Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy of Engel & Völkers GmbH

An important piece of information to note initially:

You can, at any time in whole or part, revoke your consent as well as any other settings you set when visiting our website www.engelvoelkers.com and all its associated subpages (hereinafter referred to collectively as our "Website") via the consent management platform of Didomi SAS. To do this, please use the menu item "Manage cookie settings" at the bottom of the Website. Information, in this context, on the use of cookies and other tracking technologies (“trackers”) as well as the processing of personal data in that regard, the consent therein and possible revocation can be found in our "Cookie Policy".

This Privacy Policy is valid from 27th February 2024.

I. Responsible entity (“Controller”) and your rights as the data subject

1. Responsible entity

Engel & Völkers GmbH (hereinafter also referred to as "Engel & Völkers" or "we" or "us") is responsible for the data processing governed by this Privacy Policy. Our contact details are:

Engel & Völkers GmbH
Vancouverstraße 2a
D-20457 Hamburg
Germany
E-mail: contact@engelvoelkers.com

Jointly responsible for the data processing as described in our Cookie Policy are:

Engel & Völkers GmbH
Vancouverstraße 2a
D-20457 Hamburg
Germany
E-mail: contact@engelvoelkers.com

and

Engel & Völkers Technology GmbH
Vancouverstraße 2a
D-20457 Hamburg
Germany
E-mail: contact@engelvoelkers.com

Please note:

The responsibility for the data processing, respectively in connection with the company web presences of the licence partners of the Engel & Völkers Group (hereinafter the "Company web presences") which can also be accessed via our Website rests with named licensees. They are, in this context, responsible for data processing such as contact enquiries and, in particular, for data processing in connection with the search or sale/rental and valuation of properties.

The current overview of these licence partners can be found here: https://www.engelvoelkers.com/de/en/shops/

Unless otherwise stated, our licence partners are legally and commercially independent companies and are not part of the Engel & Völkers group of companies. When we refer to the "Engel & Völkers Group" in this Privacy Policy, we refer to the companies belonging to the Engel & Völkers group of companies pursuant to §§ 15 et seq. of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG) (hereinafter referred to as the "Engel & Völkers Companies") as well as the (master) licence partners which are by contract directly or indirectly linked to this group of companies. When we refer to "Engel & Völkers", we refer to the companies listed in section I 1 of this Privacy Policy.

To find out which licence partner is responsible for the data processing of the company web presence that you are currently visiting, please refer to the respective data protection notices respectively the imprint at the bottom of the company web presence in question.

2. Data Protection Officer

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy and data protection in general within the Engel & Völkers group of companies, please contact Engel & Völkers’ external data protection officer:

Dr Stefanie Wegener
Mittelweg 10
20148 Hamburg, Germany
swegener@wegener-ra.de

3. Your rights as a data subject

You may exercise your data protection rights against Engel & Völkers GmbH insofar as the Engel & Völkers companies are jointly responsible for data processing in connection with our website. The Engel & Völkers Companies have agreed to this.

You have the following data subject rights:

You have the right to information about the processing of your personal data (for example, the origin of this data, the purpose of processing, and the modalities of data processing). Furthermore, under certain conditions, you are entitled to object to the future processing of your data, as well as the right to restrict the use or the deletion of said data. Finally, you may at any time stop the sending of advertising material or the execution of market research or commercial communications.

In summary, you have a right to:

• Information,

• Correction,

• Deletion (or request to be forgotten),

• Restriction of processing,

• Data portability,

• Object to the processing of your personal data,

• Complaint to supervisory authorities.

In addition, you have the right, at any time, to object to the processing of your personal data for direct marketing purposes. If you object to the processing for direct marketing purposes, we will no longer process your personal data for these purposes.

According to Art. 7 III of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter "GDPR"), you may at any time revoke your initial consent towards us. Once the consent is revoked we will no longer continue to process the data.

Please note that your right to the deletion of your data is subject to certain restrictions. For example, we do not have to or are not allowed to delete data that we are required to retain due to legal retention periods. Data that we need to assert, exercise or defend due to legal claims are also excluded from your right of deletion.

If you have a complaint about the way we process your data, you have the recourse to a supervisory authority, in particular in the member state of your residence, workplace or the place of the alleged breach.

We reserve the right to disclose information about you if we are required to do so by law enforcement bodies or other lawful authorities. Legal basis: Art. 6 I sentence 1 lit. c GDPR (legal obligation).

