Privacy Policy
Finding Home Real Estate LLC (“Finding Home”, “we”, “us”, “our”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it. This policy explains what personal data we collect through findinghome.ae (the “Website”) and through our brokerage services, why we collect it, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and what rights you have.
Buying, selling or renting property in the UAE is a regulated activity. As a licensed real estate brokerage we are legally required to collect and retain more information about our clients than a typical website operator, and in some circumstances to report it to the authorities. This policy sets out plainly where that applies, so there are no surprises later in a transaction.
You can browse the Website without telling us who you are. You only need to provide personal data if you contact us, submit an enquiry, apply for a role, or proceed with a property transaction.
Who we are
Finding Home Real Estate LLC is a real estate brokerage licensed in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Trade Licence: 667149
RERA Office Registration Number (ORN): 34028
Registered office: Green Corner Building, Office 503, Al Rigga Road, Dubai, P.O. Box 440580, UAE
Contact: info@findinghome.ae
We are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. Where we process data on the instructions of another party — for example a developer or a corporate client — we act as a data processor, and that party is the controller.
Scope and applicable law
We are established on the Dubai mainland. This policy is written to align with Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data (the “PDPL”), which applies to personal data processing in the UAE outside the Dubai International Financial Centre and Abu Dhabi Global Market, each of which operates its own regime.
Our activities are also governed by requirements that sit outside data protection law and can override your preferences, including anti-money laundering legislation, the rules of the Dubai Land Department and RERA, and Federal Decree-Law No. 34 of 2021 on Countering Rumours and Cybercrimes. Where those requirements conflict with a request you make about your data, we must follow the law.
What we collect
When you visit the Website our servers record technical information sent by your browser: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, language preference, referring page, the pages you view, time spent on them, searches run on the Website, and access times and dates.
We use this only to understand how the Website is used, to maintain its security, and to identify misuse. It is not used to build a profile of you as an identifiable individual.
Information you give us
When you make an enquiry, register interest in a property, request a valuation, or contact us by any channel including WhatsApp, we collect:
- Name and contact details, including email address and telephone number
- The property, community or type of property you are interested in
- Your budget, timeframe, financing position and other requirements you choose to share
- The content of your correspondence with us
- Your country of residence and, where relevant, nationality and residency status
Identity and compliance information
If you proceed towards a transaction, we are required by law to carry out customer due diligence before we can act for you. This is not optional and we cannot complete a transaction without it. Depending on the circumstances we will collect:
- Emirates ID, passport and visa details, and a copy of each
- Proof of address and, for corporate buyers, trade licence, constitutional documents and shareholder register
- Details of ultimate beneficial owners where the buyer or seller is a legal entity
- Information and evidence about your source of funds and, where required, source of wealth
- Bank details and evidence of payment
- Politically exposed person status and the results of sanctions and adverse media screening
Some of this may constitute sensitive personal data under the PDPL. We collect it only where we are legally obliged to, and we hold it under the additional safeguards described below.
Transaction and property information
Where you buy, sell, lease or list a property through us, we process viewing records, offers, correspondence with the counterparty, signed agreements including Form A, Form B and Form F, title deed and Oqood details, service charge and mortgage information, and records of payments made through us or to a developer.
Recruitment
If you apply to join Finding Home, we collect your name, contact details, CV and anything else you send us. We use it only to assess your application and, if you are unsuccessful, to consider you for future openings where you have agreed to that. You can ask us to delete your application at any time.
Why we process your data
Under the PDPL we may process personal data with your consent, or without consent where one of the exceptions in the law applies. In practice we rely on the following:
Your consent
- Sending you marketing communications, newsletters and new-launch alerts
- Setting non-essential cookies
- Retaining your CV for future openings
Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time. Withdrawing consent does not affect processing already carried out.
Performance of a contract, or steps taken at your request
- Responding to your enquiry and identifying suitable properties
- Arranging and conducting viewings
- Negotiating, preparing and progressing a transaction to completion
- Liaising with developers, conveyancers, trustee offices, banks and mortgage advisors on your behalf
Compliance with a legal obligation
- Customer due diligence, enhanced due diligence, and ongoing monitoring under UAE anti-money laundering legislation
- Sanctions screening and name-match checking
- Reporting to the UAE Financial Intelligence Unit through the goAML platform
- Registration, filing and disclosure obligations to the Dubai Land Department, RERA and the Ministry of Economy and Tourism
- Record retention required by the above
Our legitimate interests
- Securing and improving the Website and our services
- Maintaining our own business records and defending legal claims
- Preventing fraud and misrepresentation
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we balance them against your rights and do not proceed where your rights take precedence.
