Privacy policy
Introduction
BGI Property Advisors values and is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy is provided to you to inform you of our privacy processes and practices, as well as to describe what information we collect about you, how we receive your information, and how we use, disclose, and otherwise treat your information in the course of running our business and platforms.
In this Privacy Policy, “we”, “our” and “us” refers to BGI Property Advisors FZ-LLC, ……………..(doing business as……………), ………. LLC (UAE), and their worldwide affiliates (collectively, “BGI Property Advisors”); “the website” refers to the BGI Property Advisors website (including www.bgipropertyadvisors.com); the website and our mobile applications together are the “platforms”; and “you” and “your” refers to a specific individual accessing and using the platforms or the services that we provide.
This Privacy Policy may be updated or revised at any time, and this page will always reflect the most recent version.
The information that we collect
BGI Property Advisors is a “data controller” for the purposes of this Privacy Policy, which means that we are in charge of the personal information we gather about you and how we process it.
“Personal information” refers to any information we have in our possession or control that may be utilized to identify you or that we can relate to you.
The information we may collect from or about you includes:
Personal data about you
When you register on the website as a user or otherwise, update your information, take part in promotions or campaigns, or contests, sign into our mobile application using your personal information or a social media account, send emails to us, send support requests, contact estate agents via forms or phone numbers made available on our platforms, provide feedback, or when you report a problem with our platforms, you provide us with information that we store and process. Such information may include your name, address, phone number, email address, device IP address, date of birth, passport or Emirates ID, survey participation, video and audio recordings and your interests, and any other information that you independently choose to provide to us (for example, if you send us an email or call us).
Purchase information
We may collect information about your purchases or prospective purchases of our products or services (such as purchase records).
Website information
We may receive information from you as a result of your visits to, and use of, the website. This information may include information such as your IP address, the date and time you access the website, the length of time you spend on the website, your browsing history (recorded by the text and graphics files that compose that page), and the Internet address of the website from which you redirected to our website.
Financial, payment, and credit data
We may collect payment data that you provide when you make online purchases. This may include your payment instrument number (e.g., credit card, debit card), your name and billing address, and the security code associated with your payment instrument (e.g., the CSV or CVV). We may collect information relating to payment and transaction history and billing information. We may also collect personal credit information, credit reports provided by a credit reporting agency used to report on overdue credit payments, and commercial credit information for the purpose of providing mortgages to you.
Other information
We may collect other information, such as credit ratings, payslips, and salary letters, in order to offer our services to you, including our affiliates. We may collect information that you have made publicly available if you utilize any of our goods or services.
How do we obtain and what are the sources of your information
We may gather your information as part of our connection with you and will only use it in line with applicable data protection regulations.
We may obtain this information from a variety of sources, including:
from you (for example, when you access and use the platforms, when you make an inquiry about our platforms or services, send WhatsApp communications to us or agents and brokers via our platforms to enquire about a property, send emails or call our Customer Care team, or otherwise provide us with your personal information);
from real estate developers, agents and brokers, and government sources (such as Ejari);
from our affiliates and business partners, such as Mortgage Finder and banks; and
from advertising networks, analytics providers, and search information providers.
How do we process your information
We shall follow all applicable data protection regulations when processing your personal information. We intend to:
- Process your personal information in a legitimate, fair, transparent, and secure manner;
- Collect your personal information only for specific, explicit, and legitimate purposes as explained to you when collecting your personal information;
- Not use your personal information in any way that is incompatible with those purposes;
- Process your personal information in a manner that is adequate and relevant to the purposes for which we have collected it and limited only to those purposes;
- Keep your personal information accurate and, where necessary, up to date; and
- Keep your personal information in a form that identifies you only as long as necessary for the purposes we have informed you and/or as permitted by law.
