Privacy Notice

Privacy Notice

Updated 29.6.2022

This privacy notice describes the means and purposes of processing your personal data when you are our customer or tenant in a property owned or managed by us.

Your personal data is processed mainly for a variety of purposes related to a tenancy.

In addition, we process your personal data for various marketing and promotional purposes as described in this Privacy Notice.

Please note that we also process personal data about tenancy applicants, other residents, and rent payers.

On some rental properties we also process personal data through video surveillance, electronic access control and locking systems to ensure the security of the living environment.

Please note that when we process personal data related to tenancies and property management, we act as joint controllers with the owners of the properties.

Avara processes personal data as a rental agency mainly on the basis of the customer relationship and the owners of the properties on the basis of a tenancy agreement.

In this privacy notice, “we” refers to Avara and the owners of the properties.

You can contact us with questions concerning this privacy notice and our data processing, joint controllership with the owners of the properties or you want to exercise your rights granted by The General Data Protection Regulation, by using the contact information below.

1. Contact point of the controllers

Avara Oy
Kansakoulukatu 10
00100 Helsinki
tietosuoja@avara.fi

2. Purposes and legal bases for the processing of personal data

The processing of personal data is based on the customer or tenancy agreement or in order to take measures prior to concluding such an agreement, to comply with Avara's or the property owner’s legal obligations, based on a legitimate interest and based on your consent.

Personal data is mainly processed for customer relations and tenure management purposes as well as for marketing and communications.

We also process personal data on the basis of a legitimate interest. In most cases, our legitimate interest is based on a customer or other similar relationship.

On some of the properties video surveillance, electronic access control and locking systems are used to prevent and investigate situations endangering safety. The processing measures are based on Avara’s and the property owner’s legitimate interest. These measures are necessary so that we can improve safety of the living environment and prevent possible crimes and vandalism. We have taken account of special legal requirements for video surveillance.

In addition, the processing of personal data for the development of services and IT systems is based on Avara’s legitimate interest in freedom to conduct a business.

We ensure that the processing performed on legitimate interests are proportionate to your benefits and meet your reasonable expectations.

Right to object. When your personal data is processed based on a legitimate interest, you have the right to object to the processing of personal data in certain situations. Read more in section 7.

  • Customer service.Your personal data is processed in connection with various service requests, eg in connection with measures related to the tenancy applications and resident notifications.
  • Resident surveys.We process your personal data in connection with various resident surveys, eg in measuring customer satisfaction.
  • Resident gifts. Your personal data is processed for various post-marketing purposes, such as the delivery of potential resident gifts.
  • Apartment showings. Your personal data is processed in connection with apartment showings.
  • Housing maintenance. Your personal data is processed in connection with possible maintenance work related to the rental property.
  • Management of car and other parking spaces. Your personal information is processed to arrange parking.
  • Management of keys. Your personal data is processed to manage keys of the rental property.
  • Customer service and tenancy management. We need your personal information to manage customer relationship and tenancy.
  • Energy management system. Your personal data is used to control and maintain the energy efficiency on our properties.
  • Real estate management. Your personal data is processed in connection with the services related to the real estate management of the rental property.
  • Maintenance and development of IT systems, information security and quality assurance. We process your personal data so that we can maintain and improve our systems and detect anomalies.
  • Property maintenance services. We process your personal data, for example, in connection with resident reports (entry and exit reports) and in the processing of possible defect notifications.
  • Real estate secretarial services. We may process your personal information in matters such as rent refunds and security deposit returns.
  • Delivery of household appliances. We process your personal information in connection with possible deliveries of household appliances.
  • Billing services. Your personal information is processed, for example, for sending rental invoices and managing balances.
  • Marketing and communication.
    We use personal data to target communication and marketing to the right people. We can send you various newsletters, opinion and market surveys, newsletters, various invitations and direct marketing according to your choices. Marketing and communications are based either on the consent you have given or on the customer relationship with the customer relationship managed by Avara Oy.
  • Sanctions monitoring. We use your personal information for regulatory Politically Exposed Person and sanction screenings.
  • Production, development and quality assurance of services. We want to provide quality services and we are constantly developing our services based on the use of the services, the user experience, and the feedback we receive.
  • Staircase resident list, resident application, and common space booking calendars. We process your personal data to maintain staircase resident lists, and to provide resident application, and common space booking calendars. An information board with the surname of each resident must be prominently displayed on the entrance floor of the stairwell.
  • Preventing money laundering and terrorist financing and statutory Know Your Customer (KYC) information. We collect and process a variety of your personal data, such as your name, contact information, social security number, and a copy of your ID to meet statutory KYC obligations and to prevent, detect and investigate the prevention, detection and detection of money laundering and terrorist financing.
  • Damages and insurance. Your personal data can be processed, for example, in connection with the handling of a possible claim.
  • Processing of a tenancy application. Your personal information will be processed in connection with the tenancy application process.
  • Tenancy administration. Your personal data is processed, for example, in order to take measures prior to concluding the tenancy agreement, during the tenancy and in connection with its termination.
  • Video surveillance, electronic access control and locking systems. Some of the rental properties we use video surveillance as well as various electronic access control and locking systems to improve the safety of the living environment, to prevent possible crimes and vandalism, and to report them to the authorities.
  • Ensuring safety. We process your personal data, for example, in connection with the processing of any notification related to the safety of housing.
  • Financial administration services. We may process your personal data, for example in connection with possible billing.

