Privacy Policy

Real estate business is a matter of trust. Therefore, it is important to us to respect our customers' personal rights. This applies particularly to the handling of their personal data, which is legally governed by the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in conjunction with the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG).

The contracting party and thus the controller responsible for processing customer data is - even if personal contact with the customer may in individual cases take place through a commissioned independent sales agent or cooperation partner - exclusively:

EVC Rheinland GmbH

License Partner of Engel & Völkers Commercial GmbH

Graf-Adolf-Platz 15

40213 Düsseldorf

Tel.: +49 (0)211 8632040

E-Mail: kundenservice@evrhl.de

The aforementioned controller is hereinafter referred to simply as "Engel & Völkers". Our data protection officer, who may also support customers in protecting their interests, can be reached at datenschutz@evrhl.de.

1. Legal Bases and Processing Purposes The provision of real estate-related brokerage, advisory, and management services requires the processing of personal customer data. In this case, processing takes place to fulfill contractual obligations (Art. 6 para. 1b GDPR), which may arise as follows:

A prospective client is looking for a property or rental space that meets their requirements. The owner wants to have their property analyzed or the current market value estimated. A suitable tenant is to be found for a commercial space. A property is to be marketed over a certain period to find a buyer. An advisory need exists for a property owner, e.g., in connection with upcoming renovation measures. An owner desires professional management of their own property.

Data processing in these cases encompasses all stages of contract fulfillment from initiation through preparation to execution of the contract.

Processing may also be necessary to fulfill legal obligations (Art. 6 para. 1c GDPR) or to serve a public interest (Art. 6 para. 1e GDPR). This includes the legally required identity verification of the customer combined with recording the "beneficial owner" in the course of money laundering prevention as well as commercial and tax documentation and reporting obligations.

To protect a legitimate interest (including that of third parties), we may also process data beyond the original contract fulfillment (Art. 6 para. 1f GDPR). This includes enforcement of claims in legal disputes, ensuring IT operations or IT security, conducting surveys (e.g., customer satisfaction), permissible direct advertising (e.g., postal delivery of "Real Estate Market Report"), and prevention of criminal activities (e.g., data analysis for fraud prevention).

Finally, processing may be based on the customer's consent for specific purposes (Art. 6 para. 1a GDPR). This may involve direct advertising (e.g., digital delivery of Engel & Völkers newsletters), event invitations (e.g., webinars on energy-efficient renovation), phone calls (e.g., annual exchange on current real estate questions), or regular purchase/rental offers (e.g., sending property exposés). Such consent can be revoked at any time without formal requirements, whereby such revocation only takes effect for the future and thus does not affect previous data processing. An overview of granted consents can be requested from us at any time.

Evaluations in the form of fully automated decision-making measures (Art. 22 GDPR) are not employed by us.

2. Data Scope Personal data is all information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (Art. 4 No. 1 GDPR).

We process several types of personal data depending on the contractual relationship. For customers who register for property or space offers or are generally interested in market or technical information, the following data may be collected, processed, or stored:

Name, address, email addresses, telephone numbers, gender, language (master data). Documents in correspondence, advisory protocols, participation in viewings/events.

When using our brokerage (mediation/referral), advisory, or management services, the following additional personal data may be collected, processed, or stored:

Date/place of birth, nationality, marital status, ID number, other identification data. Tax identification numbers, authentication data (e.g., signature), bank details, land register data, building files, corporate relationships, shareholding relationships. Profession, salary statements, credit reports, property liens, financing commitments, tax information, asset statements.

Personal data is generally processed by us only for those purposes for which it is made available to us. These arise - as described in detail - from the respective business relationship.

Customer data is either collected within the framework of the business relationship or - insofar as necessary for the provision of the respective service - forwarded to us by other companies in the Engel & Völkers Group if either consent exists or contract execution requires such forwarding.

3. Necessary and Voluntary Data The mediation or referral services of a real estate broker, real estate-related consulting, and professional property management are inconceivable without processing personal data. We can only enter into the initiation of business relationships and the fulfillment of contractual obligations insofar as the customer provides us with all necessary data. Specifically, the obligation to provide data arises from the respective underlying individual agreements.

