Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

Occupied.co.za (“we”, “us”, “our”) connects households looking for pet and house care with independent sitters. This policy explains how we collect, use, store and protect personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) of South Africa.

We are the responsible party for the processing described in this policy.

Information Officer: Andre Nel — bookings@occupied.co.za
Postal address: Carlton Street, Jukskeipark, Johannesburg, 2001
Company registration number: 2001/034619/23

2. What information we collect

• Account and signup details: name, display name, email address, phone number, and whether you work as an employee or independently.
• Listing content: the details, photos and descriptions you publish to advertise your services, and communications between users sent through the site.
• Transaction records: subscription and payment confirmation records kept by our payment provider; we do not store your card numbers or payment credentials on our servers.
• Support and enquiry messages: anything you send us by email or through the site.
• Website usage information: cookies and similar technologies (see section 8).

You decide what you put in your listings; please do not include information in them that you would not want publicly visible.

3. Why we process it (and on what basis)

Under POPIA we may only process personal information if we have a lawful basis. We do so:

• To provide our services — to create your account, publish listings, connect sitters and owners, process subscriptions and payments, and manage your account (performance of a contract, and processing necessary for the legitimate interest of running the platform).
• To comply with the law — keeping accounting and other records for the periods required by South African law, such as the Tax Administration Act (performance of a legal obligation).
• With your consent — for example, where you ask us to send you marketing emails, or where we specifically ask for information you are not otherwise obliged to provide. Supplying information marked optional is voluntary; if you do not supply information that is required for signup, we cannot create your account.

We do not sell your personal information to anyone.

4. Who receives your information

We share personal information only with parties necessary to operate the service:

• Our hosting, email and payment providers (for example our payment gateway), under contractual obligations to protect your information;
• Other users, to the extent you choose to make it public in listings or share it in booking communications;
• Professional advisers, auditors, regulators, courts and law enforcement where we are legally required or entitled to do so.

5. Direct marketing

We will only send you electronic marketing emails if you have opted in (POPIA section 69). Every marketing email identifies us as the sender and includes a working unsubscribe link; you can withdraw consent at any time at no cost. A first rating/review invitation sent once after a completed house sitting is a service message about the service you used, not direct marketing, and will itself offer an opt-out from future messages.

6. Access, correction, deletion and your other rights

You have the right, under POPIA, to:

• Ask what information we hold about you and to see it (a data subject access request, POPIA section 23);
• Correct or delete personal information that is inaccurate, irrelevant, out of date, incomplete, misleading or obtained unlawfully (section 24), or to object under section 18(3) to us processing it (Form 1 of the POPIA Regulations);
• Withdraw consent at any time for processing based on consent (section 11(3));
• Restrict processing while we verify a correction or objection;
• Complain to the Information Regulator if you believe we have mishandled your information (see section 13 below).

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Information Officer (section 1). We take reasonable steps to verify your identity before acting on a request and will respond within the timeframes allowed by POPIA. A fee may be charged for access requests as permitted by the regulations.

7. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only as long as it is needed for the purposes above or as required by law. Account information is kept while your account is active and for a reasonable period afterwards so we can restore listings and resolve disputes. Accounting and transaction records are kept for at least five years as required by law. Legacy or backup data is deleted or anonymised when no longer needed (POPIA section 14, retention and limitation of further processing).

8. Cookies and tracking

We may use cookies and similar technologies to (a) keep you logged in and keep the site secure, and (b) understand in aggregate how visitors use the site so we can improve it. Where these technologies are used to identify you or track your behaviour, we obtain the information lawfully in line with POPIA; analytics is kept as limited and, where possible, anonymised as we can make it. You can configure your browser to reject or delete cookies, noting that deleting functional cookies may prevent parts of the site from working (for example, staying logged in).

9. Security and breaches

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard personal information against loss, unauthorised access, modification and disclosure (POPIA section 19). If there is a breach of security that is likely to result in harm to you, we will notify you, and the Information Regulator, as required (section 22), with recommendations on steps you can take to protect yourself.

10. Special personal information and children

We do not collect special personal information (such as information about your health, religion, political opinions, race or trade union membership, or criminal or biometric information) unless an exception in POPIA applies and you knowingly provide it. We do not knowingly collect the personal information of children (persons under 18) and ask that children do not sign up (POPIA sections 27 and 28). If you believe a child has given us information, contact the Information Officer so we can delete it.

11. Transfers outside South Africa

Some providers that host our systems or process payments may store or access data outside South Africa. When information is transferred across our borders, we do so only with parties bound by agreements or law that provide an equal or greater level of protection for it (POPIA section 72).

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy and will publish the current version on this page with its revision date. Where a material change affects what you lodged with us, we will notify you before the change takes effect.

13. Contact and complaints

Contact our Information Officer at the details in section 1 for anything about your privacy.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator for South Africa:

Telephone: 012 406 4818 · Email: complaints.IR@inforegulator.org.za · Website: inforegulator.org.za