Introduction
K&G, which includes K&G Group, KG Group, K&G Apartment Holdings Inc., K&G Apartment Holdings I Inc., K&G Apartment Holdings II Inc., K&G Oakburn Apartments I Ltd. and 18 Erskine Holdings Inc. (the "Landlord") is committed to protecting Personal Information in its possession. This Privacy and Anti-Spam Policy (the "Policy") explains how the Landlord collects, uses, and protects your Personal Information. It applies to any Personal Information collected by the Landlord, whether we collect it in person, over the telephone, in writing, or electronically, including through the Landlord websites (these "Sites"). This Policy complies with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation ("CASL"), and other applicable privacy legislation ("PIPEDA").
By providing us with your Personal Information and using these Sites, you consent to our collection, use and disclosure of your Personal Information in accordance with this Policy, as well as any other terms that are described to you when we collect your Personal Information. If you do not accept the terms of this Policy, please do not use these Sites or provide us with your Personal Information.
This Policy may be amended or updated from time to time at our discretion. Please check these Sites from time to time for such amendments. By continuing to access and use these Sites, you accept and consent to the terms of the then current Policy, as amended.
What is PIPEDA?
PIPEDA is federal legislation that governs the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information and requires that it be treated in a manner that respects individual privacy. PIPEDA balances an individual's privacy rights against an organization's need to collect, use and disclose Personal Information for legitimate and serious purposes considered appropriate in the course of commercial activities or where required by law. For more information on PIPEDA, please visit www.privcom.gc.ca.
What is CASL?
CASL is federal legislation intended to create a legislative framework that governs the sending of commercial electronic messages and the installation of computer programs. For more information on CASL, please visit www.fightspam.gc.ca.
What does this Policy encompass?
This Policy describes how the Landlord complies with PIPEDA including the purposes for which it collects uses and discloses Personal Information and your rights concerning your Personal Information. It is based on the principles in the Canadian Standards Association's Model Code for the Protection of Personal Information found in Schedule 1 to PIPEDA. This Policy applies to all personal information collected by the Landlord including, without limitation, that of applicants for residency and tenants.
We may collect e-mail and mailing addresses in order to distribute publications and communications prepared by the Landlord that we believe may be of interest to you but we will not send these messages to you electronically without your express or implied consent, in accordance with CASL. You may withdraw your consent at any time by clicking unsubscribe on an electronic message/e-mail.
What is Personal Information?
"Personal Information" is information, which relates to a person and allows that person to be identified. Examples of Personal Information include name, email address, IP address, income, date of birth, driver's license number, current and previous home address, home phone number, cell phone number, family status, credit score, names of former landlords, monthly rent social insurance number (this is optional for prospective residents), employment details, business address and business telephone number of an employee, names of family members, intended use of the premises and any personal information you give us that we did not request (such as personal information you voluntarily put in an email to us).
Identifying Purposes
Leasing and Business Operations: Personal Information is collected in order for the Landlord to operate its business as a landlord. This includes activities indicated in the lease agreement, other activities incidental to tenancy in the building (for example: responding to tenant inquiries, bringing or defending the Landlord and Tenant Board claims, collecting rent or other amounts due, or informing tenants about various building rules and policies), provide newsletters, to obtain feedback for surveys, to help us improve and develop new services, internal business process including marketing and advertising, prevent fraud, and activities common to the running of all businesses such as collecting and retaining records for income tax purposes or providing receipts. As a service and convenience, we may maintain public directories of tenants (e.g., by the main door). If you do not wish to be listed in any directories or wish to be described in a particular way, please let us know. A withdrawal of consent during the term of the lease or any renewal of it shall not absolve an individual from his or her obligations under the lease, including any amounts owing from an individual to the Landlord.
Consumer Reports: Personal Information is collected for the purpose of conducting a credit check on applicants for tenancy. The credit check is a risk assessment tool used to ensure that an applicant will be able to make the monthly payments required to lease premises. Consent to the collection of Personal Information for the purpose of conducting a credit check will be requested on the application for accommodation or offer to lease premises. An applicant's refusal to provide information and consent to its use and disclosure for the purposes of conducting a credit check is grounds for the Landlord to refuse rental accommodation. The Landlord may also obtain a credit check in the event that the tenant is in arrears of rent or wishes to renew his/her tenancy agreement.
References: (1) Personal Information may be used to provide credit or rental-history references to third parties. (2) Personal Information is collected in order for the Landlord to conduct a reference check during the application process. The reference check will include references concerning rental payments, cleanliness, noise violations and complaint history (the "Factors"). The reference check is an assessment tool used to determine an applicant's suitability to be a tenant of the Landlord based on the Factors. The refusal to provide reference names and telephone numbers and consent to their use and disclosure for the purpose of conducting a reference check is grounds for the Landlord to refuse rental accommodation.
Enforcement: Personal Information is also collected for the purpose of enforcing any terms of the Tenancy Agreement or Tenancy Application or to act in respect of an emergency that threatens the life, health or security of the tenant.
Identification: Personal Information is collected for the purposes of identification when the need arises. Consent may not be withdrawn for this purpose during the term of the lease or any renewal of it.
Other Uses: We may generate Anonymous Data from personal information collected through the Site and Services by removing information that makes the data personally identifiable to an individual. Such Anonymous Data includes, but is not limited to, information we collect from your use of our Site and Services, such as the number of records and size of your database stored in our Services, sync information, your location and information about the industry in which you operate. We may use this Anonymous Data and aggregated data for any reasonable purpose subject to applicable laws and disclose such data to third parties in our sole discretion.
We retain your personal information only for as long as we need it to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, and to comply with our legal obligations.
Collection of Personal Information
The types of Personal Information collected include: (i) information related to facilitating the tenancy including your name, proposed occupants, address, amount of rent paid, payment history, complaints, requests, etc.; (ii) information necessary to have a credit check conducted on you, including your social insurance number; (iii) information necessary to evaluate good tenancy such as current and past employment information, banking information and references from prior landlord; and (iv) information necessary to identify you such as telephone numbers, persons to contact in case of emergency, vehicle information, posted information and email addresses.
Accountability
The responsibility for the Personal Information under the Landlord's control rests with its Privacy Officer. The individual designated as Privacy Officer may change from time to time, however his or her identity will be updated in this policy when required.
Protecting your privacy is a top priority of the Landlord. Accordingly, procedures have been adopted to give effect to this Policy. The Landlord's employees have received training concerning this Policy and the procedures in place to implement it.
The Landlord will occasionally disclose Personal Information under its control to third parties, but only for an identified purpose set forth herein. When disclosing Personal Information, the Landlord uses contractual means to ensure that it is treated in accordance with PIPEDA by the third party.
Consent
Consent is required for the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information.
The form of consent obtained by the Landlord varies depending on the sensitivity of the information requested and the reasonable expectations of the average person. Consent shall be implied for all purposes, unless the purpose dictates that express consent will be obtained. The Landlord retains your consent until you withdraw it in writing.
The Landlord may collect, use or disclose your Personal Information without your consent in circumstances indicated in PIPEDA. For example, the Landlord may disclose Personal Information about a tenant to a collection agency for the purpose of collecting any rent that is owed by the tenant to the Landlord.
Electronic Consent
** I/we hereby consent to KG Group, including but not limited to K&G Apartment Holdings Inc., K&G Apartment Holdings II Inc., K&G Oakburn Apartments I Ltd., 35 Canyon Avenue Limited, 18 Erskine Holdings Inc and/or Mike Gold Construction sending me commercial electronic messages about our communities, promotions, offers, special events, building information and more from KG Group. I/we understand that this consent for commercial electronic messages is including but not limited to emails and/or text messages, and text message and/or data rates may apply. I/we understand that I/we may withdraw this consent and unsubscribe by clicking unsubscribe in an electronic message at any time. All rights reserved. KG Group and/or its representatives collects and/or displays testimonials, and/or reviews, and/or photographs, and/or video and otherwise captures images and/or voice recordings in addition to other endorsements. KG Group and/or its representatives has the right to reproduce, use, exhibit, display, broadcast and distribute, and create other works of or with these images and/or recordings in any media now known or later developed.