Furthermore, we are legally obligated pre-contractually from a certain point to collect official identification data of our customers. Without this, continuation of the business relationship is not permitted. Apart from this, there is no obligation to disclose personal data.

Customers who do not (no longer) wish to receive our market information, event notifications, or other promotional contacts can object to processing at any time without formal requirements, without affecting any contractual relationship existing with us. Personal contact data is then added to a blocking list, which helps us ensure that customers no longer receive unwanted mailings. The data is stored for this purpose until the advertising objection is revoked without formal requirements.

4. Transfer to Third Parties Employees or other authorized persons (e.g., commissioned sales agents or cooperation partners) receive data access from us only to the extent that they need it for their activity or to fulfill contractual or legal obligations. In any case, we are obligated within the framework of contract fulfillment to maintain confidentiality about facts and evaluations with customer reference that come to our knowledge.

We only pass on personal data to third parties if consent exists, if legal provisions oblige us to do so, or if our processors can guarantee proper handling based on GDPR and BDSG.

Regarding data recipients, a distinction is made:

Companies of the Engel & Völkers Group and other recipients for whom consent for data transmission exists, Processors such as tax advisors, auditors, insurance companies, maintenance/IT service providers, and document/data destruction companies, Tax authorities, supervisory authorities, Federal Central Tax Office.

Data transmission outside the EU or EEA ("third countries") only takes place insofar as this is required for the execution of contracts concluded with customers, legally prescribed, or covered by consent in individual cases. Service providers headquartered in third countries are not commissioned by us.

5. Storage Duration and Periods Of course, we adhere to the principles of data avoidance and minimization. Stored personal data is deleted by us as soon as the respective processing purpose no longer applies and legal retention obligations have expired. The processing purpose is determined by the respective contractual agreements. Apart from this, we must observe the following legal periods:

The regular limitation period is three years after the end of the calendar year in which the claim arose. Commercial and tax law periods are specifically two to ten years after termination of the contractual relationship or after the end of the year of the respective balance sheet preparation. Special periods of up to 30 years apply to data sets as evidence according to §§ 195 ff. BGB.

6. Data Subject Rights Our customers possess detailed rights of access as data subjects (Art. 15 GDPR). They can, among other things, request information about (a) the purposes for which personal data is processed, (b) the categories of processed personal data, (c) the origin of data not collected from the data subject, (d) the recipients of the data, and (e) the planned storage duration or the criteria relevant for storage duration.

The customer has the right to data rectification if the data concerning them is incorrect or incomplete (Art. 16 GDPR). They have the right to restriction of processing (a) as long as data disputed by them is being verified by us, (b) if they refuse deletion of unlawfully processed data, (c) if data no longer needed by them for processing purposes is required for asserting, exercising, or defending legal claims, and (d) if they have objected to processing according to Art. 21 GDPR and it has not yet been determined whether legitimate reasons on our part prevail (Art. 18 GDPR). If the customer objects to processing for direct marketing purposes, we will no longer process the relevant personal data for these purposes without any further balancing of interests.

Furthermore, the customer has the right to erasure if (a) personal data is no longer necessary for the pursued purposes, (b) they withdraw their consent and there is no other legal basis for processing, (c) they object and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for processing, or (d) the relevant personal data is processed unlawfully (Art. 17 GDPR). The revocation of the customer's previous consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out until then.

The right to erasure does not exist insofar as processing is necessary (a) for exercising the right to freedom of expression and information, (b) for fulfilling a legal obligation or performing a task in the public interest, (c) for archival purposes in the public interest, scientific research purposes, or statistical purposes, or (d) for asserting, exercising, or defending legal claims.

Our customers have the right to receive the provided data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format. They also have the right to transmit this data to another controller without hindrance from us, provided processing is based on consent or a contract and processing is carried out using automated procedures. The freedoms and rights of other persons must not be impaired thereby. The right to data portability does not apply to processing of data necessary for performing a task in the public interest (Art. 20 GDPR).

Furthermore, there is a right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority (all contact details at https://www.ldi.nrw.de/).

Status: December 1, 2023