Privacy policy

Prudential Investment Company of Australia Pty Ltd

This Privacy Policy deals with the collection, security, use and disclosure of personal information gathered by us, being Prudential Investment Company of Australia Pty Ltd ACN 004 266 817 and its subsidiary companies (“PICA Group”), including those trading as Body Corporate Services (BCS) pursuant to the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the 13 Australian Privacy Principles set out in Schedule 1 of that Act.

Collection

PICA Group collects Personal Information (as defined in Section 6 of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth)) in connection with strata management, community title management, company title management and development services (“Primary Purpose”). Personal Information is collected directly from the individual, in the course of PICA Group’s relationship with the scheme or plan and from third parties. If Personal Information is not collected we may not be able to deal with you, or provide you with our services efficiently.

The kind of information that is collected may include your name, address, telephone number, email address, marital status, taxation information, income, credit card information, strata plan number and building name.

We only collect sensitive information with your consent or when we are authorized to do so by law. Sensitive information is defined as being any information about a person’s racial or ethnic origin, political opinion, membership of a political association, religious beliefs or affiliations, philosophical beliefs, membership of a professional or trade association, member of a trade union, sexual orientation or practices, criminal record, genetic information, biometric information or health information.

When you visit our websites, we may collect information when:

(a) registering or subscribing to our services or requesting further services on any of our websites;

(b) contacting us for any enquiry or query or feedback or comment or lodging a complaint.

Non personally identifying information:

In addition to the information you specifically provide in (a) and (b) above, we gather statistical data from our web site using analytics software to collect information about the number of visitors coming to the site. No identifying information is collected using the analytics software. The software records the IP address of the visitor only. We use this information to improve our website performance, and to determine which areas of our web site are most popular.
We also use ‘cookies’. Cookies are pieces of information that a web site can transfer to an individual’s computer in order to allow that web site to store information about user preferences. We use cookies to provide information on our product/service offerings through content networks across the internet, to track your interaction with our website and to personalise your experience on our website. The cookies expire once the visitor leaves our web site. It is possible to adjust your Internet browser to refuse cookies, but you may find that this reduces the functionality and user experience of this site.

Other demographic information:

If you respond voluntarily to our surveys or other interactive communications, we collect the responses and use the information to improve the quality of our customer service.

Use and Disclosure

We collect and use your personal information to deliver our services to you. Personal Information will be collected, held, used and disclosed in a manner to ensure that PICA Group is able to fulfil all of its functions and duties in addition to its legislative obligations under the Body Corporate and Community Management Act 1997 (QLD), Building Units and Group Titles Act 1980 (QLD), Strata Schemes Management Act 1996 (NSW), Community Land Development Act 1989 (NSW), Community Land Management Act 1989 (NSW), Owners Corporation Act 2006 (VIC), Company Titles (Home Units) Act 2013 (VIC) and associated regulations.Personal Information is used or disclosed in connection with the Primary Purpose (eg providing management services to you); or after having obtained your consent, either expressly or by implication; or where we are entitled or required to.

The information provided by you to the PICA Group will be used to, for example:

(a) maintain the strata roll and minute book;

(b) obtain and update insurance policies;

(d) maintain our relationship with you;

(e) comply with legislative and regulatory requirements;

(f) issue notices;

(g) distribute minutes of meetings; and

(h) maintain and replace damaged property.

When you appoint us for our services, you will be requested to provide your consent to us to send marketing material to you. You may stop the delivery or “opt out” of future marketing email from Prudential Investment Company of Australia Pty Ltd ACN 004 466 817 and its subsidiary companies (“PICA Group”) by following the specific instructions to unsubscribe in the email you receive. Unsubscribing will remove your name from our marketing email list.

We may use your Personal Information to provide you with information about our new products and services, committee updates, important announcements, news updates, service updates, customer satisfaction survey and Community Lifestyle magazine. Please unsubscribe in the email you receive if you do not want to receive any of this information.

Disclosure of your information to third parties

We may be required to disclose your information to third parties. For example, we may be required to allow the inspection of records held on your property’s behalf.

We may also supply your personal information on a confidential basis to our external service providers so they can assist with performing services on our behalf such as:

with respect to bulk mail deliveries we may utilise the services of a mailing house which requires the disclosure of your name and address.
the distribution of marketing information via email to you (except where you have chosen to opt out of receiving this information from us)

Our relationships with such external service providers are governed by our contracts with them. Those service contracts contain privacy and confidentiality provisions which are consistent with the Australian Privacy Law obligations.

PICA Group is unlikely to disclose Personal Information to overseas recipients.

PICA Group’s Internet Privacy Policy

If you visit an unsecured area of our website (where you are not required to log on) to browse or download information, we will record the date and time of your visit, the page that you viewed, the path you followed to get there and the information, if any, that you downloaded. This information cannot be used to personally identify you. The information is used for statistical and maintenance purposes which aid with the continual evaluation of the website.

We take all reasonable steps to ensure that your information is properly protected from unauthorised access, disclosure or modification. Our security measures include, but are not limited to, encrypting the data sent from your computer to our server, firewalls and virus scanning tools. Any information so collected is stored on our server, which can only be accessed by our staff.

We do not use any information collected from our website to send unsolicited advertising material (SPAM) to your computer.

Other information may be collected when you apply for an online product, make a payment online or send us a query via email.

Online Purchase and Payment

When purchasing online products or making a payment online, the information required by online forms may be collected, used or disclosed by us. The manner in which this may occur is explained on any such online forms.

When purchasing a product with a credit card, your credit card number is not stored and your information is not transferred over the internet to your card provider.

Online Enquiries

When sending us an email from our web page, our form may ask you for your email address or contact phone number, amongst other information, to ensure that your query can be dealt with efficiently. It is your choice as to whether you provide such additional information. However, the form will indicate the information that is essential for your query to be dealt with. The information that you do provide is only used for the purposes of responding to or otherwise dealing with your query.

Access, Correction and Complaints

We are required to take such steps as are reasonable to ensure that the information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete and up-to–date. For that reason it is IMPORTANT for you to know that:

(a) you have the right to request access to any information which relates specifically to you;

(b) you have the right to request the correction of any information that relates to you which is inaccurate. However, please note that any such request must be made in writing to us.

Please note that in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) we may refuse access to Personal Information. For example, we will refuse access if such access would be an unlawful act or would result in the breach of another person’s privacy. PICA Group reserves the right to recover any reasonable cost in connection with providing access to Personal Information except where the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) provides otherwise.

If you have any questions about this policy or if you wish to access or update information we hold about you or wish to make a complaint about a breach of the Australian Privacy Principles, please write to:

The Privacy Officer or Marketing Manager
Prudential Investment Company of Australia Pty Limited
Locked Bag 22
HAYMARKET NSW 1238

You can also telephone PICA on 02 8216 0397.

Complaints with respect to the breach of the Australian Privacy Principles will be reviewed by the Group’s privacy officer, who will investigate and consider each complaint on a case by case basis and respond to the complainant in a manner we deem appropriate in the circumstances.

We are confident in the manner that we protect your privacy. Rest assured that your information is protected from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure. Any information that is no longer required for the purposes for which it was collected or for the purpose of conforming with laws is destroyed. All files, letters, correspondence and any other document or electronic data that is no longer required is properly disposed of.

From time to time we may update our Privacy Policy. The most current version will always be on our website www.picaust.com.au.