Overview of our data processing procedures

Our Privacy Policy is structured as follows and provides you with an overview of the following data processing procedures:

II. You visit our company web presence on the Internet

III. You apply at your own initiative or in response to a job advertisement

IV. Storage and deletion of your data

II. Collection and processing of personal data when visiting our Website

1. What data do we process from you (hereinafter referred to as "you" or "user")?

When you use our Website, we process personal data, in particular:

• The e-mail address, first name, last name, title, address, telephone number, property data, participation in events and webinars, hereinafter referred to as "data" or "personal data", provided to us by you in the event that you use individual services offered by us or an Engel & Völkers Company via our Website (e.g. in the context of contact enquiries, newsletter mailings, webinars as well as the market price determination of properties); mandatory fields are marked with an "asterisk" or optional fields with "(optional)"; ​

• Personal data (also hereinafter referred to as "user data") transmitted by the user's internet browser each time they access the Website and stored as part of log files, also known as server log files. This data includes: the IP address (Internet Protocol address) of the accessing computer; the name of the accessed page; date and time of access; URL from which the user accesses the page; the volume of data transmitted; status message for successful access; session ID number;

• Personal data in the form of location data (GPS data, so-called "Locate Me" function), which is transmitted by your Internet browser each time you have activated this setting on the browser by default or application-based.​

2. Purpose of the processing

We process the personal data of the users of our Website for the following purposes:

• ​Provision of online offers for own and third-party advertising (legal basis is the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers in marketing its own services as well as the services of the companies of the Engel & Völkers Group as described above);

• ​Fulfilment of user contact requests to the Engel & Völkers Group (legal basis is the fulfilment of the contract as well as, in the event of the user data being passed on, your consent or the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers to pass on contact or service requests within the Engel & Völkers Group to the relevant (licence partner) company of this Engel & Völkers Group which is responsible in terms of expertise and/or geographical location;

• ​If applicable, for the purpose of fulfilment of a valuation request of the property as described by the user, as well as the implied interest in the sale of the property as submitted by the valuation request (The legal basis is (a) the fulfilment of the contract as well as, (b) your consent in the event that we need to share your contact data with (i) a suitable licence partner of the Engel & Völkers Group based on expertise or geographical location (for the definition, please see section 3 below)) or (ii) to the company technically implementing the evaluation and (c) the legitimate interest in marketing our services or your consent in the case of the use of your contact data for direct marketing);

• ​The organisation of webinars (legal basis is the fulfilment of the contract by Engel & Völkers and, in case your contact details are passed on to the lecturer, your consent);

• ​Contact by telephone by Engel & Völkers or the Engel & Völkers Group (legal basis is the fulfilment of the contract or, in the case of the use of the telephone number for advertising purposes, your consent);

• ​Sending out an e-mail newsletter by Engel & Völkers or the Engel & Völkers Group containing our offers as well as self and third-party advertising to the extent permitted by law or based on the consent given (the legal basis is either your consent or Engel & Völkers´ legitimate interest in direct marketing, as long as the marketing is carried out in compliance with data protection and competition law requirements of the applicable national regulations);

• ​For the optimisation and operability of the Website (legal basis is the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers to constantly improve the quality of the Website and to ensure ease of use);

• ​If necessary, identification and, if applicable, blocking of users who have installed a so-called adblocker and thus block advertising (legal basis is the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers to make fully or partially advertising-financed offers available to users who do not block advertising);

• ​To prevent fraudulent activity or abuse on or in connection with the Website and to be able to ensure the legal requirements that the Website is secure (legal basis is the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers to eliminate malfunctions, to ensure system security and to detect unauthorised access attempts or access).

For the purposes of processing in connection with cookies and other tracking technologies, please refer to our "Cookie Policy".

In summary: The legal basis for the processing of your personal data is Art. 6 I sentence 1 lit. a GDPR if the processing is based on consent, Art. 6 I sentence 1 lit. b GDPR if the processing is based on a (possibly pre-contractual) contractual relationship Art. 6 I sentence 1 lit. f GDPR if the processing is based on the legitimate interest of Engel & Völkers. If the processing of personal data is necessary to comply with a legal obligation to which Engel & Völkers is subject, Article 6 I sentence 1 lit. c GDPR is the relevant legal basis.

If the legal basis is your consent, you are entitled to revoke your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of the processing of your personal data carried out based on the consent until revocation. If the legal basis is the legitimate interest, you are also generally entitled to object to the processing of personal data relating to you at any time for reasons arising from your particular situation. In this respect, Art. 21 GDPR applies.

3. Disclosure of your personal data

Due to the scale and complexity of data processing by the Engel & Völkers group of companies, it is not possible to list each recipient of your personal data individually in this data protection policy, which is why, as a rule, only categories of recipients are indicated.

Within the Engel & Völkers group of companies, your data will be disclosed to those Engel & Völkers Companies or entities that require the data to fulfil our contractual and legal obligations and to pursue legitimate interests in the context of this Website service or based on your consent. This includes Engel & Völkers Companies that support the provision of our website, direct marketing or other IT infrastructure, that provide webinar events, that carry out the valuation of properties or that send out newsletters.

In addition, as a general principle, we will only pass on your personal data to third parties (i.e. companies that do not belong to the Engel & Völker Group or the Engel & Völkers Companies ) if this is necessary for the fulfilment of the contract, if we or the third party have a legitimate interest in the transfer, if there is a legal obligation or if you have given your consent. If your data is transferred to third parties based on legitimate interest, this will be explained in this Privacy Policy. Third parties to whom we may disclose your personal data, irrespective of our performance, include external advisors (e.g. lawyers and accountants), public authorities within their jurisdiction to comply with legal obligations and/or to protect our rights (e.g. tax authorities, police, prosecutors, courts), potential purchasers or acquirers of all or part of our assets and/or activities, and other third parties where you instruct us to disclose data or give your consent.

