Updated: 07 April 2025
Privacy Policy - Belong Here
1. PRIVACY POLICY
The protection of your Personal Information is something that Belong Here Pty Ltd (ACN 667 415 198) and its relate dentities (collectively “Belong”, “we“, “us” and “our“) take very seriously.
This Policy describes how we manage your PersonalInformation in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (“Privacy Act”).
This Policy also applies to the collection and processing of your Personal Information if you are an individual in a country that is a member of the European Economic Area (“EEA“) by or on behalf of Belong, to the extent the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679(“GDPR”) applies. For the purposes of GDPR, we are a ‘data controller’ and we are responsible for, and control the processing of, your Personal Information. Information about a person from which that person is reasonably identifiable, whether or not it is true, is generally referred to throughout this policy as“Personal Information “.
This Policy provides important information in relation to:
· your rights arising under thePrivacy Act and, where applicable, the GDPR;
· what Personal Information we collect;
· what we do with your PersonalInformation;
· with whom your PersonalInformation may be shared; and
· how we will respond to requests for access, correction or complaints about privacy.
From time to time and for any reason we may revise our information handling practices and this Policy. This Policy will be updated to reflect any changes made and published on www.belonghere.me (“Website”).
If you have any questions about this Policy or the Personal Information we hold about you, please contact our PrivacyOfficer (see “Contact Information” below).
2. WHAT PERSONAL INFORMATION WE COLLECT
This Policy only applies to the collection and use of your Personal Information by Belong and those third parties authorised by Belong. This Policy does not cover third party websites to which we may provide links, nor does it cover advertisers. These third parties may have their own privacy policies and/or terms and conditions of use which you should refer to. See “Links to Third Party Services and Websites” below for more information.
Personal Information is defined in section 6 of the Privacy Act as information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable:
· whether the information is true or not; and
· whether the information or opinion is recorded in a material form or not.
We collect Personal Information to the extent that it is reasonably necessary for one or more of our functions or activities, including our accommodation services and related services. The kinds of Personal Information that we collect and hold include:
· name;
· date of birth;
· address and/or location;
· telephone and/or mobile number;
· identification documents, including driver’s licence, passport details and student identification;
· your image;
· email and/or IP address;
· course enrolment and visa status information;
· emergency contact details;
· bank account or credit card details;
· details of your preferences, interests and opinions; and
· details relevant to your dealings with us and/or the services we provide.
3. PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT OTHERINDIVIDUALS
We may also hold Personal Information that you provide to us about other individuals e.g. Personal Information about your spouse, partner, parent, guardian, friend, referee or someone living with you. We rely on you as our customer to inform those individuals that their Personal Information is being provided to us and that they may contact us for further information.
4. SENSITIVE INFORMATION
Under the Privacy Act, “Sensitive Information” includes but is not limited to information or an opinion about an individual’s racial or ethnic origin, religious belief, or criminal record and health information about an individual. In many cases, we will not collect or hold Sensitive Information about you.
However, in certain circumstances and provided we have obtained your consent or where it is required or authorised by or under an Australian law or court/tribunal order, we may collect and hold Sensitive Information (e.g. health information) about you or someone living with you.
Any Sensitive Information will be collected with your consent for the purpose notified to you at the time and only to the extent that you authorise us or where we are legally permitted to do so, including if it is needed for your vital interests or the vital interests of another individual.
5. HOW WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION
We collect Personal Information in a number of ways, including:
· when making a booking and/or entering into a contract or agreement with us;
· records of our other communications and interactions with you;
· customer survey or market research activities;
· the marketing of our products and services;
· your enquiries; and
· our Belong here Pty Ltd Website(including information you enter onto our Website). Please see the “Collection of Personal Information Through Website” for more information.
We generally collect Personal Information directly from you, unless it is unreasonable or impracticable to do so. We may also collect Personal Information about you from third parties such as education suppliers, universities, residential tenancy databases and other sources necessary to identify and evaluate a potential tenant market data research firms, your representatives, your referees and contractors providing services to you or us.
6. COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION THROUGH WEBSITE
We collect the Personal Information that you enter onto our Website. We may also collect information about you that is not Personal Information (such as your username, if it is not your actual name, and browser details) or in some circumstances Personal Information about you when you interact with us online or via social media management tools (e.g.Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or WeChat/We Com). Any Personal Information that we may collect from social media platforms is determined by the privacy settings of your account within the social media platform (that is, the extent to which your Personal Information is publicly available on the social media platform)and the content of your post.
