Privacy Policy

Purpose

Birt & Trip Pty trading as Birt’s Property (ACN 667 988 383/ABN 25 667 988 383, Property and Stock Agents Act 2002 Corporation Licence number 10132979) (we, us, our) is committed to complying with its obligations under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (the Act).

The Act allows personal information to be collected, used and disclosed for the purposes for which it was collected in accordance with the Act.

This Privacy Policy may be revised, updated or replaced from time to time and we may subsequently notify users of any changes to it by posting the revised, updated or replaced Privacy Policy on this website. Any changes to it take effect on the date on which the revised, updated or replaced Privacy Policy is posted to this website. By using our services and by continuing to use our website you are acknowledging that you have read and understood this privacy policy and that you consent to us collecting, maintaining, using and disclosing your personal information in the way described in this Privacy Policy.

Why do we collect personal information?

We collect and disclose personal information for the following purposes:
to identify and/or verify the identity of any prospective or actual vendor for any property we list as the sales agent;
to advertise, market and promote the sale of any property;
to negotiate and manage the sale of any property (including to provide non legal assistance with the exchange of the contract for the sale of property and the preparation of any required statements of account);
to liaise and exchange information with the vendor, purchaser (including any prospective purchaser) as well with their respective agents, contractors, legal, financial and other advisors in relation to or in connection with the sale of the property;
to ensure the safety and security of vendors and existing occupiers and of each of their property in connection with auctions and the inspection of any property by prospective purchasers;
to comply with any applicable law in connection with the sale of the property;
to confirm whether the vendor or purchaser is registered for GST purposes;
to tell an individual about any other property that we are selling or any other service that we provide or information that may be of interest, unless that individual tells us not to (this is referred to as direct marketing);
to improve and refine our internal business practices and operations including for statistical purposes;
to act on behalf of clients in accordance with any agency agreement and to comply with our obligations under that agreement;
to allow us to run our business efficiently and to perform administrative and operational tasks;
to operate controlled money accounts;
to comply with any dispute resolution or other legal process;
in order to update our records and an individual’s contact details;
if we enter into or propose to enter into any agreement or arrangement with any party for the purpose of or in connection with the acquisition of our business (including any part of our business that includes personal information), then we may provide that party (including its legal, financial and other professional advisers) with personal information in relation to or in connection with those arrangements; and
any other purpose to which an individual has consented.

If we do not collect the personal information or if any of the personal information you provide is incomplete or inaccurate, we may not be able to provide our services or those services may be compromised.

How we collect personal information?

We collect your personal information directly from you unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so. This includes, but is not limited to by telephone, letter, fax or email, in person or accessing our website and publicly available sources of information including social media or by entering competitions, promotions or requesting information or material from us, completing surveys, providing feedback, reviews or complaints. We may also collect personal information from third parties including, your representatives (such as solicitors, accountants and financial advisers),publicly available sources or any other organisations you have given your consent, your employer, third party companies such as credit reporting agencies, law enforcement agencies and government entities.

What information do we collect?

When used in this privacy policy, the term “personal information” has the meaning given to it in the Act.

We may collect your:
name, residential or business mailing or street address, phone number(s), email address;
age or date of birth;
family details;
employment details, profession, occupation or job title;
governmental details;
financial information;
the value of your property;
insurance details;
credit card and banking details;
sensitive information;
information in respect to a will or estate;
copies of photo identification (e.g. driver's licence, passport, student ID); and
any additional information relating to you that you provide to us directly through our websites or indirectly through use of our websites or online presence, through our representatives or otherwise.

We may also collect some information that is not personal information because it does not identify you or anyone else. For example, we may collect anonymous answers to surveys or aggregated information about how users use our website.

Information Disclosure

We will use and disclose personal information only for the purposes for which it is collected in accordance with the Act, including:

providing services and customer support, including service updates;
suppliers and other third parties with whom we have commercial relationships and assist us in operating our business and providing our services;
maintaining and updating our records;
comparing information for accuracy, and verifying it with third parties;
providing information as authorised or required by law or a relevant government body or authority; or
Any organisation or authorised purpose with your express consent.

