Privacy Policy

East-West Conveyancing (“we”, “us”, “our”) is committed to protecting the privacy of everyone who contacts us or engages us as their conveyancer. This policy explains how we collect, use, store and disclose personal information, and how we comply with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

1. What information we collect

When you fill out the enquiry form on this website, we collect your name, email address, phone number, the suburb or property address you’re asking about, whether you’re buying or selling, and the message you send us. We also automatically log the IP address your request came from — this is hashed and used solely to rate-limit form submissions and block abuse.

If you go on to engage us as your conveyancer, we’ll collect the additional information needed to complete your matter. That typically includes proof of identity (driver’s licence, passport or similar), your residential and postal address, bank account details for settlement, details of any mortgage or loan, and information about the property itself.

2. How we use your information

We use your information to:

• Respond to your enquiry and answer your questions;
• Provide conveyancing services if you engage us (contract review, searches, settlement coordination, communication with the other side’s representative, your lender, Revenue NSW and NSW Land Registry Services);
• Verify your identity as required under client identification rules;
• Issue invoices, receipts and trust account records;
• Meet our legal, regulatory and professional obligations (including those imposed by NSW Fair Trading and the Australian Institute of Conveyancers NSW Division Ltd); and
• Improve our service and website.

3. How we store and protect your information

Enquiry submissions are emailed to info@eastwestconveyancing.com.au through Google Workspace and logged to access-restricted files on our hosting server. Matter files are stored in our practice management system and, where physical documents are involved, in locked cabinets at our office. We follow the data-handling standards recommended by the Australian Institute of Conveyancers and take reasonable steps — including encryption in transit, access controls and regular software updates — to protect your information from misuse, interference, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

4. Who we share your information with

We only disclose your personal information where it’s necessary to provide our services to you, where you’ve given consent, or where we’re required or authorised by law. That can include:

• The conveyancer or solicitor acting for the other party;
• Your lender or mortgage broker, and any incoming or outgoing mortgagee;
• Revenue NSW (for stamp duty and surcharge matters);
• NSW Land Registry Services and the PEXA electronic settlement platform;
• Real estate agents involved in your transaction; and
• Regulators or law enforcement where compelled by law.

We do not sell your information, and we do not share it for marketing purposes.

5. Cookies, analytics and third-party tools

This website uses Fathom Analytics, a privacy-focused analytics service that does not use cookies and does not collect personally identifiable information. We don’t use Google Analytics or any tracking tools that profile visitors. A chatbot widget supplied by Greenshoots Media is loaded on each page; if you choose to interact with it, the messages you send are processed by Greenshoots in order to respond to you.

The reviews carousel on our home page is generated server-side from the Google Places API on a scheduled basis; your browser does not contact Google directly when you load our pages.

6. How long we keep your information

Enquiries that don’t lead to an engagement are kept for a short period and then deleted. Where you engage us as your conveyancer, we generally retain matter files for at least seven years from the completion of your matter, as required by the rules and standards that apply to NSW conveyancers, and longer where the file involves a trust, deceased estate or other long-running obligation.

7. Accessing and correcting your information

Under APPs 12 and 13 you have the right to ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you, and to ask us to correct it if it’s inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading. To make a request, please email info@eastwestconveyancing.com.au or write to us at PO Box 572 Ingleburn NSW 1890. We’ll respond within a reasonable time and there’s no charge for making a request, though we may charge a reasonable cost for retrieving older archived files.

8. Complaints

If you think we’ve mishandled your personal information, please tell us first — email info@eastwestconveyancing.com.au or call 02 9829 8494 and ask to speak with the principal, Glen Sharman. We take privacy complaints seriously and will work with you to put things right. If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can refer the matter to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) at oaic.gov.au or on 1300 363 992.

9. Overseas disclosure

We do our work in Australia. Some of the cloud services we use (for example Google Workspace) may store data on servers located outside Australia. Where that happens, we choose providers that offer privacy protections comparable to those required under Australian law.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is always available on this page, and the “last updated” date at the top will reflect any changes.

11. Contact us

For any privacy enquiry, please get in touch:

East-West Conveyancing
Post: PO Box 572 Ingleburn NSW 1890
Phone: 02 9829 8494
Email: info@eastwestconveyancing.com.au

We are licensed by the NSW Department of Fair Trading (licence no. 06003981) and are a member of the Australian Institute of Conveyancers NSW Division Ltd.