Privacy Policy

Howard Property Solutions, 1863 Gold Coast Hwy, Burleigh Heads QLD 4220

Last updated: 28 October 2026

1. About this policy

Howard Property Solutions ("HPS", "we", "us", "our") respects your privacy. We handle personal information in line with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs). This policy explains what we collect, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. The latest version is always on our website at howardps.com.au. If you'd like a copy in another format, contact us (section 14) and we'll provide one free of charge.

2. In short

We collect only what we reasonably need to help you buy, sell, lease or manage property, and to meet our legal obligations.
Contacts and enquiries are stored in Wix, the platform that runs our website.
We use Grok Bot and similar AI tools to help manage enquiries and admin. Apart from these and Wix, we use very few other third-party tools.
We never sell your personal information.
You can ask to see or correct your information, opt out of marketing, and complain if you're unhappy.

3. What we collect

What we collect depends on how you deal with us. It may include:

Sellers, landlords and clients: name, contact details, address, ownership details (including company or trust details), property and transaction details, bank details for payments, and our correspondence with you.
Buyers, tenants and enquirers: name, contact details, the properties and price ranges you're interested in, inspection and enquiry history, and for tenancy applications, references, employment and financial information.
Identity information: where the law requires it for a sale or purchase (for example under anti-money laundering rules), identity document details and related information. See section 5.
Website information: technical details such as your IP address, device, browser, pages visited and how you found us.

4. How we collect it

We collect most information directly from you, when you:

fill in a form on our website
email, phone or message us
attend an open home or private inspection
apply for a tenancy, appoint us, or sign a contract

We may also receive information from property portals you enquire through, other agents, solicitors and conveyancers, referrers, and public sources such as title searches. If you give us details about someone else (such as a co-owner or guarantor), please make sure they know and point them to this policy.

You can browse our site, attend an open home or make a general enquiry without giving your name. However, we can't act for you in a sale, purchase or tenancy without identifying you. If we receive information we didn't ask for and couldn't otherwise have collected, we'll destroy or de-identify it where lawful and reasonable.

5. Identity checks for property sales

Real estate agents now have obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (Cth). If you buy or sell through us, we may need to verify your identity and carry out due diligence checks. We collect only what the law requires, use it only for these compliance purposes, and keep records for as long as the law requires. In some cases the law may stop us telling you about a report we've made.

6. How we use your contact information

We use your personal information to:

respond to property enquiries and arrange inspections
market, sell, lease and manage property, and provide appraisals
prepare and manage contracts, leases and agency agreements
handle payments and trust accounting
verify identity and meet our legal and regulatory obligations
send you property listings, market updates and news (see section 9)
improve our services and keep our systems secure

We won't use your information for other purposes unless you'd reasonably expect it, you've agreed, or the law requires or allows it.

7. Tools we use: Wix and AI

Wix. Our website runs on Wix. Website enquiries, contacts and email marketing lists are held in our Wix account. Wix handles this information on our behalf under its own terms and privacy policy.

AI tools. We use Grok Bot and similar AI assistants to help us work efficiently, for example to sort and respond to enquiries, draft emails and listings, summarise documents and manage our admin. Information you send us may be processed by these tools. We don't use AI to make decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you; a person makes those decisions. If you'd prefer your information not be processed with AI tools, tell us and we'll accommodate that where we reasonably can.

Apart from Wix and these AI tools, we mostly don't use other third-party software to handle your personal information. Where we do (for example, standard email, accounting or contract-form providers), they only receive what they need to provide their service.

8. Who we share it with

We may share your information with:

the other parties to a transaction, for example passing a buyer's offer to the vendor, or a tenant's application to the landlord
solicitors, conveyancers and settlement agents
valuers, building and pest inspectors, tradespeople and other contractors where relevant
photographers, signage and marketing suppliers
our technology providers, including Wix and our AI tools
our accountants, auditors, insurers and legal advisers
banks and financial institutions for payments and trust accounting
government agencies, regulators (such as AUSTRAC) and law enforcement where required or authorised by law

We do not sell your personal information.

9. Marketing

We may send you property listings, market updates and news by email, SMS or phone. Under the Spam Act 2003 (Cth), every marketing email or SMS we send includes a way to unsubscribe. You can opt out at any time with the unsubscribe link or by contacting us. Opting out won't stop us contacting you about a property, transaction or tenancy you're involved in.

10. Cookies and analytics

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to make it work, remember your preferences, and help us understand how visitors use it, such as which pages are popular. We may use analytics tools such as Google Analytics, along with Wix's built-in site statistics. These tools collect information such as your IP address, device type and pages visited, usually in a form that doesn't identify you by name. You can manage or block cookies in your browser settings or through the cookie banner on our site, though some features may not work properly if you do.

11. Storage, security and overseas servers

We take reasonable steps to protect your information from misuse, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure. These steps include secure passwords, multi-factor authentication where available, restricting access to people who need it, and using reputable providers.

Wix and our AI providers may store or process information on servers outside Australia, mainly in the United States and possibly in other countries. When we use these providers, we take reasonable steps to ensure they handle your information consistently with the APPs.

No system is completely secure. If a data breach is likely to cause serious harm, we'll notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) as required under the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.

We keep information only as long as we need it or as the law requires. For example, Queensland law requires us to keep sale and lease records for at least 5 years, and financial and identity records may be kept for 7 years. After that, we securely delete or de-identify it.

12. Accessing and correcting your information

You can ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, and ask us to correct anything that's inaccurate, out of date or incomplete. There's no charge to make a request. We'll usually respond within 30 days. If we can't give you access, for example because it would affect someone else's privacy or the law prevents it, we'll explain why where we're allowed to.

13. Complaints

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your personal information, please contact us first (section 14). We'll look into it and respond, usually within 30 days. If you're not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner:

Website: oaic.gov.au
Phone: 1300 363 992
Post: GPO Box 5218, Sydney NSW 2001

14. Contact us

Privacy contact: Ed Howard, Howard Property Solutions

Email: ed@howardps.com.au
Phone: +61 449 955 244
Address: 1863 Gold Coast Hwy, Burleigh Heads QLD 4220

15. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or the law. The latest version will always be on our website.

Last updated: 28 October 2026