Muscat Home is committed to ensure the protection of your privacy and using your personal information which is governed by this Privacy Notice. On this site, “Muscat Home”, “our” and “we” each mean all the companies in the Muscat Home Services & Real Estate L.L.C. (which collect and use your information in the manner set out in this Privacy Policy. Any reference to “you” or “your” refers to anyone whose personal information we process.

Introduction

Use of your personal data will be governed under this Privacy Policy.

This Privacy Policy explains:

• What is personal information and how do we collect your personal information?

• The type of personal information we collect.

• How your personal information will be used?

• The legal basis for processing your personal information.

• How your personal information will be shared?

• How long your personal information will be kept with Muscat Home?

• How your personal information will be secured?

• Foreign transfer of your personal information

• Your rights towards your personal information

• How to ask for help and contact us for more information and complaints ?

If there is any change in the way your personal information is used, you will be informed and asked to update via consent to the terms of new Privacy Policy.

A. What is personal information and how do we collect your personal information?

Personal information is related to the information that tells us about you. This may include information such as name, contact details, date of birth, bank account details or any information about your requests or conditions which would allow us to identify you.

Some of the personal information is classified as "special" data under the data protection legislation, which includes the following information relating to health, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs or political opinions and sexual orientation. This information is more sensitive, and we need to have further justifications for collecting, storing and using this type of personal information. There are also additional restrictions on the conditions in which we are permitted to collect and use criminal conviction data.

Any references to personal information in this privacy policy will include personal data, and where relevant, special categories of personal data.

B. What personal information do we collect?

When it comes to personal information, we only collect your full name and contact details (for e.g. phone number, email address and postal address) from the time you engage with us.

In addition, if we are providing a service to you, or on your behalf, where we are required to do so by law, so we will collect the information related to your identity, which will be at least one form of photographic identification (such as a passport, a driving license or an identification card) and one form of documentation with proof of your place of residence (such as a recent utility bill).

Depending on the service that we provide to you we may also collect additional personal information as detailed below.

We may collect some more additional personal information depending on the service required at your end. We require personal information for the services we provide to you (or on your behalf) are mentioned below:

Buy, and Rent

If you are buying or renting any property through us:

• We will require to ask for your contact telephone number to keep you posted about the offers received for rental or purchase applications and moreover to organize viewings for the interested party.

• In case you are not the legal owner of the property then you will be requested to provide the following details such as a Power of Attorney, Guardianship Order or Grant of Probate.

• We will collect your bank account details to arrange onward payment of rent due to you

If you wish to rent a property, we are listing (on your behalf);

• Specific access requirements, so that we can find a property that is suitable for your needs

• Your bank / building / similar account details to allow us to manage an approved tenancy deposit account for you and to set up your rental payments.

• If you are a tenant renting under the 'Right to Rent' scheme we will collect details of your Biometric residence card, your immigration status document and/or your birth certificate to carry out our required checks under this scheme

If you wish to purchase a property we are listing for sale where you have specifically provided us with these, we will collect personal information relating to any specific access requirements you may have in relation to a property so that we can find a property that is suitable for your needs. We will also collect personal information required to source a property for you and, where required, negotiate the purchase of a property on your behalf.

Property Management

Where it comes to managing your property (on your behalf) we will ask for additional emergency contact information, so in case we need to get in touch with you outside of working hours or in the event there is a matter requiring your urgent attention. The time you engage us for portfolio management services, we will share your personal information with third party lenders as it’s necessary to allow us to fulfil our obligations to you and to properly manage and advise you on your property investments.

Other

If you subscribe to receive research, news or other market updates from us, then in addition to the above we will collect details about the sector in which you work and the type of content that you would like to receive.

C. How we use your personal information and what is the legal basis of our data processing?

Under data protection legislation we are only permitted to use your personal information if we have a legal basis for doing so. We rely on the following legal bases to use your information;

• For employment-related purposes

• Where we need information to perform the contract, we have entered with you

• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation

• Where the processing is necessary for us to carry out activities for which it is in Muscat Home' legitimate interests (or those of a third party) to do so and provided that your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests, including:

  • Processing that is necessary for us to promote our business, brands and products and measure the reach and effectiveness of our campaigns. – this will include sending you marketing information from time to time after you have engaged us to provide services or received services from us either which may be similar and of interest to you or where you have expressly indicated that you would like to receive such information. You have the right to opt out of receiving this information at any time.

  • Processing that is necessary to improve our knowledge of the real estate sector – this will include undertaking market analysis and research so that we better understand trends in the property sector and provide better knowledge along with more tailored and relevant services for our customers in the future.

  • Processing necessary for us to operate the administrative and technical aspects of our business efficiently and effectively – this will include: verifying the accuracy of information that we hold about you and create a better understanding of you as a customer; processing for administrative efficiency purposes such as where we outsource certain administrative functions to third parties who are specialize in such services; processing for network and information security purposes i.e. in order for us to take steps to protect your information against loss, damage, theft or unauthorized access or to comply with a request from you in connection with the exercise of any of your rights outlined below.

In more limited circumstances we may also rely on the following legal basis:

• Where we need to protect your interests (or someone else's interests); and/or

• Where it is needed in the public interest or for official purposes

We may process special categories of personal information and criminal conviction information in the following limited circumstances:

• With your explicit consent, in which case we will explain the purpose for which the information will be used at the point where we ask for your consent.

