Privacy Policy

PlaceHunt operates as a property listing platform connecting property seekers with landlords in Kenya. In the course of providing this service, we collect and process personal information in compliance with the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019 and other applicable Kenyan laws.

By using PlaceHunt, you consent to the collection and use of your information as described in this policy. If you do not agree, please discontinue use of our services.

We collect information in the following ways:

We do not collect sensitive personal data such as national ID numbers, financial account details, or biometric data.

We use the data we collect for the following purposes:

• To create and manage your account and authenticate your sessions
• To publish and display your property listings to prospective tenants
• To connect interested tenants with landlords by passing inquiry (lead) data
• To generate AI-assisted property descriptions using listing information you provide
• To improve platform performance, fix bugs, and understand usage patterns
• To send transactional emails such as account activation and password reset links
• To detect and prevent fraudulent or abusive behaviour on the platform
• To comply with legal obligations under Kenyan law

We do not sell your personal data. We share data only in the following limited circumstances:

• With landlords/agents: When you submit a property inquiry, your email address and the listing ID are shared with the property owner to enable them to follow up with you.
• Service providers: We use third-party services to host our platform and store data (cloud infrastructure). These providers are bound by confidentiality obligations and may not use your data for their own purposes.
• AI providers: Property details (not personal data) are sent to an AI API to generate listing descriptions.
• Legal requirements: We may disclose data to government authorities or law enforcement if required to do so by law, court order, or to protect the rights and safety of our users.

We do not share your data with advertisers or marketing platforms.

Your data is stored in a MongoDB database. We implement the following security measures:

• Passwords are hashed using a strong one-way algorithm — we never store plaintext passwords
• Account access is protected by JWT-based session tokens
• Data in transit is encrypted using HTTPS/TLS
• Database access is restricted to authorised application services only
• File uploads (property images) are stored on a secure cloud storage service

While we take reasonable precautions, no system is completely secure. In the event of a data breach that is likely to affect your rights, we will notify you as required by the Kenya Data Protection Act.

We retain your data for as long as your account remains active. If you request account deletion, we will remove your personal data within 30 days, except where retention is required by law.

When you submit an inquiry on a property listing, we record this as a "lead". The lead record contains your email address, the listing ID you enquired about, and a timestamp. This data is:

• Stored securely in our database
• Accessible to PlaceHunt admin for monitoring and fraud prevention
• Shared with the relevant landlord or agent so they can contact you
• Not used for marketing or sold to third parties

If you are a landlord, lead data you receive about prospective tenants must be used solely for the purpose of responding to their property inquiry. Any other use constitutes a violation of these policies and may be unlawful under the Kenya Data Protection Act.

PlaceHunt uses browser cookies and local storage for the following purposes:

• Authentication: We store a session token to keep you logged in between visits
• Preferences: We may store filter or UI preferences to improve your browsing experience
• Analytics: We may use anonymised usage data to understand how the platform is used and improve it

We do not use third-party advertising cookies or tracking pixels. You can clear cookies through your browser settings at any time; this will log you out of your account.

Under the Kenya Data Protection Act, 2019, you have the following rights with respect to your personal data:

To exercise any of these rights, contact us via WhatsApp or email (details in Section 12). We will respond within 21 days as required by law.

PlaceHunt is not intended for use by persons under the age of 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from minors. If you believe we have inadvertently collected data from a person under 18, please contact us immediately and we will delete it promptly.

Our platform may contain links to external services, such as WhatsApp for landlord contact. PlaceHunt has no control over these third-party services and is not responsible for their privacy practices. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you use.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technology, or legal requirements. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page will always reflect the most recent revision.

For material changes that significantly affect how we use your data, we will notify registered users via email before the changes take effect. Your continued use of PlaceHunt after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy.

If you have questions about this policy, wish to exercise your data rights, or want to report a privacy concern, please contact us through any of the channels below. We take all privacy matters seriously and will respond promptly.