A Charnwood woman says her privacy has been invaded by a real-estate agent after she advertised her house for private sale.
Mrs Elizabeth McGee said yesterday that she had advertised in üThe Canberra Times@ for private sale, giving only her phone number and a brief description of the property. There was no name or address.
Several days later she got a letter in the mail addressed to her by name, with a mock-up display advertisement with a photograph of her house, its full address and a description. The letter, from Raine and Horne, Belconnen, said it respected her wish to sell privately and wished her luck, but if unsuccessfully it offered marketing skills to sell her house.
Mrs McGee said they should have asked permission to take the photograph and that she was uneasy about how they got her name and address from just a phone number.
Russell Hardy, from Raine and Horne, said Mrs McGee’s was the only complaint. Others had sought his marketing help after getting the letter.
He got names and addresses from phone numbers through a commercially available, computer-based reverse telephone book. The photographs were taken from the public street.
He preferred to show his initiative and marketing skill through the mail rather than harass people over the phone. People who did not like his letter could just throw it away.
The federal Privacy Commissioner, Kevin O’Connor, has on several occasions expressed concern about use of computer databases.
His concerns centre around using databases for purposes different from the purpose for which the person gave the information.
Mrs McGee said she gave an entry to the phone book so people could find her phone number who already knew her name, not so “”any Tom, Dick or Harry can get my name and address from my phone number”.
The executive director of the Real Estate Institute of the ACT, Bruno Yvanovich, said it was something he had not come across before and the institute had yet to formally consider it.
Agents could not be blamed for using a commercially available product and were entitled to take photographs from public places. However, he could understand Mrs McGee’s unease. Agents had to respect privacy and feelings.
“”They haven’t got carte blanche,” he said.
However, agents had to get stock and “”that sort of prospecting is part of commercial life”.
It was a fine line between congratulating the agent on his inventiveness and expressing privacy concerns.