We use cookies to make its website more user-friendly, secure and effective. Cookies collect information about the use of websites. Further information: Information on data protection
This Privacy Policy applies to data processing in connection with the conclusion, settlement and administration of tenancies by Baloise Asset Management Ltd, Baloise Insurance Ltd, Baloise Life Ltd, Pension Foundation of Baloise Insurance Ltd and Drei Linden Immobilien AG (hereinafter collectively also referred to as “we”; see clause 2). We process your personal data (hereinafter referred to as “data”) or the data of other persons insofar as this is necessary for the conclusion, settlement and administration of tenancies.
“Personal data” is data that relates to an identified or identifiable natural person. “Sensitive personal data” is personal data that is specially protected by law due to its sensitivity, for example health data. “Processing” means any handling of your data, in particular obtaining, storing, using, disclosing, archiving or deleting such data. We comply with the Federal Data Protection Act (FADP), the implementing ordinance (DPO) and any other data protection laws applicable in individual cases (e.g. the European General Data Protection Regulation, GDPR) or provisions under the Swiss Code of Obligations (CO) relevant to data protection.
In the following, we will show what data we collect, what we use it for and what your rights are in this regard.
We not only process data of prospective tenants and existing tenants, but also data of third parties, in particular of the following persons (hereinafter each referred to as “you”):
When you transmit data to us via third parties, we assume that you are authorised to do so and that this data is correct. Therefore, please inform these third parties about the processing of their data by us and provide them with a copy of this Privacy Policy. If we refer you to a new version of these documents, please also hand over this new version in each case.
Our employees are regularly trained on data protection and are sworn to secrecy. In addition, our Data Protection Unit monitors compliance with data protection regulations.
The Helvetia Baloise Group has the responsible units listed below for the data processing described here. The unit responsible for your specific case is the one that contacted you in connection with this Privacy Policy.
(hereinafter referred to as “Helvetia” or “we”)
For questions regarding data protection and the rights of data subjects, individuals can contact Helvetia using the keyword "Data Protection". This will connect them with Helvetia's data protection advisor or data protection officer.
Helvetia Insurance Ltd
Data Protection Unit
St. Alban Anlage 26
4002 Basel
Tel.: +41 58 280 10 00
E-mail: datenschutz@helvetia.ch
In the context of tenancies, we process the categories of data described below, although this list is not exhaustive.
In the event of changes to data over time (e.g. due to a change of address or another modification), we may continue to store the previous status of such data in addition to the current status within the framework of the statutory storage periods.
We refer to the basic data that we require in addition to the contract data (clause 3.3 below) for the processing of our contractual relationships or for marketing and advertising purposes as master data. Master data includes, in particular, contact information (e.g. name, address, telephone number and email address), personal details (e.g. date of birth, age, gender, nationality, data from identification documents), other identification data (e.g. UID number, tax identification number) or information about your relationship with us. Account information is also collected, including bank account details (e.g. account numbers, or credit card details).
Information on the persons affected by the data processing, such as recipients of correspondence, contact persons, family members or other persons living in the same household, is also part of the master data.
If you are a contact person of a company with which we have a rental relationship, we also process data about you (e.g. name and address, titles, function in the company, qualifications and, where applicable, details of line managers and employees).
We obtain master data from you yourself or from third parties, such as providers of credit and financial information, employers, the Residents’ Registration Office, our contracting parties, brokers, Helvetia Baloise Group companies and from public registers (e.g. the Commercial Register, the debt collection register and land registers).
This is data that is collected in connection with the conclusion or processing of a contract. Contract data includes data from initial rent forms, contracts and information from pre-contractual relationships, such as, in particular, information from previous forms for prospective tenants, information from other existing contracts (e.g. type and date of conclusion of the contract and further information about the contract in question, rent, term of the contract and invoicing information as well as further contractual relationships in connection with rental agreements).
Contract data also includes financial data, i.e. information on income from employment, your creditworthiness (i.e. information that allows conclusions to be drawn about the likelihood of receivables being settled) and your payment history (i.e. information regarding payment demands and debt collection).
