Privacy Policy

Last Updated: June 10, 2022

Thank you for using Rentzap!

Your privacy is very important to all of us at Rentzap. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, process, and disclose your personal information across the Rentzap Platform. 

If you see an undefined term in this Privacy Policy (such as “Listing” or “Rentzap Platform”), it has the same definition as outlined in our Terms of Service. The privacy practices of this Privacy Policy apply to our Services (as defined in our Terms of Service) accessible through the Rentzap Platform.

When this policy mentions “Rentzap,” “we,” “us,” or “our,” it refers to our company, Rentzap, LLC, that is responsible for your information under this Privacy Policy.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is not to use the Rentzap Platform. By accessing or using the Rentzap Platform or Services, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy may change from time to time. Your continued use of the Rentzap Platform or Services after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the Privacy Policy periodically for updates.  By submitting information to us through the Services, you expressly consent to our use and disclosure of your information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

1. INFORMATION WE COLLECT

Rentzap collects information from you through the Services to allow us to provide the Services that will most likely meet your needs and preferences.  We only collect information about you that we consider necessary for achieving this purpose.

There are three general categories of information we collect.  This Privacy Policy does not apply to information collected by us offline or through other means, including any other website operated by Rentzap or any third party or to information collected by any third party, including any application or content (including advertising) that may link to or be accessible from the Rentzap Platform.

1.1 Information You Give Us.

We collect the information you share with us when you use the Rentzap Services.

  • Client Information. When a Client texts Rentzap to use our Services to list their property, we require certain information such as your name, address of the property listing, and access code to get into the property.

  • Homeseeker Information. When a Homeseeker contacts Rentzap to view and/or apply for a property for rent, we require some or all of your information including but not limited to your name, move-in date, income, credit history, criminal history, residential history and animal information.

  • Other Authentication-Related Information. To help create and maintain a trusted environment, we may collect identification (like a photo of your government-issued ID) or other authentication information. 

  • Payment Information. For Clients, we collect your financial information (like your bank account or credit card information) when you pay us to use our Service.

  • Communications with Rentzap and other Users. When you communicate with Rentzap or use the Rentzap Platform, we collect information about your communication and any information you choose to provide.

  • Other Information. You may otherwise choose to provide us information when you fill in a form, conduct a search, or use other features of the Rentzap Platform.

  • Plaid. For Users, Rentzap uses Plaid Inc. (“Plaid”) to gather your data from financial institutions and to connect your Rentzap account with your bank account, verify your bank account and confirm your bank account balance prior to approving a transaction. By using the Service, you grant Rentzap and Plaid the right, power, and authority to act on your behalf to access and transmit your personal and financial information from your relevant financial institution. You agree to your personal and financial information being transferred, stored, and processed by Plaid in accordance with the Plaid end user privacy policy available at  https://plaid.com/legal/#end-user-privacy-policy.

1.2 Information We Automatically Collect from Your Use of the Rentzap Services.

When you use the Rentzap Services, we collect information about the services you use and how you use them.

  • Usage Information. We collect information about your interactions with the Rentzap Platform, such as the information you send us, your searches for Listings, Bookings you have made, and other actions on the Rentzap Platform.

  • Log Data. We automatically collect log information when you use the Rentzap Services, even if you have not created an Rentzap Account. That information includes, among other things: details about how you’ve used the Rentzap Platform, access times, and device information.

  • Transaction Information. We collect information related to your transactions on the Rentzap Platform, including the date and time, amounts charged, and other related transaction details.

2. HOW WE USE INFORMATION WE COLLECT

We use, store, and process information about you to provide, understand, improve, and develop the Rentzap Platform, and to create and maintain a trusted and safer environment.

2.1 Provide, Improve, and Develop the Rentzap Services.

  • Enable you to access and use the Rentzap Services.

  • Enable you to communicate with other Users.

  • Operate, protect, improve and optimize the Rentzap Services and experience, such as by performing analytics and conducting research.

  • Personalize or otherwise customize your experience by, among other things, ranking search results or viewing ads based on your search, booking history, and preferences.

  • Enable you to process payments to Rentzap for the Services.

  • Provide customer service.

  • Send you service or support messages, such as updates, security alerts, and notifications.

2.2 Create and Maintain a Trusted and Safer Environment.

  • Detect and prevent fraud, spam, abuse, security incidents, and other harmful activity.

