Open-Home Sign-Ins: That Phone Number Is Personal Information
/ David Dawn
Open-Home Sign-Ins:
That Phone Number Is Personal Information
Collecting a name and mobile number at an open home might seem routine. What happens to that information afterwards is where agents need to pay attention.
You walk into an open home.
The agent asks for your name, mobile number and email address before you look through the property.
It seems harmless enough.
But from the moment those details are collected, the agency may be dealing with personal information, and what happens to that information afterwards matters.
Why this matters
A purchaser may provide their details because they want to inspect that particular property.
That does not necessarily mean they expect their information to be placed into a general marketing database, distributed throughout an agency, provided to another business or used months later to market unrelated properties.
There is an important difference between:
and
Agents need to understand what information they are collecting, why they are collecting it and what they intend to do with it.
A phone number is personal information
Under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), personal information generally includes information or an opinion about an identified individual, or an individual who is reasonably identifiable.
A person's:
- name
- mobile telephone number
- email address
- residential address
- property requirements
- purchasing intentions
may therefore amount to personal information.
When several pieces of information are collected together, an agency can potentially build a fairly detailed picture of a prospective purchaser.
0412 345 678
Looking for a four-bedroom property
Budget around $1.4 million
Needs to purchase within six weeks
That is considerably more than simply recording that somebody attended an open home.
Why are you collecting it?
This is probably the first question an agency should ask.
There can be legitimate reasons for collecting information from people attending an inspection. These may include:
- security at the property
- recording attendance
- communicating information about the property
- advising prospective purchasers of changes to the campaign
- providing documents requested by the purchaser
- contacting interested parties following the inspection
The important issue is whether the person understands what their information is being collected for.
“Please add me to every marketing list your agency operates.”
If the information is going to be used for broader marketing, the agency should consider whether this has been properly disclosed and whether the person has been given an appropriate choice.
The Australian Privacy Principles, contained in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth), regulate how organisations covered by the Act collect, hold, use and disclose personal information.
Depending upon the circumstances, the Spam Act 2003 (Cth) and the Do Not Call Register Act 2006 (Cth) may also become relevant when information is later used for electronic or telephone marketing.
Tell people what you are doing
The solution does not need to be complicated.
An open-home registration form should clearly tell the person why their information is being collected.
The wording should reflect what the agency actually does.
There is little point having a privacy statement saying one thing if the agency's internal systems automatically do something completely different.
Don't hide the consent
If an agency wants permission to use a person's details for ongoing marketing, make it clear.
A separate option is generally much easier to understand.
That is far clearer than burying a marketing authorisation in a paragraph of fine print that nobody reads.
Think about your apps and sign-in systems
Many agencies no longer use a clipboard and piece of paper.
Open-home information may now be collected through:
- QR codes
- mobile applications
- inspection-management software
- CRM systems
- online enquiry forms
- automated SMS services
The fact that a computer automatically transfers the information does not remove the agency's responsibility to understand what is happening to it.
✓ Who can access it?
✓ Does it automatically enter the CRM?
✓ Is it provided to third parties?
✓ Does the system automatically subscribe the person to marketing?
✓ How long is the information retained?
If nobody in the office knows the answers, that is probably a good indication that the process needs to be reviewed.
Sharing information with other businesses
Particular care should be taken where purchaser information is passed to another business.
For example, an agency might have arrangements involving:
- mortgage brokers
- conveyancers
- utilities providers
- insurance providers
- property managers
- developers
- marketing companies
There may be circumstances where information can properly be provided to another party.
But there is a significant difference between a purchaser asking:
and the purchaser's details simply being sent to a third party without their knowledge.
Old databases deserve attention too
Another issue worth considering is how much information is already sitting inside the agency's CRM.
Some agencies have been operating for decades.
Their databases may contain thousands of people who attended inspections or made enquiries many years ago.
Why are we retaining it?
Are we still marketing to these people?
Would the person reasonably expect us to still have their information?
Holding information indefinitely simply because the software allows it is not necessarily good information-management practice.
The practical rule
Before collecting someone's details at an open home, the agency should be able to answer three simple questions:
What Victorian agents should do now
Take five minutes and look at the registration process currently being used at your next open home.
Register yourself as though you were a purchaser.
See exactly what the purchaser sees.
Then follow the information through your system.
You may discover that the technology is making decisions about your clients' personal information that nobody in the agency has actually considered.
One final thought
An open-home sign-in form looks simple.
But that little box asking for a name, telephone number and email address is collecting information about a real person.
Treat it accordingly.
Good privacy procedures do not need to make selling real estate difficult. They simply require the agency to know what it is collecting, why it is collecting it, and what happens to it next.
Something does not look right?
If you are reviewing your agency procedures and something does not look right, give us a call.
Victorian Property Settlements has been dealing with Victorian property transactions for more than 20 years. We regularly see the practical side of agency compliance, contracts, disclosure and settlement procedures.
Sometimes a five-minute conversation before a problem develops can save considerably more time afterwards.
Contact Victorian Property SettlementsLicensed Conveyancer
Victorian Property Settlements
PO Box 11220
Frankston VIC 3199
David@quick32.com
