Privacy Policy · HouseHunt

This policy explains how the HouseHunt team (“HouseHunt”, “we”) handles personal data on this website. For the purposes of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (“DPDP Act”), HouseHunt is the Data Fiduciary for the data described below and you are the Data Principal.

1. What we collect

When you create an account

Your name as you choose to display it, and your email address.
Your password, stored only as a salted one-way hash. We never see or store it in readable form.

When you post a property

The property details, costs, availability and photographs you submit.
The contact channel you authorise us to show to interested renters, and your stated role (owner, agent or flatmate).

When you use the site

The listings you save, the listings you contact, and what you tell us about how that contact went.
Any private housing requirement you submit: budget, preferred localities, accommodation type, amenities and move-in timing.
Technical records kept by our servers — IP address, user agent and request time — used to keep the service available and to detect abuse.

Only if you opt in

Anonymous usage counts: that a home page, a search page or a specific listing was viewed. No contact details and no search text are sent. The toggle is in the footer of every page and you can turn it off at any time; we also honour your browser’s Do Not Track setting.

2. Why we use it, and on what basis

We process your data to provide the service you asked for: to run your account, show your listings to renters, connect you with a poster, match private requirements, review listing quality, and keep the service secure. Where the DPDP Act requires consent, we ask for it before collecting the data and you can withdraw it at any time. Withdrawing consent does not undo processing already carried out lawfully.

3. What we never do

We do not sell your personal data.
We do not pass your contact details to brokers or advertisers, and we do not run third-party advertising or tracking scripts.
We do not use your data to make automated decisions that have a legal effect on you.

4. Who else sees it

Other users, by your action. A listing you publish is public, including the contact channel you authorise. A renter who contacts you sees what you chose to expose, not your account email.
Our infrastructure providers. The site and database run on cloud hosting. Providers act on our instructions under contract and may not use your data for their own purposes.
Lawful requests. We disclose data where we are legally required to, and we do not volunteer more than is asked.

We do not transfer personal data outside India except to the hosting region used to serve this site, and only as permitted under the DPDP Act.

5. Cookies and local storage

hh_access and hh_refresh — strictly necessary sign-in cookies. They are HTTP-only, so page scripts cannot read them.
hh_session — a flag with no personal data in it, which simply tells the page whether a session exists so it does not make pointless requests.
hh_analytics_consent — stored in your browser to remember your analytics choice. It never leaves your device.

We set no advertising or cross-site tracking cookies, which is why you are not asked to dismiss a cookie banner.

6. How long we keep it

Account data: until you ask us to delete the account.
Listings and the inquiries attached to them: while the listing is live, and up to 12 months afterwards so that rental outcomes and disputes can be checked.
Private housing requirements: 12 months, or until you delete them.
Technical and security logs: up to 90 days.

When a retention period ends, or when you withdraw consent and we have no other basis to keep the data, we erase it.

7. Your rights

Under the DPDP Act you may:

ask what personal data of yours we hold and how we use it;
ask us to correct, complete or update it;
ask us to erase it where we no longer need it;
withdraw consent as easily as you gave it;
nominate someone to exercise these rights if you die or become incapacitated;
raise a grievance with us, and escalate to the Data Protection Board of India if we do not resolve it.

Write to privacy@househunt.homes. We respond within 30 days. We may ask you to confirm you control the account email before we act on a request.

8. Security

Traffic is encrypted in transit. Passwords are hashed. Sign-in tokens are short-lived, rotated, and kept in HTTP-only cookies. Access to production data is limited to the people who need it. No system is perfect; if a breach affects you, we will inform you and the Data Protection Board as the DPDP Act requires.

9. Children

HouseHunt is for people aged 18 and over. We do not knowingly collect data about children. If you believe a child has created an account, tell us and we will remove it.

10. Changes

If this policy changes materially we will say so on this page and, for changes that need it, ask for fresh consent. The date at the top shows the current version.

11. Grievance officer

Unresolved concern? Contact our grievance officer at grievance@househunt.homes. We acknowledge within 48 hours and aim to resolve within 30 days.