Privacy Policy

Penta Housing Co-Operative Association ("Penta," "we," "us," or "our") is committed to protecting the privacy of visitors to our website and of people who apply for membership in our cooperative. This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, how and why we use it, when we disclose it, and the choices and rights you have.

We handle personal information in accordance with British Columbia's Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), and, where it applies to information that crosses provincial or national borders, Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

1. Accountability & Privacy Officer

Penta is responsible for the personal information under its control. We have designated a Privacy Officer who is accountable for our compliance with this policy and with applicable privacy law. You can reach our Privacy Officer at privacy@pentacoop.com.

2. What Is Personal Information?

"Personal information" means information about an identifiable individual. It includes things like your name, email address, telephone number, household details, income information, and housing history. It does not include business contact information used solely to contact you in your role at an organization.

3. Information We Collect

We collect personal information in two different contexts:

Website visitors

• Analytics data. When you visit our website, a third-party web analytics service collects standard technical information such as your approximate location, device and browser type, the pages you view, and how you arrived at the site. This is used in aggregate to understand and improve the site.
• Mailing-list sign-ups. If you join our mailing list, we collect the email address and unit preferences you submit through an embedded third-party form service so that we can notify you when units become available.

Membership applicants

• The information you provide on our membership application, which may include your name, contact details, household composition, income information, and housing history.
• Your consent to a housing reference check and a credit check, where you provide it as part of your application.
• Where our application process uses a third-party sign-in (authentication) provider or imports responses from a third-party form service, we receive only the information needed to verify identity and to process and review your submission (see Section 8).

4. How and Why We Use Your Information

We only use personal information for purposes a reasonable person would consider appropriate in the circumstances, including to:

• contact you about your application or about available units;
• determine your eligibility for housing and membership at Penta;
• determine eligibility for the Home Owner Grant;
• conduct a housing reference check;
• conduct a credit check;
• decide on any request for an internal move;
• operate, maintain, and improve our website and mailing list.

Membership applications are reviewed by our membership committee and other authorized people (see Section 6). Some of this review is supported by an internal screening tool that helps the committee organize and assess applications; final membership decisions are always made by people, not automatically.

5. Consent

We collect, use, and disclose your personal information with your consent, except where we are authorized or required by law to do so without it. Depending on the sensitivity of the information, consent may be express (for example, when you agree to a credit check) or implied (for example, when you voluntarily provide information for a clearly identified purpose). We identify the purpose at or before the time we collect the information.

You may withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. If you withdraw consent, we will explain the likely consequences, which may include our being unable to process your application or keep you on our mailing list. To unsubscribe from the mailing list, follow the instructions in our emails or contact our Privacy Officer.

6. Disclosure of Personal Information

We limit access to your personal information to those who need it for the purposes described above. The personal information you provide to Penta may be made available to:

• the Co-op auditor;
• the Co-op lawyer;
• the Co-op treasurer;
• the Co-op directors;
• designated committee members, as approved by the Board;
• agents and staff of the Co-op's management company;
• municipal employees, for Home Owner Grant applications;
• the general membership, only if it is relevant to an appeal you make on a Board decision.

We do not sell or rent your personal information. Where we use a service provider to process information on our behalf, we require it to protect the information and to use it only for the purposes we specify. We may also disclose personal information where required or permitted by law, such as in response to a court order, subpoena, or warrant.

7. Retention and Destruction

We keep personal information only as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Where we use personal information to make a decision that directly affects you, we retain it for at least one year so that you have an opportunity to request access to it. We destroy your personal information according to the following schedule:

• Non-members: within 1 year of the application closing date;
• Members: within 7 years of the application closing date.

When personal information is no longer required, we securely destroy, erase, or anonymize it.

8. Third-Party Services, Google Sign-In, and Google APIs

Some of our website and application features rely on third-party services, including a web analytics service, an embedded form service, and Google sign-in together with Google APIs that let authorized committee members review the applications you submit.

When you sign in with Google, we receive only basic profile information (your name and email address) needed to verify your identity and give authorized committee members access to our internal application-review tool. Signing in does not grant the tool access to your Google Drive, Gmail, or other Google data. Separately, an authorized administrator connects the single Google Sheet that holds membership-application responses, using Google's file picker; this grants read-only access to that one file only, so the committee can review submitted applications. We do not access any other files in anyone's Google Drive.

We use information obtained through Google sign-in and Google APIs only to provide and improve the features described in this policy. In particular:

• we do not sell, rent, or transfer this information to advertising networks, data brokers, or information resellers;
• we do not use it to serve advertising, including personalized, interest-based, or retargeted advertising;
• we do not allow staff or volunteers to read this information except where you have asked us to, where it is necessary to operate a feature you requested (such as reviewing your application), where it is needed to maintain security or investigate abuse, or where required by law;
• we may transfer it only to provide a feature you requested, to protect security and investigate abuse, to comply with applicable law, or in connection with a merger, acquisition, or similar transaction subject to the protections in this policy.

Penta's use and transfer of information received from Google APIs to any other app will adhere to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. Google handles your information under its own privacy policy, which we encourage you to review.

9. How We Protect Your Information

We protect personal information with safeguards appropriate to its sensitivity. These include administrative measures (such as limiting access to authorized people and requiring confidentiality), physical measures (such as securing paper records), and technological measures (such as passwords, access controls, and encryption in transit where appropriate). No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to guard against loss, theft, and unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.

10. Accuracy, Access, and Correction

We make reasonable efforts to keep your personal information accurate and complete. You have the right to ask what personal information we hold about you, how it has been used, and to whom it has been disclosed, and to request corrections.

To make a request, contact our Privacy Officer at privacy@pentacoop.com. We may need to verify your identity before responding. We will respond within the time required by law (generally 30 business days), and we will let you know in advance if any minimal fee applies. If we cannot correct information as you ask, we will note your requested correction in our records.

11. Questions and Complaints

If you have a question or concern about how we handle your personal information, please contact our Privacy Officer at privacy@pentacoop.com. You will receive a response within 10 business days. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia (OIPC).

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will revise the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. Your continued use of our website after changes take effect means you accept the updated policy.

Contact Us

Penta Housing Co-Operative Association
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Privacy Officer: privacy@pentacoop.com