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Privacy Statement

Student Housing Nova Scotia (“Student Housing NS”, “we”, or “us”) is dedicated to protecting the privacy of individuals who live, work or who otherwise interact with us in accordance with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). 

The purpose of this Privacy Statement is to inform you about our privacy practices, including how we collect, use and disclose your personal information. If you have any questions about our collection and use of personal information, please contact us as noted below.

What Information Do We Collect?

  1. Information You Provide to Us
    1. We collect information provided to us by individuals that voluntarily complete surveys, opinion polls, focus groups, or other research activities. 
    2. We collect information provided to us by individuals that interact with us via email, social media, or other forms of communication.

  2. Information We Collect Automatically
    1. We collect the following information when you visit any website affiliated with Student Housing Nova Scotia:
      1. Your device’s Internet Protocol address (e.g., IP 324.45.123.11).
      2. Your device’s operating system and the web browser you use to view our website.
      3. The referring site, if applicable.
      4. The pages you visit on the Student Housing NS website.
      5. Anonymized demographic information provided by search engines or social media services, such as age and gender.
      6. The date, time and duration of your visit.
    2. We track your online activity on the Student Housing NS website using heat-mapping, cookies and other web analytics.

       

  3. Information Provided by Tenants
    1. By applying to rent from us you authorize us to collect your personal information directly from you to complete your application, including asking for personal information that you are not required to provide, such as your social insurance number. In addition to the above, we also collect from the following when provided by our tenants:
      1. We collect the personal information you provide in a rental application, or in reference to a rental application, as well as during the course of your tenancy with us. This includes:
        1. Your name, birth date, and previous and current address(es).
        2. Banking insurance policy information.
        3. Proof of university enrolment.
        4. References from previous housing providers.
        5. Credit and payment history.

  4. Information Automatically Collected from Tenants:
    1. In addition to the information we already collect automatically, we also collect from the following automatically from our tenants:
      1. We collect the following information when you submit an application:
        1. Your device’s Internet Protocol address (e.g., IP 324.45.123.11).
        2. The date, time and amount of time it took to complete the application. 
      2. We collect the following information throughout the course of your tenancy with us:
        1. Historical status of rent payments (e.g., cheques returned NSF).
        2. Registration status for tenant or property management platforms we make available to you.
        3. Aggregate metadata collected during the use of tenant or property management platforms we make available to you.

How Do We Use Your Information?

We use personal information collected via use of our website to:

  1. Diagnose technical issues with our website, and provide end user support to those that access our services.
  2. Manage the platform and improve the services we provide.
  3. Understand how users are connecting with us.

We may use third-party services (such as Google Analytics) to collect, monitor and study aggregate data about platform usage in order to improve our services. These third-party services have their own privacy policies that cover how they protect the personal information they collect. We may also use your personal information for other purposes we have obtained your consent for and for other purposes as may be permitted or required by applicable law. 

We may use your personal information for other purposes we have obtained your consent for and for other purposes as may be permitted or required by applicable law. 

In addition to the above, we also use information collected from our tenants and rental applicants to:

  1. Process and assess your application.
  2. Verify and confirm the information in your application.
  3. Maintain and improve our application system.
  4. Contact you regarding your application and other services, including by email or SMS.
  5. Respond to your inquiries and requests.
  6. Aggregate data for reports, research, and analysis.

Except as otherwise described in this paragraph, we keep current-year and historic electronic versions of your application for 7 years following the approval or denial of your application or completion of your lease term (and subsequent renewals), whichever is greater, after which the personally identifiable information will be destroyed and the remaining information will be archived. Your information will not be returned, forwarded or copied to you before it is destroyed. 

How Do We Share Your Information?

We keep your personal information confidential and disclose it only for the purposes described in this Privacy Statement. We share your personal information with the following third parties:

  1. Service Providers
    We may transfer the personal information of general users, as required, to third parties who provide services on our behalf, such as property management services, web hosting, data storage and processing service providers, research and analytics providers, and auditors who analyze our systems.

  2. Universities, Government Institutions, and Researchers
    We may use the data we collect (such as university and program information, demographic information, and information collected in the course of research) to create anonymized and de-identified aggregate data which we may share with universities, government institutions, and researchers.

Additionally, we may use and disclose your information when we believe such use or disclosure is permitted, necessary, or appropriate:

  1. Under applicable law.
  2. To comply with the legal process or other legal obligations, including our obligations under contracts.
  3. To protect our rights, privacy, safety and property, and those of our affiliates, you and others.
  4. To allow us to pursue available remedies or limit the damages that we may sustain.

We may transfer your personal information and other information to a third party in the event of any reorganization, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our operations or assets.

Your personal information may also be stored and processed in any country where we engage third-party service providers, including outside of Canada to jurisdictions that may have different data protection. While such information is outside of Canada, it is subject to the laws of the country in which it is located, and may be subject to disclosure to the governments, courts or law enforcement or regulatory agencies of said country.

How Do We Protect Your Personal Information?

Although we take appropriate measures to safeguard the personal information we collect, we cannot guarantee that your personal information will always be used in ways that are consistent with this Privacy Statement and no method of transmission or storage of information is 100% secure or error-free.

The methods we use to safeguard your personal information include:

  1. We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards in an effort to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, use, modification and disclosure.
  2. ​We restrict access to personal information only to employees and authorized service providers who require the information for the purposes described in this Privacy Statement.
  3. Our third-party service providers are required to maintain the confidentiality and security of your personal information and to use it only in compliance with applicable privacy laws.

How Can You Access or Correct Your Personal Information?

Personal information collected automatically or in an anonymized aggregate cannot be accessed or corrected. 

To request access or a correction to personal information that you have provided to us, you may submit a written request to review/amend any such personal information about you that we hold and we will provide you with any such personal information to the extent required by law. You may also challenge the accuracy or completeness of your personal information in our records, and when appropriate, we will make amendments to this information as required.

Third-Party Websites and Services

Our website may provide links to third-party websites. This Privacy Statement does not extend to any websites, products or services provided by third-parties. These linked websites have separate and independent privacy policies, which we recommend you read carefully.

We have no control over such websites and therefore have no responsibility or liability for the manner in which the organizations that operate such linked websites may collect, use, disclose or otherwise process your personal information.

Changes To This Privacy Statement

This Privacy Statement was last updated in October 2024. We may update this Privacy Statement periodically to reflect changes to our personal information practices. We will post the revised privacy statement on this website. We treat your personal information in accordance with the privacy statement in place at the time of collection of such information, or as you otherwise consent.

How to Contact Us

You may contact us via email at info@studenthousingns.ca if you:

  • Have any questions or comments about this Privacy Statement, or about your personal information or our privacy practices.
  • Wish to access and/or correct the personal information we have in our custody or control.
  • Have a complaint about the manner in which we treat your personal information.​

This Privacy Statement was last updated in December 2024.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We work and live in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which Mi’kmaq Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet), and Passamaquoddy Peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1726.

The treaties did not deal with the surrender of lands and resources but in fact, recognized Mi’kmaq and Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet) title and established the rules for what was to be an ongoing relationship between nations.

Student Housing Nova Scotia acknowledges the Peace & Friendship Treaties signed in this Territory and recognizes that we are all Treaty People.

We also acknowledge that people of African descent have been in Nova Scotia for over 400 years, and we honour and offer gratitude to those ancestors of African descent who came before us to this land.