  • Conduct investigations and risk assessments.

  • Verify or authenticate information or identifications provided by you (such as to verify your Accommodation address or compare your identification photo to another photo you provide).

  • Conduct checks against databases and other information sources.

  • Comply with our legal obligations.

  • Resolve any disputes with any of our users and enforce our agreements with third parties.

  • Enforce our Terms of Service and other policies.

3. SHARING & DISCLOSURE

3.1 With Your Consent.

We may share your information at your direction or as described at the time of sharing.

3.2 Sharing between Clients and Homeseekers.

To help facilitate viewings & applications, we may share your information with Clients as follows:

  • When you as a Homeseeker submit a booking request, certain information about you is shared with the Client, including your full name, your desired move-in date, your monthly income, your credit history, your pet information and other information you agree to share. When your viewing is confirmed, we will disclose additional information to assist with coordinating the viewing, like your phone number.

  • When you as a Homeseeker submit an application, certain information about you is shared with the Client, including but not limited to your full name, desired move-in date, credit history, monthly income, employment history, criminal history, residential history, animal information, and any other documentation provided. When your application has been received, we will disclose additional information to assist with completing your application, like your phone number and email address.

  • When you as a Client have a confirmed booking, certain information is shared with the Homeseeker to coordinate the booking, such as the address of the listing, any access codes to enter the property of the listing, and additional information about the listing.

We don’t share your billing and payout information with other Users.

3.3 Rentzap Payment.

Rentzap may share your personal information to: (i) process the payment transactions for use of the Rentzap Platform, and (ii) facilitate your use of the Rentzap Platform. 

3.4 Safety and Compliance with Law.

Rentzap may disclose your information to courts, law enforcement or governmental authorities, or authorized third parties, if and to the extent we are required to do so by law or if such disclosure is reasonably necessary: (i) to comply with legal process and to respond to claims asserted against Rentzap, (ii) to respond to verified requests relating to a criminal investigation or alleged or suspected illegal activity or any other activity that may expose us, you, or any other of our users to legal liability, (iii) to enforce and administer our Terms of Service or other agreements with Users, (iv) for fraud investigation and prevention, risk assessment, customer support, product development and debugging purposes, or (v) to protect the rights, property or personal safety of Rentzap, its employees, its Users, or Users of the public.

We will attempt to notify Users about these requests unless: (i) providing notice is prohibited by the legal process itself, by court order we receive, or by applicable law, or (ii) we believe that providing notice would be futile, ineffective, create a risk of injury or bodily harm to an individual or group, or create or increase a risk of fraud upon Rentzap’s property, its Users and the Platform (collectively, “Risk Scenarios”). In instances where we comply with legal requests without notice for these reasons, we will attempt to notify that Member about the request after the fact if we determine in good faith that we are no longer legally prohibited from doing so and that no Risk Scenarios apply.

3.5 Business Transfers.

If Rentzap undertakes or is involved in any merger, acquisition, reorganization, sale of assets, bankruptcy, or insolvency event, then we may sell, transfer or share some or all of our assets, including your information. In this event, we will notify you before your personal information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

3.6 Aggregated Data.

We may also share aggregated information (information about our users that we combine together so that it no longer identifies or references an individual user) and non-personally identifiable information for industry and market analysis, demographic profiling, marketing and advertising, and other business purposes.

4. OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION

4.1 Analyzing your Communications.

We may review, scan, or analyze your communications on the Rentzap Platform for fraud prevention, risk assessment, regulatory compliance, investigation, product development, research, and customer support purposes. For example, as part of our fraud prevention efforts, we scan and analyze messages to mask contact information and references to other websites. In some cases, we may also scan, review, or analyze messages to debug, improve, and expand product offerings. We use automated methods where reasonably possible. However, occasionally we may need to manually review some communications, such as for fraud investigations and customer support, or to assess and improve the functionality of these automated tools. We will not review, scan, or analyze your communications to send third party marketing messages to you, and we will not sell reviews or analyses of these communications.

5. YOUR CHOICES – ACCESS & UPDATE

You may update, or delete the information you have provided to Rentzap for your Account by texting Rentzap and asking to update or delete such information.

5.1 Your Choice to Opt-Out

If you no longer want to receive our emails or other marketing communications, you may unsubscribe by following the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of our emails or by writing to us at team@rentzap.com.

If you no longer want to receive text message communications, you may opt-out at any time by texting “STOP” to the appropriate shortcode available in each text message or contacting us at team@rentzap.com and specifying you want to opt-out of text messages.

Please note that you cannot unsubscribe from certain correspondence from us, including messages relating directly to your account, your rental screening submission, or other rental-related processes. Your opt-out is limited to the email address, phone number, or device used and will not affect subsequent subscriptions.

6. SECURITY

We are continuously implementing and updating administrative, technical, and physical security measures to help protect your information against unauthorized access, loss, destruction, or alteration. However, the Internet is not a 100% secure environment so we can’t guarantee the security of the transmission or storage of your information.

7. EQUAL OPPORTUNITY IN HOUSING STATEMENT

OUR POLICY

All real estate advertised herein is subject to the federal Fair Housing Act, which makes it illegal to advertise “any preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin, or intention to make such preference, limitation or discrimination.” 

We will not knowingly accept or permit any advertisement for real estate that is in violation of the law.  All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings advertised are available on an equal opportunity basis.

THE LAW

When it comes to buying, selling or leasing a home or renting an apartment, several state and federal laws were enacted to ensure equal opportunity in housing for all people. The Civil Rights Act of 1966 prohibits all racial discrimination in the sale or rental of property. Moreover, the Fair Housing Act declares a national policy of fair housing throughout the United States, making illegal any discrimination in the sale, lease or rental of housing, or making housing otherwise unavailable, because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin.

Other laws also impact the purchase, sale or lease of a home or renting an apartment. Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities in places of public accommodations and commercial facilities. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act makes discrimination unlawful with respect to any aspect of a credit application on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age or because all or part of the applicant’s income derives from any public assistance program.

In addition, state and local laws often provide broader coverage and prohibit discrimination based on additional classes not covered by federal law.

As a home seller or landlord you have a responsibility and a requirement under the law not to discriminate in the sale, rental and financing of property on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. You cannot instruct the licensed broker or salesperson acting as your agent to convey for you any limitations in the sale or rental because the real estate professional is bound by law not to discriminate. Agents in a real estate transaction also are prohibited by law from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. They are prohibited from complying with a request from the home seller or landlord to act in a discriminatory manner in the sale, lease or rental. Moreover, a home seller or landlord cannot establish discriminatory terms or conditions in the purchase or rental, deny that housing is available, or advertise that the property is available only to persons of a certain race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national original.

As someone seeking to purchase a home or rent an apartment, you have the right to expect that housing will be available to you without discrimination or other limitations based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin. This includes the right to expect equal professional service, the opportunity to consider a broad range of housing choices, no discriminatory limitations on communities or locations of housing, no discrimination in the financing, appraising, or insuring of housing, reasonable accommodations in rules, practices and procedures for persons with disabilities, and to be free from harassment or intimidation for exercising your fair housing rights.

IF YOU SUSPECT DISCRIMINATION:

Complaints alleging discrimination in housing may be filed with the nearest office of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), or by calling HUD’s toll-free number, 1-800-669-9777 (voice), or 1-800-543-8294 (TDD).

8. CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS PRIVACY RIGHTS

California Consumer Privacy Act

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (the “CCPA”) is a California law that gives California residents (“consumers”), the right to learn about and control certain aspects of how a business handles the personal information that a business collects about them. For purposes of this addendum, Rentzap is referred to as “we” or “our”. Pursuant to the CCPA, consumers have certain rights, including:

  • The right to know the categories of personal information we’ve collected and the categories of sources from which we got the information;

  • The right to know the business purposes for sharing personal information;

  • The right to know the categories of personal information sold;

  • The business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling the personal information;

  • The right to know the categories of third parties with whom we’ve shared personal information for a business purpose or sold;

  • The right to access the specific pieces of personal information we’ve collected;

  • The right to delete your information; and

  • The right to opt-out of the sale of your information.

  • California residents also have the right to not be discriminated against if they choose to exercise their privacy rights.

When you access the Platform as an employee, owner, director, officer, or contractor of a company, partnership, sole proprietorship, nonprofit or other legal entity, you understand and agree that the information collected about you is solely within the context of (i) your role as an employee, owner, director, officer, or contractor or (ii) Rentzap conducting due diligence regarding, or providing or receiving a product or service to or from your employer. You also understand that when you access the Platform as a representative of a business, whether that business is our customer or others’, some of the rights afforded to California residents may not be available to you, such as the rights to know and delete.

Your Personal Information

  • Identifiers
    - Name
    - Postal address
    - Email address
    - Personal or online identifier
    - IP address
    - Social Security number
    - Date of birth
    - Driver’s license, passport, or identification card information
    - Revenue related information
    ‍We collect this information in order to provide the Service, respond to your questions or requests, troubleshoot, and prevent fraud. We also use name, postal address, email address, personal or online identifiers, IP address, and revenue related information to market to you.

  • We collect this information from:
    - Information you provide
    - Information collected automatically via cookies and similar technology
    - Banks/credit unions (information from this source is not used for marketing purposes)
    - Collection agencies (information from this source is not used for marketing purposes)
    - Commercial partners
    - Credit reporting agencies (information from this source is not used for marketing purposes)
    - Information that is publicly or commercially available
    - Credit Reporting Services Inc (information from this source is not used for marketing purposes)

  • Personal information described in California Civil Code section 1798.80
    - Name
    - Social Security number
    - Signature
    - Phone number
    - Education information
    - Employment history
    - Revenue-related information
    ‍We collect this information in order to provide the Service, respond to your questions or requests, troubleshoot, and prevent fraud. As mentioned above, we also use name, phone number, and revenue-related information to market to you.

  • We collect this information from:
    - Information you provide
    - Banks/credit unions (information from this source is not used for marketing purposes)
    - Collection agencies (information from this source is not used for marketing purposes)
    - Commercial partners
    - Credit reporting agencies (information from this source is not used for marketing purposes)
    - Information that is publicly or commercially available
    - Credit Reporting Services Inc (information from this source is not used for marketing purposes)

  • Protected classifications under California or federal law
    - Gender
    - Country of residence
    - Age
    We collect this information to provide the Service and prevent fraud. We also use country of residence to market to you.

  • Commercial information
    - Records of personal property
    - Records of services used
    - Listing information regarding properties on the Services
    - Products or services purchased, obtained, or considered
    - Other purchasing and consuming histories and tendencies
    ‍We collect this information in order to provide the Service, respond to your questions or requests, troubleshoot, prevent fraud, and market to you.

  • We collect this information from:
    - Information you provide
    - Information collected automatically via cookies and similar technology
    - Banks/credit unions (information from this source is not used for marketing purposes)
    - Collection agencies (information from this source is not used for marketing purposes)
    - Commercial partners
    - Credit reporting agencies (information from this source is not used for marketing purposes)
    - Information that is publicly or commercially available
    - Credit Reporting Services Inc (information from this source is not used for marketing purposes)

  • Internet or other electronic network activity information
    - Browser type
    - Search history and information regarding your interaction with our Service
    - Information collected automatically through cookies and similar technology
    - Device type
    - Domain names
    - Access time/logs
    ‍We collect this information to keep track of login information, tailor content to consumer interests, provide the Service, market to you, and personalize our Service.

  • We collect this information from:
    - Information collected automatically via cookies and similar technology

  • Geolocation data
    We collect this information in order to provide the Service, respond to your questions or requests, troubleshoot, prevent fraud, and market to you. We collect this information from:
    - Information collected automatically via cookies and similar technology.

  • Biometric information
    We do not collect this information.

  • Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information
    We do not collect this information.

  • Professional or employment-related information
    We collect this information, to provide the Service, respond to your question or requests, troubleshoot, and prevent fraud.

  • Education information as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Sec. 1232g)
    We do not collect this information.

  • Inferences drawn from the above about your predicted characteristics and preferences.
    We do not collect this information. 

Please review the “How We Share Your Information” section above for further details about the categories of parties with whom we share information.

9. YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE CCPA

Right to Opt-Out of Sale of Your Personal Information

Consumers have the right to request that a business that sells the consumer’s personal information, or that discloses it for a business purpose, inform the consumer of what has been collected about them and who it has been sold or disclosed to.

Consumers also have the right, at any time, to direct a business that sells personal information about them not to sell their personal information.

