Impact of PoPI on real estate industry

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Real estate agents routinely handle personal information such as copies of buyer's and seller's identification documents, their tax numbers, bond account numbers, etc. and the Act will dramatically change how this information is managed and stored.

PoPi was enacted on 26 November 2013 and certain sections thereof came into effect in April 2014. Our Constitution makes specific reference to the right to privacy and includes everyone's personal information within that right. Essentially PoPI is meant to promote transparency in terms of how personal information (like your address, medical data, employment history and more) is collected, processed and archived.

Businesses will soon be tasked with not only responsibly collecting client's personal data, but also for how they communicate this information and store it. The idea is that this transparency will increase customer confidence, the reliability of databases and will reduce the risk of data breaches. The Act also calls for a penalty or fine and/or imprisonment of up to ten years in certain cases.

Legally compliant service

Leapfrog Property Group always make a point of staying abreast of any legal developments in order to ensure that clients are given the best, legally compliant service. We are abreast with the measures called for in the Act and are working our franchisees to ensure that the necessary protocols will be put in place once PoPI is fully enacted.

In a nutshell, PoPI places specific responsibilities on estate agents when:

• collecting information from prospective clients. Once PoPI kicks in agents will need to obtain a potential client's consent to send them any property listings or newsletters;
  
• client information will need to be stored in such a way that only individuals with the necessary authorisation will be able to obtain access. It's likely that electronic record keeping and archiving will become compulsory;
  
• emails will be likely be strictly controlled and it may become necessary to encode emails containing information such as offers to purchase that have already been signed by one party; and
  
• it will no longer be permissible to use anyone's personal information in order to send them direct marketing without their written permission.

Leapfrog believes that the Act is necessary and will protect consumers in their dealings with service providers who require personal information.