HouseMaster CLOUD Privacy Policy

Effective Date of Policy: January 1, 2020

This Privacy Policy (“Policy”) is provided on behalf of Home Technology Services, HM Services LLC (the franchisor for the HouseMaster® Franchise System), and its independently owned and operated franchisees (“HouseMaster Franchisees” but only to the extent that this service is accessed for purposes of obtaining documents related to a home inspection or related service provided by the HouseMaster Franchisee) (collectively referred to as “Company” or “HouseMaster”). This Policy informs users of the HouseMaster website about the way that HouseMaster collects, uses, and shares personal information. Please read the following information carefully and take it into consideration when deciding whether to share your personal data with us.

For the Company’s purposes, personal information may include your name, title, company or organization, home and/or business address, email, phone numbers, and credit card information. In addition, “personal data” is defined in the General Data Protection Regulation 2017 and any successor legislation.

HouseMaster will identify the purpose for which personal information is collected at or before the time the information is collected or, when appropriate, at or before the time the personal information is used for a new purpose.

We will collect your personal information to establish and maintain a responsible relationship with customers; to understand needs and preferences of individuals; to develop, enhance, market and/or provide products and services; to manage and develop HouseMaster’s business and operations including transfer of data among affiliated entities; and to meet legal and regulatory requirements.

HouseMaster offers customers the opportunity to participate in certain programs, including but not limited to the Home Solutions Warranty program and a Buyer’s Benefit Program. In order to offer these programs, HouseMaster will provide certain information, such as your contact information, to its trusted third-party partners that will administer and oversee these programs.

These third parties will likely contact you. Please note that these programs are an opt-in program, and if you do not want to proceed with any of the programs then, after you notify the third party of your desire not to opt-in, you will not be contacted any further. You have the right to opt-out at any time, including before you are contacted. In order to opt-out, please send an email with specific instructions to opt-out@housemaster.com.

When accessing our Site, you will be asked to enter personal information including names, email addresses, property addresses and/or mailing addresses, and phone numbers. We will also capture many details regarding your home, its contents, your vehicles and utilities. If you are a home inspection client of an associated service provider, the findings contained in your inspection report and related services report (“Inspection Findings”) as well as other information regarding the elements, systems and appliances of the property will also be automatically captured on our Site from the inspection report. Collectively, all of the information entered or otherwise captured by our Site shall be referred to as “Captured Information.” Personal information excludes certain information such as publicly available information. This website may collect certain information about your site visit including the name of the internet service provider and the Internet Protocol (IP) address through which you accessed the internet; the date and time you accessed our website; the pages that you accessed while on our site; and the internet address of the website from which you linked to our website. Federal COPPA (Children's Privacy Protection Act) regulations prohibit solicitation by email of any youth 13 years old and younger and requires any subscriber to email newsletters and/or mailing lists to be at least 14 years of age.

We collect information from you when you register on our Site, enter information on our Site, or in connection with you purchasing and receiving a home inspection or other related service that results in a written report from an associated service provider.

We will use the information we collect from you for various commercial purposes including:

• To personalize user's experience and to allow us to deliver the type of content and product offerings in which you are most interested.
• To improve our website in order to better serve you.
• We provide your information to third-party service providers to offer complimentary programs. The third-party service providers will contact you, and at that time you will have the option to opt-in, but at any time you may opt-out.
• To send periodic emails regarding our and other third party’s services.

Consent is defined as voluntary agreement with the collection, use and disclosure of personal information for defined purposes. Consent must be express and can be provided directly by the individual or by an authorized representative. Express consent can be given orally, electronically or in writing.

In obtaining consent, HouseMaster shall use reasonable efforts to ensure that an individual is advised of the purposes for which personal information will be used or disclosed. Purposes shall be stated in a manner that can be reasonably understood by the individual. HouseMaster will seek consent to use and disclose personal information at the same time it collects the information. HouseMaster will require individuals to consent to the collection, use or disclosure of personal information as a condition of the supply of a product or service only if such collection, use or disclosure is reasonably required to fulfill the identified purposes.

