Privacy Policy
Strata Central acknowledges the importance of privacy and understands concerns of clients about the security of their personal information.
Strata Central is committed to protecting personal information held while performing our duties as strata community managers.
THE AUSTRALIAN PRIVACY PRINCIPLES
The Privacy Act 1988 (Privacy Act) includes 13 new privacy principles that regulate the handling of personal information. These principles are called the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
The 13 APPs are contained in schedule 1 of the Privacy Act 1988 (the Privacy Act).
Principle 1 – Open and transparent management of personal information
Strata Central takes steps as are reasonable in the circumstances to implement practices, procedures and systems relating to their functions or activities that are designed to eliminate problems with compliance and ensure working within the Australian Privacy Guidelines and enable it to deal with inquiries or complaints from individuals about compliance with the Australian Privacy Principles.
The privacy policy is available on the Strata Central website and addresses the following:
- the kinds of personal information that is collected and held;
- how personal information is collected and held;
- the purposes personal information is collected, held, used and disclosed;
- how an individual may access personal information about themselves that is held by us and seek the correction of such information;
- how an individual may complain about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles, and how complaints are dealt with;
- whether personal information is disclosed to overseas recipients, and if so, the countries in which such recipients are located.
Our privacy policy may change from time-to-time
Strata Central regularly reviews its policies and procedures and may change its Privacy Policy from time-to-time.
Complaints
If there is concern personal information has not been dealt with in accordance with this policy, please contact us by registering an escalation request so there is an opportunity to resolve the issue. Complaints and grievances will be logged listened to and remedies explored and implemented and if appropriate an action plan/procedure implemented.
Concerns or requests
If you have a question about this policy or wish to lodge a request to access your personal information or you believe we have not protected your personal information, please contact us. If you are not satisfied with the response, you can refer your complaint to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC): 1300 363 992 or complete the Privacy complaint form.
Principle 2 – Anonymity and Pseudonymity
Under the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, we are required to record an owner’s name and Australian address for service of notices which can include an email address only. From 2022, certain information is reported to the NSW Government via the Strata Hub making key information accessible to schemes and certain service providers such as police, ambulance, SES, Fire & Rescue and local councils. These legislative mandatory requirements affect the best intentions to protect anonymity.
Principle 3 – Collection of personal information
Why we collect personal information
Collecting personal information is essential to properly perform our duties pursuant to our agreement with the schemes we manage. We have a statutory and contractual duty to the managed schemes to keep and maintain the books and records, which includes collecting personal information, which are used for the maintenance of the strata roll, issuing notices of meetings, distribution of minutes of meetings, issuing levy notices, attending to routine repairs, maintenance and replacement of scheme property and making insurance claims.
How we collect personal information
Generally we collect personal information directly which happens during the course of our relationship with the scheme. Sometimes personal information may be collected from other sources. Insurance companies will have your personal information and so might buying or selling agents, lawyers or conveyancers.
As a rule, we obtain your consent to collect, use or disclose personal information. Consent maybe provided verbally but a preference is given to consent being in writing. Sometimes we will assume you have given your consent by your conduct with us.
Types of personal information collected and held
Personal information is information about you, whether recorded in a material form or not, from which your identity could reasonably be ascertained. This includes name, gender, address, telephone numbers, email contact details, occupational details, and information about the property/s you own under our management. We only collect personal information that is necessary to perform our statutory and contractual functions and which is used for the purposes for which it was collected.
Sensitive information
Sensitive information is defined in Part II, Section 6 of the Privacy Act 1998. It can be information about racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, membership of political associations, religious beliefs or affiliations, membership of professional or trade associations or trade. Sensitive information is only used as permitted by law, where we have received your consent to do so, or the collection is necessary for us to do our job under our agreement with your scheme.
Principle 4 – Dealing with unsolicited personal information
If unsolicited personal information is obtained that we were unable to collect under principle 3, and is not contained in a Commonwealth record, it will be destroyed or ensure it is de-identified.
Principle 5 – Notification of the collection of personal information
If it is reasonable in the circumstances, an individual will be notified if information has been collected about them from a third party and/or the individual may not be aware that has occurred.
Principle 6 – Use or disclosure of personal information
How we use personal information
Personal information is used to provide management services to the scheme and by extension to you. Examples of parties who may receive personal information are specialist trade and service providers including builders, engineers, architects, plumbers, and insurance companies.
How we store personal information
Steps are taken to secure personal information and to protect it from losses, misuse, or an unauthorised alteration. Personal information is stored on secure servers as well physical security procedures maintained to manage and protect the use and storage of records containing personal information. Access to personal information is limited to those of our personnel who specifically need it to carry out their business responsibilities. To help us protect your privacy, you should maintain the secrecy of your access credentials (i.e. username and password) you use to access and use our website.
Principle 7 – Direct marketing
We may use your personal information from time to time, to provide you with information about our company as it relates to strata management. Contact us if you do not want to receive any of this information. Link
Principle 8 – Cross-border disclosure of personal information
Strata Central does not disclose personal information about an individual to overseas recipients.
Principle 9 – Adoption, use or disclosure of government related identifiers
We do not use government-related identifiers (such as a tax file number or Medicare number) as ways of identifying information we have about an individual.
Principle 10 – Quality of personal information
It is important personal information collected is accurate, complete, and up to date. We may need to contact you to establish if there has been any changes to your personal information.
Principle 11 – Security of personal information
Reasonable precautions will be undertaken to safeguard your personal information from loss, misuse or unauthorised access, modification, and disclosure.
Principle 12 – Access to personal information
Accessing your personal information
You may request access to any of the personal information we hold about you. A summary of personal information such as your name and address details, contact telephone numbers and the matters your scheme has engaged us on are freely available and for more detailed requests, a fee may be charged to cover the cost of its retrieval and supply. We are required to provide you with this information within 30 days.
Refusal of your request
We may refuse you access to personal information where the information you seek is mixed with other information that would disclose personal information or sensitive information about another owner in the scheme.
Principle 13 – Correction of personal information
If you request a correction to your information we have collected about you, we will review and take all steps reasonable to correct the information with view to ensuring the information is accurate, up-to-date, complete, relevant, and not misleading. If we correct your personal information, we will take reasonable steps to notify any relevant third parties about these corrections unless it is impracticable or unlawful to do so.