Privacy Policy
Realhaus exists to build connections between people and make Canada more open and inclusive – We are a community built on trust.
When you use Realhaus Technologies Inc. and its affiliates (“we,” “us,” or “Realhaus”) to find or rent your home, we know you are trusting us with your data. We also know we are responsible for respecting your privacy and work hard to do just that. This policy explains what information we collect, why we use it, who we share it with, and how we protect it, along with the tools you can use to manage your privacy.
Everyone’s home journey is different; deciding where to call home is an intimate, personal experience. Along with a wealth of information about homes, neighbourhoods, and rental market conditions, we also use the information you give us to provide our services and help you find your next home.
We carefully evaluate how we use data to make sure that we’re using your information to provide value for you. This page aims to explain everything you need to know about your privacy at Realhaus. If you have any questions that we haven’t answered here, you can always contact us at privacy@realhaus.ca
1. Definitions
If you see an undefined term in this Privacy Policy (such as “Listing” or “Realhaus Platform”), it has the same definition as in our Terms and Conditions (“Terms”).
2. Information We Collect
There are four general categories of information we collect.
- Information needed to use the Realhaus Platform
We ask for and collect personal information about you when you use the Realhaus Platform. This information is necessary for the adequate performance of the contract between you and us and to allow us to comply with our legal obligations. Without it, we may be unable to provide all the requested services. This information includes:- Contact Information, Account, Profile Information. Such as your first name, last name, phone number, postal address, email address, date of birth, and profile photo, some of which will depend on the features you use.
During the rental application process, we collect extra information like your employment history, rental history, and income. This information is necessary to assist the landlord in making a more informed decision about your rental profile. We also pull your credit report (Equifax and/or Transunion) and criminal background check to include in your application. We retain your reports to easily share them with any landlord of your choice when you submit multiple applications.
We partner with vendors to generate those reports. We do not provide an avenue to download these reports; however, your landlord/ prospective landlord may capture/ screenshot copies of your reports, application, and any related documents you submit. Any copies retained by your landlord are subject to your landlord’s privacy policies. - Identity Verification Information. Such as images of your government-issued ID (as permitted by applicable laws), ID number, or other verification information. We may use third-party vendors to collect and verify your identity alongside the identity documents specified above. If a copy of your ID is provided to us, we may scan, use, and store information contained in your ID to verify your identity.
- Payment Information. Such as bank account or payment account information. When you connect a bank account for payments or payouts, we may use a trusted third party to collect and verify your banking information.
When you pay your rent through Realhaus, we collect your transaction information but don’t store your payment account details. Instead, we use trusted partners to collect and store that data. If you use your bank account to pay your rent, our service provider collects personal and financial information from your bank or other financial institution. By using Realhaus to make your rent payments, you are granting Realhaus and our partner the right, power, and authority to act on your behalf to access and transmit your personal and financial information from the relevant financial institution. Your information will be transferred, stored, and processed by our partner in accordance with their Privacy Policy.
- Contact Information, Account, Profile Information. Such as your first name, last name, phone number, postal address, email address, date of birth, and profile photo, some of which will depend on the features you use.
- Information you give to us
You can choose to provide us with additional personal information. This information may include:- Additional Profile Information. Such as gender, preferred language(s), city, and personal description. As indicated in your account settings, some of this information is part of your public profile page and will be publicly visible.
- Information About Others. Such as a payment instrument belonging to another person or information about other occupants of a rental lease. By providing us with personal information about others, you certify that you have permission to provide that information to Realhaus for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, have shared the Realhaus Privacy Policy with them, and that they have read and understood that it applies to them.
- Other Information. For example, when you fill in a form, add information to your account, respond to surveys, post to community forums, participate in promotions, communicate with our customer care team and other members, or share your experience with us. This may include health information if you choose to share it with us.
- Information We Automatically Collect by Using the Realhaus Platform and our Payment Services
Along with the information you give us directly, we collect a variety of information automatically as you use Realhaus services.- Geo-location Information. For example, precise or approximate location can be determined from your IP address or mobile device’s GPS, depending on your device settings. Most devices allow you to control or disable location services for applications in the device’s settings menu. We may also collect this information when you’re not using the app if you enable this through your settings or device permissions.
- Usage Information. Such as the pages or content you view, searches for homes, homes viewed, showings you have booked, rental applications submitted, amount of time spent looking at different parts of the platform, and other actions on the Realhaus Platform.
- Log Data and Device Information. Such as details about how you’ve used the Realhaus Platform (including if you clicked on links to third-party applications), IP address, access dates and times, hardware and software information, device information, device event information, unique identifiers, crash data, cookie data, and the pages you’ve viewed or engaged with before or after using the Realhaus Platform. We may collect this information even if you haven’t created a Realhaus account or logged in.