3. What kind of personal data do we collect and process?

Depending on the type of your customer relationship or other relationship with Avara Oy, we process different types of personal data, such as:

  • Basic and contact information such as first and last name, address, apartment number, telephone number, e-mail address, personal identity number, date of birth and citizenship.
  • Information related to tenancy and agreements, such as information about the rental apartment and the duration of the tenancy.
  • Information related to interests and backgrounds, such as income and financial status, information on occupation and employment, information on the reasons for the need for apartment, various credit information, and information on possible disability or a guardian. In ARA housing, notes, (eg tax information, wealth, income information, current housing information, address information, ownership and possession of the apartment, area of the apartment)
  • Rent payment information and information related to the payment history, such as information related to the rental security deposit, as well as information on possible payment delays and credit default entries.
  • Information related to communications and marketing, such as your given consents, information collected through cookies, and information about communications sent to you.
  • Information stored in camera surveillance systems, electronic access control and locking systems at our rental properties.
  • Any other information you provide to us.

4. Where do we collect personal data?

We mainly collect personal data related to housing services directly from you through the tenancy application form and the tenancy agreement. The accuracy of the personal data you provide when concluding the lease is checked from the population register. Credit information is checked from the credit information register maintained by Suomen Asiakastieto Oy.

Personal data may also be collected from parties outside Avara, such as various partners and companies and public authorities providing personal data services.

5. How long is personal data retained?

Personal data will only be processed for as long as is necessary for the purposes mentioned above. We delete unnecessary and outdated personal data when there are no longer grounds for retaining the data.

6. Disclosures of personal data and data transfers out of the European Economic Area

Although we do a lot ourselves, we use third parties in our operations. Your personal data may be disclosed to the following groups of recipients:

  • To companies belonging to the Avara Group
  • To various IT and data center service providers
  • To the energy management system supplier
  • To the supplier of the electronic information board, resident application, and common space booking calendars
  • To our real estate management and property maintenance partners
  • To our billing and collection service partners
  • To our marketing partners
  • To electricity and data network suppliers
  • To contractors and brokers
  • To security and lock services
  • To the authorities
  • To other third parties, such as home appliance suppliers.

Please note that some of our partners and recipients of personal data are located outside the European Economic Area.

In situations where your personal data is transferred outside the European Economic Area, we have taken various measures to maintain the high level of data protection required by European law even after the transfer. An example of such measures is the use of model contract clauses approved by the European Commission as part of the agreements we enterinto with recipients of personal data in third countries.
Please visit here for more information on standard contractual clauses.

7. Your rights as a data subject

The General Data Protection Regulation grants you several rights as a data subject related to processing of your personal data.

However, we would like to point out that these rights ensured by the law are not absolute.

For example, we cannot delete personal data related to your tenancy in a situation where you have a valid tenancy agreement with us.

You can ask us to exercise your rights mentioned below by sending your request to the address mentioned in section 1 of this privacy notice.

The right of access to personal data. You have the right to receive confirmation on whether we process personal data relating to you. You have the right to access and ask for a copy of any such personal data. We may ask you to specify your request, when necessary, for example regarding to the details of the provision of information.

Right to rectification. You have the right to request the rectification of incorrect, incomplete or outdated personal data relating to you.

Right to data erasure. In some situations, you have the right to request erasure of your personal data from our data systems. We will comply with your request, if there is no legitimate reason to retain the data, such as a legal obligation to continue processing the personal data.

Right to object and right to restrict the processing of your personal data. Based on a specific personal reason, you have the right to object to the processing of personal data. However, this does not mean the general right to oppose all processing, but is limited, for example, to situations where the processing is based on legitimate interest of ours or a third party.

