Privacy statement

1 In advance

In advance. We respect the privacy of our customers and visitors of our website. We therefore handle your personal data with care. With this privacy policy, we want to inform you about how we handle your personal data when using this website, as well as when you use our services.

Short introduction to the legislation for the protection of personal data. As of 25 May 2018, legislation is in force that governs your rights with regard to your personal data. The key terms in this new legislation (often referred to as GDPR) are data subjects, personal data, and processing. The data subject is you: the natural person who visits this website or uses our services. Your personal data are all data relating to you: this may be your name, your email address, but also your contacts with us, your preferences regarding the property you are looking for, or what you have told us in a contact form. What we do with your personal data is to process it. This ranges from requesting, storing to using it for multiple purposes.

2 Which personal data?

Why do we process your personal data? We process your personal data to enable us to sell or rent out your property, to be able to find a match between your wishes and needs and the properties we offer for rent and for sale, and to keep you informed about properties that may interest you.

On what legal basis do we process your personal data (the “legal basis”)? Any use of your personal data must have a legal basis and must be “lawful.” We process your data on the basis of our legitimate interest, your consent, the pre-contractual stage, or the performance of an agreement, and the legal obligation.

Sometimes we have a “legal obligation” to request personal data. For example, to be able to draw up a sales agreement, we need your national registry number.

For certain matters, such as sending newsletters by email, we ask for your consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time. This can be done easily, usually by clicking the “unsubscribe” button that you will find in each of these emails.

We also store data on the basis of our “legitimate interest”. This “legitimate interest” includes those things that, as a customer, you can expect us to need in order to carry out our work properly as a real estate agent. For example, it involves compiling customer lists (more on this below) or specific information that is relevant in the context of certain properties or certain customers.

Finally, of course, we need personal data to be able to carry out the agreement we have with you, such as identification details, address details, and contact details.

Which personal data do we store about you? Which personal data we store about you depends on the relationship you have with us. We call this categories of data subjects.

Relationship and Description

Visitor
The natural person who visits the website without identifying themselves and without providing us with personal data.

Optional services
The natural person who uses our free services (such as saving search requests, free property appraisal, contact form) without signing an agreement.

Prospective tenant
The prospective tenant who, in the context of a specific property or in the context of searching for a rental home in general, provides us with extensive information, and possibly visits one or more properties.

Prospective buyer
The prospective buyer who, in the context of a specific property or in the context of searching for a home for sale in general, provides us with extensive information, and possibly visits one or more properties.

Landlord
The landlord with whom a letting assignment is signed.

Seller
The seller with whom a sales assignment is signed.

ResidentThe person who occupies a property, where this resident is not the landlord or seller in the transaction.

ProspectThe natural person we contact, or who contacts us, with the aim of listing or offering for sale or rent a property of this person.

We set out below, for each category of customer, how we process your personal data, whether you can object to it, and what the consequences are. Then we explain what rights you, as the data subject, have with us.

Which personal data do we process from the visitor? When you, as a visitor to our website, do not provide personal data, we do not store any personal data. Depending on the browser settings, it is possible that cookies are placed on the user’s device. See the cookie policy for more information.

Which personal data do we process for non-binding services? Some of our services are entirely non-binding. In that case, we process only the data needed for providing that service.

These services include: creating a profile, saving search alerts, a free estimate of your property, filling out a contact form, and subscribing to a newsletter. When creating a profile, the following information may be requested: identification details and contact details. When saving a search alert, in addition to an email address, we store the information needed or useful to prepare the search request you asked for. A free estimate of your property requires a certain investment and it is normal for us to be able to store various personal data, such as property details, identification details, contact details, and the reason you are requesting the estimate. Having a free estimate carried out implies consent to collect this data. Once an estimate has been carried out, we store this estimate, both based on your consent and a legitimate interest, as well as from any possible liability arising from the estimate. When you fill out a contact form, we store your contact details and your question or comment, as well as any further communication. When you subscribe to a newsletter, your email address is stored.

Except as indicated above, any processing takes place within the scope of your consent.

We store these personal data while the processing is ongoing and for up to 6 months or more after your last activity.

Which personal data do we process from the prospective tenant? You are a prospective tenant as soon as you have explicitly registered with us for this. For a prospective tenant, the following processing is possible. A pre-screening allows us to record your tenant profile. This is in no way a “automated decision.” We collect this information in order to let you visit properties that may meet your preferences and to ensure that you are not shown properties that are, in a certain way, not a match for you. These personal data may include: your payslip or information about your income, your family situation, when you want to rent, your budget, as well as all information about the property you are looking for. If a property is visited, we also record that. When entering into a lease agreement, all information needed to be able to conclude the lease agreement is collected and stored.

We store these personal data for the purpose of potentially entering into a lease agreement. The legal basis for the processing is therefore the “pre-contractual stage.” The storage period is at least 6 months, further depending on your level of activity as a prospective tenant, and may be extended within a reasonable timeframe in order to build a long-term profile of you as a tenant. If, based on your reduced activity as a prospective tenant, it is decided not to process your data any longer, you may be informed of this in advance.

