Property Management Urged To Improve Data Handling

The privacy commissioner announced on Monday updated guidelines for the property management sector on the collection, retention and use of personal data, after receiving hundreds of complaints against the industry in the past few years.

The watchdog said it had recently looked into four complaints where property management companies had allegedly mishandled information of residents and visitors.

In one case, a food delivery worker said a security guard had asked him to present his ID card for registration, and refused to accept other forms of identification. When the delivery worker declined to present his ID card, he was not allowed to enter the building.

Privacy Commissioner Ada Chung said the existing code of practice does not prevent management company staff from asking for ID cards for registration, but she noted there are other options.

"We encourage organisations to adopt a less intrusive privacy means to verify the identity of visitors, and we discourage organisations or management companies to request for the full identity card numbers of visitors," she said.

"That is why we say that you should consider means such as verification of identity by residents themselves, verification of identity by showing the work permit or the namecard, you should use other less intrusive means."

Chung said the watchdog has asked four property management companies to take remedial and preventative action.

She added that changes have been made to guidance for the sector on handling personal data, including on the collection of personal data of residents and visitors, proper storage of such information, and handling of security camera footage.

"By doing that, we are not saying that it is very or it is a particularly problematic sector. We consider that they have encountered problems or they have encountered some issues with the handling of personal data in their daily work, and they also handle large amounts of personal data in their daily work," she said.

"We notice that there are certain patterns on complaints from the complaint cases which we have received, and that is why we are trying to categorise the problems which we notice, and that is why we try to cover all these problems and issues in the updated guidance."