How do we use your information
We may use or process your personal information for the following purposes:
- To provide any services that you request from us;
- To provide a better service to you, and in particular, to keep internal records, as well as to improve our products, services, and platforms. If you contact us via the website, via email to the contacts set out on the website, or via our call centers, we may keep a record of that correspondence or call to improve our services and to address any specific requests or complaints;
- To communicate with you (through various communication platforms, such as WhatsApp, SMS, phone, and email) if you have ordered, purchased, or participated in anything on the platforms, including to respond to any queries, requests, or comments that you may have and to facilitate communications between you and our real estate agents and brokers when you enquire about the properties on our platforms;
- To assist third parties in providing services to you, such as real estate developers when sending emails on their behalf and banks with respect to issuing mortgages;
- To contact you for market research purposes;
- To monitor communications in order to improve the services we provide to you and assess the performance and responsiveness of our employees and real estate agents that provide our services to you (for example, when you enquire about properties through our platforms and you are connected to the real estate agents by us);
- To provide you with information about new opportunities, promotions, alert notifications, special offers and other information that we may feel is relevant to you;
- To provide you and enable selected third parties to provide you, with information about goods or services that may interest you;
- To customize or enhance your experience on our platforms and services, including via the display of adverts and direct communications you receive from us, which may be based on your activity on our platforms;
- To improve our platforms by determining the website’s technical design specifications and identifying system performance or problem areas, for tracking activity on the website and mobile applications, preparing reports, assessing trends, and otherwise monitoring the way in which the platforms are being used;
- To process your payments or any documents that you provide via the platforms;
- To measure or understand the effectiveness of advertising we serve to you and others, to deliver relevant advertising to you, to make suggestions and recommendations to you and other users of our website about goods and services that may interest you or them, which may be based on your activity on our website or third parties website(s); and
- To comply with legal obligations.
On what basis do we use your information
We use your personal information for the following purposes (when permitted by applicable data protection laws):
- Because the information is necessary for the performance of a contract with you or to take steps at your request to enter into a contract;
- Because you have given your consent (if we expressly ask for consent to process your personal information, for a specific purpose);
- For our legitimate interests. Using your personal information helps us to operate, improve and minimize any disruption to the platforms and the services that we may offer to you. We also have a legitimate interest in sending you information on the services we believe will be of interest to you;
- To comply with legal and regulatory obligations; or
- If you have made the personal information publicly available.
Who do we share your information with
We will only disclose or transfer your personal information for the purposes set out in this notice:
- To selected real estate brokers, real estate brokerage firms, agents, developers, or other service providers that we use, where asked to do so or as part of your use of the platforms. For example, when you enquire about a property of interest to you, we will pass your personal information to the estate agents handling that property sale or rental;
- To business partners, suppliers, and sub-contractors for the performance of any contract, we enter into with them or you;
- To any member of our group;
- To any competent authorities if we are legally required to comply with a request for data;
- To our third-party service providers. We partner with and are supported by service providers around the world. Personal information will be made available to these parties only when necessary to fulfill the services they provide to us, such as software, system, and platform support; direct marketing services; social media and communication services; cloud hosting services; advertising; data analytics; and order fulfillment and delivery. Our third-party service providers are not permitted to share or use personal information we make available to them for any other purpose other than to provide services to us;
- If we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal information to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets, along with its professional advisers. If our, or any of our affiliate’s assets are acquired by a third party, personal information held by us or our affiliates about our customers will be one of the transferred assets;
- If required in order to obtain professional advice;
- To perform a credit check and contact other lenders, banks, or financial institutions to understand your financial situation with respect to providing mortgages to you through Mortgage Finder, and this may involve us, or such lenders and institutions obtaining information from a relevant credit reporting agency or source that provides information about your financial standing;
- If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal information in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements; and
- To protect our rights, property, or safety, as well as that of our affiliates, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.
Countries to which we transfer your information
The information we collect from you may be transferred to, stored, and hosted outside of the country from which you are accessing the platforms, and may be transferred to countries that do not have data protection laws or where your privacy and other fundamental rights are not as well protected. For example, your personal information may be handled by employees working for us or one of our suppliers who are located outside of such nation. All transmissions, including these, will remain secure and under our control.
