1. Introduciton

1. Introduction

houseandland.com.au has created this Policy to explain when and how personal information is collected, used, disclosed and protected with respect to your use of our website. This Site is owned and operated by houseandland.com.au Pty Ltd (HAL).

A major part of the business we run involves us connecting you with real estate agents, builders, and other service providers. Where you provide us personal information as part of submitting to our and/or using our website with the purpose of us connecting you with a third party we will provide them with that information.

Please also refer to our Terms and Conditions of Use.

2. Purpose of our Policy

HAL has a strong commitment to the privacy of personal information provided by those visiting and interacting with this website. We hold the privacy of your personal information in the highest regard. The following discloses our information gathering policy and dissemination practices for this website.

3. What information do we collect?

We collect two types of information when you use our service: personal information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected on an individual basis and website use information; and aggregate information collected automatically as you and others browse our website and download product.

Personal information means information that specifically identifies an individual, or from which an individual could be identified, such as first and last name, address, telephone number, email address or other account number. It also includes demographic and other information about an individual when directly linked to personally identifiable information. A user name may be personal information if it includes personally identifiable information.

Aggregate information does not include personally identifiable information. It includes information about how you and others use our service, but no personal data will be included in the resulting data.

4. Email Information

If you choose to correspond with us via email and during that email transmission select that you wish to obtain information via that email transmission you authorise us by that email transmission to receive from us and the third parties mentioned in Clause 1 materials and/or for either of us to make contact with you. If you do choose to correspond with us via email we may retain the content of your email messages together with your email address and our responses. We provide the same protections for these electronic communications that we employ in relation to information received by mail and telephone. Please be assured that as with our other forms of communication you do have the ability to unsubscribe as set out in Clause 17 below.

5. Website use information

Like other commercial websites, our website utilises a standard technology called cookies (see clause 7, below, ‘What are cookies?’) and web server log files to collect information about how our website is used. Information gathered through cookies and web server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our website, the actions taken at our website, and the websites visited just before and just after our website.

6. How do we use the information that you provide to us?

Broadly speaking, we use personal information for the purposes of administering our business activities, providing the products and services you requested, processing your payment, monitoring the use of the service, supporting our marketing and promotional efforts and improving our content and service offerings, customising our site's content, layout and services and for other lawful purposes. These uses improve our site and better tailor it to meet your needs. Your personally identifiable information will not be shared with any other parties except as required by law.

Aggregated information, collected about a group or category of services or users from which individual user identities have been removed is used to help us understand our users' needs so that we can improve our services. We may share aggregated information about our users with third parties for various purposes including advertising and marketing.

We may also use the information we collect to notify you about important changes to our website, new services, and special offers we think you will find valuable. You may notify us at any time if you do not wish to receive these offers by emailing us at unsubscribe@houseandland.com.au

Both Personal Information and Aggregated Information may be disclosed to service providers we use to run our business, such as cloud hosting providers and online security providers. These providers are sometimes located outside of Australia. When we disclose your information to these providers, we will make sure they only use that information to provide services to us, and that they agree not to unnecessarily disclose or otherwise deal with your data.

7. What are cookies?

A cookie is a very small text document, which often includes an anonymous, unique identifier. When you visit a website, that site's computer asks your computer for permission to store this file in a part of your hard drive specifically designated for cookies. Each website can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser's preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a website to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites. Browsers are usually set to accept cookies. However, if you would prefer not to receive cookies, you may alter the configuration of your browser to refuse cookies. If you choose to have your browser refuse cookies, it is possible that some areas of our site will not function as effectively when viewed by the users. A cookie cannot retrieve any other data from your hard drive or pass on computer viruses.

8. How do we use information we collect from cookies?

As you visit and browse our website, the site uses cookies to differentiate you from other users. Cookies, in conjunction with our web server's log files, allow us to calculate the aggregate number of people visiting our website and which parts of the site are most popular. This helps us gather feedback to constantly improve our website and better serve our users. Cookies do not allow us to gather any personal information about you and we do not intentionally store any personal information that your browser provides to us in your cookies.