In summary:

If your contact request relates to offers from other companies of the Engel & Völkers group of companies (the Engel & Völkers Companies), Engel & Völkers will transmit the personal data you have entered to the respective company based on a so-called legitimate interest within the Engel & Völkers group of companies.

If, on the other hand, your contact request concerns offers from other companies of the Engel & Völkers Group (i.e. our licence partners), we will pass on your personal data from the Engel & Völkers group of companies with your prior consent.

4. Transfer of data to non-EEA countries

In addition to the above paragraph "Disclosure of your personal data", the following applies:

Recipients of personal data may be located outside the EEA/UK. Where personal data is transferred to locations outside the EEA/UK, we will ensure, as required by law, that your data protection rights are adequately protected, either because the European Commission has decided that the country to which personal data is transferred ensures an adequate level of protection (Art. 45 GDPR) or the transfer is subject to adequate safeguards (e.g. standard contractual clauses) as agreed by the European Union and the recipient of the data (Art. 46 GDPR) unless the GDPR provides for an exception (Art. 49 GDPR). Furthermore, where necessary, we intend to agree to additional measures with recipients to ensure an adequate level of data protection.

Copies of the adequate safeguards (where we rely on them) and a list of recipients outside the EEA/UK are available on request. Please note that these copies may be redacted to the necessary extent to protect trade secrets or other confidential information.

III. You apply on your own initiative or in response to a job advertisement

1. Which of your data do we process?

If you apply via our website or via a job advert with us or a job advert published by us from other companies in the Engel & Völkers Group, we will process your name as well as your address, telecommunications and application data. The provision of your address and telecommunications data (email address), which are mandatory, is necessary in order to contact you about your application and to be able to allocate the application.

2. Purpose of the processing and legal basis

We process your personal data for the following purposes:

● Examination of the application for an employment relationship within our company or a company of the Engel & Völkers Group (legal basis is Art. 6 I lit. b GDPR)

● Defence against any legal claims asserted against us from the application process, if this is necessary (the legal basis for this is our legitimate interest in meeting our obligation to provide evidence in proceedings under the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG); Art. 6 I lit. f GDPR).

● Furthermore, we process your personal data based on previously given consent in order to inform you about potential job offers (legal basis is Art. 6 I lit. a GDPR).

If we support the application process for another company in the Engel & Völkers Group, we are not the only data controller. Please refer to the relevant job advert to find out which company is looking for employees. This company is also responsible for data processing.

If the legal basis is your consent, you are entitled to revoke your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of the processing carried out based on the consent until revocation. If the legal basis is the legitimate interest, you are also generally entitled to object to the processing of personal data relating to you at any time for reasons arising from your particular situation. In this respect, Art. 21 GDPR applies.

We need your personal data to fulfil the processing purposes listed above. You are free to not disclose any personal data to us. In this case, you will be unable to participate in the application process for job vacancies.

3. Disclosure of your data

We will only disclose your personal data to third parties if this is necessary for the fulfilment of the contract, if we or the third party have a legitimate interest in the disclosure, if there is a legal obligation or if you have given your consent. If data is transferred to third parties based on legitimate interest, this will be explained in this Privacy Policy.

If you use our global online job portal, through which we also search for employees for other companies of the Engel & Völkers Group, we will forward your application documents to the company specified in the job advertisement and accompany you and the Engel & Völkers Group company in the job advertisement process. You can find out how the respective Engel & Völkers Group company processes your data in the data protection information of the respective company. This will also be made available to you during the application process.

4. Transfer of data to non-EEA countries

In addition to the above paragraph "Disclosure of your personal data", the following applies:

Recipients of personal data may be located outside the EEA/UK. Where personal data is transferred to locations outside the EEA/UK, we will ensure, as required by law, that your data protection rights are adequately protected, either because the European Commission has decided that the country to which personal data is transferred ensures an adequate level of protection (Art. 45 GDPR) or the transfer is subject to adequate safeguards (e.g. standard contractual clauses) as agreed by the European Union and the recipient of the data (Art. 46 GDPR) unless the GDPR provides for an exception (Art. 49 GDPR). Furthermore, where necessary, we intend to agree to additional measures with recipients to ensure an adequate level of data protection. Copies of the adequate safeguards (where we rely on them) and a list of recipients outside the EEA/UK are available on request. Please note that these copies may be redacted to the necessary extent to protect trade secrets or other confidential information.

IV. Storage and deletion of your data

Engel & Völkers will retain your personal data for the time necessary to achieve the purposes for which data is collected, including any retention period required by the applicable law (e.g. retention of accounting records).

In the context of application procedures that end without employment, your data is regularly stored for six months for documentation purposes and then deleted or destroyed, as are the documents sent to us. With your consent to the processing of the data for future application procedures, we will also store it for a correspondingly longer period.