ESM are purely the custodians of stored information which is the property of the Strata Company.
The Strata Titles Act states: Upon application made in writing to a strata company by an owner or mortgagee of a lot, or by a person authorised in writing by such a proprietor or mortgagee.
We need to ensure that any information we provide other parties, must be with the consent of the lot owner. If the owner has provided us a written authority to speak with the person requesting information, then it may be okay to give out - that wouldn’t breach the Privacy Act.
We need to ensure that we comply with legal requirements regarding any personal information that we hold about clients to;
- Have their privacy rights respected;
- Be assured their information will not be passed onto a third person unless it is authorised by law or they have given their consent;
- Be assured that information will only be used for the purpose it was supplied.
ESM requests that customers who wish to change their contact details, do so in writing.
This enables us to:
- Confirm that the authorised people (i.e. owners or property managers) are giving us these instructions, prior to updates being made
- Keep a record of all change requests on file
- Stop identity theft and fraudulent changes to your contact details.
To update your details, you can fill out this form or email your Strata Manager directly.
Printable form here: FORM_Updating Client Details.pdf
Example Case
Mary was an owner in a complex of 10 units in Southern River. Mary's daughter had wanted control of her mothers affairs and was contacting companies on behalf of her mother requesting that contact details be changed to her name.
ESM received a call from Mary's daughter, but referred her to the website stating that all changes needed to be put in writing.
This information was received, but as the details did not match with the lot owners card, the Strata Manager called Mary to confirm that she was comfortable with the change.
Mary confirmed that she had not wanted these changes and therefore requested that the details remain as they were.
Had the changes been made via a telephone conversation, Mary would have been unaware of the requested changes and ESM would have no documentation confirming the request had been made.