Collection, storage and use

No need to disclose personal information

You can use this website without disclosing any personal information.

Voluntary disclosure of personal information

You may choose to voluntarily provide personal information through this website (e.g. in ‘ask a question’, online tools or feedback forms). This information may be viewable by site administrators, Tenancy Services staff (as appropriate) and third-party contractors who may administrate or work on the websites.

Electronic alerts and newsletters 

When you subscribe to one of our alerts or newsletters, the details you provide may be stored in a secure third-party database (i.e. MailChimp). Your name and email address will be used to send you future electronic newsletters, and will not be disclosed without your consent. When you unsubscribe to our alert or newsletter, your details will be deleted from the database.

For more information, see the Mailchimp terms and conditions(external link) and the Mailchimp privacy policy(external link).

Some digital tools (ie. the Residential Tenancy Agreement Builder) use SendGrid to send one-time transactional emails.

View the SendGrid privacy policy(external link).

Collection of personal information

Tenancy Services may ask or require you to provide some personal information when you complete an online form or tool (e.g. the online publication form, Residential Tenancy Agreement Builder). Tenancy Services may require you to register your details with us in order to create or maintain an account or profile (e.g. the Tenancy Tribunal Online Application form). As part of our online processes there may be other information that is required to be supplied. Failing to provide such information may reduce or make unavailable some services we provide to you. 

Holding of information

When you provide personal information, it will be held by Tenancy Services. It may be stored or accessed on behalf of Tenancy Services by authorised third parties (such as third-party contractors) to the extent that is necessary, for example for them to administrate or work on the websites. We will take reasonable steps to store your information securely. The information you provide us may be accessed on our behalf by staff, contractors and authorised service providers where access is necessary to use the information.

We will only retain personal information for as long as it is required for the purposes for which it may lawfully be used or it is a public record. We store public records (which can include personal information) in accordance with the Public Records Act 2005.

Disclosure of information

Tenancy Services will generally not share personal information that is provided or collected through this website, unless it is necessary to do so for the purpose for which you gave us the information (e.g. to investigate a complaint, or to manage or schedule a mediation) or where you consent. Tenancy Services will not otherwise disclose personal information provided or collected through this website unless required or otherwise permitted by law, such as under the Official Information Act 1982 or to a Parliamentary Select Committee or Parliament in response to a Parliamentary Question.

Use of personal information

Tenancy Services will generally only use personal information provided to us through this website for the purpose you provided it (e.g. to administer, evaluate and improve the site, to improve our services, or to action or respond to the information provided).

We may use personal information provided to us through this website for other reasons permitted under the Privacy Act (e.g. with your consent, for a directly related purpose, or where the law permits or requires it).

Call recording

As part of our commitment to providing the best possible service to our customers we record all inbound and outbound telephone calls at our contact centre. This helps us to identify ways that we can provide you with a better service.

We record calls for staff training purposes, helping us to improve the quality of our customer service and to ensure the information we provide is consistent and accurate.

We understand your personal information is important to you, and we are committed to protecting your privacy. We store the recordings securely for 2 years and destroy them after this period.

You can request access to your personal information contacting oia@mbie.govt.nz and asking for the Privacy Officer. We will provide this information to you unless we have a lawful reason for withholding this information.

Records and retention of personal information

Tenancy Services will only retain personal information as long as it is required for the purposes for which the information was collected and may lawfully be used.

Public Records

Where any information or data provided (which may include personal information) to or through this site or other digital tools constitute public records, these will be retained to the extent required by the Public Records Act 2005.

Rights of access and correction

Your rights

You have the right to:

• find out from us whether we hold personal information about you
• access that information; and, if applicable
• request corrections to that information.

If Tenancy Services has a good reason for refusing a request for correction, you are entitled to request that a statement be attached to the information of the correction that was sought but not made.

If you want to check personal information that we hold, you can email or write to us.

Write to:

Privacy Officer
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
PO Box 5488
Wellington 6011
New Zealand

Email:

oia@mbie.govt.nz and ask for the Privacy Officer.

For more information on the privacy laws in New Zealand and contact details for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, please visit the Privacy Commissioner's website(external link).

Security

MBIE websites have security measures in place to prevent the loss, misuse and alteration of information under our control. In order to maintain the cyber security of MBIE systems and information, MBIE systems are subject to ongoing monitoring (including activity logging), analysis and auditing. We may use information about your use of our websites and other IT systems to prevent unauthorised access or attacks, or other misuse, on these systems or to resolve such events. We may use this information even if you are not involved in such activity. MBIE may utilise services from one or more third party suppliers to monitor or maintain the cyber security of its systems and information. These third party suppliers will have access to monitoring and logging information as well as information processed on MBIE websites and other IT systems.

