Privacy
of personal information is an important principle to Landlord Property
& Rental Management Inc. (“LPRM”).
We are committed to collecting, using and disclosing personal information
responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the premises, goods
and services we provide. We also try to be open and transparent
as to how we handle personal information. This document describes
our privacy policies.
What is Personal Information?
Personal information is information about an identifiable individual.
Personal information includes information that relates to their
personal characteristics (e.g., gender, age, income, home address
or phone number, family status), their health (e.g., disabilities)
or their activities and views (e.g., religion, politics, opinions
expressed by an individual, opinions about an individual). Personal
information is to be contrasted with business information (e.g.,
an individual’s business address and telephone number), which
is not protected by privacy legislation.
Who We Are
Our organization, LPRM, provides property management services to
landlords of residential units. We use a number of consultants and
agencies that may, in the course of their duties, have limited access
to personal information we hold. These include building superintendents,
security, cleaning and maintenance organizations, bookkeepers and
accountants, computer consultants, temporary workers to cover holidays,
cleaners, and lawyers. We restrict their access to any personal
information we hold as much as is reasonably possible. We also have
their assurance that they follow appropriate privacy principles.
We Collect Personal Information: Primary Purposes
LRPM only collects the personal information necessary to fulfil
the purposes identified prior to or at the time of collection, or
any other reasonable and legitimate purposes or as required by law.
About Tenants
Like all property managers, we collect, use and disclose personal
information in order to serve our clients and their tenants and
to manage our client’s property. For our clients’ tenants,
the primary purpose for collecting personal information is to ensure
their safety, security and reasonable enjoyment and that of the
other tenants, to ensure they have access to the premises, equipment
and services that our clients have agreed to provide, to preserve
our client’s property and to collect rents and other fees.
Examples of the type of information we collect for these purposes
includes the following:
• Names of all occupants of the unit
• Business and emergency contact information
• Use and intended uses of the property
• Compliance with the tenancy agreement and our client’s
rules and regulations
• Payment, banking and other financial information
• Any special needs of tenants (e.g., disability or health)
and
• Social insurance number, but only for the purpose of issuing
a tax receipt for interest on the rental deposit
As a service and convenience for tenants we or our clients may maintain
public directories of tenants (e.g., by the front door). If you
do not wish to be listed in any directories or wish to be described
in a particular way, please let us know.
It would be rare for us to collect any personal information without
the tenant’s express consent, but this might occur in a case
of urgency (e.g., the tenant is unavailable), where we believe the
tenant would consent if asked and it is impractical to obtain consent
(e.g., information provided by a relative about an absent tenant),
appropriate public sources (e.g., government, court or tribunal
records) or to investigate a breach of the tenancy agreement or
contravention of the law.
We or our client subscribe to a consumer reporting service. This
service provides information to landlords about prospective tenants.
In return, we on behalf of our client provide information to the
service in order for the service to maintain a databank on a tenant’s
history. We collect your full legal name and date of birth to ensure
the accuracy of those records. Having a good tenant history filed
with the service will make it easier for you to be accepted as a
tenant at other properties in the future. We or our client obtain
your consent for using the consumer reporting service in the rental
application form and tenancy agreement.
About Prospective Tenants
Prospective tenants are requested to complete a rental application
form so that we or our client can assess their suitability as tenants
and have necessary basic information should they become tenants.
This would include the following types of information:
• Names of all occupants of the unit
• Business and emergency contact information
• Past tenancy history
• Employment history
• References and conduct history
• Payment, banking and other financial information (financial
means and credit history)
• Drivers License and automobile information and
• Intended use of the premises
We or our client will then confirm this information and check references
and the conduct history of the prospective tenants. This might include
following up with other individuals identified during the course
of these inquiries as having relevant information (e.g., a person
identified by a reference you provided to us). We or our client
may also contact a credit agency and/or a consumer reporting service
for information about your suitability. We or our client might also
check appropriate public sources (e.g., government, court or tribunal
records). By completing a rental application form you agree to us
or our client collecting this information about your suitability
to be a tenant.
About Members of the General Public
For members of the general public, our primary purpose for collecting
personal information is to promote the safety of tenants and the
security of the property. For example we or our client may operate
security cameras and monitor the presence, vehicles and the conduct
of visitors and non-tenants on our property. We believe that the
collection of this information is implied by the private and residential
nature of our client’s property.
