Privacy Policy – Higgins + Co Property Solutions
Higgins + Co Property Solutions are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information.
What information we collect?
We may collect personal information necessary to provide our services, including but not limited to your name, contact details, identification information, property details, and financial information.
We collect this information through direct interactions, forms, applications, inspections, our website, and third parties where permitted by law.
How We Collect Personal Information
We collect personal information in a variety of ways, including:
Directly from you, when you:
- Make an enquiry via our website, email, or phone
- Attend open homes or inspections
- Complete forms, applications, or contracts
- Engage us to sell, lease, or manage a property
Through our website, including:
- Online enquiry forms
- Property alerts or subscription services
- Cookies and analytics tools that track website usage
From third parties, where permitted by law, including:
- Referrals from clients or business partners
- Real estate portals and marketing platforms
- Credit reporting bodies (for tenancy applications)
- Financial institutions, solicitors, or conveyancers
- Publicly available records and government databases
Automatically, through:
- Website cookies and tracking technologies
- Email communications (e.g. tracking open rates or engagement)
We will only collect personal information by lawful and fair means.
Why do we collect this information?
Your personal information is used to:
- Provide real estate services, including sales, leasing, and property management
- Communicate with you regarding your property or enquiry
- Facilitate transactions and contractual obligations
- Comply with legal and regulatory requirements
- Improve our services and customer experience
Disclosure of Personal Information
We may disclose your personal information to third parties where necessary to carry out our services and in accordance with the Act. This may include:
- Service providers such as photographers, marketing agencies, and contractors
- Financial institutions, legal representatives, and government authorities
- Potential buyers, sellers, landlords, or tenants in connection with a transaction
- Maintaining and updating our records
- Comparing information for accuracy, and verifying it with third parties
- Regulatory bodies where required by law
Overseas Disclosure
In some cases, we may engage with third-party service providers or affiliated companies that store or process data overseas. While we take reasonable steps to ensure that these entities handle your information securely and in accordance with privacy standards, such overseas recipients may be subject to different privacy laws.
Data Security
We take reasonable precautions to protect your personal information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure.
Access and Correction
You have the right to request access to the personal information we hold about you and request corrections where necessary. Please contact us using the details below to make such a request.
Cookies and Website Usage
Our website may use cookies and similar technologies to enhance your browsing experience and collect information about how you use our site. This information helps us improve functionality and performance.
Links to other websites
This website may contain links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of those websites. This Privacy Policy does not extend to those linked websites.
Marketing and opt-out
We may also use the information, including personal information (excluding sensitive information), provided by users of this website for marketing and research purposes, to analyse and improve products, benefits and services and to inform users of products, services and benefits provided by us, our related entities, suppliers or sponsors which we consider may be of value or interest to users, unless the user tells us, or has previously told us, not to. If a user does not wish to receive any information about such products, services and benefits they can contact the Privacy Officer (details specified below). We will not use your sensitive information for these purposes without your consent.
Updates to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The most current version will always be available on our website.
Acceptance of this Privacy Policy
By using this website, accessing any of our products, services or features, the user acknowledges that it has read, understands and accepts this Privacy Policy and the permissions to collect, use and disclose personal information, and the user authorises us to collect, use and disclose, in accordance with the Act, their personal information for the purposes specified in this Privacy Policy.