We generally collect contract data directly from you, from contracting parties and from third parties involved in the processing of the contract, but also from third-party sources (e.g. providers of creditworthiness data) and from publicly accessible registers (e.g. checking of an extract from the Debt Enforcement Register). In doing so, we collect such data – to the extent necessary for the initiation, conclusion and performance of a rental agreement – in particular also from the references provided by you as well as from financial services providers or credit agencies.
Contract data also includes data that we obtain from publicly available sources and registers or from authorities in the context of combating fraud, money laundering and terrorism (e.g. from sanctions lists).
When you contact us via the form for prospective tenants, via Customer Service, by email, telephone or chat, by letter or via other means of communication, we collect the data exchanged between you and us, including your contact details and metadata relating to the communication.
Where we record telephone conversations, we will specifically draw your attention to this fact, stating the purpose. If you do not wish to be recorded, please let us know or end your call.
When communicating with you, for example when you submit a request for information, we sometimes also collect data to establish your identity (e.g. information from official identification documents) in order to prevent us from providing information to unauthorised third parties.
In order to provide you with the best possible service and advise you on our rental properties and services, we would like to recognise your preferences and determine your requirements. To do this, we collect and use data about your behaviour when you interact with us and about the preferences you tell us or that we identify.
Behavioural data is comprised of details of certain actions, such as the use of electronic means of communication (e.g. whether and when you opened an email), the use of our websites (for more information, see www.helvetia.ch/privacy), the way in which you obtain products and services, your interaction with our social media profiles and your participation in prize draws, competitions and events. Preference data tells us about your requirements and which products or services might be of interest to you. We obtain this information from analysis of existing data, such as behavioural data, so that we can tailor our offers more precisely to you. To improve the quality of our analyses, we may combine such data with other data that we obtain from third parties such as government agencies and publicly available sources, for example, information on your household size, income bracket and purchasing power, socio-demographic data, shopping behaviour and contact details of relatives.
We may also collect data from you in other situations. In connection with official or judicial proceedings, for instance, data accumulates (e.g. files, evidence) that may also relate to you. We may also collect data for health protection reasons (e.g. within the framework of protection concepts).
We may receive or produce photographs, videos and audio recordings in which you may be identifiable (e.g. at building entrances or at events by security cameras, etc.). You will always be asked for your consent or informed accordingly in advance. For security purposes, we may also collect data on who enters certain buildings and when, or who has corresponding access rights (e.g. in the case of access controls or based on registration data or visitor lists, etc.), who participates when in events or campaigns (e.g. competitions) and who uses when our infrastructure and systems.
We obtain the data mentioned here primarily from you, but also from third parties (e.g. authorities) and in some cases also from our Helvetia Baloise Group companies.
Your data will only be used by us for purposes which we pointed out to you on their collection or for which we are obligated or entitled by law to process. For further details on the basis of our processing, please refer to clause 5.
Prior to the conclusion of a contract, we process your data in order to carry out tenant application procedures, to offer you the desired viewing of the rental property and relevant consultation and to contact you in this context. If you contact us, for example, to arrange a viewing appointment or have questions about a rental property, we will process your data depending on the subject of your enquiry. In such cases, we can access your personal data already stored with us.
In the course of initiating a rental agreement, personal data – in particular master data, contract data and communication data – are collected by us from prospective tenants or are derived from communication. If you apply as a tenant for one of our properties, we also need your information to assess and evaluate the risk to be assumed by us (if necessary also with the assistance of third parties, e.g. companies of the Helvetia Baloise Group). In order to conclude the rental agreement, we may collect and process, among other things, information about you (e.g. details of identity and nationality), information about your financial circumstances and solvency (e.g. details of occupation, income, employer and pending debt enforcement proceedings), information about your living arrangements (e.g. problems during the tenancy and reason for termination of the tenancy, number of cohabitants and purpose of use) as well as information about pets and musical instruments. Also in connection with the conclusion of the contract, credit and financial information may be obtained, and persons indicated by the tenant as references may be contacted.
