A property management company posted a notice containing a tenant’s personal data on the door of his residence
The Complaint
When a property management company (“the Company”) issued a notice of termination of tenancy (“the Notice”) to the complainant, it posted the Notice on the door of the complainant’s residence, resulting in the disclosure of the complainant’s Chinese name, address and the fact that his tenancy agreement was terminated to other residents. The complainant hence lodged a complaint with the PCPD.
Outcome
The Company explained that they had tried to contact the complainant in respect of the termination of the tenancy agreement through various means but no reply had been received from the complainant, hence the Company informed the complainant of the matter by way of posting the Notice. Upon the intervention of the PCPD, the Company stated that if notices are needed to be posted in the future, it would replace the name of the tenant with “the tenant” on the notice to avoid excessive display and disclosure of tenants’ personal data.
Lesson learnt
Property management bodies may post notices publicly to inform occupants of building management matters. However, for issues relating only to individual units or households (e.g. termination of tenancy of individual households), if the subject matters do not involve the interests of all residents and the parties to be notified are limited to the households concerned, it is not necessary for the property management body to disseminate information by publicly posting notices. Even if posting notices is necessary in the circumstances, the property management body should carefully consider and weigh the necessity and extent of personal data of the individuals to be disclosed in the publicly posted documents to avoid excessive disclosure of personal data.
(Uploaded in October 2025)