Compliance with the POPI Act in residential estates is not only law, the protection of the personal of homeowners, residents and other stakeholders’ personal information is also a responsibility of the estate management team.
Homeowners are becoming more aware of their rights to the protection of their personal information and are challenging estate management teams about the protection of their personal information and their rights to the privacy thereof.
The protection of personal information through the POPI Act n residential estates is not a compliance ’tick box’ exercise, it requires management roles, policies, risk assessments, technical security measures, changes to processes to be established and to become an integral part of their operations.
Daunting? The measures outlined above may seem daunting and perhaps unnecessary but think about the consequences of ignoring them. The following points provide food for thought.
Security – Residential estates place a strong focus and invest heavily in physical security but they generally place far less focus on protecting personal information and other confidential information as the related risks are not always considered.
Risks to personal information – Risks to personal informational in residential estates can be high – HOAs process sensitive personal information such as residents’ information for levy billing, biometric information for access control and more. In large states, thousands of residents’ personal information is processed.
Consequences of risks materialising. The consequences of personal risks materialising through the unlawful disclosure of personal information or a security compromise/breach could be a fine of up to R 10 million (or prison sentence for the estate manager) or a damage claim by affected homeowners. There would certainly be reputational damage for the estate management team and board of directors.
Why choose IACT-Africa for compliance with the POPI Act in Residential Estates?
IACT-Africa has helped multiple estates to establish and maintain appropriate compliance measures since the POPI Act was first introduced in 2013.
Our consultants have extensive experience in privacy, data protection, corporate governance, management. They have also achieved privacy and data protection certifications though international industry standards bodies
We have developed residential community industry specific approaches based on our experience. These include:
We are business partners with the Association of Residential Communities (ARC) for the provision of privacy and data protection services to their members.
For more information about how we can your estate, please contact us today, we would love to help you with to establish or support you with POPI Act compliance in your estate.