Privacy Minded

Nelson Alexander’s ‘People Minded, Property Driven’ approach extends to protecting the privacy of all the people we work with.

We have been established for over thirty years and are one of Melbourne’s largest wholly-owned agencies with eight offices under the affiliated businesses of Nelson Alexander Pty. Ltd.

We are members of the REIV and are totally committed to providing outstanding services in residential sales, residential rentals, commercial sales, commercial leasing and property-related services.

We would like to tell you a little more about what being ‘Privacy Minded’ means and will keep everyone informed of updates by way of our website at www.nelsonalexander.com.au.

What personal information we may collect

We may collect and store securely your personal information which may include:
- contact details
- loan approval information
- details of any property you own, or preferences for purchase or lease.

If you are a prospective tenant we may also collect further information, including:
- credit history
- drivers license number and passport information
- employment details such as your employment status, employer, salary, length of employment and other sources of income;
- personal and financial referees whom we may contact for further tenancy-related information.

How we collect it

We collect most information directly from you either through application forms as a tenant or when you enter into a seller’s or buyer’s agreement.

We may also collect it indirectly from public-domain, government or semi-government sources such as the Telstra White Pages, council lists, Australia Post DPID database, Titles Office or other property-related databases. We use authorised credit-checking agencies and other third parties if you enter into a lease or rental agreement. We may obtain referrals and recommendations from existing clients and suppliers and we may access all of the above for property related or other commercial purposes which will be disclosed to you at the time we contact you.

Using our Website

We do not automatically collect data about you from our website nor do we use cookies or like devices to save information about your visit to our site. Our Internet Service Provider (ISP) may collect certain information like domain names for referring websites for research and usage analysis purposes but not the e-mail addresses of our visitors.
If you choose to register online with us we may collect this personal information and use it for property-related purposes.

Our Website does not enable visitors to post information to be accessed by others or to communicate with other visitors. However, it may be linked from time to time with other third party web service, or hosting providers such as www.realestateview.com.au for the purposes of either providing our web content or promoting their services or products which we believe may be of interest to our customers and visitors. We cannot be responsible for third party content or privacy practices.

Why we collect it

Most of the information required by us is to effectively buy, sell or lease property for you. It helps:
- us to comply with Local, State or Federal legislation or regulations with respect to Real Estate property sales, rental and administration. These include the Sale of Land Act (Vic) 1962, Residential Tenancies Act 1997 (residential tenants), Retail Tenants Reform Act 1998 (commercial tenants), The Subdivision Act 1988 (body corporate) and other various minor acts
- enable our people and third party service providers to assist you with related property or ancillary services, as required.
- provide you with other services and/or products you may require.

Keeping it secure

We take all reasonable steps to keep the information we collect, use, store or disclose in a secure environment that is accessed only by persons authorised by our people. We also take steps to destroy or permanently de-identify personal information if it is no longer needed. We try to provide an internal secure environment but cannot guarantee against all technology risks in the electronic storage and transmission of information particularly via the Internet.

Access by third parties

We do not sell your personal information or ‘lists’.

Sometimes your personal information needs to go to external third parties. We are bound by law to provide your details to government-related bodies such as the Residential Tenancies Bond Authority and Residential Tenancies Tribunal.

Sometimes we cannot get the job done unless we use and release certain information to external organisations such as signwriters, advertising and media agencies, accountants, building and garden maintenance contractors, or consultants and legal and para-legal representatives of vendors or purchasers including solicitors and conveyancers. These organisations are bound by express or implied confidentiality obligations to us.

Staying anonymous

If you want to remain anonymous then you can attend auctions without providing personal details, visit our Website without providing any personal information, and access our real-estate advertising in various publications available at our offices.

However, when you enter into transactions with us that involve the sale, purchase or rental of real estate property, then various laws require you to provide us with personal information so as to identify you and effect the transaction.

Contacting us for access, updates or corrections

Any initial enquiries you may have about the personal information that we hold about you should be directed to our Privacy Officer on the contact details below.

Requests for access to your personal information for the purposes of alteration, completion or accuracy need to be in writing and directed to ‘The Privacy Officer’ at the postal address below. We will acknowledge your written access request within 14 days and will try to respond with the requested information within 30 days. We may charge you a fee to recover our costs incurred in providing access. Any
reasons for refusal or limitation by us on this access will be in writing. If you have a complaint or concern you can write or email to the Privacy Officer at the addresses below.
We will do our best to try and resolve your complaint within ninety (90) days.

e-mail: privacy@nelsonalexander.com.au
Mail: Privacy Officer – Nelson Alexander at:
Nelson Alexander – Head Office
PO Box 148
Fitzroy VIC 3065
Fax: (03) 9416 3499
website: www.nelsonalexander.com.au

Unresolved concerns

If we are unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you may refer your complaint to the Privacy Commissioner who can be contacted by telephone from anywhere in Australia for the cost of a local call on 1300 363 992, or you can write to the Privacy Commissioner at the following address:

The Office of the Federal Privacy Commissioner
GPO Box 5218
Sydney NSW 1042
Fax: (02) 9284 9666
e-mail privacy@privacy.gov.au