Your Privacy Is Important To Us!
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THE M. J. HOWES REALTY INC.
PRIVACY CODE Protecting
the confidentiality of your personal information has always been an important
part of the way we do business. To ensure that we protect your privacy, M. J.
Howes Realty Inc. has adopted a Privacy code. This Code sets out how and why we collect and
use personal information about our customers and clients. It also explains limited circumstances
under which we may need or be required to disclose it. “Personal information” means information that
identifies you as a specific individual and does not include the sort of
general information that could be found in a business directory or telephone
book. Effective, January 1, 2004, the Government of
Canada implemented the last phase of the Personal
Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). This federal statute applies to businesses,
including real estate brokerage firms. This legislation establishes rules and principles
for the use and disclosure of personal information based on ten privacy
principles developed by the Canadian Standards Association. These principles recognize that we live in
an era when commercial information is exchanged and circulated by electronic
means. It balances the individual’s right
to privacy in their personal information with the reasonable need of organizations
to collect, use or disclose personal information. Under the new legislation, an organization may
collect, use or disclose personal information only for limited purposes that
a reasonable person would consider to be appropriate in the circumstances. Our Privacy Code
sets out these principles in simple terms and explains how we ensure that
your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information are
protected. OUR
PRIVACY CODE
The M. J. Howes Realty Inc. Privacy Code is based on the following ten principles adopted by the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). PRINCIPLE #1: Our accountability for the collection,
use or disclosure of personal information As a customer or client of M. J. Howes Realty Inc., you have a right to expect that your
real estate broker is accountable for the personal information it collects
and uses. “Customer or client” means
any individual who currently employs or who has formerly employed the
services of M. J. Howes Realty Inc. (as Seller’s agent, Buyer’s agent, Lessor’s agent,
Lessee’s agent, real property or
business valuation, or other real estate related service as may be provided
by M. J. Howes Realty Inc.). We are responsible for maintaining and protecting your
personal information while it is under our control. This includes any personal information that
may need to be disclosed to third parties for processing or other
administrative functions. To help ensure the confidentiality of your personal
information, we have established policies and procedures to ensure that we
comply with the Personal Information Protection and electronic Documents Act. We have designated a privacy officer who is
responsible for our company’s compliance with the ten privacy principles
developed by the Canadian Standards Association. If you have any questions or
inquiries about how your personal information is stored, or when it may need
to be disclosed to others, our privacy officer is there to assist and explain
our policies to you. PRINCIPLE #2: Identifying our purpose for the
collection, use or disclosure of personal information Before or when we collect information about you, we will explain how we intend to use it. M. J. Howes Realty Inc. collects personal information only for the following purposes of A) Establishing and maintaining communication with customers or clients B) Offering and providing real estate brokerage services to meet customer and client needs C) Understanding, analyzing and evaluating customers’ and clients’ needs for our services D) Investigating and evaluating real estate E) Detecting and preventing fraud F) Compiling statistics G) Complying with the law; and H) A business or activity it may undertake under applicable federal, provincial or territorial legislation Unless we are
required by law, M. J. Howes Realty Inc. will not
use or disclose any personal information that has been collected without
documenting the new purpose and obtaining your consent. If you have any questions about these
purposes, our privacy officer will be pleased to explain them to you. PRINCIPLE #3: Obtaining your consent for the
collection, use or disclosure of personal information M. J. Howes Realty Inc.
will make a reasonable effort to ensure that our customers and clients
understand and consent to how their personal information will be used by the
Company. In certain circumstances, consent with respect to
use or disclosure may be sought after the information has been collected but
before use. Personal information may need to be collected, used or disclosed
without the knowledge and consent of the individual. For example, legal or security reasons may
make it impossible or impractical to seek consent. The Personal Information Protection and Electronic
Documents Act recognizes that when information is being collected for the
detection and prevention of fraud or for law enforcement, seeking the consent
of an individual may defeat the purpose of collecting the information. Seeking consent may also be impossible or
inappropriate when the individual is a minor, seriously ill, or mentally
incapacitated. In obtaining your
consent, we will always use reasonable efforts to ensure that you are advised
of the identified purposes for which any information collected will be used
or disclosed. PRINCIPLE
#4: Limiting our collection of personal information
We will always
limit the collection of personal information to that which is necessary for
the identified purposes. Typically,
this information is required to enable M. J. Howes
Realty Inc. to effectively market a real property or business for sale or
lease, to prepare agreements of purchase and sale, to prepare lease
agreements and to conduct and prepare property or business valuations. We may
need to collect personal information from other sources including municipal
tax or assessment offices, land registry office, survey companies, utilities
companies, lawyers, insurance companies, mortgage lenders or banks, credit
bureaus and building contractors. PRINCIPLE
#5: Limiting the use, disclosure and retention of personal
information
Personal information will not be used or disclosed
for purposes other than for which it was collected, except with your consent
or as permitted or required by law.
Your personal information will be retained only as long as it is
necessary to fulfill those purposes. There are situations where M. J. Howes Realty Inc. may disclose a customer’s personal
information as dictated by prudent real estate brokerage practices. For
example: A) Real Property Marketing and
Property Demonstration: During the process of
marketing for sale or lease and presenting a real property to prospective
buyers, the Company and its representatives may disclose to the prospective
purchasers personal information about the seller, to include the seller’s
name, real property and its related operational expenses and other
information about the seller and the real property deemed necessary in order
for the Company and its representatives to fulfill its obligation to the
seller to diligently, thoroughly, honestly and fairly represent the said real
property to prospective buyers. Similarly, the Company or its representatives
may disclose to sellers specific information about the prospective buyers, to
include names and other information which may be deemed to be personal as
defined by the Act. Only the information deemed necessary shall be disclosed. B) Purchase & Sale or
Lease Negotiations: During the process of negotiating a sale or lease, M. J. Howes Realty Inc. or its representatives may disclose
specific personal information about the sellers and buyers, to include names,
addresses or other information deemed to be personal in accordance with the
Act. Only the information deemed necessary share be disclosed. C) Third Party Disclosure: During the process of
negotiating and subsequent to negotiating a “Purchase and Sale Agreement” of
a real property and or business, the Company or its representatives may
disclosure personal information about the sellers and or the buyers to
co-operating real estate brokerage companies or their representatives, to
mortgage lenders or banks, to lawyers, to insurance companies, to
accountants, to surveyors and to other professional service providers who may
be deemed to be providing a service to the buyers or to the sellers. Only the
information necessary for these services will be provided by us to these
service providers. M. J. Howes Realty Inc. does not provide or sell its customer
lists to any outside company for use in marketing or solicitation. Only employees with a business “need to
know”, or whose duties will require it, are granted access to personal information. We keep personal information only as long
as it remains necessary or relevant for the identified purpose or as required
by law. PRINCIPLE
#6: Keeping your personal information accurate
M. J. Howes Realty Inc. makes every effort to ensure that
personal information about its customers and clients is accurate, complete
and up-to-date as is necessary for the propose for which it was
collected. This may require contact
with M. J. Howes Realty Inc. or its representatives
from time-to-time. If you have any
questions about the accuracy and completeness of personal information that we
have collected or retained, please contact our privacy officer. If you need to up-date some aspect of your personal information please contact your M.
J. Howes Realty Inc. representative directly. PRINCIPLE #7: Safeguarding
your personal information
M. J. Howes Realty Inc.
takes steps to protect personal information with security safeguards
appropriate to the sensitivity of the information by: A)
Having security standards in place to protect personal information
from misuse and unauthorized access. B)
Communicating with prospective buyers or sellers, our representatives
and third parties about the importance of handling personal information in
accordance with our standards and applicable laws. C)
Storing personal information with appropriate safeguards: listing agreements,
purchase and sale agreements, etc. in lockable files and protected computer
files which are not accessible by anyone other than the Broker or its
representatives. D)
Holding personal information only for as long as we need it for the
intended purpose and as required by our policies or applicable laws. All our employees
with access to personal information are required as a condition of their
employment to respect the confidentiality of personal information. PRINICPLE
#8: Openness concerning our privacy practices
M. J. Howes Realty Inc. pursues a policy of openness about the procedures it uses to manage personal information. We will make specific information about our policies and practices relating to the management of their personal information available to customers upon request. We ensure openness by providing you with the
following information: A) The title and address of
the privacy officer accountable for our compliance with the policy B) The name of the individual
to whom inquiries or complaints can be forwarded C) The means of gaining access
to personal information held by our company; and D) A description of the type
of personal information held by M. J. Howes Realty
Inc. PRINCIPLE
#9: Customer access to personal information M. J. Howes Realty Inc.
informs its customers and clients of the existence, use and disclosure of
their personal information upon request and provides access to that
information. Our customers and clients
are able to amend or check for completeness of their personal information
when appropriate. When a request is
made in writing, we will inform you in a timely fashion of the existence, use
and disclosure of your personal information and you will be given access to
that information. In order to
safeguard your personal information, we may require you to provide sufficient
identification to permit us to authorize access to your file. In certain exceptional situations, we may
not be able to provide you with access to all of the personal information we
hold. Exceptions may include
information that is prohibitively costly to provide, information that
contains references to other individuals, information that cannot be
disclosed for legal, security or commercial proprietary reasons and
information that is subject to solicitor-client or litigation privilege. If this is the case, M. J. Howes Realty Inc. will provide the reasons for denying
access upon request. Customers and
clients can obtain information or seek access to their individual files by
contacting our designated privacy officer. PRINCIPLE
#10: Challenging compliance
A customer or client has the right to challenge M.
J. Howes Realty Inc.’s compliance with the above
principles by contacting the privacy officer accountable for our compliance
with the policy. M. J. Howes Realty Inc. maintains strict procedures for
addressing and responding to all inquiries or complaints from customers or
clients about its handling of personal information. We inform our customers and clients about our
privacy practices as well as availability of complaint procedures. Our privacy
officer will investigate all complaints concerning compliance with the
privacy policy. If a complaint is
found to be justified, we will take appropriate measures to resolve the
complaint including the amendment of our policies and procedures, if
necessary. In exceptional
circumstances, the privacy officer may seek external legal advice where
appropriate before a final response to individual complaints. IS CONSENT NEEDED? Yes. M. J. Howes Realty Inc. requires customer and client consent to
collect, use and disclose their personal
information. If you have already
provided personal information we would like to continue to use and to
disclose it for the purpose for which it was collected. If you do not contact us we will assume
that we may continue to do this in accordance with the standards described in
this Commitment Statement. You may
choose to refuse to provide your consent or may withdraw your consent at any
time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Contact our privacy officer
at… (519)351-3332 M. J. Howes Realty Inc., Real Estate
& Business Brokerage N7L 1C2 Attention: Privacy Officer e-mail: mjhowesrealty@hotmail.com |
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