BUTTONWOOD PROPERTY MANAGEMENT’S COMMITMENT TO PRIVACY:
Buttonwood Property Management Inc. (“BPM” or “Our” or “We” or “Us”) is committed to protecting the privacy of Our Clients (“You” or Your or Yours). We are committed to collecting, employing and disclosing personal information responsibly and only to the extent necessary for the premises, goods and services We offer. We also strive to be open and transparent as to how We handle personal information. This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) describes BPM’s personal information privacy policies and practices with respect to the collection, use and disclosure of Your personal information relating to the use of Our web-site at (www.buttonwood.ca) or information submitted in applications or forms to Buttonwood Property Management Inc. Our obligations and Your rights are subject to applicable legislation, including the terms of the Personal Information Protection and Electronics Documents Act (Canada).
WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?
Personal information is any information about an identifiable individual, and/or any other information that identifies who You are.
Personal information We may collect about You includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the following:
- Name
- Home address / mailing address
- Home telephone number
- Business telephone number
- Cell phone number
- Emergency telephone numbers
- E-mail address
- Financial information (financial means, credit history, banking and payment)
- Vehicle information (license plate number)
- Mortgage information
- Demographic information
- Household information
- Past tenancy history
- Employment history
- Income
- Gender
- Date of birth
- References and conduct history
- Intended use of the premises
- Any accessibility and/or special needs of tenants (e.g., disability or health)
- Travel document details
- Official government documents
- Social insurance number (to be used only for the purpose of issuing a tax receipt for interest on last month’s rent)
WHEN AND HOW IS PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTED?
Personal information about You may be collected by BPM directly when:
- Visiting Our Web-site
- Completing a rental application form
- Completing a tenancy rental/lease agreement
- Submitting a maintenance request
- Submitting a request for proposal
- Executing service contracts
- Transaction documents
- From individuals on a voluntary basis through surveys, contest entry forms, and/or questionnaires.
This information is usually collected from:
- Property owners
- Tenants
- Prospect Tenants
- Prospect Investors
- HR Professionals
- Procurement Professionals
- Condominium Corporations
- Condominium Declarants or their Professional Advisors
- Directly from Property Management companies in situations where management of existing condominium properties are transferred to BPM.
- Indirectly Personal Information about you may be provided to BPM by third parties, such as trades companies or credit bureau companies…
WHY WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION:
BPM provides Property Rental Services, Property Management Services, Corporate Apartment Management, Condominium Building Management, Destination and Relocation Services, Investment Consulting as well as other services to a wide range of clients. We require some Personal Information to provide these services to Our clients, such as:
- To identify and communicate with you;
- To establish eligibility for tenancy;
- To assess creditworthiness;
- To process payments;
- To enable Us to respond to emergency situations;
- To ensure the orderly management of the rental, commercial, cooperative housing and strata properties entrusted to Our care;
- To comply with all relevant legislation;
- To manage the common elements and other assets of condominium corporations;
- To collect common expenses and any other assessments or charges levied by property owners or condominium corporations;
- To understand individual needs and preferences;
BPM only collects the personal information necessary to fulfill the purposes identified prior to or at the time of collection, or any other reasonable and legitimate purposes or as required by law.
OPT OUT:
We always strive to serve Our Customers in the best way possible. We may use Your personal information to contact You from time to time through the email address You provide to Us to keep You informed of opportunities, including product details, special offers and newsletters that may be of interest to You. These may either be related to Our products or those of Our trading partner.
If You wish to be taken off of BPM’s email list You may opt out by following the steps included in every email We send, or by contacting BPM directly.
SAFEGUARD, RETENTION AND DESTRUCTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION:
We understand the importance of protecting personal information and We use our best endeavours to maintain appropriate safeguards to ensure the security, integrity and privacy of the information You have provided Us with. Personal information is needed to help serve You better and for Our own accountability to external regulatory bodies.