Anti-money laundering and regulatory reporting
As a licensed real estate brokerage, Finding Home is a Designated Non-Financial Business and Profession under UAE anti-money laundering law. This has two consequences you should be aware of.
First, we are required to file certain reports with the UAE Financial Intelligence Unit. These include a Real Estate Activity Report where a freehold purchase or sale involves physical cash at or above AED 55,000, whether in a single payment or in linked payments, or where any part of the settlement is made in virtual assets. We also file Suspicious Transaction Reports where we have grounds for suspicion, regardless of the value involved.
Second, and importantly, the law prohibits us from telling you that such a report has been made or is being considered. If we file a report about a transaction involving you, we cannot notify you, and we cannot confirm or deny it if you ask. In those circumstances your rights of access and erasure under this policy are restricted by law.
We are also required to retain due diligence records and transaction files for at least five years after the end of our relationship with you, and longer if a competent authority directs it.
Transfers outside the UAE
Some of the service providers we use store or process data outside the UAE. We also share data with overseas clients and, where you are an international buyer, with parties in your own jurisdiction at your request.
Where we transfer personal data outside the UAE, we do so in line with the PDPL: to jurisdictions recognised as providing an adequate level of protection, or, where no such recognition exists, under contractual safeguards, with your explicit consent, or where the transfer is necessary to perform a contract with you or to establish or defend a legal claim.
How long we keep it
- Website analytics and technical logs: retained for no longer than needed for security and performance purposes
- Enquiries that do not proceed: retained for 24 months from last contact, then deleted
- Marketing contacts: retained until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete you
- Recruitment applications: retained for 12 months unless you agree to longer
- Client due diligence records and transaction files: retained for a minimum of five years after the end of the business relationship or the completion of the transaction, as required by UAE anti-money laundering law
- Records required by the Dubai Land Department, RERA or tax authorities: retained for the period those bodies require
Where a statutory retention period applies, we cannot delete your data at your request until that period has expired.
Your rights
Subject to the restrictions described in this policy, the PDPL gives you the right to:
- Be informed about how your personal data is processed
- Request access to the personal data we hold about you
- Request that inaccurate or incomplete data be corrected
- Request erasure of your data
- Request that we restrict or stop processing
- Request your data in a portable format, or that we transfer it to another controller
- Object to processing carried out on the basis of our legitimate interests
- Object to decisions made about you solely by automated processing
- Withdraw consent where our processing relies on it
To exercise any of these, email info@findinghome.ae. We may ask you to verify your identity before we act. We will respond within the period required by law and, where we cannot meet your request in full, we will tell you why — except where the law prevents us from doing so, as described in section 5.
Exercising these rights is free. We may charge a reasonable fee or decline to act only where a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, and we will explain our reasoning if so.
Marketing
We will send you property alerts, newsletters and marketing only where you have agreed to receive them, or where you are an existing client and the communication relates to services similar to those we have already provided.
Every marketing message includes a way to unsubscribe, and you can opt out at any time by emailing info@findinghome.ae. Opting out of marketing does not stop essential communications about a transaction you are party to.
How we protect your data
We hold personal data on access-controlled systems and apply administrative, technical and physical safeguards appropriate to its sensitivity. Identity and compliance documents are held with restricted access, available only to those who need them to carry out due diligence or complete a transaction.
No transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure. While we take reasonable steps to protect your data, we cannot guarantee the security of information you send us, and you should take care to protect the devices and credentials you use to communicate with us.
Data breaches
If a personal data breach occurs, we will assess it without delay and, where the law requires, notify the UAE Data Office and any affected individuals, together with the nature of the breach, its likely consequences, and the steps we are taking to address it.
Third-party websites
The Website contains links to sites we do not control, including developer sites and property portals. We are not responsible for their content or their privacy practices, and we encourage you to read their policies before providing them with your data.
Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The current version will always be available on the Website with the date it was last updated. Where a change materially affects how we use your data, we will tell you directly. Continuing to use the Website after a change takes effect means you accept the updated policy.
Contact
For any question about this policy, to exercise your rights, or to raise a concern:
Email: info@findinghome.ae
Post: Finding Home Real Estate LLC, Green Corner Building, Office 503, Al Rigga Road, Dubai, P.O. Box 440580, UAE
We will make every reasonable effort to resolve your concern within the timescales set by applicable UAE data protection law. If you are not satisfied with our response, you may lodge a complaint with the UAE Data Office.