Online and Social Media
Any personal information posted, used or disclosed on a Facebook page, Youtube page, Instagram page, LinkedIn page, Twitter page or other social networking page or site is subject to that website's privacy policy, and is not subject to this Privacy Policy. We may receive personal information about you from third party sources, such as credit reporting agencies. We use this information to: (i) assist with our business operations; (ii) process your rental application; and (iii) to provide our Services. You authorize the collection of your personal information from these sources and, if applicable, you authorize these sources to give us your personal information for the above mentioned purposes.
Cookies, Online Advertising and Third Parties Analytics
As you browse www.myrental.ca and www.kgapartments.com, third party advertising cookies will be placed on your computer so that we can understand what you are interested in (interest-based behavioural advertising). Our display advertising partners and remarketing partners (including but not limited to Google AdWords and AdRoll) then enables us to present you with retargeting advertising on other third party sites based on your previous interaction with www.myrental.ca and www.kgapartments.com. This could be in the form of an advertisement on the Google search results page, or a site in the given display networks. In other words, our advertisements will be shown on third party websites because the user visited our website in the past. Third parties may use cookies alone or in conjunction with web beacons (which are small pieces of data that are embedded in images on the pages of a website) or other tracking technologies to collect information about you when you use our Website. You may opt out by visiting the Google Analytics Settings and Opt-Out Page. Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on someone's past visits to www.myrental.ca and www.kgapartments.com. Of course, any data collected will be used in accordance with our own privacy policy and the privacy policies of the service providers.
The techniques our partners employ do not collect data that personally or directly identifies you. For more information or to opt-out of this type of Internet-based advertising, please visit AdRoll's privacy policy (https://www.adroll.com/about/privacy) or http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/. We do not control these third parties' tracking technologies or how they are used. If you have any questions about an advertisement or other targeted content, you should contact the responsible provider directly. You can set certain preferences for how Google advertises to you using their respective Ad Preferences pages. You can opt out of interest-based advertising entirely by cookie settings or permanently using a browser plugin. Google Ad Preferences – http://www.google.com/settings/ads
Our Site uses third party analytics services such as Facebook Pixel, a tracking conversion service of Facebook Inc. ("Facebook") and Google Analytics, a web analytics service of Google.
We use Facebook Pixel tags to track and record when you visit a website and the effectiveness of our Facebook Ads in order to assist Facebook in displaying our Facebook Ads that are of interest to you. You may opt out of customized Facebook Ads by adjusting your Facebook Ads settings in your Facebook account or by clicking "Why am I seeing this" that is displayed on the customized Facebook Ad.
Links
Our site includes links to other sites whose privacy policies we do not control and are not governed by this Privacy Policy. Once you leave our servers (you can check where you are by checking the URL in the location bar on your browser), use of any information you provide is governed by the privacy policy of the operator of the site you are visiting. That policy may differ from ours. If you can't find the privacy policy of any of these sites via a link from the site's homepage, you should contact the site directly for more information. The Landlord is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such web sites.
Video and Audio Recordings
Video equipment may be installed and operating in common areas of the complex in which your rental unit is located. The video equipment may have special capabilities that will allow it to capture sound recordings along with images. Other special capabilities that the video equipment may possess includes, but is not limited to, zoom, facial recognition, or night-vision features.
The video equipment may be operating at all times. Surveillance of the video recordings may occur at any time.
The purpose of the use of such equipment is to ensure your safety, security and reasonable enjoyment and that of the other tenants, to ensure you have access to the premises, equipment and services that our clients have agreed to provide, to preserve our clients' property, and to deter crime. Where required by law, signs will be posted informing you that video equipment is operating and recording personal information about you.
Your image, movements, actions, or other identifiable information about you, may be captured by the video equipment. Where video equipment captures audio recordings, any sounds or communications you make may be recorded.
Retention and Destruction of Personal Information Recorded by Audio and/or Video Equipment
The recordings captured by the video equipment along with the video equipment will be stored in a secured location. Access to the location and recordings is limited. Hardware is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area. Recordings will be kept for a minimum of 5 days before being destroyed.