- Cookies and Similar Technologies as described in our Cookie Policy.
We and our partners use various tools to collect data when you visit our sites and apps, including cookies, pixel tags, and other similar technologies. Cookies are electronic data that can be transferred to your computer or other devices to identify your browser.
When you use Realhaus, we and our partners may use cookies and other tools to gather information about how you view and use our services and content and to connect your activity with other data we store about you. The use of cookies helps us serve you better by understanding what you’re interested in, tracking trends, measuring the effectiveness of ads, saving your preferences, and storing information you may want to retrieve regularly, such as your favourite homes. We also allow specific, approved partners to collect data from your browser or device for advertising and measurement purposes using their cookies or similar tools.
At any time, you can use our cookie preference tools to manage what kinds of cookies and other tracking technologies you’re comfortable with. You can also disable cookies altogether by adjusting the settings on your browser. However, if you choose to disable some or all cookies, many parts of our services may no longer work.
In addition, if you give your email address to us, we may use a scrambled, unreadable form (called a “hashed” version) of your email address to deliver tailored ads to you on Realhaus or on other websites, including via Facebook’s Custom Audience Feature or other similar tools. - Payment Transaction Information. Such as payment instrument used, date and time, payment amount, payment instrument expiration date and billing postcode, PayPal email address, your address, and other related transaction details.
- Information We Collect from Third-Parties
We may collect information, including personal information, that others provide about you when they use the Realhaus Platform or obtain information from other sources and combine that with information we collect through the Realhaus Platform. We do not control, supervise, or be responsible for how the third parties providing your information process your Personal Information. Any information request regarding disclosing your personal information to us should be directed to such third parties.
The sources we collect personal information from include:- Third-Party Services. If you link, connect, or log in to the Realhaus Platform with a third-party service (e.g. Google, Facebook), you direct the service to send us information such as your registration, friends list, and profile information as controlled by that service or as authorized by you via your privacy settings at that service.
- Background Information. We may obtain the local version of police, background, or registered sex offender checks. We may use your information, including your full name, gender, date of birth, and address to obtain such reports.
- Referrals and co-occupants. If you are invited to the Realhaus Platform, such as a co-occupant on a lease agreement or landlord/ tenant invitation, the person who invited you can submit personal information about you, such as your email address or other contact information.
- Other Sources. To the extent permitted by applicable law, we may receive additional information about you, such as references, demographic data, or information to help detect fraud and safety issues from third-party service providers and/or partners and combine it with information we have about you. For example, we may receive background check results or fraud warnings from identity verification service providers for use in our fraud prevention and risk assessment efforts. We may receive information about you and your activities on and off the Realhaus Platform, or about your experiences and interactions from our partners. We may receive health information, including but not limited to, health information related to contagious diseases.
3. How We Use the Information We Collect
We may use, store, and process personal information to (1) provide, understand, improve, and develop the Realhaus Platform, (2) create and maintain a trusted and safer environment (such as to comply with our legal obligations and ensure compliance with Realhaus Policies) and (3) provide, personalize, measure, and improve our advertising and marketing.
- Provide, Improve and Develop the Realhaus Platform
– enable you to access the Realhaus Platform and make and receive payments,
– enable you to communicate with other Members,
– process your request,
– perform analytics, debug and conduct research,
– provide customer service, training,
– send you messages, updates, security alerts, and account notifications,
– if you provide us with your contacts’ information, such as your friends or co-occupants, we may process this information: (i) to facilitate your referral invitations, (ii) for fraud detection and prevention, and (iii) to facilitate your requests or for any other purpose you authorize,
– Personalize and customize your experience based on your interactions with the Realhaus platform, your search and rental history, your profile information and preferences, and other content you submit,
We process this personal information for these purposes given our legitimate interest in improving the Realhaus Platform and our experience with it, and where necessary for the adequate performance of the contract with you. - Create and maintain a trusted and Safe environment.
– detect and prevent fraud, spam, abuse, security and safety incidents, and other harmful activity,
– conduct security investigations and risk assessments,
– verify or authenticate information provided by you,
– conduct checks against databases and other information sources, including background or police checks, to the extent permitted by applicable laws and with your consent where required,
– comply with our legal obligations, protect the health and well-being of our users (Tenants, Landlords, Maintenance Personnel), and members of the public,
– resolve disputes with any of our users.
