Privacy policy

1 Privacy policy

We are committed to protecting our visitors’ privacy and will not collect any personal information about you as a visitor unless you provide it voluntarily. Any personal information you communicate to us is kept within our own records in accordance with applicable Maltese data protection law (the Data Protection Act, Chapter 586 of the Laws of Malta) and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

During your visit to this website, we will automatically collect the following personal data about you:

• information about the pages that you visit on this website;
• the date and time of your visit;
• your IP address;
• your web browser;
• the website (URL) you visited before accessing this website; and
• certain cookies (see Section 2 below).

Furthermore, filling in the website’s contact form to request more information on properties, or directly calling us, will be considered a collection of certain personal information such as your contact number and email address.

In cases where we ask you to provide any personal data, there is no obligation to do so — but if you do not, you will not be able to use all functions of our website or to make use of our real estate services in general.

2 Cookies

This website uses so-called cookies. A cookie is a small file that may be installed on your computer when you visit a website. Cookies are generally used to provide site visitors with additional functionality within the site. They may, for example, keep track of your visit and support your navigation, help you resume where you left off, and/or remember your preferences and settings when you visit the website again. Cookies cannot access, read, or modify any other data on your computer.

Most of the cookies used on this website are so-called session cookies, which are automatically deleted once you leave the website. Persistent cookies, on the other hand, remain on your computer until you delete them in your browser. We use persistent cookies to recognise you when you next visit this website.

If you want to control the cookies installed on your computer, you can modify your browser settings so that it notifies you when a website wants to install a cookie, or you can block cookies altogether. You can also delete cookies that have already been installed. Refer to the ‘Help’ function within your browser for more information.

Please note, however, that disabling cookies might affect your online experience and/or prevent you from taking full advantage of our website.

3 Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies to help us analyse how you use this website. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. As this website anonymises IP addresses, your IP address will be truncated by Google within an EU member state or other EEA state before being transmitted to the US. Only in exceptional situations will your full IP address be transmitted to Google servers in the United States and truncated there.

Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, compile reports on website activity for website operators, and provide other services relating to website activity and internet usage. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You can prevent Google from collecting information (including your IP address) via cookies by downloading and installing this browser plugin: tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

Further information on the terms of use and data privacy can be found at the Google Analytics Terms of Service or the Google Analytics Privacy Overview. Please note that on this website, Google Analytics is supplemented by IP masking to ensure anonymised collection of IP addresses.

4 Purposes for which we use your data

We will use your personal data to provide this website to you, to generate usage statistics, to improve and further develop this website, to provide real estate services to you, to respond to your requests and messages, to send you our newsletter if you have subscribed to it, to contact you about properties that may interest you, and to analyse your data in aggregate form for business intelligence purposes.

5 Contact forms or registering your property

Our website allows you to submit an enquiry and get in touch with us so we can assist with your real estate needs. To reply to your query accurately and be of the most assistance, we require certain basic contact information (your name, surname, nationality, telephone and mobile numbers) as well as information relating to your query. Based on the information you provide, one of our representatives will contact you to provide assistance as per your request.

When registering your property on our website, you will be asked to submit certain information, including identity data such as your name, surname, and country code, as well as your email address. We will also request information relating to the property you wish to register, including its address and photos. This information is necessary for us to register your property in our system, which enables us to provide the real estate agency services you require. We will contact you via the email address you provide to set up a viewing and discuss how best to find the right purchaser or tenant for your property. When registering your property, we create a profile within our database that allows us to manage your listing and provide the services you request.

6 Links to other websites

Our site has a number of links to other local and international organisations and agencies. In some cases, for the benefit of the visitor, we may link to other websites after permission is obtained from them. It is important to note that upon linking to another site, you are no longer on our site and you become subject to the privacy policy of the new site.

7 Access to your information

You may request from us at any time what information is effectively held about you, if any, at that particular time. You have the right to have any inaccuracies corrected and, where applicable, erased, if they are not already deleted.

8 Legal basis for the processing

The legal basis for the processing of your data will be our prevailing legitimate interest (pursuant to Article 6(1)(f) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation, “GDPR”).

If we process certain personal data about you that we receive from another member of the franchise network, in particular our franchisees, the legal basis for the processing will be your consent pursuant to Article 6(1)(a) GDPR, which you will be asked for in a separate process. Where you are asked for your consent, you may withdraw it at any time. However, doing so will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

9 Disclosures and data transfers

We generally do not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA), but may do so in the following limited cases:

1. the transfer is necessary for the performance of a contract between you and OfficeSpace.rent, or for the implementation of pre-contractual measures taken at your request (such as when you purchase property abroad);
2. the transfer is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract concluded in your interest between us and another natural or legal person;
3. the transfer is necessary for important reasons of public interest; or
4. the transfer is necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims.

In all other cases, we shall request your explicit consent in order to transfer your personal data outside the EEA.

10 Retention periods

OfficeSpace.rent strives to process and retain your personal data only for as long as we need to, in accordance with the law, our retention periods, and your restriction rights. In certain circumstances you have the right to request that we erase the personal data we hold about you.

11 Data security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered, or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors, and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions, and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

12 Your rights and remedies

Under applicable data protection law, you have the rights: (i) to check whether and what kind of personal data we hold about you, and to access or request copies of such data; (ii) to request correction, supplementation, or deletion of personal data that is inaccurate or processed in non-compliance with applicable requirements; (iii) to request that we restrict the collection, processing, or use of personal data about you; (iv) in certain circumstances, to object for legitimate reasons to the processing of your personal data; (v) to the extent that your data is processed on the basis of your consent, to request data portability; (vi) to know the identities of third parties to which your personal data are transferred; and (vii) to provide instructions on how your data must be handled after your death, where relevant. In case of any complaints, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority — in Malta, the Information and Data Protection Commissioner (IDPC).