We shall take adequate measures to guarantee that your personal information is secured and secure when transmitted outside of your home country and that you can successfully exercise your rights.
The security of your information
We prioritize keeping your personal information secure and preventing unauthorized access, and we take all reasonable precautions to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. Furthermore, we restrict access to your personal information to employees, agents, contractors, and other third parties that have a legitimate business need to know. They are bound by a duty of secrecy and will only process your personal information on our instructions.
You are responsible for keeping any passwords that we have given you or that you have created that are part of our services or that allow you to access areas of our platforms confidential. We request that you not share your password with anyone.
However, information transfer over the Internet is not totally secure. We will do everything possible to protect your personal information, but we cannot guarantee the security of any information you communicate to our platforms. Any information transmitted is done so at your own risk. We will employ stringent protocols and security mechanisms to try to prevent unauthorized access once we have received your information.
Keeping your information
We will normally keep your personal information only for as long as is necessary to respond to any inquiries or complaints, to improve the services that we provide to you, or to comply with any legal responsibilities to which we may be subject.
We consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal information, the purposes for which we process your personal information, and whether such purposes can be achieved through other means and the applicable legal requirements when determining the appropriate retention periods for personal information.
Your choices and rights
Under certain circumstances and under certain applicable data protection laws, you may have the right to:
- Access your data – request a copy of your personal information that we process about you;
- Correct your data – request us to amend or update your personal information where it is inaccurate or incomplete;
- Erase your data – request us to delete your personal information where it is no longer necessary for the purpose(s) for which your information was originally collected;
- Restrict your data – request us temporarily or permanently to stop processing all or some of your personal data;
- Object to the use of your data – at any time, object to us processing your personal information where it is based exclusively on our legitimate interests (see above) or for direct marketing purposes;
- Receive or transmit your data in a machine-readable and structured format (otherwise known as “data portability”) – request the receipt or transmission of your personal information to another organization, in a structured and machine-readable format; and
- Withdraw your consent – withdraw your consent at any time to the use of your personal information for a particular purpose (where we have asked you for consent to use your information for that particular purpose). Please take note that in certain circumstances it may be lawful for us to continue processing without your consent if we have another legal basis (other than consent) for doing so.
For any of the above, please email us at info@bgipropertyadvisors.com. Subject to any overriding legal obligations, requirements, and/or exemptions, we will endeavor to respond to your request as soon as possible, unless we require further information from you. We may also ask you to provide proof of your identity.
How to manage your marketing preferences
To opt out of email marketing, click the unsubscribe link in the email communication you get from us or write an email to info@bgipropertyadvisors.com. You can contact us about other marketing preferences by clicking on any appropriate link in the marketing communication or by sending an email to info@bgipropertyadvisors.com. Our Cookies Policy contains information on how to manage cookies.
Hyperlinks
Our services may contain connections to, and you may use, third-party apps, services, tools, and websites that are not affiliated with, controlled by, or administered by us. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and third-party tools such as voice software and readers are just a few examples. These third parties’ privacy practices will be controlled by their own privacy policies. We do not guarantee the security or privacy of any information acquired by these third parties. You should read the privacy rules for these third-party services.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to information you supply to third-party entities.
Privacy of minors
We are dedicated to preserving children’s privacy demands, and we urge parents and guardians to be involved in their children’s online activities and interests. We do not gather information from children deliberately, and we do not target our platforms to children. If you become aware that a child has provided us with personal information without the approval of the parent or guardian, please notify us at info@bgipropertyadvisors.com, and we will erase the information from our database.
Updates or changes to this Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to alter this Privacy Policy as needed. If we make major changes to our Privacy Policy, we will notify you where and how relevant laws demand, including but not limited to by email or the platforms. Any modifications to this Privacy Policy become effective immediately after we notify you of them.