If you sign a lease agreement, we must store your personal data for at least 10 years for our contractual liability.

You have a right of access and an effective right to rectification of objectively incorrect data. No personal data is stored that belongs to special categories (such as race, religion, sexual orientation, health), unless you exceptionally explicitly request this yourself.

Which personal data do we process from the prospective buyer? You are a prospective buyer as soon as you have explicitly registered with us for this. For a prospective buyer, we process the following personal data. We store your name, email address and mobile phone number. We note your preferences and needs regarding the property you are looking for, as well as any other information you provide to us about your situation or that we understand could be useful in finding a suitable property. If you visit a property, we record this as an activity related to that property. The seller, who has access to the activity report through an online profile, can only see that a visit took place. If you make an offer, we store your offer and the seller’s response. If an offer or counteroffer is accepted, all legally required information needed to draw up a compromise agreement is collected and stored (such as a copy or reading of your identity card). The compromise agreement is also stored. If you have shown strong interest in a property or visited a property, and our assignment ends without a sale of the property, the seller receives a list of all (serious) prospective buyers via registered mail. This list includes your name, your email address, and a partially unreadable mobile phone number. We share your data with the seller due to a compelling legitimate interest, namely because of mandatory contractual provisions in the sales assignment. This means that you cannot object to this. The following precautions are taken in this context: the seller is prohibited from contacting you directly based on that list; they are also prohibited from informing anyone else that you are on that list, as well as from passing on this list; and after 6 months the seller is required to destroy the list, as well as any copy or scan they may have of it. In addition, it is possible that we share this list ourselves with a real estate agent who takes over the sales assignment, or with whom we work.

Unless otherwise stated above, processing is based on your consent and our legitimate interest in order to be able to serve you better. Your data are kept for a minimum of 2 years.

If you make a binding offer, sign a purchase promise, or sign a compromise agreement, we must store the personal data for at least 10 years for our contractual liability. As standard, we keep your data for a period of 30 years, but after 10 years you can request that your data be deleted.

You have a right of access and an effective right to rectification of objectively incorrect data. To do so, you must provide us with proof of your identity, share the correct information, and where necessary provide sufficient evidence of the correct value of that information. No personal data is stored that belongs to special categories (such as race, religion, sexual orientation, health) unless you exceptionally explicitly request this yourself.

Which personal data do we process from the landlord? In the context of a rental assignment, we store all information needed to carry out the rental assignment, such as property details, your identity and contact details. We also store additional information that we obtain about the property or other useful information to help us find a suitable tenant for your property. Please note that the GDPR prohibits processing personal data relating to race, religion, sexual orientation, health, so the “other useful information” we record may not in any way relate to such matters.

Personal data is stored in order to be able to carry out the rental assignment. Given the legal obligations in this regard and given our contractual liability, the personal data is kept for at least 10 years. As standard, we keep your data for a period of 30 years, but after 10 years you can request that your data be deleted.

If you decide that your property will be published on one or more real estate portal sites, then we will send only the property details to these portal sites, so no contact details, nor any other data about you personally.

Which personal data do we process from the seller? In the context of a sales assignment, we store all information needed to carry out the sales assignment, such as property details, your identity and contact details. We also store additional information that we obtain about the property or other useful information to help us find a suitable buyer for your property. The personal data is kept for at least 10 years, given the legal obligations in this regard and given our contractual liability. As standard, we keep your data for a period of 30 years, but after 10 years you can request that your data be deleted.

If you entrust us with the assignment to prepare an EPC (energy performance certificate) or an electrical conformity certificate, the necessary personal data will be forwarded to our partner. If a compromise agreement is concluded, the data necessary to be able to draw up the compromise agreement will be kept. If you decide that your property will be published on one or more real estate portal sites, then we will send only the property details to these portal sites, so no contact details, nor any other data about you personally.

See further for important information about your possible responsibilities as a seller.

Which personal data do we process from the resident? In the context of a sales or rental assignment, we store all information needed to carry out the assignment, namely your contact details. We keep those until the assignment has been completed. After that, the data are deleted if you no longer have any further relationship with our office.

Which personal data do we process from the prospect? We distinguish between the prospect who approaches us and the prospect who is proactively approached. When you contact us yourself on a non-binding basis with a view to a possible rental or sales assignment, we store your identity, your contact details, the information we obtain about your property, and other information that allows us to assess your property and the context or reason for your contact. We do this last part based on a legitimate interest, namely for efficient handling of this non-binding contact. The data you provide to us is stored as standard for 2 years.

It may also happen that we contact you, if we learn that you are possibly offering your home for sale or rent or want to offer it. Publicly shared contact details may, in accordance with the GDPR, be stored. If you want to have further contact with us, then we will process your personal data as we do for people who contact us spontaneously. If you do not want to be contacted by us anymore, or only after a certain time (e.g. three months), then we record this, and not afterwards.