9. Internet Protocol address

Internet Protocol (IP) addresses are used by your computer every time you are connected to the Internet. Your IP address is a number that is used by computers on the network to identify your computer. IP addresses are automatically collected by our web server as part of demographic and profile data known as traffic data so that data (such as the web pages you request) can be sent to you.

10. Sharing and selling information

Except as provided for in Clause 6 of this policy, we do not share, sell, lend or lease any of your personally identifiable information to anyone except to the extent it is necessary to process transactions or provide services you have requested and as part of the business we run including connecting you with real estate agents, builders and other service providers. Again you are entitled to unsubscribe as per clause 17 if you object to such practices which will cease your utilisation of this website.

11. How can you access and correct your information?

You have the right to request a copy of the personal information HAL holds about you and to have any inaccuracies corrected. Please address requests to the Customer Services Representative via privacy@houseandland.com.au

12. What about legally compelled disclosure of information?

We may disclose information when legally compelled to do so, in other words, when we, in good faith, believe that the law requires it or for the protection of our legal rights. We may also disclose account information when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be violating our Terms and Conditions of Use or to protect the safety of our users and the public.

13. What about other websites linked to our website?

As referred to above as part of your use of this website you may well be referred to or linked to the websites of real estate agents, builders and other service providers. We are not responsible for the practices employed by websites linked to or from our website or the information or content contained therein. Whilst some of the links to other websites are designed to assist you with utilising our business, some other links to other websites are provided solely as pointers to information on topics that may be useful to users of our website.

Please remember that when you use a link to go from our website to another website, our Privacy Policy is no longer in effect. Your browsing and interaction on any other website, including websites which have a link on our website, is subject to that particular website's own rules and policies. Please read over those rules and policies before proceeding.

14. Your consent

By using our website or the services available through the site, you consent to our collection and use of your personal information as described in this Policy. We reserve the right to amend this Policy at any time with or without notice.

15. Our commitment to data security

To prevent unauthorised access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

16. Use and storage of your personal information

When you supply any personal information to HAL (e.g. for online ordering, user account setup, etc.) we have legal obligations towards you in the way we use those data. We must collect the information fairly, that is, we must explain how we will use it (see the notices on particular web pages that let you know why we are requesting the information) and tell you if we want to pass the information on to anyone else.

In general, any information you provide to HAL will only be used within HAL and by its agents and service providers. Your information will be disclosed where we are obliged or permitted by law. Also, if you post or send offensive, inappropriate or objectionable content anywhere on or to the Website or otherwise engage in any disruptive behaviour, HAL can use whatever information that is available to it about you to stop such behaviour. This may involve informing relevant third parties such as your employer, Internet provider and law enforcement agencies about the content and your behaviour.

We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as you use the service you have requested, and remove it in the event that the purpose has been met, or so long as statutory records must be kept e.g. purchase data/payments etc. Where personal information is held for entities that are not yet clients but have registered information with HAL , that information will be held as long as is necessary to ensure that the service is run smoothly. We will ensure that all personal information supplied is held securely, in accordance with relevant data protection laws

17. Choice/Opt-In/Opt-Out

This site allows visitors to unsubscribe so they will not receive future messages or newsletters. After unsubscribing we will stop sending information as soon as practicably feasible.

18. Surveys & contests

From time-to-time our site requests information from users via surveys or contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and the user, therefore, has a choice whether or not to disclose this information. Information requested may include contact information (such as name and shipping address) and demographic information (such as postcode, age level). Contact information will be used to notify the winners and award prizes. Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of this site.

19. Policy modifications

We reserve the right to change this Policy without notice. If we make any material changes to our Policy, we will post a new policy on our site and update the "last updated" date recorded at the top of this Policy. Therefore, we encourage you to check our Policy whenever you visit the site to see if it has been updated since your last viewing.