Privacy policy

This policy explains how ForeverHome handles your personal information, in line with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA). We collect only what we need to connect you with estate agents and to run the service.

1. Who we are

ForeverHome is operated by [Registered company name: to be confirmed] ([Legal status, e.g. private company (Pty) Ltd: to be confirmed], registration number [CIPC registration number: to be confirmed]), [Physical address: to be confirmed]. We are the responsible party for information collected on this website.

Our Information Officer is [Information Officer name: to be confirmed], reachable at [Information Officer email: to be confirmed].

When you contact an agency about a listing or request a valuation, that agency also becomes a responsible party for what you send them, under its own privacy policy.

2. What we collect, and why

• Enquiries and valuation requests: your name, email address, phone number, your message and, for valuations, the suburb and a short description of your property. We use this to pass your request to the agency or agent responsible, so they can reply to you.
• Your consent record: the date and time you ticked the consent box, so we can show that you agreed to be contacted about that request.
• Accounts: if you sign up, your name, email address, phone number and role. For estate agents, also your Fidelity Fund Certificate (FFC) number, which the Property Practitioners Act requires us to check and display.
• Buyer preferences: if you use matching features, the answers you give (such as budget, areas and property type) and the homes you like or skip, so we can show you relevant homes.
• Messages and viewings: chat messages between you and an agent, and viewing appointments.
• Usage statistics: anonymous page-view counts (Vercel Analytics). These do not use cookies and do not identify you.

We process this information because you asked us to (to respond to your request), to perform our agreement with you, or because the law requires it. We do not sell your personal information.

3. Who we share it with

• The estate agency and agent responsible for the listing or area you asked about.
• Service providers that run the platform on our behalf, under contract: Supabase (database and accounts), Vercel (website hosting), Resend (email delivery) and PayFast (payments, for agencies only). If AI-written match descriptions are switched on, the listing details and your stated preferences (not your name or contact details) are sent to an AI service to write them.
• Authorities, where the law requires us to.

4. Information stored outside South Africa

Some of our service providers store data outside South Africa ([Hosting region of database and website: to be confirmed]). We only use providers bound by agreements or laws that give your information protection comparable to POPIA, as section 72 requires.

5. Marketing

We only send you marketing, such as new-listing alerts, if you have opted in. Every such message tells you who sent it and includes a way to unsubscribe. Asking about a listing does not sign you up for marketing.

6. How long we keep it

We keep enquiries and account information for as long as needed for the purpose you gave it for, and for any period the law requires (for example, records agencies must keep under the Property Practitioners Act and FICA). After that we delete it or make it anonymous.

7. Cookies

We use only essential cookies: to keep you signed in, to complete an invitation or survey you started, and to remember settings you chose. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.

8. Security

Your information is encrypted in transit, access is limited to the people who need it, and each agency can see only its own clients. If we become aware of a breach that affects you, we will tell you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.

9. Your rights

You can ask us, free of charge, to:

• confirm whether we hold information about you and give you a copy;
• correct or delete it;
• stop using it, or object to how we use it; and
• withdraw your consent at any time (this does not affect anything done before you withdrew).

Email our Information Officer at [Information Officer email: to be confirmed]. We may ask you to confirm your identity before we act. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can complain to the Information Regulator at inforegulator.org.za.

10. Children

This service is for adults (18 and older). We do not knowingly collect information about children.

11. Changes to this policy

We will update this page when our practices change and show the date at the top. See also our terms of use.