Secondly, we or our client might gather personal information in
the course of marketing our client’s property to prospective
tenants. This information is collected either from appropriate public
sources (e.g., telephone directories) or directly from the individuals
with their consent.
Thirdly, in collecting information about and assessing prospective
tenants, prospective tenants provide us with personal information
on their personal referees. We believe that the collection of such
information is implied in the circumstances.
On our website, we only collect, with the exception of cookies (electronic
markers identifying computers that have previously visited our website),
the personal information you provide and only use that information
for the purpose you gave it to us (e.g., to respond to your email
message, to provide information about our services). Cookies are
only used to help you navigate our website and are not used to monitor
you.
Suppliers and Contractors
We often deal with suppliers and contractors who provide goods and
services to the properties we manage. We monitor their performance,
including their promptness, reliability, quality and value of services.
Most of this information is business information and would not be
covered by privacy legislation. However, occasionally, this information
relates to the conduct of an individual (e.g., skill of a particular
employee of a supplier or contractor, inappropriate behaviour or
comments by a particular representative). We reserve the right to
collect this information, use it in deciding upon future services
and to disclose it to the landlord or others involved in related
or similar operations. We may also collect home contact information
to reach them in case of emergencies.
Sharing Information with Our Clients
We usually act as agents for our landlord clients. Thus, we will
share (or transfer) any personal information we collect relevant
to a particular client with that client. We advise our clients to
have their own privacy policy consistent with both our privacy policy
and with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents
Act.
About Clients
We collect contact information about our landlord clients for better
communication or to reach them in case of emergencies. We also collect
information about our client’s instructions, wishes and preferences
in order to better serve them. Generally we collect information
about our clients directly from them and with their consent.
About Contract Staff
For people who are contracted to do work for us (e.g., temporary
workers), our primary purpose for collecting personal information
is to ensure we can contact them in the future (e.g., for new assignments)
and for necessary work-related communication (e.g., sending out
paycheques, year-end tax receipts, tax filings). Examples of the
type of personal information we collect for those purposes include
home addresses and telephone numbers. It is rare for us to collect
such information without prior consent, but it might happen in the
case of an emergency (e.g., an outbreak of a contagious disease)
or to investigate a possible breach of law (e.g., if a theft were
to occur).
We Collect Personal Information: Related and Secondary Purposes
Like most property managers, we also collect, use and disclose information
for purposes related to or secondary to our primary purposes. The
most common examples of our related and secondary purposes are as
follows:
• To collect rents and other fees on behalf of our clients.
• To collect fees and accounts from our clients.
• To advise clients and others of new developments in the
area of landlord and tenant relations (e.g., a newsletter sent
to a home address of a client).
• To advise clients and others of our newsletters, courses
we provide, special offers and promotions that we have available.
• We review tenant, client and other files for the purpose
of ensuring that we provide high quality services, including assessing
the performance of our consultants, suppliers and staff. In addition,
external consultants (e.g., auditors, lawyers, business consultants)
may on our behalf do audits and continuing quality improvement
reviews of our operations, including reviewing tenant or client
files and interviewing our staff.
• Various government agencies (e.g., Canada Customs and
Revenue Agency, Information and Privacy Commissioner, Human Rights
Commission, etc.) have the authority to review our files and interview
our staff as a part of their mandates. Also, we believe that we
should report information suggesting serious illegal behaviour
to the authorities. These reports could include personal information
about a tenant or other individual to support the concern (e.g.,
illegal drug activity), although we try to keep this disclosure
to a minimum. In these circumstances, we may consult with professionals
(e.g., lawyers, a private security service) who will investigate
the matter and report back to us.
• If a tenant’s rent or fees are paid for by a third
party (e.g., employer, your trustee, the government) we may be
asked to provide them with certain information. These third party
payers often have tenant consent or legislative authority to direct
us to collect and disclose to them certain information in order
to demonstrate tenant entitlement to and responsible use of this
funding.
• Tenants, clients or other individuals we deal with may
have questions about the services they received. We also provide
ongoing services for many tenants and clients over a period of
months or years for which previous records are helpful. We retain
tenant and client information for a minimum of ten years after
the last contact to enable us to respond to those questions and
provide these services.
