- We collect the information you give us in enquiries and applications, and a few cookies that make this website work.
- We use it to assess applications, run the lease, bill and contact residents, and keep everyone safe.
- We may run a credit check on the parent/guardian or sponsor who will pay the fees. Ticking the Privacy Policy box on the application form gives us permission to do this.
- We never sell your information. You can ask to see, correct or delete it at any time.
Contents
- Who we are
- What we collect
- How we use it
- Credit checks
- Cookies
- Who we share it with
- Information stored outside South Africa
- How long we keep it
- How we protect it
- Your rights
- Applicants under 18
- Changes to this policy
1. Who we are
This website and the online application form are run by Gallagher Student Accommodation (Pty) Ltd ("Gallagher Student Accommodation", "we", "us"), 42 Richards Drive, Midrand, South Africa. We are the responsible party for your personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA).
Our Information Officer: ยท +27 11 205 0744
42 Richards Drive, Midrand
2. What we collect
About the student (applicant or resident)
- Name, title, gender, date of birth, ID or passport number and nationality
- Contact details and home address
- College or university, course, year of study and student number
- Room preferences, start date and whether you need transport
- Medical aid, any medical conditions or allergies you choose to tell us about, and an emergency contact
- Copies of documents you upload, such as your ID or passport
About the parent/guardian or sponsor
- Name, ID or passport number, contact details and address
- Bank statements or a sponsorship letter uploaded with the application
- Credit information from a credit bureau (see Credit checks)
When you use this website
- Messages you send us through the contact form, email or WhatsApp
- Cookies and basic technical information such as your browser type and IP address (see Cookies)
Fields marked as required on the application form are needed to consider your application. If you do not provide them, we cannot process it. Everything else is optional.
3. How we use it
- To assess your application and decide whether we can offer you a room
- To check that the person paying the fees is able to pay them
- To prepare and manage your lease, invoices, statements and receipts
- To contact you, your parent/guardian or sponsor about the application, your stay and your account
- To keep residents safe, including contacting your emergency contact and sharing medical information with emergency services if needed
- To meet our legal, tax and accounting obligations
- To answer enquiries and improve this website
We only use your information for these purposes, or for a purpose that is compatible with them.
4. Credit checks
Before offering a room, we may obtain a credit report on the parent/guardian or sponsor who will pay the accommodation fees. We use a credit bureau registered with the National Credit Regulator, currently Experian South Africa. The report tells us whether the person is up to date on their accounts, and helps us decide whether to accept the application and what deposit or payment arrangements to ask for.
- Permission: when you tick the Privacy Policy box on the application form, you agree to this credit check and confirm that the parent/guardian or sponsor named in the application has agreed to it. This is the consent the National Credit Act requires before a credit report is requested.
- What it shows: the enquiry is recorded on that person's credit profile, where other lenders can see it.
- What we keep: a summary of the result and the account lines needed for the decision. We do not keep a full copy of the credit report, and we store the ID number in masked form.
- Who sees it: only our managers and administrators.
- If you would rather not: contact us before you submit the application. We may be able to accept other proof of ability to pay, such as a sponsorship letter or payment in advance.
Anyone may get a free copy of their own credit report once a year from each credit bureau and dispute information they think is wrong, as the National Credit Act allows.
5. Cookies
Cookies are small files a website stores in your browser. We use:
- Essential storage to remember things like whether you have closed the privacy notice and, on the application form, your uploads while you are filling it in.
- Google reCAPTCHA on some forms to block spam. Google may set its own cookies and collect information about your device for this purpose.
- Content delivery services (for example Google Fonts and the services that deliver the site's styles and scripts), which receive your IP address when your browser downloads those files.
We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. Links to Facebook and WhatsApp only send information to those services when you click them. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, but some forms may then not work.
6. Who we share it with
We never sell your personal information. We share it only when we need to:
- With the credit bureau, for the credit check described above
- With service providers who host our website and systems, send our emails and store our documents. They may only use your information to provide their service to us, and must keep it secure.
- With the sponsor named in your application, about payments for your stay
- With emergency services, if a resident's health or safety is at risk
- With authorities or courts when the law requires it, or to collect amounts owed under a lease
7. Information stored outside South Africa
Some of our service providers store information on servers outside South Africa. We only use providers that are bound by laws or agreements that protect personal information at least as well as POPIA does, as section 72 of POPIA requires.
8. How long we keep it
We keep application information for as long as we need it to consider the application. If you become a resident, we keep your records for the length of your lease and afterwards for as long as tax, accounting and other laws require, generally five years. When information is no longer needed, we delete it or make it anonymous.
9. How we protect it
Our management system is only available to our staff through individual logins, and each person can only see what their role needs. Uploaded documents are stored privately and are not publicly accessible. If we believe your information has been accessed without permission, we will tell you and the Information Regulator, as POPIA requires.
10. Your rights
You may:
- Ask whether we hold information about you, and for a copy of it
- Ask us to correct information that is wrong, or delete information we no longer need
- Object to us using your information, or withdraw your permission. This does not affect what we did before, and we may then not be able to continue with an application or lease.
- Complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforegulator.org.za
To make a request, contact our Information Officer using the details in section 1. We may ask you to confirm your identity first.
11. Applicants under 18
If the applicant is under 18, a parent or guardian must agree to this policy and to the application on their behalf.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The date at the top shows when it last changed. If we make an important change, we will tell current residents and applicants.