To ensure the security of Your details We have set in place a series of security measures and safeguards, such as:
- Premises Security: Appropriate security measures in place to protect physical intrusions by non authorized employees;
- Access to Your personal information will be limited to select employees within Our organization;
- Select employees undertake to respect and maintain the confidential nature of this information;
- Employees are trained on how to safeguard and handle private information;
- Deploying technological safeguards such as security software and firewalls to prevent hacking or unauthorized computer access and secure our network;
- Personal information is stored in confidential databases;
- Electronic hardware is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area at all times. In addition, passwords are used on computers.
- We destroy electronic information by deleting it and, when the hardware is discarded, We ensure that the hard drive is physically destroyed or completely reformatted.
- Paper information is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area.
- Paper information is transmitted through sealed, addressed envelopes or boxes by reputable companies.
- We destroy paper files containing personal information by shredding
- It is very important that you contact Us when any changes to your personal information occur.
Our client files are retained for about seven years. At such time as personal information is no longer required for the purposes stated in this Policy or other statutory requirements, We will remove such information when We can if it appears that We will not be contacting You again. However, if You ask, we will remove such private information right away.
LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES:
Our Website (www.buttonwood.ca) includes links to third party websites that may collect personal information. These linked sites have their own privacy policies. You should read the privacy policies of such third parties, and make an informed decision whether or not to visit such web sites and/or provide personal information to such third parties based upon their privacy practices and individual discretion. BPM does not assume any responsibility for the privacy practices, policies or actions of such third parties.
WEBSITE SECURITY:
BPM will use reasonable efforts to protect Your information that You provide to BPM once it has been received by BPM. BPM uses SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology, an encryption technology used to encrypt information sent over the Internet. Despite these measures, whenever You provide your personal details on the Internet and/or Fax, there is a risk that this information may be intercepted and used by third persons whom We are unable to control. Although BPM makes every effort to protect Your personal details and privacy, We are unable to guarantee the security of this information which You make available over the Internet at Your own risk. BPM does not assume any liability for interception, alteration or misuse of information transmitted over the Internet.
WE WILL OBTAIN YOUR PERMISSION:
Except where authorized or required by law, We will not collect, employ or disclose Your personal information unless You have provided Us with Your consent. We will only request the information that We need for the purposes that We have identified to You. You may withdraw Your consent to Our collection, use or disclosure of Your personal information upon receipt of reasonable and written notice. However, contractual or legal restrictions may override any such request.
DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION:
BPM does not sell, transfer, rent or trade personal information that We collect without Your consent. BPM may share Your personal information on a confidential basis with third party service providers that We have retained to perform work on Our behalf. These service providers are not authorized to use or disclose this information for any purpose other than to perform services on Our behalf. BPM discloses account and other personal information when We believe the disclosure is appropriate, such as:
- When BPM has received consent to do so or under limited circumstances specifically described at such time as personal information is collected;
- When BPM, in good faith, believes the law permits or requires such disclosure in order to comply with applicable laws of Canada or a province, such as by a court order or by statute;
- The completion and delivery of status certificates, as permitted by law;
- To its employees and professional advisors representing the condominium corporation in respect of some form of legal action such as: (for the purpose of collection of common expenses and any other assessments or charges levied by condominium corporations or for letters informing the resident of continued contravention of rules/bylaws or Act that governs the corporation);
- In the event that property owner or management of a particular condominium property is transferred to another management company, BPM may disclose personal information of owners and tenants of such condominium property to such new property owner or management company;
- In the event of the sale or assignment of all or substantially all of BPM’s assets, to a successor in interest of BPM or as part of a corporate reorganization, consolidation or merger. Personal information may be one of the transferred business assets;
- Tenants’ or Residents’ lists for the information of the Board of Directors elected by or representing the clients or associated individuals;
- To enforce or apply these Terms of Use;
- To protect the rights, property, or safety of BPM, Our users or others;
We collect information only by lawful and fair means and not in an unreasonable intrusive way. Wherever possible We collect Your private information directly from You. Additional information may be obtained from You on voluntary basis through surveys, contest entry forms, and/or questionnaires on issues relating to condominium living or contained in public directories.
CAREER APPLICANTS:
If You apply to BPM for a career opportunity, We need to consider Your Personal Information, as part of Our review process. We normally retain information from career applicants after a decision has been made. Unless You ask Us not to retain Your personal information. If We offer You a job, which You accept and become part of Our team, Your personal information will be retained in accordance with Our privacy policy.
