Privacy Policy
REALTA AGENCY INC. (hereinatier “THE AGENCY” or the “BROKER”) is governed by the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (RLRQ, c. P-39.1) (the “Act”).
Personal information
Personal information is information about a natural person that allows, directly or indirectly, that person to be identified. Writing, images, videos, and sound recordings can all contain personal information. In the course of its professional activities, the AGENCY or BROKER may collect personal information such as a person’s name, home address, date of birth, identification information, social insurance number, income information, marital status, etc. The AGENCY or BROKER may also use this information to identify a person.
Consent
The AGENCY or BROKER collects, uses, and communicates personal information with the consent of the person concerned. To be valid, consent must be manifest, free, informed and given for specific purposes. The person who consents to provide his or her personal information is presumed to consent to its use and communication for the purposes for which it was collected.
Any individual may withdraw his or her consent to the collection, use and disclosure of his or her personal information by the AGENCY or BROKER at any time. In this case, if the collection is necessary for the conclusion or performance of the contract by the AGENCY or BROKER, the AGENCY or BROKER may not be able to fulfill a request for service.
Responsibility
The AGENCY or BROKER is responsible for protecting the personal information it holds in the course of its real estate brokerage activities. To this end, the AGENCY or BROKER has adopted the Privacy Policy as well as policies and practices governing the governance of personal information, the purpose of which is to govern the collection, use, communication, retention, and destruction of personal information.
Collection of personal information
Use and disclosure of personal information
Personal information is used and disclosed for the purposes for which it was collected and with the consent of the individual concerned. In certain cases, provided for by law, personal information may be used for other purposes, for example, to detect and prevent fraud or to provide a service to the person concerned.
The AGENCY or BROKER may be required to communicate personal information to third parties, for example, suppliers, co-contractors, subcontractors, agents, insurers (such as the Fonds d’assurance responsabilité professionnelle du courtage immobilier du Québec [the FARCIQ]), professionals, other regulators, or outside Québec.
The AGENCY or the BROKER may, without the consent of the person concerned, communicate personal information to a third party if such communication is necessary for the execution of a mandate or a service or business contract. In this case, the AGENCY or BROKER shall draw up a writen mandate or contract in which it shall indicate the measures that its agent must take to ensure the protection of the personal information entrusted to it, to ensure that it is used only in the performance of the mandate or contract and that it is destroyed atier its termination. The co-contractor must also undertake to cooperate with the AGENCY or BROKER in the event of in the event of a breach of confidentiality of personal information.
Before disclosing personal information outside Québec, the AGENCY or BROKER considers the sensitivity of the information, the purpose for which it is to be used and the safeguards that will be in place outside Québec. The AGENCY or BROKER will only disclose personal information outside Québec if its analysis demonstrates that it will benefit from adequate protection in the place where it is to be disclosed.
Retention and destruction of personal information
Once the purposes for which the personal information was collected or used have been fulfilled, the AGENCY or BROKER must destroy it, subject to the retention period stipulated by law. In this regard, the AGENCY’s or BROKER’s professional obligations require it to keep its files for at least six (6) years following their final closing.
Security measures
When collecting, using, keeping, and destroying personal information, the AGENCY or BROKER applies the necessary security measures to protect the confidentiality of personal information.
This includes any information concerning our customers as individuals and enabling them to be identified: name, home address, personal e-mail address, home telephone number or personal cell phone number, etc. This information is invaluable to the AGENCY or BROKER. This information is valuable for This enables us to offer targeted products and services and to respond promptly and appropriately to our customers’ needs. On the other hand, they impose duties of confidentiality and transparency.
All REALTA employees are responsible for the agency’s policies and practices regarding the management of personal information. With certain exceptions (personal information collected for legal purposes, security reasons or for the detection and prevention of fraud), we undertake not to collect, use, or communicate information concerning our customers for other purposes or without the knowledge of the person concerned.
All REALTA employees are responsible for their access credentials to the sotiware they use on their tablets or computers. They keep them in a safe, encrypted place or memorize them.
Privacy incident
A confidentiality incident is any access, use or disclosure of personal information that is not authorized by law, or any loss of personal information or any other breach of the protection of personal information.
The AGENCY or BROKER has established a protocol for managing a confidentiality incident, which identifies the persons who assist the Privacy Officer and sets out the concrete actions to be taken in the event of an incident. This protocol sets out the responsibilities expected at each stage of incident management, including the measures to be taken to ensure data security.
Roles and responsibilities
The AGENCY or BROKER
- Ensures confidentiality of information through good information management practices. More specifically, it provides guidelines, training, and instructions to staff members regarding the collection, use, storage, modification, consultation, communication and permited destruction of personal information.
- Deploys appropriate safeguards to reduce the risk of privacy incidents, e.g., computer security, updating personal information policies, staff training, etc.
