Privacy Policy

The Cohen Farquharson website

PRIVACY POLICY

This PrivacyPolicy describes how and when we, THE TRUSTEE FOR PRIME EASTERN REALTY TRUSTPTY. LIMITED trading as Cohen Farquharson ACN 644 618 226, collects, holds, uses, transfers, discloses and otherwise processes personal information.This Privacy Policy applies to Personal Information that we collectsuch as through our website at https://www.cohenfarquharson.com.au/, in tenancy applications, lease agreements, open for inspection forms, online forms, email and telephone calls. By using our services and our website, you consent to us collecting, maintaining, transferring, using, processing, holding and disclosing your personal information in the manner described in this Privacy Policy.

What is Personal Information?

When used in this Privacy Policy, the term “Personal Information” has the meaning given to it in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Act). In general terms, it is any information that can be used to personally identify you. This may include your name, address, telephone number, email address and profession or occupation. If the information we collect personally identifies you, or you are reasonably identifiable from it, the information will be considered Personal Information.

What type of Personal Information does Cohen Farquharson collect and hold about me?

Cohen Farquharson may collect any of the following information about you if you are a current or prospective vendor, purchaser or landlord of real estate orif you visit our website or make an enquiry with us via another method:

• contact details (including, name, address, telephone number and email address);Australian or non-Australian passport and/or photo card issued by a State or Territory government agency;
• Government related identifiers such as your Medicare number, electoral enrolment cardor Centrelink customer reference number;
• financial information, including assets, liabilities, income, outgoings, spending patterns and credit reference reports;
• the rental value of your property portfolio;
• credit cards, passbook or account statements from a bank, building society or credit union;
• bank account information such as BSB numbers, account numbers, account names and bank/building society/ credit union information;
• gas, electricity, water or council rates bills;
• driver’s license number;
• property ownership and title details such as certificates of title and land valuation notices;
• desired property ownership details; and
• details of properties sold or acquired by you.

If you are a current or prospective tenant for a rental property, Cohen Farquharson may collect the following additional information from you:

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• contact details (including, name, address, telephone number and email address);
• driver’s license number;
• Australian or non-Australian passports and/or photo cards issued by a State or Territory government agency;
• previous addresses that you have occupied;
• financial information, including assets, liabilities, income, outgoings, spending patterns and credit reference reports;
• details of your spouse, de facto, children and roommates;
• the rental value of your rental property;
• Government related identifiers such as your Medicare number, electoral enrolment cardor Centrelink customer reference number;
• information relating to the number and circumstances of a default or alleged default on any tenancy agreements including damages or failure to pay rent;
• credit cards, passbook or account statements from a bank, building society or credit union;
• bank account information such as BSB numbers, account numbers, account names and bank/building society/ credit union information;
• employment details such as your employment status, employer, salary, length of employment;
• other sources of income; and
• personal and financial referees whom we may contact about your application.

The personal information that Cohen Farquharson collects may include sensitive and health information. Cohen Farquharson will only collect sensitive information and other forms of Personal Information not listed above with your consent and where it is reasonably necessary for us to provide our services to you.

How does Cohen Farquharson collect Personal Information about me?

Cohen Farquharson collects your Personal Information directly from you unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so. When collecting Personal Information from you, we may collect in various ways, including through when you write to or email us, when you access and use our website and during conversations between you and our representatives.

Cohen Farquharson may collect information about you from the following third party sources:

• various databases in the public domain such as Telstra White Pages, Australia Post DPID; database, Titles Office or other property databases;
• credit reporting bodies, law enforcement agencies and other government entities; and
• referrals and recommendations from existing clients of Cohen Farquharson.

As part of its due diligence process prior to entering into lease or rental agreements with you, Cohen Farquharson may disclose your information to authorised credit-checking agencies.

What happens if we can’t collect your Personal Information?

If you do not provide us with the Personal Information described above, some or all of the following may happen:

• we may not be able to provide our services to you, either to the same standard or at all;
• we may not be able to provide you with information about services that you may want, including information about new properties that are available for lease or purchase; or
• we may be unable to tailor the content of our website to your preferences and your experience of our website may not be as enjoyable or useful.

Why does Cohen Farquharson collect, hold, use and disclose your Personal Information?