If the contractual relationship is established, we process your data to implement the contractual relationship, in particular to provide and claim contractual benefits, for example for the administration of the tenancy, to issue invoices, as well as to communicate with you. This also includes consultation and tenant support, the enforcement of legal claims arising from contracts (debt collection, court proceedings, etc.) as well as accounting or termination of contracts. In this context, we process primarily master data, contract data and communication data.
If the contractual relationship does not materialise, we may, with your consent, add you to a waiting list or database of prospective tenants for other rental properties for a period of one year.
If you do not agree to the storage of your data for such purposes, you can refuse or withdraw your consent (see contact address clause 9).
In the case of collaboration with other companies, such as in relation to external brokers and management companies that look after our rental properties, we also process master and contract data in particular for the purpose of initiating and processing contracts.
We may process your data for the administration and management of our real estate and its technical equipment and facilities. We need this information in particular for property accounting and to communicate with prospective tenants and existing tenants, to attract (first-time) tenants, to conclude, process and terminate rental agreements, to inspect and hand over rental properties, to order nameplates, to report changes of tenants, to look after tenants during the tenancy, to draw up rental inventories and tables, to monitor tenants’ experience, to maintain property and rental documentation, to conclude deposit agreements and open deposit accounts, to handle payment transactions, to initiate debt enforcement proceedings, to assert and enforce claims before courts and authorities, to rectify faults as well as record, commission or complete service orders. We may also share your data with third parties (e.g. tradespeople, insurers, caretakers) in order to carry out safety checks, repairs, maintenance and modernisation work, as well as to report, rectify and settle claims. In individual cases, it may be necessary for us or third parties (e.g. managers, planners, network operators) to gain access to your rental property. Photographs or video recordings may be made of damage to or in the rental property for evidence and documentation purposes (e.g. photographic documentation of mould damage). For the purpose of checking and allocating the network connection, we may also process your data after the end of the contractual relationship and disclose it to telecommunications and IT companies. For this purpose, we process in particular your master data, contract data and communication data as well as data from accounts, records, files, photographs and video recordings.
In order to ensure the smooth management of our real estate, we may process your data as part of the asset and portfolio management in the Real Estate division. The specific purposes of the data processing are derived from the relevant service (e.g. preparation of needs analyses, valuations and evaluations, asset management and support). In order to optimise our investment, portfolio and risk management strategy, we may share your personal and contact information with property assessors who are contractually bound to confidentiality. In doing so, we process your master data, contract data and communication data in particular.
As part of the process of selling our properties, we use your data to prepare the sales dossier, draw up the purchase contract with a notary, the public notarisation and the handover of the property, among other things. In particular, we process master and contract data (e.g. data from rental agreements and purchase contracts, data from private law agreements and regulations of a condominium owners’ association) as well as information from publicly accessible registers (e.g. an extract from the Land Register) along with information from rental tables (e.g. name, rent, move-in date). We process in particular your master data and contract data for these purposes.
As part of the planning and realisation of construction projects and, among other things, during the rectification of defects, building condition analysis, construction administration, submission and awarding of contracts, we and commissioned third parties process, in particular, information about you (e.g. address, name) as well as information about your bank account (e.g. bank account number) in order to contact you and to pay out any possible compensation for inconvenience.
We may process your data in order to provide you with our smart charging solution for electric mobility and, where appropriate, to commission and maintain a charging station. In order to provide a usable and safe charging station as well as for billing and support purposes, we may share your data with third parties, in particular, with our partners commissioned with the supply and billing of energy, who are contractually obligated to maintain confidentiality (the data concerned pertains, e.g. to name, address, number of the charging station, type of charging process). In doing so, we process your master data, contract data and communication data in particular, such as time, location and duration of the charging process.
To prevent damage to property and to protect people, we can use video cameras and other surveillance systems (e.g. built-in camera in the bell button panel) and view and analyse the relevant recordings. Where appropriate, these systems will be installed in such a way that only the images necessary for this purpose are recorded. Tenants and other persons entering the property concerned will be made aware of the video surveillance by means of a warning sign.
