to complain about how we have handled your Personal Information, please contact us:
I. by post: The Privacy Officer, PublicSquare, Level 1, 57 Berwick St, Fortitude Valley, QLD 4006; or
II. by email: privacy@publicsquare.com.au
(b) How we handle complaints
We will acknowledge your complaint, investigate it, and respond to you within a reasonable time. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at www.oaic.gov.au.
15. CHANGES TO THIS POLICY
We may update this Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal obligations or the Services. Any updated version takes effect when published on our website or within the Platform, or as otherwise notified. Your continued use of the Platform, website or Services after an update takes effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Policy. We encourage you to review this Policy periodically.
16. GENERAL
(a) Severance
If any part of this Policy is unenforceable, illegal or void, it is severed and the balance of the Policy remains in force.
(b) No waiver
Any failure or delay by us in exercising a right under this Policy does not operate as a waiver of that right.
(c) Governing law
This Policy is governed by, and is to be construed in accordance with, the laws of Queensland, Australia.