You may opt out of the “sale” of your personal information at any time by emailing us at team@rentzap.com.com.

10. RIGHT TO ACCESS / DATA PORTABILITY

Consumers (who are not representatives of businesses, whether those businesses are our customers or others) also have the right to request that a business that collects personal information about them disclose the following: (1) The categories of personal information it has collected about that consumer; (2) The categories of sources from which the personal information is collected; (3) The business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling personal information; (4) The categories of third parties with whom the business shares personal information; (5) The specific pieces of personal information it has collected about that consumer.

1) To exercise your right to access, you may submit a Verifiable Consumer Request by sending an email to team@rentzap.com. Please include “Request for Access” in the subject line.

2) If you submit your response via email, we will reach out within 10 days to confirm that we have received your request.

3) We will then take steps to determine whether your request is a valid Verifiable Consumer Request. If you have an account, we may ask you to login to confirm this information. We will not ask you to create an account if you do not already have one. We will only ask for information that is reasonable in light of the nature of your request.

4) When you submit a request for access:

a. Within 45 days, we will provide you with a copy of the information listed in “Right to Access / Data Portability,” above, by mail or electronically. To the extent possible, this information shall be provided in a portable and usable format.

b. In the event we need additional time, we will inform you within the initial 45-day period of our need for an additional 45 days (for a maximum of 90 days between request and provision of information).

c. We are not required to provide personal information to a consumer more than twice in a 12-month period.

11. RIGHT TO DELETION

Consumers (who are not representatives of businesses, whether those businesses are our customers or others) have the right to request that a business delete any personal information about them. However, there are exceptions to this rule. For example, a business does not have to delete information if it is necessary to: a) complete a transaction; b) prevent illegal activity; c) exercise free speech; d) comply with a legal obligation; e) identify or repair errors that impair functionality; or f) otherwise use a consumer’s personal information, internally, that is compatible with the context in which the consumer provided that information.

  • To exercise your right to deletion, you may submit a Verifiable Consumer Request by sending an email to team@rentzap.com. Please include “Request for Deletion” in the subject line.

  • We will reach out within 10 days to confirm that we have received your request.

  • We will then take steps to determine whether your request is a valid Verifiable Consumer Request. If you have an account, we may ask you to login to confirm this information. We will not ask you to create an account if you do not already have one. We will only ask for information that is reasonable in light of the nature of your request

  • When you submit a request for deletion:
    - If you have an account, we may ask you to login to confirm this information.
    - For consumers that do not have an account, we have created a two-step process for responding to requests for deletion. After you submit the initial request, we will ask that you separately confirm that you would like your information deleted.
    - If your request does not fall within one of the exceptions to deletion listed in “Right to Deletion,” above, we will confirm deletion within 45 days. If we are not required to delete your account, we will also let you know within 45 days.

12. RIGHT TO NON-DISCRIMINATION

A business cannot discriminate against a consumer because the consumer exercised any of the consumer’s rights listed above.

13. CLIENT DATA

We acknowledge that you may have rights under the CCPA in connection with the personal information we process on behalf of our clients. If personal information about you has been processed by us as a service provider on behalf of a client and you wish to exercise any rights you have with such personal information, please inquire with our client directly. If you wish to make your request directly to us, please provide the name of our client on whose behalf we processed your personal information. We will refer your request to that client, and will support them to the extent required by applicable law in responding to your request.

Questions:

If you have any questions about this California Privacy Rights, or any Rentzap privacy practices, please reach out to us at team@rentzap.com. 

Shine the Light

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below. If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with the Website, you have the right to request removal of unwanted data that you publicly post on the Website. To request removal of such data, please contact us using the contact information provided below, and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed on the Website, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from all our systems (e.g. backups, etc.).

14. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY

Rentzap reserves the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time in accordance with this provision. If we make changes to this Privacy Policy, we will post the revised Privacy Policy on the Rentzap Platform and update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy. We will also provide you with notice of the modification by email at least thirty (30) days before the date they become effective. If you disagree with the revised Privacy Policy, you may cancel your Account. If you do not cancel your Account before the date the revised Privacy Policy becomes effective, your continued access or use of the Rentzap Platform will constitute acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

15. CONTACT

If you have any questions or complaints about this Privacy Policy or Rentzap’s information handling practices, you may contact us at: team@rentzap.com