Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

HouseTracker.ng, operated by House Tracker (RC 7530784) ("HouseTracker", "we", "us") runs the website housetracker.ng: a Nigerian property platform where people find homes for rent and sale, agents and agencies list properties, landlords manage tenancies and rent records, and tenants keep track of their tenancy.

For the personal data described in this policy we are the data controller under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 ("NDPA") and the rules of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission ("NDPC").

This policy applies to our website, user dashboards (tenant, landlord, agent, agency) and the emails and text messages we send. It works together with our Terms of Use.

2. The short version

• We collect what we need to run the platform: your account details, the listings and tenancy records you create, payment records and, for agents, verification documents.
• If you sign in with Google, we receive only your name, email address and Google account ID. Nothing else from your Google account.
• Card and bank payments are handled by licensed payment companies (VPay, Monnify and Paystack). We never see or store your card number or PIN.
• We do not sell your personal data, and we do not use it for third-party advertising.
• Our website uses only cookies needed to keep you logged in and secure. No advertising or tracking cookies.
• You can ask to see, correct, download or delete your data at any time by writing to info@housetracker.ng.

3. Information we collect

a) Information you give us

• Account details: name, email address, phone and WhatsApp number, password (stored only in scrambled, "hashed", form), account type (seeker, tenant, landlord, agent, agency) and profile details such as photo, bio, title, city and social media links.
• Listings: property titles, descriptions, prices, addresses, map location, photos and videos. These are published so that the public can see them.
• Agent and agency verification: documents you upload to prove who you are, such as a government-issued ID, CAC / business registration, agent licence or property title documents.
• Enquiries: when you contact an agent about a property, your name, email, phone number and message.
• Tenancy records (property management): landlords record tenants' names, phone numbers and email addresses, rent amounts, due dates, payments, invoices, receipts and maintenance requests. Tenants may add maintenance requests and payment information.
• Bank details: if you add a bank account to your dashboard (for example to receive a refund), your bank name, account number and account name. We confirm the account name with our payment partner before saving it.
• Payment confirmations: if you pay by bank transfer and tell us, the payer name, bank, reference, date and any receipt you upload.
• Reports and messages: when you report a suspicious listing (optionally with your email), contact support, subscribe to our newsletter or answer a survey.

b) Information we receive from others

• Google, if you choose "Continue with Google" (see section 5).
• Payment partners (VPay, Monnify, Paystack): confirmation that a payment succeeded or failed, the amount, date and reference. For bank transfers this can include the name on the sending account.
• Landlords who add you as a tenant give us your name and contact details.
• SMS provider (Termii): whether a text message was delivered.

c) Information collected automatically

• Technical data: IP address, browser and device type, pages requested and time of the request, kept in our server logs for security and troubleshooting.
• Security records: sign-in events, email-verification and login codes, and a record of changes made in the admin area.
• Visit statistics: daily totals of page views and where visits came from (for example Google or Facebook), and how many times a listing or article is viewed. These are counts only; no IP address or other identifier is stored with them.
• Cookies: see section 10.

We do not ask for, and you should not upload, your BVN, card details, PINs or passwords for other services.

4. How we use your information, and our legal basis

The NDPA requires a lawful basis for each use of personal data. These are ours:

We send SMS only for rent-due reminders. We do not use SMS for marketing.

5. Signing in with Google

You can create an account or sign in with your Google account. When you do:

• What we receive: only the basic profile information Google shares for sign-in, which is your name, email address, whether Google has verified that email, and your Google account ID. We request only the standard openid, email and profile permissions.
• What we do not receive: your Google password, contacts, Gmail messages, Drive files, calendar, location history or any other Google data.
• How we use it: only to create your HouseTracker account, sign you in, keep your account secure (for example, we will not link a Google sign-in to an existing account unless Google has verified the email), and contact you about your account.
• Sharing: we do not sell Google user data, use it for advertising, or transfer it to anyone except as needed to run the service (for example our hosting provider) or where the law requires.
• Removing access: you can disconnect HouseTracker at any time from your Google Account (myaccount.google.com/permissions). This stops future Google sign-ins; to delete the data we already hold, ask us (section 11).