- Has standardized filing methods for documents containing personal information.
- Manages physical and computer access to personal information, according to its sensitivity.
- Securely destroys personal information. More specifically, he/she gives directives or instructions to staff members concerning the secure destruction method, destruction deadlines, etc.
Privacy Officer
In accordance with the Act, the AGENCY or BROKER has appointed a Privacy Officer.
In particular, he/she ensures that these policies are respected and that they comply with applicable regulations. The name and contact details of this person appear in the “Right of access, withdrawal and rectification” section.
The Privacy Officer is responsible for managing privacy incidents and, in this context, acts as provided for by law.
The Privacy Officer handles requests for access and rectification of personal information. He or she also handles complaints concerning the processing of personal information by the AGENCY or BROKER.
The Privacy Officer is consulted as part of a privacy impact assessment for any project involving the acquisition, development or redesign of an information system or the electronic delivery of services involving the collection, use, disclosure, retention, or destruction of personal information. It may suggest measures to ensure the protection of personal information in the context of such a project.
Staff members
A member of the AGENCY’s staff or the BROKER may view personal information only insofar as this is essential to the performance of his or her duties or mandate.
The AGENCY staff member or BROKER will
- Ensures the integrity and confidentiality of personal information held by the AGENCY or BROKER.
- Complies with all the AGENCY’s or BROKER’s policies and directives on access, collection, use, disclosure, destruction of personal information and on information security, and follows the instructions presented to him or her.
- respects the security measures in place at his or her workstation and on all equipment containing personal information.
- Use only equipment and sotiware authorized by the AGENCY or BROKER.
- Ensures the secure destruction of personal information in accordance with instructions received. Immediately report to his/her supervisor any act of which he/she is aware that may constitute an actual or suspected breach of security rules relating to personal information.
Right of access, withdrawal, and rectification
An individual (or his/her authorized representative) may request access to his/her personal information held by the AGENCY or BROKER. An individual may withdraw at any time his or her consent to the collection, use and disclosure of his or her personal information. This withdrawal is recorded in writing.
An individual may request the correction of personal information in a file concerning him or her that he or she believes to be inaccurate, incomplete, or equivocal.
The AGENCY or BROKER may refuse a request for access or correction in the cases provided for in the Act.
Complaints
A person who considers himself/herself aggrieved may lodge a complaint concerning the processing of his/her personal information by the AGENCY or BROKER. This complaint will be handled diligently by the Privacy Officer within a maximum of 15 days, and a writen reply will be sent to you.
Complaints management and follow-up policy
Complaints management
Complaints are handled by the agency manager or one of REALTA’s shareholders.
This is the highest level of decision-making within the agency, enabling complaints to be handled quickly and efficiently, and recommendations to be made where necessary, as well as ensuring follow-up.
- The agency manager’s independence and credibility must be assured.
- The manager has the power to intervene with employees and/or brokers.
- He/she has the power to become a proactive agent of change.
- Full authority to influence management and brokers.
- Has the ability to make requests and recommendations to employees and/or brokers to speed up the handling of complaints.
- Has the power to contribute to the improvement or correction of administrative processes.
- Has the latitude and authority to resolve complaints.
- Must be tactiul, diplomatic, discreet, self-reliant and a good communicator.
- He/she must constantly question the best atitude to adopt in each case. Strong empathy, a real desire to help the customer and a keen sense of responsibility drive him/her.
Customers have several technical means at their disposal for filing a complaint. They can use whichever one they prefer.
Commitment
- The agency manager will take charge of and deal with the complaint as quickly as possible and will try as far as possible to resolve complaints at the first point of contact.
- Reassure customers by explaining the mandate of the complaints department, how their complaint will be handled and the steps that will be taken.
- Demonstrate atentive listening, hold each department accountable for achieving its objectives, and commit to providing the customer with reliable service.
- The complaints department can provide impartial, clear, and understandable information.
- Commit to providing reliable service by ensuring that all the customer’s rights have been respected, that the customer’s file is complete, that the customer has not been discriminated against, that every effort has been made to resolve the dispute, and that the customer’s particular or exceptional situation is considered in the analysis of possible solutions.
- Undertake to provide reliable service, and to ensure the confidentiality, within the organization, of the customer’s information so that he or she will not suffer reprisals.
In conclusion
The agency manager must:
- Use feedback to improve customer service,
- Report to senior management and identify possible solutions.
- Participate in the improvement of service quality and the evolution of rules, programs, and measures.
- Undertake appropriate corrective or preventive measures to eliminate the cause of actual or potential factors leading to non-compliant services, or to improve service quality.
- See a complaint as an opportunity to save money and improve.
- Count as benefits the positive perception and re-establishment of customer confidence in the organization.
To request access to or rectification of your personal information, or to submit a complaint regarding the processing of personal information, please contact:
François Bissonnette by e-mail francois@realta.ca
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