There are circumstances under which we may make audio recordings of our employees, contractors, or tenants. There are several purposes for making the recordings; they include: situations where there are work-related performance issues, to ensure the safety of the workplace, to ensure productivity, and to prevent harassment.
Audio recordings may be made during meetings, interviews, or telephone calls between us and an employee or us and a prospect or tenant. Audio equipment may be operating at other times. Information recorded by the audio equipment may capture communications of any of the following persons: the employer, employee, landlord, tenants, prospective tenants, contractors, and the general public.
Audio recordings will be kept for a minimum of 24 hours before being destroyed. The recordings may be kept for a longer period if there are on-going issues related to the employment and/or tenant relationship, if required by law, or if tenant or employee litigation is contemplated. The audio recordings will be stored in a secured location. Access to the location and recordings is limited. Hardware is either under supervision or secured in a locked or restricted area.
Voicemail messages left for us will be erased after they have been listened to by an employee. If a message contains personal information of an individual which we will rely upon when making a decision, that voicemail will be kept for a period of no more than 6 months. After that period has expired, the voicemail message will be erased, and thus will not be available for review.
Transfer and Disclosure of Personal Information
Selling or Financing a Building: When the Landlord sells a building, or finances it, the Personal Information of the tenants of the building contained on the building's rent roll will be disclosed to the potential buyer or financer. The rent roll contains Personal Information including the location and size of leased premises, the amount of rent paid, if there are rental arrears or ever have been, and other similar information. The rent roll is used to calculate the value of a building. Disclosure of it to a buyer or a financer is essential to assess the risk involved in buying or financing the building. Withdrawal of consent to this disclosure during the term or the lease or any renewal of it is subject to the conditions of the lease which provide that a tenant agrees to the disclosure of rent roll information in connection with a sale or financing of the building in which the tenant is leasing property.
Co-Tenant's, Guarantor's Access Requests: Your Personal Information may be disclosed to a tenant with whom you have co-signed your lease, or a guarantor of your lease, if a request is made by that tenant or guarantor to access his or her Personal Information, or in the event we need to contact your guarantor to inform them of any obligation brought about by your lease.
Manager May Be Used: The Landlord may use a management company to operate its leasing business. The management company may differ depending on the building, and it may change from time to time. When a management company is used for a building, Personal Information of tenants in and applicants for tenancy in the building will be exchanged between the management company and the Landlord and may be collected, used and disclosed by either the management company and/or the Landlord for any of the purposes identified above. Withdrawal of consent to this disclosure during the term or the lease or any renewal of it is subject to the conditions of the lease, which provide that a tenant agrees to the disclosure of Personal Information to the Landlord's Manager.
Co-Owners: The Landlord may own one or more buildings in a co-ownership with one or more co-owners. The Co-owner may differ depending on the building, and it may change from time to time. When a building is owned in a co-ownership, the Personal Information of tenants in and applicants for tenancy in the building will be exchanged between the co-owner or co-owners and may be collected, used and disclosed by either the co-owner(s) for any of the purposes identified above.
Assessments: Pursuant to the Assessment Act (Ontario) your Personal Information must be disclosed to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation for the purpose of assessing the value of the property on which the building in which your leased premises are situate. This disclosure is made for the purpose of municipal taxation. Your consent for this purpose is not required, as this disclosure is required to comply with a provincial law.
Other Third Parties: In addition, the Landlord may disclose Personal Information to the following third parties:
Government Organizations (Municipal/Provincial/Federal);
Auditors/Accountants;
Collection Agencies;
Financial Institutions;
Real Estate Agents;
Telecommunication Providers;
Lawyers;
Appraisers; and/or
Where required or authorized by law to do so.
We may be involved in the sale or transfer of some or all of our businesses. As part of that sale or transfer transaction, we may disclose your Personal Information to the acquiring organization, but will require the acquiring organization to agree to protect the privacy of your Personal Information in a manner that is consistent with this Policy.