– enforce our agreements with third parties,
– enforce our Terms of Use and other policies. - Provide, Personalize, Measure, and Improve our Advertising and Marketing
Such as:
– send you promotional messages, marketing, advertising, and other information based on your preferences and social media advertising through social media platforms,
– personalize, measure, and improve our advertising,
– administer referral programs, rewards, surveys, sweepstakes, contests, or other promotional activities or events sponsored or managed by Realhaus or its third-party partners,
– analyze characteristics and preferences to send you promotional messages, marketing, advertising, and other information that we think might be of interest to you, and
– invite you to events and relevant opportunities. - Provide Payment Services
Personal information is used to enable or authorize third parties to use payment services such as to:
– detect and prevent money laundering, fraud, abuse, and security incidents,
– conduct security investigations and risk assessments,
– comply with legal obligations (such as FINTRAC and anti-money laundering regulations),
– enforce Payment Terms and other payment policies,
– with your consent, send you promotional messages, marketing, advertising, and other information that may be of interest to you based on your preferences and
– provide and improve Payment Services.
4. Sharing & Disclosure
- Sharing with your Consent or at Your Direction
Where you provide consent, we share your information as described at the time of consent, such as when authorizing a third-party application or website to access your Realhaus account or participating in promotional activities by Realhaus partners or third parties.
Where permissible under applicable law, we may use certain information about you such as your email address, de-identify it, and share it with social media platforms to generate leads, drive traffic to Realhaus, or otherwise promote our products and services. - Sharing Between Members
To help facilitate renting or other interactions between Members, we may need to share certain information such as:
– When a showing is booked, when a rental application is submitted, when there is a co-occupant, or a dispute is submitted, certain information may be shared between Tenant(s) and Landlord(s), including profile, name, names of any additional occupants, cancellation history, review information, age (unless prohibited by applicable law), dispute outcome (when applicable), and other information you choose to share and submit. When a rental application is submitted, additional information is shared to provide the landlord with all information needed to make an informed decision about the applicant, like rent history, credit reports, and occupation.
– When you as a Tenant invite additional Occupants to a rent agreement, your name, move-in /out dates, Landlord name, Listing details, address, and other related information may be shared with each additional Occupant. - Profile, Listings & Other Public Information
You can make certain information publicly visible to others, such as:
– Your public profile page; which includes your profile photo, first name (or initials where applicable), description, and city.
– Listing pages that include information such as the Property or Experience’s, approximate or precise location, description, calendar availability, profile photo, aggregated demand information (like page views over a period of time), and additional information you choose to share.
– Reviews, ratings, and other public feedback.
– Content in a community or discussion forum, blog, or social media post.
We may display parts of your public profile and other Content you make available to the public like Listing details on third-party sites, platforms, and apps. This will be done in Realhaus’s legitimate interest to promote the Realhaus platform.
Information you share publicly on the Realhaus Platform may be indexed through third-party search engines. - Compliance with Law, Responding to Legal Requests, Preventing Harm & Protecting our Rights
We may disclose your information to courts, law enforcement, governmental or public authorities, tax authorities, or authorized third parties, if and to the extent we are required or permitted to do so by law or where disclosure is reasonably necessary to: (i) comply with our legal obligations, (ii) comply with a valid legal request (such as a subpoena or court order) or to respond to claims asserted against Realhaus, (iii) respond to a valid legal request relating to a criminal investigation to address alleged or suspected illegal activity, or to respond to or address any other activity that may expose us, you, or any other of our users to legal or regulatory liability, (iv) enforce and administer our agreements with Members, including our Terms or Service, and Policies, or (v) protect the rights, property or personal safety of Realhaus, its employees, its Members, or members of the public.
These disclosures may be necessary to comply with our legal obligations, for the protection of your or another person’s vital interests or for the purposes of our or a third party’s legitimate interest in keeping the Realhaus Platform secure, preventing harm or crime, enforcing or defending legal rights, facilitating the collection of taxes and prevention of tax fraud or preventing damage.
Where appropriate, we may notify Members about legal requests unless: (i) providing notice is prohibited by the legal process itself, by court order we receive, or by applicable law, or (ii) we believe that providing notice would be futile, ineffective, create a risk of injury or bodily harm to an individual or group, or create or increase a risk of fraud upon or harm to Realhaus, our Members, or expose Realhaus to a claim of obstruction of justice.