Data that we require for statistical evaluations and data analyses are aggregated and no longer allow any conclusions to be drawn about your person. The aggregated data is required for the creation of tenant-specific statistics or for topic-specific evaluations and data analyses as well as for the portfolio report. We also use the data of all existing contracts – likewise without the possibility of drawing conclusions about you personally – for the fulfilment of our rental agreement obligations, a consideration of the entire tenant base as well as for the reporting of energy data (e.g. in the context of CO2 reduction).
We may use your data to send you advertising about our products and services as well as those of Helvetia Baloise Group companies and business partners, for example in the form of newsletters or other regular contacts (by email or post, by telephone or as part of other marketing campaigns e.g. competitions, events). In particular, we use your communication data for this purpose.
In order to make our offers more relevant to your requirements and interests, we personalise some of our communications to allow for an individual approach. To do this, we link in particular master data, contract data, behavioural data and communication data and determine preference data as a further basis for personalisation. We can also create interest profiles about you and divide you into advertising groups.
Please let us know if you do not wish your data to be processed for marketing purposes (see contact address in clause 9).
We are committed to continuously developing our services to meet your needs. Therefore, we also sometimes contact you for market research purposes and use the results in anonymised form for addressing various questions within the company. To determine tenant satisfaction, we can ask you about your experience with us. We also use your responses to contact you personally, to actively address your concerns and to improve our internal processes. We also collect, store and process your data for the evaluation, improvement and redevelopment of our products and services. In doing so, we analyse which products are used by which groups of people and which adjustments would be necessary in the future. The results of these analyses are largely pseudonymised and anonymised. For this purpose, we process the previously described master data, behavioural data and preference data as well as communication data.
In order to comply with laws and regulatory obligations (e.g. money laundering investigations, international tax exchange), we must subject your data to more detailed investigations (e.g. with regard to identity, beneficial owners of funds or shareholdings in companies as well as for automated comparison with external watch lists) and in some cases share this data within the Helvetia Baloise Group. We may be required to report to authorities or disclose records in certain cases. Personal data about you may be processed in the course of internal and external investigations, for example by law enforcement or supervisory authorities or an appointed private body.
We may also process your data for other purposes, for instance, as part of our internal processes and administration. This includes training, educational and administrative purposes (such as the management of master data, accounting, data archiving and the management and ongoing improvement of the IT infrastructure), the protection of our rights (e.g. to enforce claims in and out of court and before authorities in Switzerland and abroad, or to defend ourselves against claims, such as by preserving evidence, legal clarifications and participation in judicial or official proceedings) and the evaluation and improvement of internal processes. As part of the development of the company, we may also sell or acquire businesses, parts of businesses or companies to other companies or enter into partnerships, which may also to the exchange and processing of data arising from the tenancy.
Where we ask for your consent for certain forms of processing, we will inform you separately about the corresponding purposes of the processing. You can withdraw your consent at any time by notifying us in writing with effect for the future. Once we have received notification of the withdrawal of your consent, we will no longer process your data for the purposes to which you originally consented. If consent is withdrawn, this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing carried out based on the consent previously given, up until the date of its withdrawal.
Unless we ask you for your consent to processing, we base the processing of your data on the fact that the processing is necessary for the initiation or execution of a contract with you or that we or third parties have a legitimate interest in doing so, for example in order to pursue the purposes described above under clause 4 and the associated objectives as well as to take appropriate measures. Our legitimate interests also include the marketing of our products and services.
In addition, we may also base some of our data processing on a legal basis that entitles us to process personal data (e.g. obligation to notify rent increases using officially approved forms).
For the purposes mentioned in clause 4, we may also process and evaluate your data automatically, i.e. electronically, in order to assess certain personal characteristics or behaviour (so-called profiling). This includes automated data processing, for example for combating money laundering and terrorist financing, for combating insurance fraud, for credit checks or individual risk evaluation and assessment as a necessary calculation basis for the insurance policy, as well as for identifying different interests and personal requirements for marketing purposes, product and service offers and services.