We have the right to continue to process your personal data if we have a compelling reason to do so. Such a reason may be, for example, a continuous threat or investigation of crime or vandalism.

In addition, you may at any time object to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes.

You also have the right to request a restriction on the processing of your personal data, for example in situations where you dispute the accuracy of your personal data.

Right to data portability. You have the right to receive your personal data from us in a structured, commonly used format so that you may transfer your personal data to another controller, provided that the processing of your personal data is based on consent or a contract between you and Avara.

Right to lodge a complaint. If the processing of your personal data is in breach of applicable legislation, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the national supervisory authority. You can lodge the complaint with a competent supervisory authority. In Finland, this is the Data Protection Ombudsman, and the complaint must be lodged in accordance with instructions provided by the Office of the Data Protection Ombudsman. Please visit here for more information.

8. How we keep your personal data safe?

Access management. The processing of personal data is only permitted to designated, authorized persons whose duties require it. Personal data can only be accessed with appropriate access rights.

Agreements. Persons processing personal data have signed appropriate confidentiality commitments or are otherwise subject to an obligation of confidentiality.

Our data processing partners have committed to take appropriate measures to ensure the security of personal data.

Staff training and guidance. We have provided comprehensive data protection training and guidance for all our personnel. We have issued binding written instructions and regulations to our employees regarding the processing of personal data, data security and data protection, which the employees have committed to comply with.

Technical measures. Personal data and systems are protected e.g. with firewalls. In addition, we monitor the processing of personal data and automatically detect anomalies. The data is stored on a server located in a locked premises where passing is restricted by access control and monitored by recording camera surveillance. Necessary physical copies of personal information will be kept in a locked premises. We regularly review the processing of personal data and the systems and equipment used for processing activities, and assess the risks associated with the processing, for example, when introducing new technology.

9. Use of cookies in our online services

We use cookies and similar technologies in our online services.

What are cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer, mobile device, or other device. Cookies contain a unique identifier that allows us to identify and count the different browsers that visit our site. We also use other technologies, such as tracking codes (such as ad pixels) and the like, that are stored on your device.

For example, we use cookies to collect the following information:

  • Information on how to use and browse the features of the service, such as
    • how and when our services are used
    • For example, what page you have accessed from the service
    • when and what web pages you have browsed
    • what links you have seen and clicked on
    • what browser you are using, what is the screen resolution, the operating system of the device and its version
  • The information you provide in the tenancy application process and in the Vuokraa heti -service
  • Location information, if you have given your consent to do so
  • Other information collected with the user's consent.

Third Party Cookies

First-party cookies are cookies that are placed on our behalf for the online service you visit. Third-party cookies are cookies that we set on behalf of our partner or another website. Third-party cookies may be set to implement content on our website, such as videos, site usability and social media functionality, traffic analytics or advertising.

Social media, advertising, and analytics operators may combine this information with other information you have provided to them or collected after you have used their services. The processing of information collected through third-party cookies is not described in this privacy notice, but in each third-party’s own privacy notice, which you access through the cookie settings.

Cookie settings and cookie management

By law, we need your consent to provide services other than those you request. We also need your consent for the use cookies that are not strictly necessary for the operation of the website.

What we use cookies for

We use cookies to customize the content and ads we provide, to support social media features, and to analyse our traffic. In addition, we share information about how you use our site with our social media, advertising, and analytics partners.

To control what cookies are used and how, when you visit our online services, we have divided the cookies we use into four different categories. These categories are defined based on the purposes of the cookies and the information collected by cookies.

We have divided cookies into the following four categories. All categories contain third-party cookies that may be used to transfer information to third parties.

Necessary cookies. Necessary cookies help to make the website usable by allowing basic functions such as navigation on the webpage and using the protected areas of the website. The website will not work properly without these cookies.

Preferences. Preferred cookies allow a site to store information that changes the behaviour and appearance of the site, such as language choices or user locations.

Statistics. Statistical cookies help the site owners understand how users interact with sites by collecting and reporting information.

Marketing. Marketing cookies are used to track website visitors. The goal is to show ads that are relevant and engaging to individual users, and more valuable to publishers and third-party advertisers.

You can change your cookie settings or cancel your consent from the link below. Behind the link you will also find links to the third-party privacy notices.

Change your cookie preferences

10. Modification of this Privacy Notice

The ways in which your personal data is processed may change as our business develops and thus this Privacy Notice may change. You will always find the up-to-date version of this privacy notice on this website.