Downsizer – Privacy Policy
Last updated: 10 January 2021
Block Builder Pty Ltd trading as Downsizer Global (Downsizer, we, us or our) operates a platform which allows property developers and agents to list properties online and for prospective purchasers to express their interest in purchasing properties (the Platform). The Platform is made available to all users via our website (www.downsizer.com).
We are committed to protecting your privacy and to complying with our obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). This policy explains how we handle Personal Information relating to individuals, to ensure we meet our obligations under the Privacy Act.
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DEFINITIONS
Personal Information means information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable: (a) whether the information or opinion is true or not; and (b) whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.
Privacy Policy means this document as amended from time to time.
Related Bodies Corporate has the same meaning as under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth).
Sensitive Information means (a) information or an opinion about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association, membership of a trade union, sexual orientation or practices or criminal record that is also personal information; (b) health information; and (c) certain genetic information, biometric information or biometric templates.
Spam Act means the Spam Act 2003 (Cth).
The expressions you and your refer to each individual whose Personal Information we may handle from time to time where we are required to comply with the Privacy Act in respect of such Personal Information.
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TYPES OF INFORMATION COLLECTED
We only collect Personal Information to the extent that this is reasonably necessary for one or more of our functions or activities.
Personal Information that we may collect includes, but is not limited to the following kinds of information:
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if you use our Platform or other services as a prospective purchaser or just to view the Platform: your name, phone number, address and email address, property details, other information that you upload or share via the Platform or otherwise provide to us while interacting with us, your IP address, device identifiers and information about how you use our Platform, websites or applications (including your setting preferences, browser type, operating system, website visited immediately before coming to our site, and other information);
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if you are or work for a developer, agent or our insurer: your name, business phone number, business address and business email address, and other information that you upload or share via the Platform or otherwise provide to us while interacting with us;
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if you apply for a role with Downsizer: your qualifications, experience, your curriculum vitae, your education and employment history.
We may also collect other information relating to you from third parties, including the third parties described in section 4.
It is possible that we will collect Sensitive Information about you in the course of performing our services.
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METHOD OF COLLECTION
Our preference is to collect Personal Information about an individual directly from that individual unless it is unreasonable or impracticable for us to do so.
Information will generally be collected from the following sources:
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directly from you, including via our Platform and website or through your other interactions with us (e.g. by phone or email). If you provide us with information about any other individual, where reasonably practicable, you must obtain that person's consent to give us the information and inform them of this Privacy Policy;
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from other users or potential users of our Platform and services, for example when they nominate you as an authorised user, or upload or share content through our Platform and services that includes information about you; and
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from third party services used in connection with the provision of our Platform and services.
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COLLECTION, USE AND DISCLOSURE
4.1. Purposes of collection, use and disclosure
We may use and disclose your Personal Information for the primary purpose for which we collected your Personal Information, for reasonably (or directly if the Personal Information is Sensitive Information) related secondary purposes within your reasonable expectations and where required or authorised by law including, but not limited to:
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providing you, your organisation or your employer with our services, including enabling users to list and purchase properties on our Platform; to personalise your experience; and to connect you with others on the Platform that may be able to assist you in achieving your purpose in accessing the Platform;
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communicating with you, including communicating with you about your account, our Platform and our services (including for direct marketing as further described below), responding to any enquiries, questions, requests or complaints that you have made and providing you with customer support;
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operating our business, including to manage, develop, maintain and improve our Platform and services, for research purposes in relation to our Platform and services; and to provide training to our staff;
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for administrative and security purposes, including for administrative purposes in relation to confirming your identity and the security and access of our systems, premises, platforms and websites, for fraud and crime prevention and detection purposes, for the safety of any individual, to recover any payments due to us and enforce such recovery through engagement of debt collection agencies and in connection with the acquisition, merger or sale of any part of our business;
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complying with applicable laws, including to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations and requests anywhere in the world, including reporting to and/or being audited by national and international regulatory bodies and to comply with court orders and exercise and/or defend our legal rights; and
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any other lawful purposes, including for any other purpose that you have consented to, for any other legitimate business purpose and as otherwise permitted or required by any applicable law or regulation.