Where legally required or permissible according to applicable law, we may disclose Landlords’ and/or Tenants’ information to tax authorities for the purpose of the tax authorities’ determination of proper compliance with relevant tax obligations. Relevant tax obligations include Realhaus’s tax obligations on its service fees, its facilitation of taxes on accommodations and withholding taxes, and the Landlord’s individual tax obligations. Information that may be disclosed includes but is not limited to, Landlord and Tenant names, listing/ property addresses, Landlord addresses, tax/business identification number(s), date of birth, and/or contact information, property parcel identification numbers, payout information, transaction dates and amounts, rental terms and tenure, gross and net rent and payout amounts, taxes collected by Realhaus on behalf of Landlord and Tenants, to the extent any of this information is known by Realhaus. - Landlord Service Providers
Landlords may use third-party services to help manage or deliver their services, such as cleaning services, maintenance, or lock providers. Landlords may use features on the Realhaus Platform to share information about the Tenant with such third-party service providers. - Realhaus Service Providers
Realhaus shares personal information with affiliated and unaffiliated service providers to help us run our business and for their compliance purposes, including service providers that help us: (i) verify your identity or authenticate your identification documents, (ii) check information against public databases, (iii) conduct background or police checks, fraud prevention and risk assessment, (iv) perform product development, maintenance and debugging, (v) allow the provision of the Realhaus Services through third-party platforms and software tools (e.g. through the integration with our APIs), (vi) provide customer service, advertising, or payments services, or (vii) process, handle or assess insurance claims or similar claims.
These providers are contractually bound to protect your personal information and have access to your personal information to perform these tasks. - Business Transfer
If Realhaus undertakes or is involved in any merger, acquisition, reorganization, sale of assets, bankruptcy, or insolvency event, then we may sell, transfer, or share some or all of our assets, including your information in connection with such transaction or in contemplation of such transaction (e.g., due diligence). In this event, we will notify you before your personal information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.
5. Other Important Information
- Analyzing your Communications
We may review, scan, or analyze your communications on the Realhaus Platform for reasons outlined in the “How We Use the Information We Collect” section of this policy, including fraud prevention, risk assessment, regulatory compliance, investigation, product development, research, analytics, enforcing our Terms of Service, and customer support purposes. For example, as part of our fraud prevention efforts, we scan and analyze messages to mask contact information and references to other sites. In some cases, we may also scan, review, or analyze messages to debug, improve, and expand product offerings. We use automated methods where reasonably possible. Occasionally we may need to manually review communications, such as for fraud investigations and customer support, or to assess and improve the functionality of these automated tools. We will not review, scan, or analyze your messaging communications to send third-party marketing messages to you and we will not sell reviews or analyses of these communications. - Third-Party Partners and Integrations
Some Parts of the Realhaus platform may link to third-party services, not owned or controlled by Realhaus, such as Google Maps/Earth. Use of these services is subject to the privacy policies of those providers, such as Google Maps/Earth Additional Terms of Use, and Google Privacy Policy. Realhaus does not own or control these third parties; when you interact with them, you provide your information.
6. Your Rights
You may exercise any of the rights described in this section by contacting us at privacy@realhaus.ca. Please note that we ask you to verify your identity and request before taking further action on your request.
- Managing your Information
You can access and update some of your personal information trough your Account settings. If you connected your Realhaus Account to a third-party service, like Facebook or Google, you can change your settings and unlink from that service in your Account settings. You are responsible for keeping your personal information up to date. - Data Access and Portability
Applicable law may entitle you to request certain copies of your personal information or information about how we handle your personal information, request copies of personal information that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format, and/or request that we transmit this information to another service provider (where technically feasible). - Data Retention & Erasure
You can request that your personal information be deleted. Do note, however, that if you request the deletion of your personal information or if your account is suspended, terminated, or voluntarily closed:
– We may retain your personal information as necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as preventing money laundering, fraud detection and prevention, and enhancing safety. For example, if we suspend a Realhaus Account for fraud or safety reasons, we may retain information from that Realhaus Account to prevent that Member from opening a new Realhaus Account in the future.
– We may retain and use your personal information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations. For example, Realhaus may keep information for tax, legal reporting, and auditing obligations.
– Information you have shared with others (e.g. Reviews) will remain publicly visible on Realhaus even after your Realhaus Account is canceled. However, attribution of such information to you will be removed. Some copies of your information (e.g., log records) will remain in our database, but are disassociated from personal identifiers.
– Because we take measures to protect data from accidental or malicious loss and destruction, residual copies of your personal information may not be removed from our backup systems for a limited period of time.
7. Security
While no organization can guarantee perfect security, we are continuously implementing and updating administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect your information against unauthorized access, loss, destruction, or alteration.
8. Changes to this Policy
Realhaus reserves the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time in accordance with this provision. If we make changes to this Privacy Policy, we will post the revised Privacy Policy on the Realhaus Platform and update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy. We will also provide you with notice of the modification by email at least thirty (30) days before the date they become effective. If you disagree with the revised Privacy Policy, you may cancel your Account. If you do not cancel your Account before the date the revised Privacy Policy becomes effective, your continued access to or use of the Realhaus Platform will be subject to the revised Privacy Policy.
9. Contacting Us
If you have any questions or complaints about this Privacy Policy or Realhaus’s information handling practices, you may reach out to privacy@realhaus.ca.
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