Knight Frank Australia Group Privacy Policy
The Knight Frank Australia Group (Knight Frank Australia Pty Ltd and its related bodies corporate, "Knight Frank") is subject to the National Privacy Principles in the Privacy Act 1988 (as amended by the Privacy Amendment (Private Sector) Act 2000 (Cth)).
This Privacy Policy explains in general terms how Knight Frank protects the privacy of your personal information under the National Privacy Principles. The principles set out in this Privacy Policy apply to any personal information you provide to Knight Frank. The Knight Frank Privacy Policy does not apply to Knight Frank's employee records.
Personal Information is defined in the Act as follows:
personal information means information or an opinion (including information or an opinion forming part of a database), whether true or not, and whether recorded in a material form or not, about an individual whose identity is apparent, or can reasonably be ascertained, from the information or opinion.
How we collect your personal information.
We generally collect your personal information directly from you. For example, we may collect personal information about you when you deal with us over the telephone, make enquiries about properties for sale or lease or about our services, send us instructions, applications or other correspondence (whether by letter, fax or e-mail), visit our web site ( www.knightfrank.com.au ) and ask to be kept posted by us on information, or when you have contact with us in person.
Generally, the type of personal information we collect about you is the information included in your instructions, enquiry or application, for example, your name, mailing address, telephone number and e-mail address. In some special circumstances, we may also collect sensitive information about you such as where you are applying to lease a property, information regarding any criminal record or where you are applying for an employment position, your membership of professional or trade associations.
There may be occasions when we need to source personal information about you from a third party. For example, we may collect personal information from personal referees and credit reference agencies (such as Dun & Bradstreet).
Our disclosure statement
Knight Frank collects personal information for the following purposes:
- to assess employment applications;
- to provide advice to clients;
- to assess tenancy applications;
- to prepare property valuations;
- to provide the services you have asked us to carry out;
- to contract external contractors and consultants; and
- to maintain databases on properties and property owners, purchasers, tenants, landlords as well as other agents and consultants.
Please note that if you provide us with an application for employment or for a tenancy which is incomplete with the personal details requested, we will not be able to consider your application.
In some circumstances, we collect personal information about you from a third party source (eg. credit reference agencies). If we collect personal information about you in this way, we will take reasonable steps to contact you and ensure that you are aware of the purposes for which we are collecting your personal information and the organisations which we might give your personal information.
Except where it is required by law, we only disclose your personal information to third parties with your express or implied consent. We may disclose your personal information to:
- mailing services for promotional and marketing material;
- in the case of tenancies, to the property owners and third party service providers; and
- other parties actually or potentially involved in property transactions in accordance with your instructions or interests in those transactions
We may disclose your personal information for purposes related or ancillary to the main reason we collect it, such as: we may forward credit checks or other information to the property owners. We do not disclose personal information we collect to third parties for the purposes of allowing them to direct market their products and services.
We sometimes engage third party contractors to perform services for us which involves the contractor handling personal information we hold. We engage third party contractors to prepare mail-outs of promotional and marketing material. In these situations, we prohibit the third party contractor from using personal information about you except for the specific purpose for which we supply it.
How we use your personal information
We may use your personal information for purposes related or ancillary to the main reason we collect it, such as:
- servicing our relationship with you;
- maintaining our information databases;
- sending you promotional or marketing material.
Sharing information within the Knight Frank group
We share the following types of personal information with our related bodies corporate:
- mailing lists and details of potential purchasers, vendors, tenants and landlords for the purpose of performing the services we have been engaged to provide.
Gaining access to information we hold about you
Knight Frank will, on request, provide you with personal information it holds about you, unless there is an exception which applies under the National Privacy Principles.
Unless there is an exception which applies under the National Privacy Principles, you can gain access to the information we hold about you for the purpose of correcting or updating such information. You can do so by contacting our Knowledge Manager (Level 18, Angel Place , 123 Pitt Street , Sydney , NSW, 2000 tel: 02 9036 6666).
Knight Frank may recover from you its reasonable costs of supplying you with this information.
Your request to provide information will be dealt with in a reasonable time.
If Knight Frank refuses to provide you with access to the information, Knight Frank will provide you with reasons for the refusal and inform you of any exceptions relied upon under the National Privacy Principles.
Keeping your personal information up-to-date
We take reasonable steps to ensure that your personal information is accurate, complete, and up-to-date whenever we collect or use it.
If you find that the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or out-of-date, please contact us immediately and we will take reasonable steps to either correct this information, or if necessary, discuss alternative action with you.
Security of your personal information
We protect any personal information that we hold from misuse and loss. We also protect it from unauthorised access, modification and disclosure.
Your personal information may be stored in hardcopy documents, as electronic data, or in Knight Frank's software or systems.
We maintain physical security over our paper and electronic data stores and premises, such as locks and security systems. We also maintain computer and network security; for example, we use firewalls security measures for the Internet and other security systems such as user identifiers and passwords to control access to computer system.
Transfer of information overseas
We will only transfer your personal information overseas with your express or implied consent. We may transfer the following types of personal information overseas:
- credit checks on potential tenants may be sent to overseas property owners; and
- details of potential or actual vendors, purchasers, tenants and landlords may be sent to overseas parties involved or interested in property transactions
What other information do we collect and store?
While browsing or searching our site, our server may automatically collect navigational data to improve website content and navigation. One way that navigational data is collected is by placing "cookies" in your browser file on your hard drive. Cookies do not capture or track any personal information and cannot identify you as an individual. If you wish, you may elect to not accept cookies on your browser. This should not adversely affect your experience when visiting the site.
Resolving your concerns
If you have a query on how your personal information is collected or used, or any other query relating to Knight Frank's Privacy Policy, contact our Privacy Officer Campbell Flack
If you have a complaint about a breach of your privacy, contact our Privacy Officer during business hours on:
Telephone: 03 9602 5722
Mail: Level 32, 360 Collins Street , Melbourne , Victoria
Fax: 03 9604 4740
We will respond to your query or complaint as soon as possible and will try to resolve any complaint within 10 working days. If this is not possible, we will contact you within that time to let you know how long we estimate that it will take to resolve your complaint.