In the event that we base our decisions when concluding a contract or handling a claim exclusively on automated data processing (so-called automated individual decisions) and if such decisions cause legal effects or significant disadvantages for you (e.g. termination, risk exclusions, premium amount, denial of benefits) or if they affect you significantly in a similar way, we will inform you of this in an appropriate manner and separately inform you that you can have the relevant decision reviewed by a member of our staff if necessary. Such fully automated decisions are always based on rules we have established in advance for weighting the information.
In connection with the purposes set out in clause 4 above, we may also disclose your personal data to third parties, in particular to the recipients categorised below:
For the conclusion or processing of the contract, sharing of data may also be necessary with other companies belonging to the Helvetia Baloise Group (“Group companies”).
In order to comply with statutory obligations (e.g. in connection with investigations to combat money laundering), we also transmit some data to companies of the Helvetia Baloise Group (see clause 4.10).
We also use your contact details and basic contract data for offers tailored to you regarding products and services of the Group companies and other companies belonging to the Helvetia Baloise Group in Switzerland. You acknowledge that we may make the aforementioned data available to these companies for such purpose.
In order to provide you with offers for products and services or to advertise them, we may also share your master and contract data as well as behavioural and preference data within the Helvetia Baloise Group (e.g. Baloise Bank) for the purpose of contacting you and sending you individual offers.
If you do not wish your data to be used or shared for such purposes, you can inform us of this or refuse or withdraw your consent (see contact address clause 9).
You can request a list of the Helvetia Baloise Group companies via the postal address or email address stated under clause 9 below.
In order to ensure efficient and careful administration of our real estate, we may delegate tasks, in particular in the context of administrative, technical and financial management, to legally independent companies in Switzerland and abroad – including “data processors” – (e.g. asset managers, intermediaries, fiduciaries, asset and portfolio managers as well as IT hardware, software and consultancy service providers). In such cases, the data we have stored about you may be passed on for the purposes mentioned in clause 4. These service providers are contractually obliged to adhere to our standards for data processing, as well as to the applicable data protection legislation.
When we transmit your data to data processors, who process data on our behalf, we take measures to ensure that our regulatory standards are met and that your data is adequately protected. Our service providers are required to comply with a number of technical and organisational security measures (e.g. measures regarding information security management, information security risk assessment and information security). Where contractually or legally provided, such service providers may in turn engage third parties under the same conditions.
When selling our properties, we may disclose your data to any prospective buyers or purchasers if it provides information about a value-forming factor, such as the type and composition of tenants, the occupancy rate of the property and the amount of the rent, and if the property for sale must be examined in detail by the potential buyer before a binding offer can be made. In particular, we may share information from rental agreements, rental tables, property and tenant documentation with prospective buyers or purchasers.
In the context of the new leasing of a rented property, we disclose your data (e.g. name, telephone number, address) to any prospective tenants based on your consent to organise and conduct flat viewings. This can also be done via a digital platform provider that facilitates the re-letting process.
If you are interested in transferring furniture to a new tenant, we can, with your consent, provide them with your contact details so that they can contact you about this.
If you are advised by a broker with regard to your rental agreement, such broker will receive the information necessary for your support and consultation as well as the marketing of our rental property (e.g. term of the contract, rent, contract fulfilment and termination) from the data created about you with us. In doing so, we comply with the power of attorney issued to the broker by you. Brokers are bound by law and contract to observe the provisions of the FADP.
We may also share your data with official bodies, courts and other authorities in Switzerland and abroad if we are legally obliged or entitled to do so or if this appears necessary to protect our interests. This includes compliance with statutory notification obligations (e.g. notification of rent increases and other unilateral contractual changes by the landlord), the exercise of rights (e.g. registration for the entry of a tenancy in the Land Register), the defence against claims and compliance with legal requirements (e.g. within the framework of official, judicial and pre- and extra-judicial proceedings as well as within the framework of statutory duties to inform and cooperate).
Data is also disclosed if we obtain information from public bodies (e.g. when checking an address).
When checking your creditworthiness with the help of credit agencies and when commissioning debt collection companies (e.g. to collect outstanding payments), we may share your data (concerning changes in payment behaviour occurring before and during the term of the contract) with these companies. Our legitimate interest here is to avoid rent payment delays and defaults. These companies store your personal data and may disclose it to other contracting parties as part of their activities, provided such contracting parties have presented a credible legitimate interest in individual cases for having the data transferred to them.