Statistical information and cookies

Statistical information

We may collect statistical information about your visit to help us improve this site. This information is aggregated and non-personally identifying. It may include:

• your IP address;
• the search terms you used;
• the pages you accessed on this site and the links you clicked on;
• the date and time you visited the site;
• the referring site (if any) through which you clicked through to this site;
• the device you used to access the site;
• your operating system (e.g. Windows 10, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android);
• the type of web browser you use (e.g. Internet Explorer, Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Safari); and
• other incidental matters such as screen resolution, the release of your installed Flash version and the language setting of your browser.

The statistical information referred to above will be viewable by site administrators and certain other MBIE staff who require it for their role. Statistical information may also be shared with other government agencies.

Cookies

Browser or ‘web’ cookies are small text files that are sent by a website and stored on your computer's hard drive. Cookies are generally used to improve your experience of a website (e.g. by remembering preferences you have set) and to track site usage.

Tenancy Services does not use cookies on this website to gather any personally identifiable information. We use cookies to gather data about trends in site usage using a tool called Google Analytics. We also use cookies to gather data about your browsing history on the Tenancy Services website. We may use this data to enhance your browsing experience, improve our website, and to identify whether you have seen our marketing material before you visited our site.

This website uses third-party vendor remarketing tracking cookies and tools. These allow third-party vendors to show MBIE ads on websites across the Internet based on someone's past visits to this website.  We may use these cookies and tools to target advertising about our services, other areas of MBIE, or other MBIE services which might be of interest to you.

The tracking cookies and tools implemented on the Tenancy Services website may include:

• Remarketing with Google Analytics
• Google Display Impression Reporting
• DoubleClick Platform integrations
• Google Analytics Demographics and Interest reporting
• Facebook Pixel conversion tracking and remarketing.

You can read Google’s privacy statement, and access a Google Analytics opt-out tool, at the Google Privacy Center(external link). You can read Facebook’s privacy and cookies policies, and access various data tools, within the Facebook Data Policy(external link).

You can manually disable cookies at any time - check your browser's 'Help' to find out how (disabling cookies will not affect your ability to use this website).

This privacy and cookies policy was last updated on 1 December 2020.

Heating Assessment Tool

The Heating Assessment Tool (HAT) requires you to send your final report to a secure email address. You will be asked for your name, the landlord’s name, the property address, a secure email address and your role in the rental market (e.g. a landlord or tenant), in order to email your final report. You will also be asked for an email address if you start a heating assessment and intend to finish it at a later date. These email addresses will be used by the HAT to send you a link, so you can return to the tool and the data you’ve input. Email addresses won’t be stored and are inaccessible to MBIE, HUD and the HAT service provider.

The tool will temporarily store the data inputs until the assessment has been completed. Once you complete your heating assessment, this information will be permanently deleted from the tool and tenancy.govt.nz in 60 days. This information will not be used for marketing purposes.

Any heating assessment that hasn’t been reopened in 60 days will be automatically deleted, along with your email address and any data you’ve input.

We may also collect statistical information about your use of the Heating Assessment Tool. This statistical information collected is anonymous, and cannot be traced back to you or the email address used. This information may include:

• city and region of tenancy;
• local council information;
• climate zone of tenancy;
• the user's role in the rental market;
• age of the property; and
• all measurements entered about the main living room.

The Residential Tenancy Agreement Builder Tool

The Residential Tenancy Agreement Builder tool (the tool) requires a secure email address in order to email the completed tenancy agreement to you.

You’ll also be asked for an email address if you start an agreement and intend to finish it later. This information is stored temporarily within the tool. If you do this, non-personally identifiable information will be retained; however the tool won’t save any personally identifiable information for privacy reasons. You will need to enter this personally identifiable information again when you return to the tool.

Once you complete your tenancy agreement, all information, including personal information will be stored for 60 days. It will then be permanently deleted after 60 days. Your email address will not be used for marketing purposes, unless you opt in to receiving marketing emails.

We may also collect statistical information about your use of the tool. The statistical information collected is anonymous, and cannot be traced back to you or the email address used when creating the tenancy agreement. This information may include:

• city of tenancy;
• type of tenancy;
• if body corporate rules are attached;
• the maximum number of occupants permitted;
• if the right to renew is included;
• if a bond is required;
• the rent amount;
• the frequency of rent payment;
• if agent details are provided;
• whether subletting or assignment are allowed;
• any pet conditions (which may contain personal information, if included in the text field);
• if ceiling insulation requirements are met;
• if underfloor insulation requirements are met;
• any custom tenancy agreement clauses (which may contain personal information, if included in the text field).