It is a thankless task being a trustee for a HOA or body corporate. If the noise complaints and parking issues weren’t enough, you now are faced with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA) compliance issues. In the nature of managing a complex (estate or sectional title development) you are constantly processing personal information and this puts you firmly in the POPIA spotlight. Think about it:

• You need to know who your homeowners are. You do this for many reasons, including invoicing, account management, maintenance of standards (including construction, conduct etc) and not least of all, security. The information is extensive and ranges from cell phone numbers, to names, identity numbers, visitor information, vehicle registration numbers, medical information and financial information related to payment of levies, property values and even medical emergencies.
• Security officers gather information during the process of managing the entrance. Access control is a fundamental part of managing an estate and without taking personal information, your ability to manage people entering or leaving the estate is seriously restricted.
• You are involved in the conveyancing processes that flow when ownership of units change hands. To do this, you must necessarily pass information to lawyers and perhaps to estate agents.
• You control deliveries and contractors. Again, to do this effectively, you need to manage personal information.
• Perhaps you have a website – does it have a privacy policy that is up to date?
• You may also have medical assistance on site – do they retain records?

Being the custodian of vast amounts of very personal information is now an onerous task. And, you know full well that one of your very clever homeowners will be asking about compliance at the next meeting. The truth is that compliance is important. The ordinary compliance process is quite daunting and involves consultations with legal experts, the appointment of an Information Officer and then extensive internal work. contractzone.co.za has put together a compliance framework for HOAs and body corporates that simplifies the process. Our online system takes you through a question and answer process that then prepares a pack of compliance documents tailor made for your complex.

What is included in the pack: