Introduction
McCormacks Strata Management is involved in the professional full time administration of strata, neighbourhood, community and company title properties and we deliver management services to owners within these properties and in doing so we hold a lot of information about owners in the schemes.
We are committed to protecting the privacy of the personal information we hold and acting in accordance with the privacy legislation.
The address and contact details of our office is as follows:
McCormacks Strata Management
Level 2, 275 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Ph: 02 9299 6722
Fax: 02 9299 6725
Email: info@mccormacks.com.au
Personal Information
Personal information is any information about you that identifies an individual or information by which an individual can be reasonably discovered. Examples are your name, address, lot number, unit entitlement, marital status, taxation information, income, email address etc.
Why McCormacks collects personal information
To enable McCormacks to fulfill the terms of its agreement between your scheme and McCormnacks it is necessary to collect and hold personal information about you. This information is essential to enable us to comply with the strata management legislation and our obligations to the scheme which are to keep and maintain the books and records of the schemes that we are contracted to manage.
We are unable to perform functions under our agreement with your scheme if we do not collect and make use of your personal information.
How McCormacks collects your personal information
Where possible McCormacks collects personal information directly from owners and during the course of our relationship with the scheme. For example we have a responsibility to maintain an owner’s register which includes an owner’s name and address or if you have a right to vote you will have notified us in writing of that interest which notification will include your name, address, lot number and how your right was acquired.
Personal information may also be collected from third parties such as an individual’s solicitor or real estate agent during the process of acquiring, selling or leasing a property which we manage. Changes to owners address details will only be accepted in writing but in some circumstances if we become aware of personal information through other means we may record that information to comply with legislative requirements.
Disclosure and use of personal information
The law or circumstances sometimes allows or forces us to disclose your personal information. For example we may disclose your personal information to a prospective purchaser of your property who requires a certificate from us containing various information about your lot. Generally this information is provided to an agent representing you or to whom you have given authority to search your scheme’s records.
We may disclose your personal information where you have consented to us doing so. We may disclose your personal information to third parties in order that they can provide services to you such as a contractor to the scheme providing services and we will assume your consent unless you tell us otherwise. Some examples of parties outside our organisation to whom we may disclose your personal information are building managers or insurance companies or a contractor who needs to contact you for maintenance purposes.
McCormacks may use personal information to provide owners, residents and clients with newsletters, advice about products and services and changes to the law.
Marketing
Sometimes we may use your personal information to provide you with details about our products and services or products and services provided by others. We do not disclose your personal information to a party outside our organisation for the purposes of allowing them to market their products or services to you.
Security and accuracy of personal information
We rely on the personal information we hold about you so that we can efficiently fulfill our contract with your scheme and for this reason it is important that the personal information we hold from you is accurate, complete and up to date. We will from time to time remind you to tell us of any changes to your personal information. You may update your personal information at any time by contacting us in writing.
We take all reasonable precautions to safeguard your personal information from loss, misuse or unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. We hold your personal information even when it is no longer required by us at least until legislative requirements do not require us to hold it any longer.
Access to your personal information
You may request access to any of the personal information we hold about you. Sometimes detailed requests for personal information may require a fee be charged to cover the cost of information held in archives. Requests for access to personal information will be handled quickly.
We do not always have to provide you with access to your personal information on request. For example we may refuse your request where the information you seek is mixed with other information that would disclose personal information about another owner or individual in the scheme.
Do I have to disclose personal information?
The nature of the work we perform under our agency agreement with your scheme and the legislative requirements of government is such that anonymity cannot be maintained. Unless required by law we do not collect sensitive information such as political association, religious beliefs, racial or ethnic origins.
Changes to our Privacy Policy
We regularly review this Privacy Policy and the policy may change following this review from time to time. This Privacy Policy was last amended in May 2010.
Concerns or requests
If you have a question about this Privacy Policy or wish to lodge a request to access your personal information please contact us. If you are not satisfied with the response we provide you can refer your complaint to the Federal Privacy Commissioner by telephoning 1300 363 992.