for the
Community
& Strata Title Industry
produced by
National Community Titles Institute
ă National Community Titles Institute Inc. This publication is copyright and remains the intellectual property of National Community Titles Institute Inc. No part of it may be reproduced by any means without the prior permission of National Community Titles Institute Inc. The National Community Titles Institute Privacy Project is underwritten by Andreones Pty Ltd.
What Is “Personal
Information”?
Why We Collect Personal
Information
How Do We Collect Your
Personal Information?
NOT HAVING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
Consequences To You Of Us Not Having That Information
USE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
How We Use Your Personal Information
How Else Do We Disclose Your Personal Information?
ACCURACY AND SECURITY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
Ensuring Your Personal Information Is Up-To-Date
Is My Personal Information Secure?
Security Of Your Personal Information Online
ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
Can I Access My Personal Information?
Can Your Request To Access Your Personal Information Be Denied?
PERSONAL INFORMATION IDENTIFIERS
What Is A Commonwealth Identifier?
Do I Have To Be Identified At All?
Does My Personal Information Leave Australia?
OUR PRIVACY POLICY AND COMPLAINTS
Our Privacy Policy May Change From Time To Time
Concerns Or Requests For Access?
Can I Complain About A Breach Of My Privacy?
What If I Am Not Satisfied With The Response?
We are a member of the
National Community Titles Institute (NCTI) which is a national representative
association for parties involved in the professional, full-time administration
of community and strata schemes. We deliver management services and products to
a great number of strata, community and body corporate schemes. In doing so we
hold a lot of information about the property owners in the schemes. We also
produce and send out direct marketing materials relating to the services we are
able to offer.
We are committed to
protecting the privacy of your personal information and acting in accordance
with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). More information about us is available on our
website.
The address and phone
number of our office is:
Organisation: Bright & Duggan Pty Ltd
Offices: 37-43 Alexander St,
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Telephone: (02) 9438-3133
Facsimile: (02) 9439-6443
E-mail: privacy@bright-duggan.com.au
Website: http://www.bright-duggan.com.au
Privacy
Officer: Patricia Green
Personal information is
any information about you that identifies you or information by which your
identity can be reasonably discovered.
Examples are your name,
address, lot number, unit entitlement, marital status, taxation information,
income, email address, credit card information etc.
The agreement between
your scheme and us means we have to collect and hold personal information about
you as a lot owner.
Collecting your personal
information is essential for us to be able to perform our job under the
agreement. Our obligations to the scheme are to keep and maintain the books and
records of the scheme that we represent.
By collecting personal
information we are able to:
·
maintain
the strata roll and minute book
We
are also able to:
We are unable to perform
functions under our agreement for your scheme if we do not collect and make use
of your personal information.
Where possible we
collect your personal information directly from you but personal information is
generally collected during the course of our relationship with the scheme.
For example, we may have
a responsibility to maintain an owners register which includes your name and
address. Or if you have an interest giving you a right to vote, you have to
notify us in writing of that interest and this notification will include your
name, your address, your lot and how your interest in the lot was acquired.
Sometimes personal
information may be collected about you from other sources. Examples where we
may receive personal information about you from another source and why this
would happen are:
·
an
insurance company — where we are making an insurance claim
In most cases we will
need you to specifically consent to any collection, use or disclosure of your
personal information by us. We will usually need your consent in writing but we
may accept your verbal consent in some circumstances. Sometimes we will assume
you have given your consent by your conduct with us. However, no matter how
your personal information is collected it is dealt with by us in accordance
with this Privacy Policy.
The nature of the
service we provide means that, in most cases, if we do not collect your
personal information, we will not be able to provide your scheme with the
services agreed under our agency agreement. For instance, we would not be able
to issue agenda or levy notices to you if we did not hold your personal
information. We would not be able to attend to repairs and maintenance of
scheme property which benefit you if we did not hold your personal information.
Nor would we be able to make insurance claims on the scheme’s behalf.
We use the personal
information that we collect to provide the management services to you and your
scheme that were agreed upon under our agreement.
As an example, we, as
manager for your scheme, may have to allow the inspection of the records we
hold on the scheme’s behalf. These records will contain personal information
about you. We may also have to provide certificates in relation to the
financial position of your lot. This may include whether any debts or
contributions are owed by you.
Our direct marketing
database and client databases may also include your personal information. To
enable us to do this we may share your personal information within our
organisation nationally and/or across your state.
On occasion the law
allows or forces us to disclose your personal information.
For example, we may
disclose your personal information to a prospective purchaser of your property
who requires a certificate from us about the financial position of your lot.
We may also disclose
your personal information where you have consented to us doing so. Your consent
may be given explicitly such as in writing or verbally or from your conduct we
may assume you have given it. Where we have to disclose your personal
information to third parties in order that we can provide management services
to you (e.g. a contractor to the scheme providing maintenance services to
common property adjoining your lot), we will assume your consent has been given
when we are engaged to contract with the third party unless you tell us
otherwise.
Generally however we do
not disclose your personal information to a party outside our organisation,
unless that party is contracted to us to provide management services on our
behalf and that party is bound by the same privacy rules that bind us.
Some examples of parties
outside our organisation to whom we may disclose your personal information and
the reasons for disclosure are:
·
specialist
trades and services providers such as builders, engineers, architects, plumbers
·
insurance
companies for whom we act as agents
·
mail
service providers for the mailing of direct marketing material
Now and then we may use
your personal information to provide you with information about our products
and services.
Just contact us by phone
or email if you do not want to receive any of this information.
We will not send you any
further material once you have told us you no longer wish to receive
information about our products and services.
You can, however, change
your mind about receiving information about our products and services at any
time — you just need to let us know.
We do not disclose your
personal information to a party outside our organisation for the purposes of
allowing them to market their products or services to you.
We rely on the personal
information we hold about you so that we can efficiently do our job under our
agreement with your scheme.
For this reason, it is
very important that the personal information we collect from you is accurate,
complete and up-to-date.
During the course of our
relationship with your scheme we will ask you to tell us of any changes to your
personal information. However, you can contact us at any time to update your
personal information or to tell us that the information we hold about you is
inaccurate or incomplete.
We take all reasonable
precautions to safeguard your personal information from loss, misuse or
unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.
We employ a number of
means to protect your personal information including:
·
external
and internal premises security
It is our practice to
securely destroy your personal information or delete it from our systems when
we no longer require it or you ask us to destroy it. A record holding your
personal information must be kept for at least 3 years after it is made
(subject to any different legal requirements). Generally we would destroy your
personal information after that time.
Access to our
services via the Internet
When you access our website
you can view the privacy statement relating to internet use.
Generally, e-mail is not
a secure way to communicate and you should be aware of this when sending
personal information to us via e-mail.
You may request access
to any of the personal information we hold about you.
In most cases, a summary
of personal information such as your name and address details, contact
telephone numbers and the matters your scheme has engaged us on are freely
available to you by contacting our Privacy Officer.
For more detailed
requests for access to personal information (for example, access to information
held in archives), a fee may be charged to cover the cost of retrieval and the
supply of this information to you.
All requests for access
to personal information will be handled as quickly as possible and we will
endeavour to process any request for access within 30 days after receiving it.
Some requests for access may take longer than 30 days to process depending upon
the nature of the personal information being sought.
We do not always have to
provide you with access to your personal information on request.
We may refuse you access
to personal information in a number of circumstances. For example, we may
refuse your request where the information you seek is mixed with other
information that would disclose personal information or sensitive information
about any other owner or individual in the scheme. Another example where we may
refuse access is where denying access is required or authorised by law or where
the request for access is frivolous or vexatious.
If we deny your request
for access to your personal information or refuse your request to correct your
personal information, we will explain why.
A Commonwealth
identifier is a Commonwealth Government or Commonwealth Government agency
designated identification number such as your Tax File Number (TFN) or Medicare
number.
We do not use
Commonwealth identifiers as a way of identifying the personal information that
we may have collected about you.
Wherever it is lawful
and practicable to do so, we may offer you the opportunity to deal with us
anonymously. For example, when making an inquiry about the type of services we
offer.
Otherwise, the nature of
the job we perform under our agency agreement with your scheme is such that
anonymity cannot be maintained.
We do not send personal
information outside Australia unless it is allowed to do so under the law or
you have consented to it as part of the service we are providing to your
scheme.
If personal information
concerns particular matters it is regarded as sensitive information.
Sensitive information
can be information about your:
·
racial
or ethnic origin
We only collect, use or
disclose sensitive information about you as allowed by law, where we have
received your consent to do so, or the collection is necessary for us to do our
job under our agreement with your scheme.
We regularly review all
our policies and procedures.
As a result we may
change this Privacy Policy from time to time.
This Privacy Policy was
last amended in December 2002.
If you have a question
about this Privacy Policy or wish to lodge a request to access your personal
information you can contact us in any of the following ways:
By visiting - any of the
offices listed in this policy
By telephoning us
By writing to our Privacy
Officer
By emailing us
If you believe that we
have not protected your personal information as set out in this Privacy Policy
you may lodge a complaint with us in any of the following ways:
By telephoning us
By writing to our
Privacy Officer
By emailing us
If you are not satisfied
with the result of your complaint to us you can refer your complaint to the
Federal Privacy Commissioner.
You can contact the Federal
Privacy Commissioner:
By telephoning - 1300
363 992
By writing to - Director
of Complaints, Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner (check address in
your state)
By visiting the website
– http://www.privacy.gov.au