Data Commissioner concerned about estate agents requesting personal info

The Office of the Data Protection Commissioner has confirmed to Labour housing spokesperson Rebecca Moynihan that it shares the concerns regarding the collection of personal data for the purpose of viewing show houses.

The news follows incidents of estate agents requesting personal information such as bank statements from people wishing to view a house.

Senator Moynihan said: “The practice of requiring excessive financial information for people to view properties is wrong and potentially a breach of data protection laws.

“I welcome that the DPC will now investigate this matter and get to the root of what is going on here.

“The purposes for requiring the information requested by Savills, including “full proof of funds” is totally unclear, and I am concerned that this information may be used by Savills to compile a database of the average and maximum budgets of buyers.

“This is a really dangerous hole for us to go down, and the State authorities need to step in to ensure that we don’t see this information being used to set prices.

“It is really disappointing for those hoping to get on the property ladder and a clear abuse of the power imbalance between buyers and estate agents.”