Privacy policy

Who is responsible

House Truth is the responsible party for your personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). Our information officer is the owner of the business. You can reach the information officer at the email address at the bottom of this page.

What we collect

We only collect what we need to book, do and invoice an inspection:

• What you send us when you email: your name, email address, phone number if you give it, the address and town of the property and the date you want.
• At the inspection: photos and notes of the property. A photo can show belongings, and sometimes a person, by accident. We keep these only as part of the report.
• For payment: your invoice details. We do not see or keep your card or banking passwords.
• Basic server records kept by our web host: the time of a visit and the visitor's network address. We do not use these to identify you.

Why we use it

We do not use your information for marketing unless you ask us to, and we do not sell it.

• To answer you and to arrange the inspection.
• To do the inspection and send you the report.
• To invoice you and to keep the records the law requires.
• To answer questions about a report later and to deal with complaints.

Who we share it with

We send the report to you, and to anyone else you ask us to send it to in writing. We do not share it with anyone else, except:

• Service providers that help us run the business, such as our email, website hosting and invoicing providers. They may keep information on servers outside South Africa. We choose providers that protect it, and they may only use it for us.
• Where the law or a court orders us to.

How long we keep it

We keep the report and its photos for as long as we reasonably need them to answer questions about the inspection. We keep invoices and payment records for at least five years, as the tax law requires. Email enquiries that never become a booking are deleted within a reasonable time. You can ask us to delete your information earlier; we will, unless the law makes us keep it.

How we protect it

We use passwords, a trusted email provider, and access only by the people who need it. No system is perfectly safe. If your information is ever lost or taken, we will tell you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

Your rights

You may at any time, by emailing us:

• ask what personal information we hold about you (access);
• ask us to correct it if it is wrong;
• ask us to delete it, where we do not need to keep it;
• object to how we use it;
• withdraw your consent, where we rely on it.

Complaints

If you think we have handled your information wrongly, please tell us first so we can fix it. You may also complain to the Information Regulator at POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za or through inforegulator.org.za.

This website

This website does not use cookies. It has no analytics, no advertising or tracking tools, and it loads no scripts or fonts from other companies. Its pages are plain text and pictures. If that ever changes, we will update this page first.

Children

Our service is for adults who are buying property. We do not knowingly collect information about children.

Changes

We may update this policy. The date at the top shows when it last changed.

Contact

Questions about this page, or a request about your information: hello@housetruth.co.za