Page 27 - Nexia SAB&T Property & Tax Guide 2022

THE PROTECTION OF PERSONAL
INFORMATION ACT

◆ The Protection of Personal Information Act (4 of 2013), otherwise known as POPIA,
promotes the protection of personal information by public and private bodies.
◆ The Information Regulator (IR) and its members have been appointed. It is responsible
for education, monitoring, enforcement and compliance, as well as the handling
of complaints, performing research and facilitating cross-border co-operation. The
Act commenced on 1 July 2020. All organisations were required to have been fully
compliant with POPIA by the 30 June 2021.
◆ Estate agents, intermediaries, property companies and other institutions conducting
business in the property sector, are required to comply with the Act and its Regulations,
which includes obtaining consent from client before any of their private information is
used, and collecting and storing client information in such a way that only individuals
with the necessary authorisation are able to access it. Neither estate agents nor
conveyancers may share a client’s information or pass it on to another organisation
or body without the data subject’s written consent, and have suitable systems and
rules in place so as to properly safeguard the client’s personal information. Estate
agents will also not be allowed to hand over the information of tenants and interested
purchasers to landlords and sellers without the necessary policies having been set up
and permissions obtained. A breach may expose the holder of the information to a
damages claim, and/or prosecution for a criminal offence – attracting a possible fine or
a period of imprisonment, or both.
◆ The Act sets out 8 conditions which are required to be met for the lawful processing
of personal information of data subjects, as follows: Accountability, Processing
Limitation, Purpose Specification, Further Processing Limitation, Information Quality,
Openess, Security Safeguards and Data Subject Participation. Codes of Conduct
may be developed in order to clarify how the 8 conditions are to be applied within a
particular Sector or Profession. The Sector within which Property Practitioners operate
may therefore develop their own Codes of Conduct, service level agreements, as well as
amended employment contracts, so as to ensure compliance with POPIA.
◆ Estate agents will need to be cognisant of the strict limits imposed by POPIA relating
to direct marketing. They will need to obtain the necessary permissions in order to
continue communications to clients such as sending newsletters and campaigns,
online marketing, bulk emailing, special offers and latest listings.
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