Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

MyHome-Me is operated by Home-Me (Pty) Ltd, Registration No: 2025/22594/07, a company incorporated in South Africa (“we”, “us”, or “our”).

We are committed to protecting your personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 (POPIA) and all applicable South African data protection law.

Our designated Information Officer is responsible for ensuring compliance with POPIA. You may contact the Information Officer at privacy@myhome-me.com.

2. Information we collect

We collect the following categories of personal information:

• Account information: name, email address, and profile picture.
• Identity verification data: South African ID number and biometric selfie, collected for owner verification purposes only and processed by SmileID.
• Listing information: property details, photos, address, and pricing provided by space owners.
• Booking information: booking dates, payment amounts, and booking status.
• Payment information: processed by PayFast — we do not store card or banking details on our systems.
• Usage data: pages visited, search queries, and device/browser information collected automatically.
• Communications: messages sent between users on the platform.

3. Lawful basis for processing

Under POPIA, we process your personal information on the following grounds:

• Contract performance: to create and manage your account, process bookings, and facilitate payments.
• Legal obligation: to comply with applicable South African laws and regulations.
• Legitimate interest: to improve our platform, prevent fraud, and ensure platform security.
• Consent: for identity verification — you provide explicit consent before your biometric data is collected and processed.

4. How we use your information

We use your personal information to:

• Operate and improve the MyHome-Me platform.
• Process and manage bookings and payments.
• Communicate with you about your account, bookings, and support requests.
• Verify the identity of space owners (biometric KYC).
• Send transactional emails (booking confirmations, message notifications).
• Comply with legal obligations under South African law.

We will not sell, rent, or share your personal information with third parties for marketing purposes without your explicit consent.

5. Sharing your information

We share your information only with:

• PayFast (South Africa) — for payment processing.
• Clerk (USA) — for authentication and session management.
• SmileID (Pan-African) — for biometric identity verification of space owners. SmileID verifies your ID number against the South African Department of Home Affairs database and processes biometric data on your behalf.
• Resend (USA) — for transactional email delivery.
• UploadThing (USA) — for secure image storage.
• Prisma / Neon (USA) — for database hosting.
• Other users — limited profile information (name, avatar) is visible to other users in an active booking or conversation.
• Legal authorities — where required by South African law or a court order.

6. Cross-border transfers

Some of our service providers are located outside South Africa (including the USA). In terms of section 72 of POPIA, we only transfer personal information to foreign third parties where:

• the recipient country has adequate data protection laws; or
• the recipient is bound by binding corporate rules or contractual obligations that provide substantially similar protection to POPIA; or
• you have consented to the transfer.

All third-party processors listed above have agreed to process personal information only for the specified purposes and under confidentiality obligations.

7. Data retention

We retain your personal information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide our services. If you close your account, we will delete or anonymise your personal data within 30 days, unless a longer retention period is required by law (e.g., financial records under the Companies Act or SARS requirements).

Biometric data collected for identity verification is retained only for the period necessary to complete verification and is not used for any other purpose.

8. Your rights under POPIA

As a data subject you have the right to:

• Be notified that your personal information is being collected (section 18).
• Access the personal information we hold about you (section 23).
• Request correction or deletion of inaccurate or outdated information (section 24).
• Object to the processing of your personal information (section 11(3)).
• Submit a complaint to the Information Regulator of South Africa.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at privacy@myhome-me.com. We will respond within 30 days as required by POPIA.

9. Complaints to the Information Regulator

If you are not satisfied with how we handle your personal information, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa:

10. Cookies

We use essential cookies to keep you signed in and to maintain your session. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies. You can disable cookies in your browser settings, but some features of the platform may not function correctly.

11. Security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, loss, or destruction, including HTTPS encryption, secure authentication, and role-based access controls. In the event of a data breach that poses a risk to your rights, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as required by section 22 of POPIA.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of material changes by email or by posting a notice on the platform at least 30 days before the changes take effect. Continued use of MyHome-Me after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Contact us

For any privacy-related queries or to exercise your rights, contact our Information Officer: