Privacy Policy & Personal Information Co

Privacy Policy & Personal Information Collection

We pledge to comply with the obligations and requirements of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (the “Ordinance”). Our staff shall respect the confidentiality of all personal data collected and/or stored and/or used by us and endeavor to keep all the personal data safe in compliance with the obligations and requirements of the Ordinance.

Personal Data Collection and Use

For the purpose of complying with the Laws of Hong Kong SAR (including the Estate Agents Ordinance and its subsidiary legislations and regulations) in the verification of the identity of both the vendor/landlord and the purchaser/tenant, the prevention of money laundering and in order to market properties and provide services, perform registration and administration functions of Centaline Surveyors Limited or its affiliates, subsidiaries or associated companies (collectively called “Centaline”), your personal data will be collected upon:

a. signing valuation and tenancy management's services referral form;

b. signing an estate agency agreement to appoint us as your estate agent;

c. signing a provisional sale and purchase agreement/tenancy agreement;

d. purchasing first hand property;

e. contacting us for enquiry or complaint;

f. participating in marketing and promotion activities, competitions, prize draws through us;

g. using our service (including but not limited to intermediary services);

h. using or visiting our website.

If you refuse to provide the personal data, we have discretion not to provide services to you for the avoidance of breaching the relevant laws and regulations.

Types of Personal Data

The Personal Data we collect includes but not limited to the following:

a. your Chinese and English name, Occupation

b. information for the verification of your identity, including identification documents copies and numbers

c. telephone number, email address etc

d. correspondence or billing address

e. addresses of other properties owned by you

f. audio and written records of your calls to us

g. your e-mail or letters sent to us

h. your account records, such as date of payment and transaction information

i. your preferences for particular property or service

Accuracy and Retention of Personal Data

We will verify the data provided with generally accepted practices and guidelines in our industry which include verification on the name and identification number against the parties’ (both the vendor and the purchaser/the landlord and the tenant) identification document.

In accordance with the Laws of Hong Kong SAR, we will destroy the personal data after the retention for at least 5 years. The personal data will only be retained whenever necessary in satisfaction of any applicable laws and regulations requirements or contractual obligations or for the purpose of investigation, detection and prosecution of crime or with your consent.

Security of Personal Data

All your personal data will be restricted for access by our staff who need to contact you or provide service to you or in reasonable need.

Our electronic security system is designed on the account of the Ordinance’s requirements and your personal information will be maintained securely in our system.

Use of Personal Data

We may use and analyse your data for the following purposes including but not limited to:

• verifying your identity

• handling your enquiries and keeping you updated with the progress of your enquiries /information

• providing services to you and following up the services you have used

• providing assistance regarding your enquiries, including investigating and resolving problems arising from service quality and handling any enquiries concerning your bills and payments

• sending you the bills relating to the services provided by us

• responding to your enquiries or complaints in relation to our services

• keeping record for reference

• marketing and promoting of any of our services

• assisting us to prevent fraud and crime

• debt tracing, debt recovery (including the appointment of debt collection agents) and credit management

• contacting you whenever necessary

• disclosure as permitted or required by law

Disclosure and Distribution of Personal Data

All personal data held by us will be kept confidential but we may disclose your data to the following parties:

• Centaline Group

• banks

• developers (applicable in first hand property transactions)

• debt-collection agencies or debt-recovery organizations

• law-enforcement organizations, government departments, regulatory institutions, courts or as required by law

• professional consultants (including lawyers and auditors)

Collecting Personal Data through Internet

We safeguard all information provided by you, however, given the nature of the Internet, we cannot guarantee that there is "perfect security". We do not collect any personally identifiable information from you during your browsing of our web sites. We will however make a record of your visit that shows only the Domain Name Server address, part of your e-mail address, and of the pages visited. We use such information only for preparing general statistics on the usage of our web sites.

Your visit to this site may be recorded for analysis on the number of visitors to the site and general usage patterns. Some of this information will be gathered through the use of “Cookies”. “Cookies” are small bits of information that are automatically stored on a person’s web browser in their computer that can be retrieved by this site. The information collected by “cookies” is anonymous aggregated research data, and contain no name or address information or any information that will enable anyone to contact you via telephone, e-mail or any other means. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you would prefer, you can set your browser to disable cookies or inform you when they are set. However, by disabling them, you may not be able to take full advantage of our website.

Once we have obtained your Personal Data through the internet, it will be maintained securely in our system and protected from the Internet by firewall. Only the authorized staff, who have been properly trained, will be permitted to access to such Personal Data, and we shall not release such Personal Data to any external parties except those parties set out in our [Personal Information Collection Statement] without your agreement.

In order to provide users with more information and services, we provide links to other Web sites. These third parties may collect Users' Personal Data (such as your name, contact number, e-mail address) when users make use of their services. These third parties adhere to their own privacy policies and practices and our Privacy Policy Statement does not cover such third party practices.

Access and Correction of Personal Data

a. In accordance to the Ordinance and save from the exemptions specified in the Ordinance, you have the right to:

• check if we keep any personal data of you and request for a copy of the data

• require us to correct any inaccurate personal data of you

• access our policies and practices regarding personal data and be informed of the kinds of personal data held by us

b. In accordance with the terms of the Ordinance, we have the right to charge a reasonable fee for processing of data access request

c. Requests for access to data, correction of data or for information regarding kinds of data held are to be addressed or faxed as follows:

Centaline Surveyors Limited

7/F., Greenwich Centre, 260 King's Road, North Point, Hong Kong

Fax: 3971 0820

Direct Marketing

Our Company intends to use your name, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address and address for direct marketing estate agency service (include first hand/second hand properties) and other investment products but we cannot so use your personal data without your consent.

Our Company intends to provide your name, telephone and the address of your transaction to investment & finance Company and mortgage broker company under Centaline group for purpose of direct marketing and/or providing investment, financial services or mortgage referral services but we cannot so provide your personal data without your consent.

If you do not wish to receive direct marketing promotional information from us with respect to the estate agency and/or other categories of products/services mentioned above, or do not wish us to disclose, transfer or use your personal data for the aforesaid direct marketing purposes , please contact us at 21396697 or by post to the above address or by fax: 3971 0820 or by email to aims@centamail.com

This Privacy Policy Statement may revise from time to time, all the changes will be published in our website www.centalinesurveyors.com.hk