Limiting Collection
The Landlord does not collect Personal Information indiscriminately. The Landlord limits the collection of Personal Information to that which is necessary for purposes it identifies and to fulfill the purposes identified in this Privacy Policy, unless we are required or permitted by law to collect and use additional information.
The Landlord primarily collects Personal Information directly from you. However, Personal Information may also be collected from other sources including credit bureaus, employers, previous landlords, referees, other tenants or other people who represent that they have the right to disclose the information.
The Personal Information that the Landlord collects from you may be disclosed directly by you to the Landlord, generated by your transactions with the Landlord, or generated from the Landlord's observations.
Accuracy
Personal Information will be kept as accurate, complete and up-to-date as necessary for the purposes for which it is to be used. You are responsible for informing the Landlord about changes to your Personal Information as appropriate. The Landlord encourages you to examine your lease agreement, application for lease and any other documents that you submit to the Landlord that contain the Personal Information in order to ensure that the information is accurate. If you have concerns about the accuracy of your Personal Information collected by the Landlord, contact the Privacy Officer whose contact information is set out at the end of this document.
Safeguards
The Landlord protects Personal Information against loss and theft as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying use or modification, with security safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the Personal Information. Files are protected by keeping them in areas restricted to employees, and/or in locked filing cabinets or rooms. The Landlord's employees have been made aware of the need to safeguard Personal Information and they only access Personal Information on an as-needed basis. The Landlord also uses firewalls and passwords to protect electronic Personal Information.
Openness
The Landlord's policies and practices related to the management of Personal Information are contained in this Policy, which it makes available through the Privacy Officer on request.
Individual Access
Upon written request, the Landlord will divulge the existence use and any disclosure made of Personal Information about you and will give you access to your information except in limited circumstances prescribed by law. Written requests should be delivered to the Privacy Officer at the address at the end of this Policy.
The Landlord will respond to an access request within thirty (30) days, unless an extension of time is required, in which case, pursuant to PIPEDA, the response may take up to an additional thirty (30) days. A fee for reasonable costs incurred to respond to the request may be charged to you by the Landlord, provided that you are informed of the fee in advance and do not withdraw your request.
The Landlord may require additional information from you to locate certain Personal Information. If this is the case, the additional information will not be used for any purpose other than locating the Personal Information.
Should your information on file with the Landlord be proved to be incomplete or incorrect, it will be amended as required. Where necessary, the amended information will be transmitted to third parties that use the information.
The Landlord will not comply with access requests:
If compliance would reveal information about a third party;
If the information is subject to solicitor-client privilege;
If compliance would reveal confidential commercial information; or
If the information was generated in the course of a formal dispute resolution process.
If the Landlord does not comply with an access request, it will inform you of the reasons for such refusal and of your right to appeal the Landlord's decision to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
Questions or Concerns
Any concerns, questions or comments respecting the Landlord's compliance with PIPEDA, CASL or this Policy should be addressed to the Privacy Officer using the following contact information:
KG Group's Privacy Officer:
Dianna Attar
KG Group
C/O Rental Office
305 Roehampton Avenue
Toronto, ON
M4P 0B2
416-487-3050
info@myrental.ca
A Privacy Complaint Form for making complaints or Personal Information Request Form for obtaining access and requesting the correction of Personal Information is available from any of our Rental offices. The Landlord will investigate and respond to written complaints within thirty (30) business days of receiving a complaint. If a complaint is found to be justified the Landlord will take appropriate measures, including, if necessary, amending its policies and procedures.
Changes to Our Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to change our Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make a material change, this Privacy Policy will be updated accordingly and posted here. We recommend that you periodically review this Privacy Policy, which is available on our website, www.myrental.ca, so that you are aware of any changes. By using our Services and providing us with your Personal Information and your continued reading of the policy and use of our site following the posting of any changes to this Privacy Policy shall constitute your consent and acceptance of the Privacy Policy and any changes.
If you have any questions about your privacy rights, or any complaints, you may also contact the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at:
Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
112 Kent Street Tower B, 3rd Floor
Ottawa, ON
K1A 1H3
Telephone: 1-800-282-1376
Fax: 1-613-947-6850
Date: September 30, 2021