CREDIT BUREAU:
On occasion BPM may request information from the files of consumer agencies or file complaints with those agencies, such as where You have failed to pay a debt owed to BPM.
CONTACTING US:
If You have any questions or concerns about this Policy or BPM’s collection, use and disclosure of Your personal information, or to update Your information or to register a complaint or to withdraw any consents that You have provided in the past (subject to reasonable notice, any legal requirements and similar exceptions). You may contact BPM at any time as follows:
Privacy Officer:
Walid Al-Hajj
Buttonwood Property Management Inc.
2212 – 10 Yonge St.
Toronto, Ontario
M5E 1R4
Canada
Tel: (416) 826-0933
Email: [email protected]
All requests will be investigated by BPM as soon as practical in the circumstances. You will be notified of the outcome of Your request clearly and promptly and will be notified of any relevant steps taken or to be taken as a result of Your request.
RIGHT OF ACCESS TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION:
In most cases, You will have access to the Personal Information stored about You by BPM all you have to do is ask. You may request access to Your personal information by contacting our Privacy Officer: (details provided above)
You also have the right to know:
- The methods by which We collected this information;
- The purposes for which We are using the information;
- To whom the information has been disclosed;
Any request that You make should be sufficiently detailed so that We may properly respond to Your request. When You make a request, We will insist upon verification of Your identity, either by photograph or signature if We do not already know You, before providing You with this access. We also reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee for such requests.
If We collected personal information on behalf of a property owner or condominium corporation or company representative, such as: (HR and Procurement Professionals) We may have conveyed that information directly to them. If so, We may not have it as part of Our files and You will have to go to back to them to look at the information.
However, there may be rare occasions when Your rights to access personal information is denied, for example PIPEDA indicates that:
- Rights to access personal information are not absolute;
- Denial of access is required or authorized by law;
- When granting access would have an unreasonable impact on other people’s privacy;
- When to do so would prejudice negotiations with others;
- To protect BPM’s rights and property;
- Where the request is frivolous or vexatious;
If there is a problem, We may ask you to put Your request in writing or e-mail. If We cannot give You access, We will tell You within 21 business days if at all possible and tell You the reason, as best We can, as to Why we cannot give You access.
UPDATING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION:
When providing Your personal information, We will amend certain information as required or authorized by law, including the personal information of other individuals, information that may be subject to investigation, as well as any confidential commercial information.
It is vital that the information You Provide Us is accurate and up-to-date. We will not routinely update Your personal information, unless necessary. If any of Your private information changes in the duration of the residency, please inform Us to make any necessary changes.
If You believe that any of the information that We have collected about You is inaccurate or incomplete, You have the right to ask for it to be corrected.
We may ask You to provide documentation to prove that Our files are wrong. Where We agree that We made a mistake, We will make the correction and notify anyone to whom We sent this information to. If We do not agree that We have made a mistake, We will still agree to include a brief statement from You on the point in Our file and We will forward that statement to anyone else who received the earlier information.
If You are not satisfied with Our response, Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada can be reached at:
112 Kent Street
Place de Ville, Tower B, 3rd Floor
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 1H3
Inquiries: 1-800-282-1376 (toll-free)
REVISIONS TO POLICY:
The following information is provided by BPM to enable You to be fully informed of Our Policy. BPM reserves the rights to amend, modify and/or replace all or part of this web-site and the information and materials contained on it, as well as this Policy. Please check this Policy periodically for changes or modifications. It is Your responsibility to review this Policy regularly and You are deemed to be aware of such changes or amendments.
By visiting Our web-site at (www.buttonwood.ca) or through submitting any forms or applications to Buttonwood Property Management Inc. You are providing BPM Your implied consent to the practices described in this Policy and to collect and use Your information to fulfill the requested service or information.
If You do not agree or accept this Policy or Terms and Conditions, please do not further access and/or use Our website. Let us know if you have any pending forms or applications with Us so that they are discarded off.
The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA):