Privacy Policy

1.Who is responsible for your information

Plotwise is the responsible party for the personal information described in this policy, as that term is used in the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). Plotwise is operated by an individual and is not a registered company.

Every privacy question, request or complaint should go to contact@plotwise.co.za. That address reaches the person responsible for information matters at Plotwise.

This policy covers the Plotwise website and everything you do on it. It applies alongside our Terms of Use and our Cookie notice. Our POPIA page explains how to exercise the rights described in section 11.

2.What we collect

Account details

Your name, email address and password when you sign up with email. If you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address and profile photo from Google instead. You can add a phone number and a profile photo later. Passwords are handled by Google Firebase Authentication and are never visible to us.

Listing information

Everything you put in a listing: the property address and location, description, price, size, features, photographs, and the contact details you choose to publish with it.

Enquiries

The message you send about a property, the phone number you include, and your name, email address and profile photo, which are attached so the recipient knows who is contacting them.

Saved activity

Properties you favourite, searches you save, and listings you hide. These are linked to your account so they follow you between devices.

Usage data

A record of which property pages are viewed and when a contact button is clicked, so that a seller can see how their listing is performing. If you are signed in, this is linked to your account; if you are not, it is recorded without a user identifier.

On-device data

Your recently viewed properties and recent searches are stored in your own browser. Details are in our Cookie notice.

Technical data

Standard information our hosting provider records to serve and secure the site, such as your IP address, browser type and the pages requested.

We do not knowingly collect special personal information as defined in section 26 of POPIA, such as your race, health, religion, political beliefs, biometrics or criminal history. Please do not put information like that into a listing or an enquiry.

We do not run advertising networks, third-party analytics products or behavioural tracking on Plotwise.

3.Why we process it, and on what basis

POPIA requires us to have a lawful justification for each purpose. Ours are:

To run your account

Creating and securing your account, signing you in, and saving your favourites and searches. Basis: performing the agreement between us, and your consent.

To publish listings

Displaying your listing on the site, in search results, on area pages, in a link preview when it is shared, and to search engines. Basis: performing the agreement between us, at your request.

To pass on enquiries

Delivering your message to the seller, landlord or agent, and emailing them so they know it arrived. Basis: performing the agreement, at your request.

To report to sellers

Showing a listing owner how many people viewed their property and made contact. This is reported as counts, not as a list of who you are. Basis: our legitimate interest in providing a useful service.

To keep the site safe

Detecting fraud, abuse, scam listings and misuse, and enforcing our terms. Basis: our legitimate interest, and compliance with the law.

To improve Plotwise

Understanding which parts of the site are used so we can fix and improve them. Basis: our legitimate interest.

We do not use your information to make any decision about you by automated means that has legal consequences for you, and we do not use it for direct marketing without your consent.

4.Listings are public

When you remove a listing it stops appearing on Plotwise, but we cannot remove copies that other people have made, and search engines may keep a cached version for a while afterwards.

5.What happens when you make an enquiry

When you send an enquiry about a property, we pass your name, email address, profile photo, any phone number you include and your message to the person who posted that listing. We also send them an email notification. They need this to reply to you.

Once they have your details, that person becomes a responsible party in their own right under POPIA. What they do with your information is governed by their own practices, not by this policy, and we have no control over it. If you want your details removed after an enquiry, contact them directly.

The same applies when you click a WhatsApp contact button: you leave Plotwise and message that person through WhatsApp, under WhatsApp’s terms and privacy policy.

6.Who we share information with

We share personal information only in these situations:

Sellers and agents

Your enquiry details, as described in section 5.

Google Firebase

Our hosting, authentication, database and file storage provider. Your account, listings, photographs, enquiries and usage records are stored on Google infrastructure as our operator under POPIA.

Google Maps

Maps and location features are provided by Google Maps. When a map loads, your browser communicates with Google, which is subject to Google’s own privacy policy.

Resend

Our email provider, used to deliver enquiry notifications. It processes the recipient address and the content of that notification.

Google Fonts

Typefaces are loaded from Google’s font servers, which receive your IP address as part of that request.

Law and safety

Where we are legally obliged to disclose information, or where it is necessary to investigate fraud, protect someone’s safety, or establish or defend a legal claim.

We do not sell your personal information, rent it, or trade it with data brokers, advertisers or marketing lists.

7.Where your information is stored

Plotwise runs on Google Firebase, and your information is stored and processed on Google servers that may be located outside South Africa. Our email and font providers are also based outside South Africa. This is a cross-border transfer of personal information under section 72 of POPIA.

We rely on these providers because they are bound by contractual terms and recognised data-protection frameworks that give your information a level of protection substantially similar to POPIA, and because the transfer is necessary to perform the service you asked us for. By using Plotwise you accept that your information is processed in this way.

8.How long we keep it

• Account details: for as long as your account is open. If you close it, we delete or de-identify your account information within a reasonable period.
• Listings: while they are live, and for a limited period afterwards so a listing can be restored or relisted.
• Enquiries: kept in the recipient’s inbox so they have a record of the conversation. We cannot delete a copy that has already been delivered to them or sent to their email.
• Usage records: kept in aggregate so listing statistics remain meaningful.
• Anything we must keep: retained for as long as the law requires, or for as long as needed to establish or defend a legal claim.

Backups are overwritten on a rolling basis, so deleted information may persist in a backup for a short time before it is cycled out.

9.How we protect it

POPIA requires us to secure the integrity and confidentiality of your information with reasonable technical and organisational measures. In practice that means:

• The site is served over encrypted HTTPS connections.
• Authentication and passwords are handled by Google Firebase Authentication. We never see or store your password.
• Database security rules restrict access so that, for example, only you can read your own profile and only a listing owner can read enquiries sent to them.
• Enquiries are created only through a server route that verifies who you are.

No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee that a breach will never happen. If personal information under our control is accessed or acquired by an unauthorised person, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as section 22 of POPIA requires.

10.Children

Plotwise is not intended for children. We do not knowingly collect the personal information of anyone under 18. If you believe a child has given us information, email contact@plotwise.co.za and we will delete it.

11.Your rights under POPIA

As a data subject you have the right to:

• be told what personal information of yours we hold, and ask for a copy of it;
• ask us to correct or complete information that is wrong or out of date;
• ask us to delete or destroy information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, out of date, obtained unlawfully, or that we no longer have a reason to keep;
• object, on reasonable grounds, to us processing your information where we rely on legitimate interest;
• withdraw your consent, where we relied on consent, at any time;
• object to your information being used for direct marketing;
• not have a decision made about you solely by automated means where it would affect you legally or substantially;
• complain to the Information Regulator, and to approach a court.

Our POPIA page sets out exactly how to make one of these requests and how long we take to respond.

12.Complaints to the Information Regulator

Please raise a complaint with us first at contact@plotwise.co.za so we have a chance to put it right. If you are not satisfied, you can complain to the regulator:

13.Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when the site changes or the law changes. The “last updated” date at the top shows the current version. If a change materially affects how we handle your information, we will make that clear on the site.

14.Contact

For any privacy matter, including a request under section 11, email contact@plotwise.co.za.