If you do not provide us with the Personal Information we have requested, in some cases we will not be able to provide you with access to our Platform or our services or do business with you or the organisation with which you are connected.
4.2. Third party disclosures
We do not and will not sell, rent out or trade your Personal Information. We will only disclose your Personal Information in the ways set out in this Privacy Policy and, in particular, to the following recipients:
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to any of our employees, officers, insurers, professional advisers, agents, suppliers and contractors;
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to other persons using the Platform and services or otherwise involved in or connected with your listing or sale, including as permitted by the functionality of our Platform or the settings that we have made available on our Platform; or otherwise in accordance with your express or implied consent or where required by law;
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to third party technology services providers that we deal with and other third parties who process your Personal Information on our behalf , including the third party service providers set out in at the end of this section;
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to any third party to whom we assign or novate any of our rights or obligations;
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to any prospective buyer in the event we sell any part of our business or assets;
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to any government, regulatory agency, enforcement or exchange body or court where we are required to do so by applicable law or regulation or at their request; and/or
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to other persons or bodies, to the extent required by applicable law or regulation.
4.3. Third party service providers
We use various third party service providers to offer you the platform. Some of these are listed below. We may update this list from time to time:
Deposit Power - Provider of the Downsizer Deposit Power Bond.
Docusign - Document management and sight signature for transaction documents.
Domain.com.au - Property valuation estimates for public eligibility checks and application processes, address lookup validation for public and private property address validation.
Equifax - ASIC company checks for onboarding developers, agents and builders; bankruptcy checks for purchaser application process; and land title verification and encumbrance checks for ACT, NSW, VIC and QLD applications processes.
Forms Live / Dynamic Methods - API provider for Contract for Sale generation in certain states during application.
R3 - Provider of the Corda blockchain DLT platform technology.
RapidID - Digital verification of identification for onboarding developers and agents, and for the application process for prospective purchasers.
Rate My Agent - Industry star rating for agents captured at onboarding and displays on public site.
Twilio Sendgrid - Email platform provider for email communications.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to sites or products that display or link to different privacy policies – refer to section 9 for further details.
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COMMUNICATION FROM US
We do not use Sensitive Information for marketing purposes. We may use and disclose your Personal Information (other than Sensitive Information) to provide you with information on offers, products and services offered by us and you expressly consent to us doing so.
If at any time you no longer wish to receive any direct marketing from us or do not want your information disclosed for direct marketing, contact our Privacy Officer using the details in paragraph 14 or use the unsubscribe link within each email.
Please note that even if you have requested not to receive further direct marketing communications, we may nevertheless continue to provide you with information about changes to our terms and conditions for the supply of goods or services and other factual information as permitted under the Privacy Act and Spam Act.
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STORAGE OF DATA AND OVERSEAS DISCLOSURE
We, including our subcontractors, may hold electronic records of your Personal Information using cloud technology or by other electronic means, or in paper form. These means of holding Personal Information may include offshore storage.
We may disclose Personal Information to other parties including our Related Bodies Corporate and service providers as permitted by the Privacy Act. These third parties may be located in overseas countries where a user with whom you are communicating and sharing content is based.
Some of our third party service providers utilise cloud-based services where information may be transmitted to other countries, however we ensure that appropriate protections are included in our contracts with those third party service providers. It is not practicable for us to specify in advance the location of every service provider with whom we deal, however these are the primary locations to which personal information may be disclosed.
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EMPLOYEE RECORDS
In accordance with the Privacy Act, this policy does not apply to our acts and practices directly related to a current or former employment relationship between us and an employee, and an employee record held by us relating to the employee.