Cohen Farquharson collects this information for a range of purposes including:

• to enable Cohen Farquharson to provide you with the services and/or products that you may require from us ;
• to conduct an identity check and to verify your identity in accordance with the Secretary’s Guidelines for the Proper Supervision of the Business of a Licensee under s32 of the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 in force from 23 March 2020(Guidelines);
• to comply with local, state and federal legislation or regulations, including with respect to real estate property sales, rental and administration;
• to enable Cohen Farquharson and its third party partner businesses to assist you with related or ancillary services, as required;
• for our internal administrative, marketing, planning, product development and research requirements;
• to share your Personal Information within the Cohen Group (which includes Cohen Farquharson, CohenHandler Pty Ltd, Cohen Handler QLD Investments Pty. Limited, Costi Cohen Pty Ltd and Costi Cohen Holdings Pty Ltd), and our and their personnel, contractors or service providers;
• to update Cohen Farquharson’ records and keep your contact details up to date;
• to deal with your queries or customer service issues promptly, whether by email, telephone or mail;
• to keep you up-to-date with services we think would be of particular interest to you;
• to conduct relevant business processing functions; and
• to process and respond to any complaint made by you.

Your Personal Information will not be shared, sold, rented or disclosed other than as described in this Privacy Policy.

How does Cohen Farquharson use the Personal Information held about me?

Any Personal Information about you that Cohen Farquharson collects and records will only be used or disclosed by Cohen Farquharson for the purpose of:

• compliance with obligations under real-estate regulations and laws applicable for all states in Australia;

• helping Cohen Farquharson efficiently and effectively deliver and improve on products and services;

• any other purpose if you would reasonably expect Cohen Farquharson to use or disclose that Personal Information for that other purpose and that other purpose is related to the purpose for which the information is collected;

• to provide you with access to protected areas of our website and to assess the performance of our website and to improve the operation of our website;

• growing our business and conducting our business processing functions including sharing Personal Information within the Cohen Group and its Personnel;

• for Cohen Farquharson’ marketing purposes;

• for Cohen Farquharson’ administrative, planning, product or service development, quality control and research purposes; and

• complying with any legal, contractual or statutory obligations.

Cohen Farquharson may also use or disclose the information it collects for any other purpose specified to you at the time of collection.

If Cohen Farquharson wishes to use or disclose any of your Personal Information in any other ways than described above, Cohen Farquharson will not do so unless it:

• has your express consent to do so;

• has reasonable grounds to believe that the use or disclosure is necessary to prevent a threat to life or health; or

• has reasonable grounds to believe that the use or disclosure is required by law or to enforce the law.

What about direct marketing?

We may send you direct marketing communications and information about our services that we consider may be of interest to you. These may include:

• offering to provide you with products or services provided by Cohen Farquharson and third party business partners; or

• sending you news and other information about Cohen Farquharson’ activities and general promotional material which Cohen Farquharson believes may be of interest to you.

These communications may be sent in various forms, including mail, SMS, fax and email, in accordance with applicable marketing laws, such as the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). When Cohen Farquharson does this, Cohen Farquharson will provide you with an express opportunity to decline receiving any further communication from Cohen Farquharson of this type via an opt-out mechanism. If you indicate a preference for a method of communication, we will endeavour to use that method whenever practical to do so.

You may at any time request not to receive direct marketing from Cohen Farquharson by contacting us (see the details below) or by using opt-out facilities provided in the marketing communications and we will then ensure that your name is removed from our mailing list.

The Cohen Farquharson website

Cohen Farquharson’ privacy policy also applies to our website at www.CohenFarquharson.com.au

When you access our website, we may send a “cookie” (which is a small summary file containing a unique ID number) to your computer. This enables us to recognise your computer and greet you each time you visit our website without bothering you with a request to register. It also enables us to keep track of services you view so that, if you consent, we can send you news about those services. We also use cookies to measure traffic patterns, to determine which areas of our website have been visited and to measure transaction patterns in the aggregate. We use this to research our users’ habits so that we can improve our online services and create a better online experience for you. Our cookies do not collect Personal Information, although they do identify your browser. If you do not wish to receive cookies, you can set your browser so that your computer does not accept them. We may log IP addresses (that is, the electronic addresses of computers connected to the internet) to analyse trends, administer the website, monitor the amount of time you spend on our website, paths navigated on our website, track users’ movements, and gather broad demographic information.

