1. Introduction

Wahi provides a variety of services to the public, including but not limited to: real estate brokerage services, real estate agency services, advising with respect to real estate purchase and sale, property leasing, property management, and other real estate advisory services, including the selling or referring of services associated with real estate.

 

In the course of providing these services, Wahi may collect certain information, including personal information (“Personal Information”) about its clients, customers, prospective employees and job applicants as well as Wahi brokers and agents. This Privacy Policy describes how Wahi handles the Personal Information that we collect through our services. 

 

Wahi has appointed a Chief Privacy Officer to ensure compliance by all Wahi employees and to address your privacy concerns (see the bottom of this Privacy Policy for their contact information). 

 

Your Consent

We will never use your Personal Information for purposes other than those we have told you about unless permitted or required under applicable law. When you use Wahi’s services, you are consenting to our collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. 

 

This web site is governed by Canadian law.  If you are located in a jurisdiction outside of Canada and have questions on the application of the laws of your country to our collection, use or disclosure of your personal information, then please contact your local privacy commissioner or data supervisory authority.

 

GDPR and Prohibition of Use by European Residents

Wahi is based in Canada and its services are only intended for use within Canada. At this time, European residents are prohibited from using Wahi’s website(s) and its products and services. 

 

Wahi does not knowingly or intentionally collect personal data from European residents or any other individual protected by the European General Data Protection Regulations (the “GDPR”). Wahi may block European IP addresses and take other measures designed to ensure that it does not collect personal data from European residents. To the extent a European resident attempts to evade such measures (for example, through the use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN)) or otherwise violates this Privacy Policy or Wahi’s Terms of Use, such European resident agrees to fully indemnify Wahi for any liability which it suffers due to such European resident’s actions (including, without limitation, with respect to any fines assessed by European authorities against Wahi or its affiliates pursuant to the GDPR). If a European resident believes, or would like to otherwise verify whether any of their personal data has been transmitted to Wahi, then such European resident may contact Wahi using the information contained in the last section of this Privacy Policy. 

 

 

2. How we treat your personal information

The Kind of Information We Collect
Wahi gathers a variety of information from and about you and your devices and uses this information, including Personal Information, in order to provide you with the products and services you have requested and to comply with applicable laws.  Some of this information identifies you directly (like an email address) while some of it is associated with you through your account, profile, or device (like the homes you choose to save or your location data).  The following is a representative list of the types of information that we collect:

• information about real property that you own as required to effectively market, sell or rent properties on your behalf; 
• information about you, your real property searching criteria, and real property that you own, to locate, assess, and qualify properties for you;
• information about you to evaluate independent broker applicants; 
• information required in accordance with FINTRAC (the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada) rules to verify your identity or when necessary to qualify you as a buyer, mortgagor or tenant:
• name, address and contact information;
• date of verification;
• occupation/principal business;
• date of birth; 
• documents used to verify identity, including source information, ID number, issuing jurisdiction, and expiry date;
• credit file information including credit bureau name, date we consulted the applicable credit bureau and your credit file reference number; 
• financial account number information and the names of two reliable sources to verify your identity; 
• when collecting an e-signature, we may save the geographic location and IP address of the signee;
• identity verification information as above to verify the directors and officers of corporations;
• your Social Insurance Number if we are obligated to collect it pursuant to the Income Tax Act, the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act or other applicable legislation;
• information about real property that you evaluate as required to effectively buy or rent properties on your behalf; 
• information such as resume and prior employment and reference information to evaluate real estate agent applicants and potential employees; and 
• information required to otherwise provide professional and competent real estate services to you. 

All information that you do provide us with is securely maintained and kept strictly confidential in accordance this Privacy Policy (see “How We Safeguard Information”, below). Note that this Privacy Policy does not apply to aggregated data from which it is not possible to determine the identity of a specific individual. Wahi reserves the right to use anonymous, aggregated data in any way that it determines appropriate.

 

How We Use Your Information

At Wahi we use Personal Information for the following purposes:

• to verify your identity;
• to market your real property for sale or lease;
• to assist you in finding real property for sale or lease; 
• to communicate with you in order to provide you with our products and services, which includes providing you with updates about our services and offering you additional products or services that you may be interested in;
• for inclusion in documentation relating to your particular real estate transaction;
• to monitor our level of service and report back to you to ensure your satisfaction with the provision of our services; 
• to consider your application for employment or engagement as a Wahi agent;
• to communicate with you about our services and to connect you with others:

We use the contact information you provide us, like your phone number and email address, to communicate with you about our services.  This includes things like responding to comments, questions, and requests you send us. It also includes notifying you of transaction or service updates and changes.  We may also inform you about our services, offers, promotions, news, and other updates we think may be of interest to you; and

• to personalize your experience with Wahi:

We use the information we collect about you and your activity on our services to personalize the services we offer.  This includes things like customized search results that match your preferences and prior search criteria and, if you ask us to, connecting you to a real estate professional best suited to help you. We also use it to show advertising, content, or features that we think you might like.

 

Other uses of your information may include:

• Providing and improving our services:

We use your information to provide our services to you. We also use your information to improve our existing services and develop new ones.  For example, we track how you use our websites and apps and use that information to troubleshoot issues and make adjustments to improve your experience.

 

If you ask us to, we also use your information to connect you to real estate professionals, like when you want to contact an agent to discuss a home you find for sale on our platform.

 

• Preventing fraud: 

We also use your information to detect, investigate, and prevent fraudulent transactions and other illegal activities as well as to protect the rights and property of Wahi, its customers, and others.

 

We will only use Personal Information for the purpose that we have disclosed to you, unless otherwise permitted by you or under applicable law.

 

Web Site Usage Information, Location, and Cookies
Wahi may collect information about your usage of this web site. For example, our web servers may record certain information automatically when you visit the web site. Further, when you contact us or a real estate professional using our platform, we collect data about your call or text, including the date and time of the call or text, your phone number, and the content of the call or text. Some of this information collected cannot be traced back to a specific person, while other information is anonymous.

This web site information is collected using “cookies” (discussed below) and similar technologies and might include the pages you visited, your IP (Internet Protocol) address, your home search history, homes you view, purchase activity, what you’ve clicked on and other uses of our features, the amount of time you spend looking at different parts of our websites, and other site usage statistics. This information is used for research and analytical purposes only (like evaluating how many visitors our web sites receive or which pages they visit most often). This aggregate data may be disclosed to third parties, but never with personally identifying information. 

 

If you enable location services on your mobile device, Wahi collects the location of your device.  We use that information to provide you with location-based information and ads, like homes and real estate professionals in your area, and to offer location-based services.  If you don’t want to use these features, you can turn off location services on your device.  We also collect location information for similar purposes from your browser if you enable it.  You can disable access through your browser settings.

 

Cookies are small text files that contain a unique identification number that allows our computers to collect and identify data about your web browser or device model and settings, operating system, and the version of the app you’re using each time you visit our web sites. We also collect data about how your browsers and devices interact with our services, including IP address, crash reports, system activity, and the date, time, and the URL of the site you visited before our website.   The information helps Wahi improve the functionality of the site and enhance the navigation and security of your session and helps us serve you better by understanding what you’re interested in, tracking trends, measuring the effectiveness of ads, saving your preferences, and storing information you may want to retrieve on a regular basis, such as your favorite homes. We also allow specific, approved partners to collect data from your browser or device for advertising and measurement purposes using their own cookies or similar tools.  Most major web sites use this technology, and most browsers are set up to accept them.

 

You may configure your browser to notify you when you receive a cookie, and you may refuse to accept them entirely. However, if you refuse to accept cookies, you may limit the functionality that we can provide to you when you visit our site. 

 

If you use third party social media accounts (like Google and Facebook) to log in to Wahi, we may access your public social media profile information.  You can always limit this sharing using your social media service settings. However, if you revoke our ability to access your social medial profile, that choice will not apply to information that we have already received from that third party.

When We are Permitted to Disclose Your Information
Wahi is obliged to keep your Personal Information confidential except under the following circumstances:

• When Authorized by You

Many of the services offered by Wahi require us to obtain Personal Information about you in order to perform the services you have engaged us to provide. For example, in the course of the real estate listing process, and when consented to by you, we will share your property and ownership information with our local real estate board and the Canadian Real Estate Association for the purposes of listing the property on the MLS®® system and we will share your property information with those persons and companies involved in the real estate transaction such as other real estate brokerages and agents, property appraisers, home inspectors, financial institutions, and lawyers.

You may withdraw your consent at any time on reasonable prior notice, subject to any legal implications (which we will inform you about). In some cases, if you do not consent to our use or disclosure of certain Personal Information, we may be unable to continue to provide all or part of the services you have requested. See “Opting Out” for further information, below. 

• When Required by Law

The type of information we are legally required to disclose usually relates to government tax and financial transaction reporting requirements. However, in some cases, such as under a court order, we may be required to disclose certain information. In such circumstances, we will only provide the specific information requested and only upon being satisfied that the authorities or persons requesting the information have legitimate grounds to do so.

• When Permitted by Law

Canada’s privacy laws provide for certain situations where Wahi is legally permitted to disclose Personal Information without your consent.

With Whom We May Share Your Information

• Real Estate Brokers, Agents and Employees

In the course of daily operations, we may disclose Personal Information to real estate brokers and agents, both at our brokerage and other firms.  For example, if we know you’re working with a particular real estate agent, we may share information about your saved homes and searches with that agent to let them serve you more effectively.  You control what we share with real estate pros you find on our platform.  Our employees will also have access to Personal Information.  Access to Personal Information is limited to those brokers, agents and employees with a legitimate reason to use it. As a condition of their engagement, all Wahi brokers, agents and employees are required to follow all applicable laws and regulations, including this Privacy Policy. Unauthorized use or disclosure of confidential client information by any Wahi broker, agent or employee is prohibited and may result in disciplinary measures.