6. Who we share information with

a) With other users, because that is how the platform works

• Public: listings and the information you put in them; agent and agency profiles (name, photo, bio, business name, phone or WhatsApp you choose to show, verified status).
• Agent or landlord of a listing: the details you send in an enquiry.
• Landlord and tenant: each sees the tenancy, rent, payment and maintenance records they share.

b) With service providers who work for us

They may use your data only to provide their service to us:

c) Other cases

• Law enforcement and regulators, such as the Nigeria Police, EFCC or NDPC, when the law requires it, or to report or investigate fraud on the platform.
• Professional advisers (lawyers, auditors) under confidentiality.
• A buyer of our business, if HouseTracker is sold or merged. Your data would remain protected by this policy.

We do not sell personal data.

7. Transfers outside Nigeria

Some of our providers (for example Google and the AI services used for listing screening) process data outside Nigeria. When personal data leaves Nigeria we rely on the transfer grounds allowed under Part VIII of the NDPA, such as the provider's contractual commitments to protect it, and we send only what is needed. Verification documents and tenancy records are not sent to the AI services.

8. Automated checks on listings

New and edited listings are checked automatically for signs of scams, spam, copied content and duplicate listings. Automated checks can flag a listing for review, or hide it after several separate public reports (currently 3), but a person on our team makes the final decision to remove a listing or suspend an account. If you think we got it wrong, write to info@housetracker.ng and a person will look at it again.

9. How long we keep information

10. Cookies

We use only essential cookies: a session cookie that keeps you logged in, and security tokens that protect forms against misuse. They expire when you close your browser or log out. We do not use advertising cookies or third-party tracking. If we ever add optional cookies such as analytics, we will update this policy and ask for your consent where the law requires.

11. Your rights

Under the NDPA you can ask us to:

• Access: tell you what personal data we hold about you and give you a copy;
• Correct data that is wrong or incomplete (most of it you can edit yourself in your dashboard);
• Delete your data, unless we must keep it by law (for example payment records) or need it for a legal claim;
• Restrict or object to how we use it, including objecting to uses based on legitimate interests;
• Portability: give you your data in a common, machine-readable format;
• Withdraw consent where we rely on it (for example the newsletter) at any time;
• Not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing that significantly affects you (see section 8).

Write to info@housetracker.ng from the email on your account. We may ask you to confirm your identity. We answer within the time the law allows and do not charge for reasonable requests.

Tenants added by a landlord: your landlord decides what tenancy information is recorded. You can still contact us directly, and we will help or pass your request to the landlord.

If you are not satisfied with our answer, you can complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (ndpc.gov.ng).

12. How we protect your information

• The whole site uses an encrypted (HTTPS) connection.
• Passwords are stored only as secure hashes; we cannot see them.
• Payment provider keys and email passwords are stored encrypted.
• Verification documents and payment receipts are kept in protected storage that only the account owner and authorised staff can open.
• Payment notifications from our payment partners are checked with a digital signature before we act on them.
• Staff access is limited by role, and administrator accounts use an extra sign-in check.

No system is perfectly secure. If a breach is likely to put your rights at risk, we will report it to the NDPC within 72 hours of becoming aware of it and tell affected users without undue delay, with advice on what to do.

13. Children

HouseTracker is for adults. You must be 18 or older to create an account. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18; if we learn we have, we will delete it.

14. Changes to this policy

We will update this policy when our services or the law change. The date at the top shows when it last changed. If a change is significant, we will tell registered users by email or a notice on the site before it takes effect.

15. Contact us

HouseTracker.ng, operated by House Tracker (RC 7530784)
Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria
Email: info@housetracker.ng
Phone / WhatsApp: +234 703 521 1443