D. How your personal information will be used?

For specific information on how your personal information will be used for the services you have requested from us, please select from any of the options below:

Buy, and Rent

• We use your personal information for the purposes of fulfilling our obligations to you to let or buy any property or, if you are a buyer or tenant, for the purposes of arranging a contract for sale or a lease for you.

• If you are purchasing a property we are acting as agents for the sale of or selling a property through us we will share your personal information with your appointed solicitors and the solicitors acting for the other side of the deal as is necessary to facilitate the sale or purchase.

• If you are renting a property we are acting as letting agents of, we will share your personal data with third party referencing agencies for the purposes of the prevention and detection of crime, fraud and/or money laundering and checking your suitability to rent that property.

Property Management

• Where we are managing property on your behalf, we may need to pass your personal information from time to time on to third party contractors whom we have engaged to carry out maintenance on your properties.

• We may also pass your personal information to SPF Private Clients Limited.

Other uses of your personal information

• If we sell any part of our business and/or integrate it with another organization your details may be disclosed to our advisers and to prospective purchasers or joint venture partners and their advisers. If this occurs the new owners of the business will only be permitted to use your information in the same or similar way as set out in this privacy notice.

• We will share personal information with our regulators, governmental or quasi-governmental organizations, law enforcement authorities and with courts, tribunals and arbitrators as may be required from time to time in order to comply with our regulatory and legal obligations;

• Where we use third party services providers who process personal information on our behalf in order to provide services to us. This includes IT systems providers and IT contractors as well as third party referencing or screening agencies for the purposes of the prevention and detection of crime.

• We may share your personal information with any person working within the Muscat Home Group on a need to know basis to ensure we are able to perform our obligations to you.

• We will hold your personal information on our client management systems and use this to provide you with marketing information about similar services offered by Muscat Home to those which you have engaged us to provide which we feel you might find useful from time to time. You can opt out of receiving this information at any time.

E. What happens if you do not provide information that we request?

We need some of your personal information to perform the services you have requested from us. For example:

• where we are selling a property on your behalf, we need to know your contact information so that we can update you with information on viewings, offers and the progress of the sale;

• where you have asked us to find you a property which meets certain access requirements, we may need to know some further details about your circumstances so that we can find you a suitable property;

We also need some information so that we can comply with our legal obligations. For example, we may need identity documents from you to meet our obligations to prevent fraud and money laundering.

If you do not provide the information required for these purposes, we will not be able to perform our contract with you and may not be able to provide services to you or continue to provide certain services to you. We will explain when this is the case at the point where we collect information from you.

F. How your information will be secured?

The security of information is very important to us and we have measures in place which are designed to prevent unauthorized access to your personal information including but not limited to:

• Our client files are stored on our secure client management systems. Access is restricted on our client systems to those within the business who are required to have access to your information for legitimate business purposes.

• Hard copy documentation is stored in locked cabinets.

All data is hosted in datacenters which have systems and protections in place to protect against both unauthorized access, and other external factors that could cause damage to, your personal data. There are strict access requirements in place and access is restricted to those necessary. By providing your consent in the relevant consent box provided to these Privacy Terms you acknowledge and agree that such datacenters may be based outside of the Sultanate of Oman and may be owned and operated but third parties on behalf of Muscat Home.

We ensure access to personal information is restricted to Muscat Home employees and workers or other persons working within the Muscat Home on a need to know basis. Training is provided to any of those Muscat Home employees and workers who need access to personal information.

G. For how long we keep your personal information

The period for which we will keep your personal information will depend on the type of service you have requested from us. The retention period may be longer than the period for which we are providing services to you where we have statutory or regulatory obligations to retain personal information for a longer period, or where we may need to retain the information in case of a legal claim.

H. Foreign transfers of your personal information

We may transfer, store, or process your personal information in locations outside the Sultanate of Oman

By providing your consent in the relevant consent box provided to these Privacy Terms you acknowledge and agree that your personal information may be transferred outside of the Sultanate of Oman

I. Your rights in relation to your personal information

• You have several rights in relation to your personal information, these include the right to:

  1. Be informed about how we use your personal information

  2. Obtain access to your personal information that we hold

  3. Request that your personal information is corrected if you believe it is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate

  4. Request that we erase your personal information in the following circumstances:

     1. If Muscat Home is continuing to process personal information beyond the period when it is necessary to do so for the purpose for which it was originally collected

     2. If Muscat Home is relying on consent as the legal basis for processing and you withdraw consent

     3. If Muscat Home is relying on legitimate interests as the legal basis for processing and you object to this processing and there is no overriding compelling ground which enables us to continue with the processing

     4. If the personal information has been processed unlawfully (i.e. in breach of the requirements of the data protection legislation)

     5. If it is necessary to delete the personal information to comply with a legal obligation

• Ask us to restrict our data processing activities where you consider that:

  1. personal information is inaccurate

  2. our processing of your personal information is unlawful

  3. where we no longer need the personal information, but you require us to keep it to enable you to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim

  4. where you have raised an objection to our use of your personal information

• Request a copy of certain personal information that you have provided to us in a commonly used electronic format. This right relates to personal information that you have provided to us that we need in order to perform our agreement with you and personal information where we are relying on consent to process your personal information

• Object to our processing of your personal information where we are relying on legitimate interests or exercise of a public interest task to make the processing lawful. If you raise an objection, we will carry out an assessment to determine whether we have an overriding legitimate ground which entitles us to continue to process your personal information; and

• Not be subject to wholly automated decisions which produce legal effects, or which could have a similarly significant effect on you.