Only HouseMaster employees with a business need to know, or whose duties reasonably so require, are granted access to personal information about individuals. HouseMaster may disclose an individual's personal information to a person who in the reasonable judgment of HouseMaster is seeking the information as an agent of the individual; a company or individual employed by HouseMaster to perform functions on its behalf, such as but not limited to research or data processing; another company or individual for the development, enhancement, marketing or provision of any of HouseMaster’s products and services; an agent used by HouseMaster to collect the individual's account; a public authority or agent of a public authority, if in the reasonable judgment of HouseMaster it appears that there is imminent danger to life or property which could be avoided or minimized by disclosure of the information; another entity as part of a merger, a sale of assets or all or part of a business, or any other corporate change or re-organization; a third party or parties, where the individual consents to such disclosure or disclosure is required or permitted by law.

HouseMaster operates as a franchise business model. Franchisees and franchisees’ employees are not employees of HouseMaster. While HouseMaster will always endeavor to guide Franchisees to properly handle and protect any personal information collected, we have no direct control over franchisees.

HouseMaster is responsible for personal information in its possession or under its control. HouseMaster shall take appropriate and reasonable steps to protect personal information against such risks as loss or theft, unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use, modification or destruction. Any and all personal information collected will be used only by HouseMaster and its affiliated entities. Except as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy statement, personal information collected by any means will not be shared outside of HouseMaster and its affiliated entities without your consent. HouseMaster shall use appropriate means to protect personal information while information is being processed by a third party on behalf of HouseMaster.

You have the right to “opt-out” of our collection of personal data at any time. Should you desire to so, please contact us at opt-out@housemaster.com to ensure that we do not continue to collect and store your personal information.

You also have the right to access your personal information. Should you wish to access your personal data which we have stored, please contact us at the provided contact information and we will respond to your request within seven (7) business days.

You have the right to be forgotten as best as HouseMaster can, subject to applicable laws and regulations, within HouseMaster’s personal information storage system. If you request to be forgotten, the Company will erase all of your personal data which it currently has. Moving forward, you will need to expressly consent to the collection of information again if you wish to do so in the future. Please note that if you request to be forgotten, your personal needs and preferences will disappear from HouseMaster’s records in the future, and the website will not be tailored to best suit your needs. Should you wish to be “forgotten”, please contact us at the provided contact information and we will respond to your request within fourteen (14) business days.

While HouseMaster shall do everything in its power to protect your data, there is a chance that a breach may occur. HouseMaster’s policy for any data breach is as follows: 1.) We shall determine the time of breach, what data was breached and the severity of the data breach; 2.) We shall call an emergency meeting including the Data Protection Officer and other relevant departments to discuss the necessary course of action; 3.) We shall determine how the data was compromised and take any and all necessary steps to correct; We shall discuss the breach and the corrective steps taken directly with any third parties and any individuals, as needed. Please contact privacy@housemaster.com with any questions, comments or concerns.

If the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) applies to your information, we provide the information in this policy so you can exercise your rights to receive information about our data practices, as well as to request access to and deletion of your information. We do not sell your personal information. We only share your information with certain third parties as described in this policy. We also process your information as described in this policy, which include “business purposes” under the CCPA. We also use information to satisfy applicable laws or regulations and disclose information in response to legal process or enforceable government requests, including to law enforcement. If you have additional questions or requests related to your rights under the CCPA, you can contact us at privacy@housemaster.com.

This policy is subject to change and may be supplemented or modified by additional terms applicable between HouseMaster and an individual. We shall notify you if any changes are made.

HouseMaster welcomes your comments regarding this privacy statement and provides procedures for addressing inquires or challenges from individuals regarding HouseMaster’s handling of personal information. You may withdraw your consent for use of personal information at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. If you have questions or concerns about our privacy policy or practices, please contact us.

By email: privacy@housemaster.com

By phone: 800-526-3939

By mail: 92 East Main Street, Suite 301, Attention: Data Protection Officer, Somerville, NJ 08876