As our website is linked to the Internet, and the Internet is inherently insecure, we cannot provide any assurance regarding the security of transmission of information you communicate to us online. We also cannot guarantee that the information you supply will not be intercepted while being transmitted over the Internet. Accordingly, any Personal Information or other information, which you transmit to us online, is transmitted at your own risk.

Our website may contain links to other websites operated by third parties. We make no representations or warranties in relation to the privacy practices of any third party website and we are not responsible for the privacy policies or the content of any third party website.Our linking to those websites does not mean that we endorse or recommend them. Third party websites are responsible for informing you about their own privacy practices. You may interact with social media platforms via social media widgets and tools linking to our social media accounts (e.g. our twitter account) that may be installed on our website. These widgets and tools may collect your IP address and other personal information. Your interactions with such widgets and tools, and any single sign-on services are governed by the privacy policies of the relevant social media operators and single sign-on service providers – please read them so that you are aware of how they process your personal information.

Can I be anonymous when I deal with Cohen Farquharson?

To some extent you can preserve your anonymity when you deal with Cohen Farquharson. You can browse our website without providing any Personal Information, you can access our real-estate advertising in various publications and you can generally attend auctions without providing personal details if you do not intend to bid.

However, when you enter into transactions with Cohen Farquharson (or any other entity in the Cohen Farquharson) that involve the sale, purchase or rental of real estate property, then various Acts, statutory legislation and regulations require you to provide Cohen Group with Personal Information so as to identify you.

What happens if I want to access or correct the Personal Information held about me?

You may request access to your Personal Information held by Cohen Farquharson, at any time by contacting us (see details below). We will try to provide you with suitable means of accessing your Personal Information (for example, by mailing or emailing it to you), subject to some exceptions. We will respond to your request for access within 14 days and endeavour to provide the requested information within 30 days.

Cohen Farquharson may charge you a reasonable fee to cover its administrative and other reasonable costs in providing the information to you. Cohen Farquharson will not charge for simply making the request and will not charge for making any corrections to your Personal Information.

There may be instances where Cohen Farquharson cannot grant you access to the Personal Information we hold. For example, we may not be able to provide access to information in the following situations:

• where in Cohen Farquharson’ opinion providing your access may create a serious threat to the life or health of any individual or may be an unreasonable intrusion into the privacy of another individual;

• where your request for access is, in Cohen Farquharson’ opinion, frivolous or vexatious; or

• where providing access would be unlawful, may prejudice an investigation of possible unlawful activity, may prejudice enforcement of law, or denying access is specifically authorised by law.

If for any reason Cohen Farquharson does not allow you to access your Personal Information, Cohen Farquharson will provide you with reasons in writing for its decision.

Cohen Farquharson relies on you to ensure that all Personal Information collected and held by us is accurate, up to date, complete, relevant and not misleading. If you believe that Personal Information that Cohen Farquharson holds about you is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate, then you may request we update, modify or correct such Personal Information by contacting our Privacy Officer using the details set out below. Cohen Farquharson will consider if the information requires amendment. If Cohen Farquharson does not agree that there are grounds for amendment, then Cohen Farquharson will add a note to the Personal Information stating that you disagree with it.

Who does Cohen Farquharson disclose my Personal Information to?

We may disclose your Personal Information:

• to Personnel of Cohen Farquharson and the Cohen Group for the purposes of operation of our website or our business, fulfilling requests by you, and to otherwise provide services to you;

• to potential acquirers, joint venture partners, business partners and other similar third parties where members of the Cohen Group undergo a potential or actual merger, corporate restructure or acquisition;

• where it is brought to our attention that specific Personal Information needs to be disclosed to protect the safety or vital interests of any person;

• if we are contacted by any person who represents to us that they are our customer, for security purposes, we will discuss the Personal Information that we hold about them with them but only if they verify their identity;

• if you are a tenant of any property that we are managing, to Equifax’s National Tenancy Database or other tenancy databases;

• governmental authorities, bodies and regulators for the enforcement of a law imposing a pecuniary penalty or to avoid prejudice to the maintenance of the law by any public sector agency;

• to any court or tribunal for the conduct of proceedings (being proceedings that have been commenced or are reasonably in contemplation);

• to suppliers and other third parties with whom we have commercial relationships, for business, marketing, and related purposes;

• to any third party such as financial institutions for any authorised purpose with your express consent; and

• to any persons, entities or bodies where required by law.