Our Website include pages that use cookies,which are small amounts of data sent by our Website and other third parties andstored by your browser. This allows our servers to recognise your device when you visit our Website in the future. Cookies do not in themselves identify youas an individual although they do identify your browser type, the operating system you are using, the web page you visited, your internet service providerand your State location.
You can configure your internet browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies or notify you when a cookie is sent. Ifyou refuse the use of cookies in this way you may not be able to see the full functionality of our Website. Please refer to your internet browser’s in structions or help screens to learn more about these functions.
To assess the effectiveness of our Website design and layout, as well as monitor traffic to the Website we may contractwith third parties to collect statistical data. However, no Personal Information is collected during this process.
7. HOW WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION
We collect, hold and use your Personal Information for the purposes of our business operations and activities, including:
· assessing your application for tenancy
· providing accommodation and related services to you, including through the use of a third party service provider and/or via the website
· communicating with you including facilitating responses to your enquiries or complaints;
· verifying your identity, address and other details;
· contracting with you and processing payments;
· conducting debt recovery activities (including through a debt collection agency);
· conducting customer surveys;
· gathering and aggregating information for statistical and modelling purposes, including customersegmentation processes;
· developing and improving ourservices;
· managing performance andcompliance with our contractual and regulatory obligations and assessing thatcompliance through independent audits;
· maintaining and updating ourrecords;
· contacting you to obtain yourfeedback or comments on our products and services; and
· facilitating acquisitions andpotential acquisitions of our business.
After using reasonable efforts to recoveroutstanding amounts owed by you to us, if there are still outstanding amount sowing, we may disclose your rental default information to residential tenancy data bases and/or debt collection agencies and lawyers.
We also use your Personal Information toprovide you with information on products and services that we or third partiesoffer, as well as offers, competitions and other marketing information that weconsider may be relevant to you or that you might be interested in, even afteryou cease acquiring products or services from us.
8. HOW WE DISCLOSE PERSONAL INFORMATION
We may disclose your Personal Informationto third parties that help us provide services to you as our customer. Third parties that we may disclose your Personal Information to include:
· your authorised representative,parent or guardian;
· Belong contractors, suppliersand agents who assist Belong in providing products and services to you (e.g.billing providers, call centre, customer management, data storage, delivery,data processing, data analysis, document management, information broking,research, investigation, insurance, website, mobile application and technologyservices);
· financial institutions forpayment processing and billing activities;
· credit providers and agencies;
· other organisations who, inconjunction with us, provide the services or assist in providing services toour assets (e.g. higher education providers);
· Belong’s related entitiesand/or partners;
· the relevant Bond Authority;
· third party operators ofresidential tenancy databases;
· Government agencies, regulatoryauthorities or enforcement bodies (e.g. Australian Federal Police) whererequired or authorised by law;
· our professional advisers,including independent auditors we engage to ensure the integrity of ouroperations; and
· debt collection agencies.
We may also collect your PersonalInformation from these types of third parties.
9. OVERSEAS USE OR DISCLOSURE OFPERSONAL INFORMATION
Belong is part of an international networkof companies which trade under the Belong name (“Member Companies”).
We may disclose your Personal Informationto Member Companies or other entities overseas where it is reasonably necessaryto help us fulfil the purpose for which the Personal Information was collected,or a related or ancillary purpose or otherwise in accordance with the Privacy Act and, where relevant, the GDPR. The countries to which such disclosures aremade, and types of Personal Information disclosed, depend on the specificcircumstances of the engagement.
We may also store, process or back-up your Personal Information on secure servers that are located overseas (includingthrough third party service providers). These servers are commonly located in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.
Where we transfer Personal Informationbetween countries, we will only do so with relevant protections in place, to ensure your Personal Information is protected in accordance with applicable laws and this Policy. We may require your further consent to transfer yourPersonal Information outside of Australia or the EEA, although we do not expectto transfer your Personal Information outside these jurisdictions.
10. HOW WE HOLD AND KEEP SECURE PERSONALINFORMATION
We typically hold the Personal Informationwe collect on electronic databases located in Australia.