Where another tenant of the property of your rental property requests to see the rental table in order to check the legitimacy of their rent or of a rent increase, we can disclose such information to them. This may include your data (e.g. rent, move-in date).
Your data may also be disclosed to other recipients for the aforementioned purposes (e.g. tradespeople, insurers, caretakers, managers, suppliers, banks, planners, telecommunications and IT providers, property assessors, partners commissioned with energy and billing solutions, parties to judicial proceedings or purchasers of assets or divisions of Baloise). Other persons are, in particular, recipients of a payment, authorised representatives, correspondent banks, other financial institutions and other bodies involved in a legal transaction.
When your data is processed in accordance with clause 7 above, your data may also be transmitted abroad, for example when personal data is forwarded to other Helvetia Baloise Group companies or to service providers. Under certain circumstances, we may also transmit data to third parties abroad who are involved in the processing of the contract (e.g. authorities and courts), as well as to other bodies such as foreign tax authorities.
Your data may therefore be processed worldwide, including outside Switzerland or the European Union or the European Economic Area (i.e. also in so-called third countries such as the US). Many third countries currently do not have laws that ensure a level of data protection equivalent to the applicable FADP. Therefore, we take contractual precautions, as required by law, as well as further measures (e.g. pseudonymisation) to reduce the risk of state/government access abroad authorised by foreign legislation.
In accordance with the applicable data protection law and under certain conditions, you have the following rights:
You may request information as to whether we process your data and, if so, what data is being processed, and receive a copy of this personal data.
You can request that we correct incorrect data or complete incomplete data.
You can request the erasure of your data unless we are obliged or authorised to retain your data under applicable laws and regulations.
You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data at any time with future effect, provided that the processing is not strictly necessary for the performance of a contract and/or that we are not obliged or authorised to process the data under applicable laws and regulations.
Where applicable, you have the right to object to the processing of your data, in particular for the purposes of direct marketing, profiling conducted for direct marketing and other legitimate interests in the processing.
In cases where data processing is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw this consent at any time. If you withdraw your consent this does not affect the lawfulness of the data processing undertaken on the basis of your consent up until the revocation.
You may request that the data provided by you be released or transmitted in a commonly used electronic form to another controller, provided that the processing is carried out by means of automated processing or you have consented to the processing.
You have the right to express your point of view in the case of exclusively automated individual decisions and to request that the decision be reviewed by a natural person.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with our Data Protection Unit or the competent data protection supervisory authority if you do not agree with our handling of your rights.
Please note that these rights are subject to legal requirements and that exceptions and restrictions apply. In particular, we may need to further process and store your data in order to safeguard our own legitimate interests, such as the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, or to comply with legal obligations. To the extent legally permissible, in particular to protect the rights and freedoms of other data subjects and to safeguard legitimate interests, we must therefore also partially or wholly reject a data subject’s request (e.g. by redacting certain content that concerns third parties or our trade secrets). In order for us to be able to rule out fraudulent use, we must verify your identity (e.g. with a copy of your identity card, if identification is not possible in any other way). We generally retain information in connection with the processing of data subject requests for three years.
For queries and to exercise your rights, you can contact any of the companies listed below in writing or by email:
Helvetia Swiss Insurance Company Ltd
Datenschutz
St. Alban-Anlage 26
4002 Basel
E-mail: datenschutz@helvetia.ch
Your data will only be stored by us for as long as is required for reaching the aforementioned purposes and for as long as we are legally or contractually obligated to store it.
In individual cases, it is possible to retain personal data for longer, for example if claims are asserted against us (during the statutory limitation period) or if we are otherwise contractually, legally or officially obliged to do so, if you consent to this or if legitimate (business) interests, documentation and evidence purposes require this. As soon as your data is no longer required for the above purposes, it will be erased as part of our standard deletion processes.
When processing personal data, we take appropriate technical and organisational measures to prevent unauthorised access and other instances of unauthorised processing. These measures are based on international standards and are regularly reviewed and adjusted if necessary.