As a landlord, you need to respect and protect any personal data about your tenants.

If you need to contact them to schedule repairs etc, make the necessary contact when the tenant is not at work and consider making all the requests in writing.

Your tenants’ right to privacy extends to their workplace, so don’t call or visit their place of employment.

Avoid the temptation to contact tenants at their place of employment and refrain from spreading rumors or anything that isn’t factual.

Don’t release any information about a tenant unless:

• The tenant gives you permission in writing to release specific types of information
• Another landlord asks you to share the tenants rental payment history etc
• The request is from a policy or a public safety agent who needs the information for official purposes.
• The information requested is already publicly available
• The information is needed in the event of an emergency

Important: If you do release information about a tenant, stick to the facts and make sure they are accurate. Communicating incorrect information can result in legal action by the tenant.

If you have employees, establish a policy and make sure staff know that you as the landlord are responsible for releasing any information about tenants.

Activities like grilling guests, peeking in windows and conducting surveillance, are likely a violation of your tenants’ right to privacy and can expose you to potential legal action.

Using a platform like RealRenta, enables you to communicate with your tenants in a professional manner, whilst the platform records all your interactions and keeps a full history of the tenancy.