There are some instances when Cohen Farquharson and other members of the Cohen Group need to provide your Personal Information to third parties. The Cohen Group may be bound by law to provide your details to government-related bodies, including the NSW Land Registry Services or the NSW Fair Trading.

Sometimes the Cohen Group may need to outsource some of our administrative and other property-related functions to external organisations such as advertising agencies, signwriters, tradesman, utility providers, utility connection service providers, building and garden maintenance contractors or consultants such as accountants, lawyers, surveyors and other advisors. Other third parties may include web hosting providers, IT systems administrators, mailing houses, couriers, email marketing companies, payment processors, data entry service providers, electronic network administrators, debt collectors, and other business advisors and consultants. Most of the above organisations are bound by express or implied confidentiality obligations to Cohen Farquharson.

Cohen Farquharson may also provide your details to third party business partners for the purpose of offering to provide you with products or services provided by Cohen Farquharson or these business partners that Cohen Farquharson considers relevant to you.

Cohen Farquharson does not sell your personal details to other organisations. We may however use the information about you to assist us with internal statistical, marketing and research purposes.

We do not disclose your Personal Information to entities located outside of Australia.However, if we are required to do so, we will take reasonable steps to ensure that the overseas recipients of your Personal Information do not breach the privacy obligations relating to your Personal Information.

How does Cohen Farquharson keep my Personal Information secure?

Cohen Farquharson will take reasonable steps to ensure information Cohen Farquharson collects, uses or discloses is stored in a secure environment that is accessed only by persons authorised by Cohen Farquharson so as to prevent interference, misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

We hold and store personal information that we collect in the following locations:

• our offices, computer systems and third party owned and operated hosting facilities;

• third party owned cloud-based email providers;

• third party owned cloud-based customer relationship management and email marketing providers; and

• on electronic devices at our offices and at the premises of our Personnel.

We implement the following technical and organisational security measures in our organisation:

• we only use reputable hosting providers to host Personal Information;

• passwords, other access control procedures and antivirus software in our computer systems;

• antivirus software; and

• physical security measures in our buildings and offices such as door and window locks and visitor access management, cabinet locks, use of access cards and alarms.

Cohen Farquharson may be required to retain the data in accordance with our data retention obligations. Cohen Farquharson retains personal information for aminimum period of 3 years in accordance with the Guidelines. If the Personal Information is no longer needed for any purpose, Cohen Farquharson will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify the Personal Information.

Cohen Farquharson endeavours to provide a secure environment and a reliable system but you should be aware that there are inherent risks associated with the electronic storage and transmission of information (particularly via the Internet) which cannot be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

Who do I contact for further information?

Cohen Farquharson’ Privacy Officer can assist you with any enquiries you have about the information that we hold about you. They can be contacted on (02) 9327 2700 from 9.00am to 5.00pm (Sydney time), Monday to Friday excluding weekends and public holidays.

You can also contact our Privacy Officer at:

Cohen Farquharson
PO Box 1517, Double Bay NSW 1360

Phone (02) 9327 2700 E-mail [email protected]

 

What if I have a complaint or concern?

If you have a complaint or concern you can email, [email protected] or phone the Cohen Farquharson Privacy Officer on (02) 9327 2700 or write to the Privacy Officer at the address above. We will do our best to try and resolve your complaint within 90 days.

What if you are unable to resolve my complaint or concern?

If we are unable to resolve your complaint within this time, or you are unhappy with the outcome, you may refer your complaint to the Australian Information Commissioner. The Australian Information Commissioner can be contacted at the below details:

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 1042
Phone:      1300 363 992
Fax:           (02) 9284 9666
E-mail:     [email protected]
TTY:          133 677 then ask for 1300 363 992

How does this policy change over time?

Cohen Farquharson may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. Any updated versions of this Privacy Policy will be posted on our website and will be effective from the date of posting.

This privacy policy was last updated on 30 March 2021.

 

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