How We Look After Your Personal Information

Our commitment to you, our clients

At Rawson, we know that buying, selling, or renting a home means trusting us with some of your most personal information — your ID details, your financial information, sometimes even details about your family. We take that trust seriously.

The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) is South Africa's law on how businesses must handle your personal information. This page explains, in plain terms, what we collect, why we collect it, and what rights you have. If you'd like the more detailed legal version, it's available here.

What information we collect, and why

Most of what we know about you, you've told us yourself — when you enquire about a property, sign a mandate, or apply to rent or apply for bond finance through Rawson Finance. Sometimes we'll also get information from someone who referred you to us, or from public records like the Deeds Office.

We collect things like your name, contact details, ID number, banking details, and, where relevant, information to support a bond application or tenant screening. We only ask for what we actually need to do the work you've asked us to do — sell your home, find you a tenant, help you buy, or manage your rental.

FICA documents are the one exception where we don't have a choice. By law, we're required to verify your identity before we can act for you on a property transaction — that's not a Rawson requirement, it's a requirement of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, aimed at preventing money laundering. If you're not able to provide this, we won't be able to complete the transaction.

Who we share it with

We don't sell your information, and we don't share it more widely than we need to. Where we do share it, it's because your transaction genuinely requires it — for example:

  • The conveyancing attorney handling your transfer
  • Your bond originator or bank
  • The Deeds Office and, where relevant, the South African Revenue Service
  • A credit bureau, if you're applying to rent a property
  • The service providers who run our IT and client systems on our behalf, who are contractually required to keep your information secure and confidential

If any of this involves sending information outside South Africa (for example, because a system we use stores data on servers based overseas), we make sure appropriate legal safeguards are in place first.

How long we keep it

We only keep your information for as long as we actually need it. Some documentation (Agreements of sale and rent, mandate and/or FICA-related documents) have to be kept for a minimum of five years, as required by law. Once we no longer have a reason to hold your information, we securely delete or destroy it.

Keeping your information secure

We use industry-standard safeguards to protect your information — including access controls, password protection, and encryption where appropriate — and we regularly review and update these as new risks emerge. Our staff are bound by confidentiality obligations, and any external supplier who handles your information on our behalf is contractually required to protect it to the same standard.

Your rights

You have the right to:

  • Ask us whether we hold information about you, and to see a copy of it
  • Correct anything that's inaccurate or out of date
  • Ask us to delete information we no longer have a legitimate reason to hold
  • Object to how we're using your information
  • Withdraw your consent at any time, where we're relying on your consent to process something (like marketing)
  • Complain to South Africa's Information Regulator if you're unhappy with how we've handled your information

To exercise any of these, just get in touch with our Information Officer (details below). We'll always try to help — though we'll let you know if a specific law requires us to hold onto something a little longer.

Marketing communications

We'll only send you property alerts, newsletters, or other marketing if you've opted in, or if you're an existing client and we gave you the chance to opt out when we first collected your details. Every marketing email or SMS we send includes an easy way to unsubscribe.

Questions or concerns?

Our Information Officer
Jeanne-Mare Oosthuizen | compliance@rawsonproperties.com

If you're not satisfied with how we've handled your information, you're entitled to lodge a complaint with South Africa's Information Regulator:

The Information Regulator (South Africa)
54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
Website: www.inforegulator.org.za

This page was last updated on 14 September 2026. We may update it from time to time — we'll always post the current version here.