Anonymity and Pseudonymity

General users of the website do not need to disclose their identity to us in order to use this website. This website does not, therefore, collect personal information about people who generally access it except in the circumstances described above.

We are not always able to deal with people who do not wish to identify themselves. This will be particularly the case when we are proposing to, or we do, act for a vendor or a landlord in relation to either the sale or rental/lease of any property.

Further, we are not able to allow people through any property inspections who do not wish to identify themselves as this can create security and other concerns for the property owner (among other considerations).

However, where possible, we should provide information of a general nature such as, for example, we can respond to general telephone and related enquiries about a rental/lease or sale property to unidentified individuals and we generally should not be requesting the individual to identify themselves for this purpose. Of course, if an individual makes an enquiry by email or other electronic or written methods then there is every possibility that the mode of communication may identify them.

We rely on individuals to help us to ensure that their personal information is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant and not misleading.

If we become aware that personal information is inaccurate, out-of-date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading (for instance, when mail is returned), we will update our systems accordingly.

Cookies

A cookie is an electronic token that is passed to the user’s browser which passes it back to the server whenever a page is sent to the user. Our servers may generate cookies which are used to keep track of the pages that users have accessed while using the website. The cookie also allows data to be inputted into a form or template and temporarily stored until the user chooses to save that form or template. Cookies generally remain on the user’s computer even after an internet session is ended and the computer rebooted. The cookie can be read by the server that placed it there during a subsequent visit to that same server. Their exact behaviour is server specific.

When users visit this website, our server may log certain information, including the type of browser and operating system the user is using, the top level domain name (for example .com, .net, .au, etc), the address of the referring site (for example, the previous site visited), the server's IP address, the date and time of visit and the address of the pages accessed and the documents downloaded. This information is generally only for internal statistical analysis and system administration purposes.

Any other information supplied to us (for example, if a user sends an email or enters any personal information into our website) is treated in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Information Security

We take reasonable steps to protect all information which we hold (including personal information) from misuse, loss, and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

We may store information about you in cloud or other types of networked or electronic storage. As electronic or networked storage can be accessed from various countries through an internet connection it is not always practical to know in which country personal information about you may be held.

Where appropriate, we use secure transmission facilities. However, no transmission of information over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure and we do not warrant the security of any information transmitted to us over the internet.

Links to other websites

This website may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of those websites. This Privacy Policy does not extend to those linked websites.

Marketing and opt-out

In accordance with applicable marketing laws, such as the Spam Act 2003 (Cth), we may also use information, including personal information (excluding sensitive information) for marketing and research purposes, to analyse and improve products, benefits and services and to inform users of products, services and benefits provided by us, our related entities, suppliers or sponsors which we consider may be of value or interest to users, unless the user tells us, or has previously told us, not to. If a user does not wish to receive any information about such products, services and benefits they can contact the Privacy Officer (details specified below). We will not use your sensitive information for these purposes without your consent.

Accessing your personal information

Users of the website whose information we either collect, use or disclose have the right to request access to any personal information held by us which relates to them, unless we are permitted to withhold that information. We may charge a reasonable fee where access to personal information is provided. Any requests for access to a user’s personal information should be made in writing to the Privacy Officer (details specified below). The user also has the right to request the correction of any personal information which relates to them that is inaccurate, incomplete, irrelevant, misleading or out-of-date.

If the user requires any further information about our management of personal information or has any queries or complaints, they should contact:

The Privacy Officer
PO Box 4, Dorrigo NSW 2453
Tel: 0403 913 527
Email: rorybirt@birtsproperty.com.au

The Office of the Information Commissioner can be contacted as follows:

Phone enquiries
1300 363 992
Mon–Thurs
10am–4pm AEST/AEDT
Online enquiries
Enquiry form
Post

GPO Box 5288
Sydney NSW 2001

Fax

+61 2 9284 9666

Acceptance of this Privacy Policy

By using this website, accessing any of our products, services or features, the user acknowledges that it has read, understands and accepts this Privacy Policy and the permissions to collect, use and disclose personal information, and the user authorises us to collect, use and disclose, in accordance with the Act, their personal information for the purposes specified in this Privacy Policy.