Privacy Notice

Effective date: 24 July 2026
Notice version: AR-PRIVACY-2026-07-V1

Apex Rentals (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2014/181625/07, trading as Apex Rentals, is the responsible party for the personal information described in this notice. This notice applies to website visitors, enquirers, property owners, sellers, prospective and current tenants, purchasers, occupants, sureties, representatives, beneficial owners, contractors and other people whose information is processed in connection with our services.

Information we collect

Depending on your relationship with us, we may process:

• identity, contact, address, nationality, marital-status and household information;
• property enquiries, mandates, applications, offers, leases, correspondence and complaint records;
• employment, income, banking, affordability, payment and source-of-funds information;
• credit, payment-profile, fraud-prevention and rental-history information obtained with lawful authority from TPN, registered credit bureaux and verification sources;
• company, close corporation, trust, representative and beneficial-ownership information;
• property information, photographs, video, inspections, access records and maintenance information;
• FICA, sanctions and prominent-person screening information;
• a verification selfie submitted with a rental application, which is manually compared with the supplied identity document; and
• technical submission data such as date, time, device/browser information and internet protocol address, where reasonably necessary for security and evidential purposes.

If you voluntarily identify a health, accessibility, allergy, respiratory, sensory or similar property-suitability requirement, we process only the practical information reasonably needed to assess suitability, arrange an accommodation or safety measure, and communicate an appropriate requirement where necessary. You need not disclose a diagnosis.

How and why we use information

We process personal information only where there is a lawful and reasonable purpose, including to:

• respond to an enquiry and take steps requested before entering into a mandate, lease, sale or related agreement;
• verify identity and supplied information, assess rental applications, affordability and risk, and prevent fraud;
• perform and administer mandates, leases, offers, sales, inspections, payments, maintenance and related services;
• comply with FICA, tax, property-practitioner, access-to-information and other legal or regulatory duties;
• protect the legitimate interests and rights of Apex Rentals, property owners, applicants, tenants and other affected parties;
• keep appropriate business, accounting, audit and evidential records; and
• establish, exercise or defend legal claims and address disputes or complaints.

Rental applications, TPN and human review

Where an applicant separately authorises a credit enquiry, Apex Rentals may obtain consumer credit information, a credit score, payment profile, rental history and related verification information from TPN, a registered credit bureau or another lawful verification source. The enquiry may be recorded by the relevant bureau.

Application decisions receive human review. Affordability indicators, credit information and risk checks assist that review but do not make a solely automated final decision. The application selfie is used for a manual identity comparison; Apex Rentals does not use automated facial recognition.

Applicants may challenge inaccurate credit information with the relevant credit bureau and may ask Apex Rentals to correct inaccurate information held by Apex Rentals.

Who may receive information

We disclose only information that is appropriate and reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose. Recipients may include:

• the relevant property owner or seller, including appropriate information needed for a selection, mandate or transaction decision;
• PayProp for controlled rental, deposit, payment and property-account administration;
• TPN, registered credit bureaux and identity, fraud-prevention or screening providers;
• conveyancing attorneys, bond originators, banks, insurers, contractors, inspectors, body corporates, homeowners’ associations and utility or service providers where relevant;
• professional advisers, courts, tribunals, ombuds, law-enforcement bodies and regulators where authorised or required; and
• information-technology, hosting, email, document-storage and security service providers acting under appropriate confidentiality and security arrangements.

We do not publish rental applications or supply full application files to a landlord merely because the landlord is considering the application. Any disclosure must be relevant, proportionate and appropriate.

Retention

Apex Rentals has adopted an ordinary five-year retention period for successful and unsuccessful rental applications and associated authorisation and verification records. Applied on a record-specific basis, this period supports applicable legal and regulatory duties, proof of permission for enquiries, complaint and dispute handling, fraud prevention, and the establishment, exercise or defence of legal rights.

Other records are retained for the period required by applicable law or reasonably necessary for the purpose for which they were collected. A record may be kept longer where litigation, a regulatory matter, a legal hold or another lawful reason requires it. When retention is no longer justified, records are securely destroyed or de-identified.

Security and transfers

Apex Rentals uses reasonable technical and organisational safeguards appropriate to the nature of the information, including access restrictions, controlled service-provider access, protected storage and backup practices. No internet or electronic storage system can be guaranteed completely secure. A suspected compromise should be reported promptly through our normal website contact form or to the Information Officer below.

If information is processed outside South Africa through a service provider, Apex Rentals applies section 72 of POPIA and uses an appropriate legal basis and safeguards for the transfer.

Your choices and rights

Subject to POPIA, PAIA and other applicable law, you may:

• ask whether Apex Rentals holds your personal information and request access to it;
• ask for inaccurate, irrelevant, excessive, outdated, incomplete, misleading or unlawfully obtained information to be corrected or deleted;
• object to processing on permitted grounds;
• withdraw consent where processing depends on consent, without affecting earlier lawful processing;
• complain to Apex Rentals through the online complaints form; and
• complain to the Information Regulator.

Prescribed POPIA request forms are available on our Compliance Documents page. Access to records under PAIA is explained on the PAIA page.

Website and external services

The current website does not intentionally use first-party advertising cookies or use enquiry/application information for advertising. An embedded Google map and links to external websites may allow those providers to process technical information or set their own cookies. External services have their own privacy terms, and you may open them directly or use browser settings to limit cookies.

Contact details

Information Regulator (South Africa)

Woodmead North Office Park, 54 Maxwell Drive, Woodmead, Johannesburg, 2191
Telephone: 010 023 5200 | Toll-free: 0800 017 160
General enquiries: enquiries@inforegulator.org.za
POPIA complaints: POPIAComplaints@inforegulator.org.za
Website: inforegulator.org.za