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DATA SECURITY
We will take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to protect the Personal Information we hold from misuse or loss and from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. We will also take steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to destroy or de-identify Personal Information once we no longer need it for any purpose for which the information may be used, disclosed or retained under the Privacy Act. However, when using our Platform and website you should be aware that no data transmission over the Internet can be guaranteed as totally secure. Although we strive to protect such information, we do not warrant the security of any information that you provide us over the Internet and you do so at your own risk.
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THIRD PARTY SITES
If you link to or use other websites, services or software, please review the privacy policies posted at those websites. This Privacy Policy does not apply to, and we are not responsible for, any third party websites which may be accessible through links from the Platform or our websites. If you follow a link to any of these third party websites, they will have their own privacy policies and you will need to check these policies before you submit any Personal Information to such third party websites.
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COOKIES AND TRACKERS
When you use our Platform or website we may collect certain information such as browser type, operating system, and details of the website visited immediately before coming to our site. This information is used in an aggregated manner to analyse how people use our site, so that we can improve our service.
We may from time to time use cookies or other trackers on our Platform or website (Trackers). Trackers allow us to access and store information (for example, by using cookies) or resources (for example, by running a script) on a user's device when they interact with Downsizer. One type of tracker is a cookie, which is a very small file which a website uses to identify you when you come back to the site and to store details about your use of the site. Trackers used by Downsizer are not malicious programs that access or damage your device. Trackers are used on our websites and in our applications to analyse usage, remember your selected features and settings, and help us provide a better user experience. In addition, Trackers may be used to serve relevant ads to you through third party services such as Google AdWords. These ads may appear on our website or other websites you visit. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third party websites which may be linked to or accessible through the Platform or our website.
Most web browsers and applications automatically accept Trackers, but you can choose to reject cookies by changing your browser settings or managing your consent preferences on our Platform and websites. Certain Trackers may be required to enable core site functionality (Necessary Trackers). If you wish to use our Platform, websites and/or applications, you cannot opt-out or choose to disable Necessary Trackers.
If you do not agree to the use of Trackers, please disable them by following the instructions for your browser or device, using the automated disabling tool where available, or updating your consent preferences on our Platform, website or applications. However, if you disable any Trackers, you will not be able to take full advantage of our Platform, websites and applications, and you may experience a drop in the performance of our Platform, websites and applications.
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CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY
We may change or update parts of this Privacy Policy in order to maintain our compliance with applicable law and regulation or following an update to our internal practices. We will do this by updating this Privacy Policy on app.downsizer.com/privacy. You may obtain a copy of our current policy from our website or by contacting us via the details in paragraph 14.
You may not be directly notified of such a change so please ensure that you regularly check this Privacy Policy so you are fully aware of any changes or updates.
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ACCESS, CORRECTION AND FURTHER INFORMATION
We will take such steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to ensure that the Personal Information which we collect remains accurate, up to date and complete.
We will provide you with access to your Personal Information held by us unless we are permitted under the Privacy Act to refuse to provide you with such access. Please contact us via the details in paragraph 14 if you:
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wish to have access to the Personal Information which we hold about you;
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consider that the Personal Information which we hold about you is not accurate, complete or up to date; or
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require further information on our Personal Information handling practices.
There is no charge for requesting access to your Personal Information but we may require you to meet our reasonable costs in actually providing you with access.
If you consider that the information which we hold about you is inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, we will take reasonable steps, consistent with our obligations under the Privacy Act, to correct that information if you so request.
We will respond to all requests for access and/or correction within a reasonable time.
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COMPLAINTS
If you have a complaint or inquiry about the way in which we have handled any privacy issue, please advise us via the details in paragraph 14.
We will use reasonable efforts to deal promptly with complaints and inquiries and, in any event, acknowledge your complaint or inquiry within 30 days.
If you are not satisfied with how we manage your complaint, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.
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CONTACT INFORMATION
Our Managing Director may be contacted about any issue relating to this Privacy Policy via email or mail using the details set out below:
Attention: Mark Macduffie / Co- Founder and Managing Director
Subject: Privacy Policy
Mail: PO Box H237, Australia Square, Sydney, NSW, 1215
Email: hello@downsizer.com