Privacy Policy

Place Your Own Real Estate Ad Here Inc., Brokerage ("we", "us") respects your privacy. This policy explains what personal information placeyourown.ca collects, why, who can see it, how long we keep it and the choices you have. It follows Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). If you become our client, your information also becomes part of your transaction file, which we must keep under TRESA and federal anti-money-laundering rules.

Who is responsible

Robin Kirstein, our Broker of Record, is responsible for how we handle personal information. You can reach her by mail at 111 Evelyn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario M6P 2Z3, by text or phone at 416-828-7000, or by email at robin@placeyourown.ca.

What we collect and why

When you contact us

The contact form asks for your name, email address and phone number, and lets you pick a listing and add a message. If you text, call or email, we receive what you send. We use this only to answer you, arrange showings and, if you ask, provide real estate services. We may record notes about our conversations so we can follow up.

How long we keep it: if you don't become a client, we delete your enquiry 24 months after our last contact. If you do, it becomes part of your client file.

If you become a client

Federal law (the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act, administered by FINTRAC) requires us to verify your identity and keep identification and transaction records for at least 5 years. TRESA and its regulations also require us to keep transaction records. We collect only what these laws and your transaction need.

When you subscribe to the newsletter

We need your email address. We use it only to send the newsletter you asked for, and we keep the date you subscribed so we can show you asked. Every newsletter has an unsubscribe link. When you unsubscribe we stop sending immediately and keep your address only as a "do not email" record.

If you're a seller using our homework checklist

Your private checklist link records which tasks you've ticked off, so your realtor can see your progress.

When you visit the Site

Our web server automatically records basic technical details of each visit: your IP address, the page requested, the time and your browser type. We use these records to keep the Site running and secure, and they are deleted after 14 days. The Site uses a few cookies, listed in our Cookie Policy. Fonts and page styling are loaded from outside providers, and our contact form uses a spam check; our Analytics & Tracking Policy explains what those providers receive.

What we don't do

We don't sell or rent your personal information, we don't use it for advertising, and we don't ask for more than we need. You don't have to give us any personal information to read the Site or use the calculators. The calculators run in your browser and don't send us what you type.

Who can see your information

• Our Broker of Record and registered staff, through a password-protected staff area.
• Other parties to your transaction (for example the other brokerage, lawyers and lenders), only as your transaction requires and with your agreement.
• Exhibit A Media, the Hamilton company that built and maintains the Site, when it needs to maintain or fix it.
• Hetzner Online GmbH, whose server in Finland hosts the Site and its database.
• Backups: copies of the Site's database are kept for disaster recovery for up to 6 months on the hosting server and in Dropbox (United States). Information deleted from the Site may remain in a backup until that backup expires.
• Migadu, the Swiss company that provides our email.
• Cloudflare, which runs the spam check on our contact form.
• RECO, FINTRAC, courts or police, only where the law requires it.

Our service providers may use your information only to provide their service to us.

Information stored outside Canada

Our server is in Finland, our email is handled by Migadu in Europe, our backups are in the United States, and Cloudflare and Google (for fonts) may process information in the United States and other countries. While your information is outside Canada it is subject to the laws of that country and may be accessed by its courts, law enforcement and national security authorities.

How we protect it

The Site uses an encrypted connection (HTTPS). The staff area needs a password, and only people who need your information can see it. No website or email system is perfectly secure, so please don't send identification documents or banking details through the contact form or by email; we'll arrange a secure way.

Your choices and rights

• See or correct your information. Ask us for the personal information we hold about you. We will answer within 30 days.
• Withdraw consent. Unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time, or ask us to delete an enquiry. If you are or were a client, some records must be kept for as long as the law requires.
• Commercial messages. We send marketing emails only to people who asked for them, and every one includes our contact details and an unsubscribe link, as Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) requires.

Questions and complaints

Contact our Broker of Record using the details above. If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Changes to this policy

We will post any change on this page with a new "Last updated" date.