We are committed to keeping secure thePersonal Information you provide to us. We take precautions to protect thePersonal Information we hold about you from misuse, loss, interference, theftand from unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
Depending on the circumstances, oursecurity measures may include, but are not limited to:
· educating our employees abouttheir obligations with regard to your Personal Information;
· ensuring our employees andoutsourced service providers use passwords when accessing our systems;
· using secure networks orencryption when transmitting electronic customer data;
· storing Personal Information insecure, encrypted data centres;
· requiring third parties weengage to provide appropriate assurances that such parties will handle your Personal Information in a manner consistent with the Privacy Act and, wherer elevant, the GDPR; and
· compliance with payment card industry security standards with respect to the storage and transmission ofpayment card details.
11. HOW WE HANDLE REQUESTS FOR ACCESS TOPERSONAL INFORMATION
You can request access to details of thePersonal Information that we hold about you at any time by contacting our Privacy Officer (see “Contact Information” below).
We will respond to any such request foraccess as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event will acknowledge receipt within ten business days of receiving your request. We may require youto set out the request in writing. In most cases, we will try to provide withyou a copy or details of your Personal Information in the manner requested.Otherwise, we will work with you to find a mutually agreed alternative. If, after exploring all options, we cannot provide you with access to theinformation in the form requested, or have other lawful grounds, we willprovide a written statement setting out our reasons for refusal.
12. CORRECTION AND DELETION OF PERSONALINFORMATION
We may not be able to provide you with theservices you are seeking if you provide incomplete or inaccurate PersonalInformation. If you believe the Personal Information, we hold about you is inaccurate, incomplete or outdated, please contact us using the details listed above so that we can correct it.
To the extent we are subject to the GDPR,if you would like us to delete Personal Information we have collected from you,please contact us using the details listed above. Please note that we may berequired by law to retain certain Personal Information. Before we are able to provide you with any information, correct any inaccuracies, or delete PersonalInformation, we may ask you to verify your identity and/or provide otherdetails to help us respond to your request.
13. DIRECT MARKETING
If at any time you decide you do not wishto receive marketing communications from Belong, just let us know by contactingus.
If you have opted-in to marketing communications, you may subsequently elect not to receive marketing communications from Belong by following the opt-out instructions in the marketing communications we send you, sending a message through the contactfeature on our Website or contacting us using the Contact Information listedbelow. Please note that if you opt out of receiving marketing communicationsfrom us, we may still send communications to you concerning your account(s)with Belong.
14. OBJECTING AND PORTABILITY – YOURRIGHTS
To the extent we are subject to the GDPR,you may have the right to request in some circumstances that any further processing of the Personal Information you have provided to us be restricted,or you may object to such further processing. You may also have the right tohave the Personal Information you provided to us transferred to another party.
15. LINKS TO THIRD PARTY SERVICES ANDWEBSITES
Should you decide to stay at a Belong property and/or use the website, you will be offered services from third partyproviders who may collect Personal Information from you. These services are not operated by Belong and if you use these services, you should review theproviders’ website privacy policy, terms and conditions, and other policies. Weare not responsible for the policies and practices of third parties. Any information you submit to those third parties is subject to their privacy policy,terms and conditions, and other policies.
16. RETENTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
If we determine that Personal Informationwe hold about you is no longer required, we will take reasonable steps todestroy or de-identify it to the extent required by law.
The periods for which we keep your PersonalInformation will vary according to the purpose for which we use the PersonalInformation. Unless there is a specific legal requirement to keep your PersonalInformation, we will not keep it for longer than necessary for the purposes forwhich the Personal Information was collected or for which it is to be furtherprocessed.
17. CONTACT INFORMATION
Should you have a query about this Policy,request for access or correction or complaint, please contact us on any of themethods below:
Postal Address:
Belong Here Pty Ltd
L2/383 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000
Email: admin@belonghere.me
If you have a complaint, we encourage you to inform us so that we can have the opportunity to remedy the issue and find asolution. We will aim to resolve your complaint with in five business days from when we receive your complaint in writing. There may be times when we need abit longer to investigate the complaint and respond to you, but we will contact you within five business days to give you an update and let you know when we think we’ll find the answer or solution. We will also confirm how frequently you would like to be updated moving forward.
If you are unsatisfied with the handling ofyour complaint, you may lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (“OAIC”). For more information about making acomplaint to OAIC, visit www.oaic.gov.au