• Real Estate Boards

As described above, in order to list a property on the MLS®® system we will disclose to our local real estate board and the Canadian Real Estate Association the property and ownership information for the listed property. This information is made available through the MLS®® system to other Realtors®, both in Canada and internationally.

• Wahi Third Party Suppliers and Service Providers

As you may know, we may engage and coordinate third party suppliers to provide you with certain services offered through Wahi. 

In some cases our service providers may be located outside of Canada in countries where the law provides for a different level of protection for Personal Information than that which is available under Canadian law.  If you would like to obtain more information about our policies and procedures regarding the use of service providers located outside of Canada, please contact Wahi at the address listed in Section 5 below.

• Sale of Business

We may disclose your personal information to a third party and their professional advisors in connection with a sale, merger or other disposition (whether of assets, stock or otherwise) of our business (including in connection with bankruptcy or similar proceedings). In this event we will require that the information be maintained as confidential and only used for the purposes of evaluating and completing the transaction.

 

How We Safeguard Information

Wahi has organizational, technical and physical controls in place that are designed to maintain the security of its information and information systems. Appropriate controls (such as restricted access) are placed on our computer systems and data processing procedures. Physical access to areas where Personal Information is gathered, processed or stored is limited to authorized employees and contractors.

 

When you telephone a Wahi agent or employee to speak about your file, you may be asked for some Personal Information to identify you. This type of safeguard is designed to ensure that only you, or someone authorized by you, has access to your file.

 

As a further means of safeguarding your Personal Information, we follow commercially reasonable document retention practices and securely destroy your Personal Information once the purposes for which we collected it have been fulfilled, unless a longer period is required by law.

 

Third Party Web Sites

In order to serve you better, Wahi offers clients access to certain information about third party products and services through links on this web site to other third party web sites, including social media web sites. Wahi is in no way responsible and cannot guarantee the content or privacy of other web sites.

 

Accessing and Correcting Your Information

You have the right to request access to the Personal Information we keep about you and to  request to  correct the information if it is shown to be inaccurate or incomplete. If you would like to access or correct the Personal Information held in your file, please make a written request to the Chief Privacy Officer at the address listed below, under “Questions, Concerns and Complaints”. We will respond to your request as efficiently as possible.  Please note that we will request Personal Information from you to verify your identity before providing you with access.  Please also note that your right of access and correction is not absolute; there are circumstances under which we may refuse access as provided under applicable law. In such circumstances, we will provide you with an explanation for the refusal.

 

International Data Transfers

Your Personal Information may be transferred to or accessible from other jurisdictions for processing and storage, including in servers located across Canada, the United States and Ukraine, where laws regarding the protection of personal information may be different than the laws in Canada and where your Personal Information may be accessed by foreign courts, law enforcement and national security authorities. Where necessary to make such transfers, we will comply with our legal and regulatory obligations in relation to the Personal Information. 

 

Opting Out

Should you wish to withdraw you consent to our collection, use or disclosure of your Personal Information, please contact the Chief Privacy Officer at the address, phone number or email address provided at the end of this document.  While we can accommodate your request in respect of the promotional materials you receive from us, if you wish to withdraw your consent for the other business purposes for which we collect, use and disclose your Personal Information, we may not be able to provide all of our services to you.

Chat Feature Privacy for User-to-User Communication

At Wahi, we understand the importance of your privacy. Our chat feature allows users to communicate directly with one another through our platform. Please note the following regarding this service:

• • Privacy of Conversations: Wahi respects the privacy and confidentiality of your communications. We do not monitor, access, or have the ability to view the content of private conversations between users via the chat feature.

  • Data Handling: To facilitate the delivery of messages, our system processes minimal necessary data (such as timestamps and network routing data). This information is used solely to deliver and improve the service functionality and is not used for any other purpose.

  • User Responsibilities: You are responsible for the content of your conversations. We encourage you to exercise discretion and caution with respect to the personal information you choose to disclose in any online communication.

  • Compliance and Cooperation with Law Enforcement: While Wahi does not access or review the content of private communications, we may be required to disclose chat logs or other related information in accordance with legal requirements, such as a court order or other lawful requests by public authorities.

 

3. Updates

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, so please check back often to review the latest version.  When material changes are made to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you by posting the updated version, and we will update the effective date below. Following each update we will assume that you have familiarized yourself with the current version of our Privacy Policy.

 

This Privacy Policy was last updated on April 25, 2024.

 

4. Questions, Concerns and Complaints

If you have any questions, concerns or complaints about your Personal Information, or about the Wahi Privacy Policy, please contact Wahi using the contact information provide below:

 

Chief Privacy Officer

 

Wahi Inc.

 

privacy@wahi.com