What if you fall under two categories of data subjects? It may be that over time you hear from more than one category of parties involved. For example, a prospective buyer may later become a seller. In that case, your personal data will be processed under both categories, possibly with multiple legal grounds, and the longest retention period will be applied.

What about data received from third parties, such as real estate portal websites? Properties, both for rent and for sale, may be published on real estate portal websites. Real estate portal websites offer search options, and they use them to collect and store your contact details. With your consent, a portal site provides us with your contact details, as well as the property you are interested in.

We will immediately send you an email confirming that we have received your contact details and information about the property you are interested in. This email may include an invitation to give your consent to automatically receive messages from similar properties.

We may also automatically send you a series of properties similar to the one for which you requested information. This is because many customers appreciate it. In that case, you can always unsubscribe with 1 click.

Historical data. Historical data are personal data that are stored in our database from before 25 May 2018, the date the GDPR took effect. For those people with whom we have an ongoing agreement or for whom we have a legal obligation to retain personal data, we will of course keep those personal data. For the other personal data, which have been stored either based on consent or based on our legitimate interest, it is usually difficult or impossible to determine on which basis we stored this personal data. A company has two ways to address this. A first method is to email everyone in this file to ask them to renew or confirm their consent to the use of personal data. In that case, only the personal data of those who have actually consented will be retained. A second method is to consider the processing of the personal data as a legitimate interest. In that case, in each contact the data subject has the possibility to object to the processing, and it will be stopped. Either of these methods can be combined with a cleanup operation for old customer data.

We have chosen for the first/second approach to dealing with historical data. It goes without saying that you always have the right to request that these historical personal data are erased (in the absence of legal obligations and ongoing agreements).

Your responsibilities as a seller. For multiple reasons, it is possible that the sales assignment you entrusted to us ends without the sale of your property. In that case, after our assignment ends, you will receive the list of prospective buyers who have visited your property or have shown serious interest in it. This list contains personal data of these prospective buyers, in particular their name and first name, email address and the mobile phone number, the latter possibly only partially. Even if you are an individual, you also have obligations under the GDPR regarding that list and you are the data controller of this list. We will provide you with permission to store and review the personal data in this list for 6 months after receipt. You are prohibited from communicating these personal data to anyone and in any way or from sharing them with anyone. You are also prohibited from actively contacting these people. After 6 months, you are required to destroy this list, as well as any copy, scan and photo of it.

Contact. For questions or requests regarding the processing of your personal data, you can contact us. You can reach us at the following address:

Roelandt & Partners BV
Boekevijverstraat 20
B-9506 Zandbergen

+32 (0)54 32 08 50
info@landelijk-vastgoed.be

Your rights as a data subject. As a data subject, you have a number of rights regarding your personal data. You have a right of access to your personal data. This means you have the right to access the personal data that we store about you. Note that we have one month to respond to this, and we may ask you for proof of your identity before we act on your request. You also have a right to rectification. This means you have the right to have incorrect personal data corrected. In this case, we may ask you for proof of the accuracy of the data you provide. You also have a right to erasure of data. This means you can ask for your personal data to be deleted. Be careful: this is not always possible, in particular if we have a legal obligation to retain personal data, if you have entered into a contractual relationship with us, or in other exceptional situations. The right to erasure cannot be used to terminate an ongoing agreement. You can also object to certain processing operations, more specifically to processing operations that we carry out on the basis of our (non-binding) legitimate interest. You can also withdraw your consent at any time for those processing operations for which you have given your consent. With regard to both the objection and the withdrawal of consent, we will stop the processing if there are no other legal grounds that still require the processing. Finally, you also always have the right to lodge a complaint with the Data Protection Authority (www.privacycommission.be).

Security. Your personal data are handled confidentially. They are also secured appropriately according to the risk their processing entails and, where applicable, retained and secured in accordance with the specific legal requirements.

Transfer to third parties. We only share your personal data with your consent with third parties, or on the basis of a legal obligation or decisions of a court or an administrative authority, or as discussed above in the context of performing the agreement.

Social media and other third parties. On our website, links may appear to social media platforms or other services of third parties. We have no control over how these services work and therefore are not responsible for them. We also have no influence on their privacy policy and cookie policy. When you use your social media profile, the relevant social media provider processes your personal data in accordance with its policy. We recommend that you read their policies regarding personal data carefully.

Direct marketing. Under “Direct Marketing,” all direct communication between us and you is understood that aims to inform you about products and services or to update your customer profile, and that does not fall under the emails sent as part of personalized property search requests. You can always object to the use of your personal data for direct marketing by pressing the unsubscribe button in such an email or by contacting us about it.

Changes to this privacy policy. We strive to keep this privacy policy stable. However, for various reasons, it may be necessary to exceptionally change this privacy policy. Therefore, check this page regularly for updates.

Disclaimer of this privacy policy. It is possible that certain functionality has not yet been implemented or not yet fully implemented, or that it is implemented differently from what is described here. We accept no liability for this. In any case, this does not affect the rights that the GDPR grants you and that you can exercise from 25 May 2018.