Terms of use and privacy statement

The information available on or through this website is intended to provide general information to the public. We may change, delete, add to or otherwise amend information contained on this website at any time without notice.

While we have taken all reasonable measures to ensure the quality and accuracy of the information on our website, we make no warranty, express or implied, nor assume any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, correctness, completeness or use of any such information, nor represent that its use would not infringe on privately owned rights.

You may access third-party content via links to other websites from this website or through use of our social media (including retweets, @mention, our following of individuals or organisations on social media or our reposting of information by other social media users). We neither endorse the information, content, presentation, or accuracy of such third party content nor make any warranty, express or implied, regarding such information. We do not accept liability for the accuracy of content or information of any third party website or content you may access via hyperlink from our website or our social media.

Nothing contained on this website is, or shall be relied on as, a promise or representation as to the past or future by the New Zealand Government or us.

The content of this website should not be construed as legal, business or tax advice, and we recommend users of this website should take advice from a qualified professional before undertaking any action following information received from this website.

Any reference to any specific commercial product, process or service by trade name, trademark, manufacture or otherwise does not constitute an endorsement, recommendation or favouring by the New Zealand Government or us.

Each page on this website must be read in conjunction with this disclaimer and any other disclaimer that forms part of it.

Personal information is information which tells the reader something about a specific individual.

The purpose of this privacy statement is to let users of rea.govt.nz(external link), portal.rea.govt.nz(external link) and our Decisions Database(external link), know:

• when we will collect information from or about you
• what will be collected
• how personal information is used by us
• how we store and keep secure personal information
• who we disclose your information to and when.

Any information that we collect from you will be kept safe and secure, and we will make sure we use the information lawfully, in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020. We must also comply with the Official Information Act, the Public Records Act and the Contract and Commercial Law Act.

No need to provide personal information

You can use this website without providing any personal information.

Where you choose to voluntarily provide personal information (for example, through social media, calculators, checklists or email requests), generally we will only use that information for the purpose for which you provide it and for detecting abuse of this website. REA can use personal information collected for one purpose for another purpose in limited circumstances, and only in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020. See our Privacy Policy below for more details.

Complaints and other online processes

We may ask or require you to provide some personal information when you complete online information on this website (for example, the online complaint form).

RealMe login

If you access our services on this website via your RealMe login, we will assume you have read and agreed to the terms of this privacy statement.

Licensee portal

If you are a licensee, some of the information you submit via our licensee portal will become publicly available on the register of licensees (public register) in accordance with our obligations under the Real Estate Agents Act 2008 and will be used by us for the purpose of carrying out our statutory functions.

Read the Real Estate Agents Act 2008(external link)

Phone conversations

All inbound calls to our Freephone number are recorded for our reference and to enable us to carry out our statutory functions under the Real Estate Agents Act 2008. Other calls may be recorded at the discretion of our staff.

Electronic alerts and newsletters

When you subscribe to one of our alerts or newsletters, the details you provide may be stored in a secure third-party database. Your name and email address will be used to send you future electronic newsletters and will not be disclosed without your consent. If you do not provide us with this information, we will be unable to provide our alerts or newsletters to you. When you unsubscribe to our alerts or newsletters, your details will be deleted from the database.

Collection of statistical information

We may collect statistical information about your visit to help us improve this site. This information is non-personally identifying. It may include:

• your IP address
• Your approximate geolocation
• the search terms you used
• the pages you accessed on our website and the links you clicked on
• the date and time you visited the site
• the referring site (if any) where you clicked through to this site
• information about the device you used to access the site
• your operating system (e.g. Windows 11, Mac OSX, Android)
• the type of web browser you use (e.g. Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox)
• other incidental matters such as screen resolution and the language setting of your browser.

Cookies

Browser or web cookies are small text files that are sent by a website and stored on your computer's hard drive. Cookies are generally used to improve your experience of a website (e.g. by remembering preferences you have set) and to track site usage.

The Real Estate Authority does not use cookies on this website to gather any personally identifiable information. We use cookies to gather data about trends in site usage using Google Analytics. You can read Google’s privacy statement(external link) and access the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on(external link).

You can manually disable cookies at any time — check your browser's 'help section' to find out how (disabling cookies will not affect your ability to use this website).

Personal information

What we collect and why

We collect personal information about licensees and third parties to help REA carry out its regulatory functions under the Real Estate Agents Act 2008 (Act) and other lawful functions and activities of the REA. These functions include:

• processing licence applications and renewals
• maintaining the register of licensees
• receiving and investigating complaints
• investigating potential offences under the Act
• analysing trends to create educational material.

The information we collect about licensees includes names, contact details, qualifications, employment and, where appropriate, criminal history.

Third parties include people such as complainants, witnesses, applicants for employment positions within REA, referees and people who contract with REA to supply us with goods and services. The information we collect about third parties includes names, addresses and contact details of those individuals.

Where we collect information from

We collect personal information directly from the individual concerned. We are also permitted to collect personal information about an individual from a third party in certain circumstances, including when:

• it would not prejudice the interests of the individual concerned
• it would prejudice the purposes of the collection to do otherwise
• the individual concerned authorises the REA to do so
• the information is publicly available information
• carrying out REA’s investigative functions as required by the Act
• is not possible in the circumstances of the particular case.
• the information will not be used in a form in which the individual concerned is identified.

Disclosure of information

The privacy policy sets out the situations where we may disclose your personal information to third parties. We will only disclose your personal information to a third party in accordance with the Privacy Act 2020.

Situations where we might disclose your personal information include the following.

If you are a licensee:

• some of your information will be made publicly available on the public register of licensees as required by section 66 of the Act(external link)
• and a complaint has been made about your conduct, some of your information may be disclosed to a Complaints Assessment Committee (CAC) or to the Real Estate Agents Disciplinary Tribunal (Tribunal) in accordance with Part 4 of the Act(external link)
• we may disclose your personal information to other third parties, such as Police or the Inland Revenue Department if permitted or required by law to do so.

If you make a complaint to us:

• copies of your complaint/objection will be disclosed to the person they are about and the relevant decision maker (a CAC, the Tribunal or the Registrar) in accordance with Part 4 of the Act(external link)
• we will disclose your personal information to other agencies if required by law to do so.

Access to your personal information

You are entitled to ask us to provide you with a copy of the personal information we hold about you. If you think personal information we hold about you is incorrect, you may also ask us to correct it.

Contact us

If you have a privacy complaint about REA

If you have any concerns about how REA collects, manages, and/or uses your personal information, you may contact us.

If you are not satisfied with our response to any privacy-related concern you may have, you can contact the Privacy Commissioner and make a privacy complaint.

Contact details for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner(external link)