• If LPRM or its assets were to be sold, the purchaser would
want to conduct a “due diligence” review of the organization’s
records to ensure that it is a viable business that has been honestly
portrayed to the purchaser. This due diligence may involve some
review of our accounting and service files. The purchaser would
not be able to remove or record personal information. Before being
provided access to the files, the purchaser must provide a written
promise to keep all personal information confidential. Only reputable
purchasers who have already agreed to buy the organization’s
business or its assets would be provided access to personal information,
and only for the purpose of completing their due diligence search
prior to closing the purchase.
You can choose not to be part of some of these related or secondary
purposes (e.g., declining to receive our newsletter, by not having
a third party pay your rent). We do not, however, have much choice
about some of these related or secondary purposes (e.g., external
regulation).
Protecting Personal Information
We understand the importance of protecting personal information.
For that reason, we have taken the following steps
• Paper information is either under supervision or secured
in a locked or restricted area.
• Electronic hardware is either under supervision or secured
in a locked or restricted area at all times. In addition, passwords
are used on computers.
• Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed
envelopes or boxes by reputable companies.
•
• Staff are trained to collect, use and disclose personal
information only as necessary to fulfill their duties and in accordance
with our privacy policy.
• External consultants and agencies with access to personal
information must provide us with appropriate privacy assurances.
Retention and Destruction of Personal Information
We need to retain personal information to ensure that we can answer
any questions you might have about the services provided, to provide
such services and for our own accountability to external regulatory
bodies.
We keep our client files for about ten years. Our client, tenant
and contact directories are much more difficult to systematically
destroy, so we remove such information when we can if it does not
appear that we will be contacting you again. However, if you ask,
we will remove such contact information right away. We keep any
personal information relating to our general correspondence with
people who are not tenants for about two years.
We destroy paper files containing personal information by shredding.
We destroy electronic information by deleting it and, when the hardware
is discarded, we ensure that the hard drive is physically destroyed
or completely reformatted.
Updating Your Information
It is important that the information we have is accurate and up-to-date.
We will not routinely update your personal information, unless such
a process is necessary. If during the course of our relationship,
any of your information changes, please inform us so that we can
make any necessary changes.
You Can Look at Your Information
With some exceptions, you have the right to see what personal information
we hold about you. Often all you have to do is ask. We can help
you identify what records we might have about you. We will also
try to help you understand any information you do not understand
(e.g., short forms, technical language, etc.). We will need to confirm
your identity, if we do not know you, before providing you with
this access. We reserve the right to charge a nominal fee for such
requests.
If there is a problem, we may ask you to put your request in writing.
If we cannot give you access, we will tell you within 30 days if
at all possible and tell you the reason, as best we can, as to why
we cannot give you access.
If we collected personal information on behalf of a landlord client
we may have conveyed that information directly to the landlord.
If so, we may not have it as a part of our own files and you will
have to go to the landlord to look at the information.
If you believe there is a mistake in the information, you have the
right to ask for it to be corrected. We may ask you to provide documentation
that our files are wrong. Where we agree that we made a mistake,
we will make the correction and notify anyone to whom we sent this
information. If we do not agree that we have made a mistake, we
will still agree to include in our file a brief statement from you
on the point and we will forward that statement to anyone else who
received the earlier information.
Website
Our website (www.landlord.net)
contains links to other sites, which are not governed by this privacy
policy. On our website, like most other commercial websites, we
may monitor traffic patterns, site usage and related site information
in order to optimise our web service. We may provide aggregated
information to third parties, but these statistics do not include
any identifiable personal information.
Do You Have a Question?
Our Information Officer, Syl Boileau, may be reached at:
308 Wellesley Street East, Toronto, ON M4X 1H1
PHONE: 416-462-3800
He will attempt to answer any questions or concerns you might have.
If you wish to make a formal complaint about our privacy practices,
you may make it in writing to our Information Officer. He will acknowledge
receipt of your complaint, ensure that it is investigated promptly
and that you are provided with a formal decision and reasons in
writing.
This policy is made under the Personal Information Protection and
Electronic Documents Act. It is a complex Act and provides some
additional exceptions to the privacy principles that are too detailed
to set out here. There are some rare exceptions to the commitments
set out above.
For more general inquiries, the Information and Privacy Commissioner
of Canada oversees the administration of the privacy legislation
in the private sector. The Commissioner also acts as a kind of ombudsman
for privacy disputes. The Information and Privacy Commissioner can
be reached at:
112 Kent Street
Ottawa, ON K1A 1H3
Phone: (613) 995-8210
Toll-free: 1-800-282-1376
Fax: (613) 947-6850
TTY: (613) 992-9190
www.privcom.gc.ca
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