Privacy Policy

1. Introduction & Commitment to Privacy

BNT Rentals ("we", "us", "our") is dedicated to protecting the privacy and confidentiality of personal data entrusted to us by tenants, bedspace seekers, landlords, and property operators. We conduct our operations in strict accordance with Republic Act No. 10173, also known as the Data Privacy Act of 2012 (DPA), its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR), and all issuances of the National Privacy Commission (NPC) of the Philippines.

2. Personal Data We Collect

To provide transparent, secure room reservations and property management services, we collect the following categories of information:

• Basic Personal Information: Full legal name, email address, Philippine mobile telephone number, emergency contact details, and demographic info.
• Sensitive Personal Information (SPI): Scanned copies or photographs of government-issued identification cards (Philippine Passport, Driver’s License, UMID, Postal ID, or PhilID), student enrollment credentials (Certificate of Registration, School ID), and employment verification documents.
• Landlord & Property Data: Property location coordinates, proof of ownership (Transfer Certificate of Title, Tax Declaration, or notarized Lease Authorization), and bank / e-wallet account details for rental disbursement.
• Transaction & Billing Information: Booking dates, bunk/room selections, payment references, and digital rent receipts. Note: BNT Rentals does not capture or store raw credit card numbers, CVVs, or bank PINs.
• Technical & Device Data: IP addresses, browser specifications, operating system details, device identifiers, and platform activity logs captured via session tokens.

3. Lawful Basis and Purposes of Processing

We collect and process your personal data under the following lawful bases established by the Data Privacy Act of 2012:

• Performance of Contract: Processing room bookings, holding bedspace slots, issuing Electronic Move-In Passes, and providing automated rent invoicing.
• Compliance with Legal & Statutory Obligations: Maintaining financial and accounting transaction ledgers pursuant to Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) regulations (e.g., RR 16-2023) and complying with anti-money laundering (AMLA) requirements.
• Legitimate Interests & Community Safety: Verifying the identity of roommates and landlords to prevent rental fraud, ghost listings, security breaches, and unauthorized subleasing within shared student dormitories and residential units.

4. Third-Party Processors and Data Sharing

BNT Rentals does not sell, lease, trade, or monetize your personal data to advertisers or third-party marketing companies. Data is shared exclusively with certified service partners under binding Data Sharing Agreements:

• PayMongo Philippines, Inc.: Licensed by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) and certified PCI-DSS Level 1, PayMongo processes all online reservation fees, GCash, Maya, QRPh, and credit/debit card transactions.
• Supabase, Inc.: Cloud-hosted database and authentication infrastructure protected by strict PostgreSQL Row Level Security (RLS) policies and AES-256 bit encryption at rest.
• Resend / Transactional Messaging: Cloud messaging infrastructure utilized solely to dispatch automated booking confirmations, Electronic Move-In Passes, and OTP verification codes.
• Verified Landlords: Upon completed reservation, limited tenant identity information (name, contact number, move-in schedule) is shared with the specific property landlord to coordinate check-in.

5. Data Security Measures

We implement organizational, physical, and technical security measures in compliance with NPC guidelines:

• 256-bit TLS / SSL encryption for all data in transit across our web application and APIs.
• Database Row Level Security (RLS) ensuring that users cannot view, query, or access other users’ identification records or private files.
• Regular access audits, principle of least privilege (PoLP), and automated vulnerability monitoring.

6. Data Retention and Disposal Policy

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the operational purposes for which it was obtained:

• Boarder Reservation Records: Retained for the duration of the active booking, move-in verification, and tenancy coordination.
• Registered Landlord Profiles: Retained for the duration of your active landlord account on BNT Rentals.
• Financial & Billing Ledgers: Retained for up to ten (10) years strictly to satisfy Philippine tax, bookkeeping, and BIR audit compliance obligations.
• Data Erasure Requests: Upon verified written request to privacy@bntrentals.com, your personal identifiers will be permanently removed from active tables within thirty (30) calendar days, barring statutory retention requirements.

7. Your Rights as a Data Subject

Under Republic Act No. 10173, you possess the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right to be Informed: To know that personal data will be, are being, or were collected and processed.
• Right to Access: To request reasonable access to your personal data held in our systems.
• Right to Rectification: To dispute any inaccuracy or error in your personal data and have it corrected.
• Right to Erasure or Blocking: To suspend, withdraw, or order the removal of your personal data upon valid grounds.
• Right to Damages: To be indemnified for any damages sustained due to inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, false, or unlawfully obtained personal data.
• Right to File a Complaint: You have the right to lodge a formal complaint before the National Privacy Commission (NPC) at www.privacy.gov.ph if your privacy rights have been violated.

8. Cookies and Web Storage

BNT Rentals uses strictly necessary session cookies and local storage to remember your authentication session, preserve your search filter preferences (city, price bracket, gender policy), and guard against Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF). You can control cookie preferences in your browser settings.

9. Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may periodically update this policy to reflect platform updates or statutory amendments. Significant revisions will be notified via email or a prominent notification banner on BNT Rentals prior to the effective date.

10. Contact Our Data Protection Officer (DPO)

If you have questions, comments, or wish to exercise any of your data privacy rights, you may reach our appointed Data Protection Officer at: