Privacy Policy

This policy explains what personal data OwnerWise collects, why, who else handles it, how long we keep it and what you can do about it. It covers the OwnerWise mobile app, the web app at app.ownerwise.in and our WhatsApp service. OwnerWise is run by OwnerWise Technologies Private Limited ("we", "us"), which decides how your data is used. We follow the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 and the Information Technology Act, 2000 and its rules.

1. What we collect

What you give us

• Account details: your phone number, name and email address.
• Property details: the address and location, type, size, furnishing, fittings and photos of a property you add.
• Agreement terms: rent, deposit, dates, house rules and the other policies an owner sets for the rental agreement.
• Tenant application: if you apply for or are invited to a home, the answers you give, such as your occupation and employer, who will live with you, lifestyle answers, a declaration about any criminal record and the names and phone numbers of your references. Please tell your references before you share their details.
• Tax details: an owner's PAN, when the rent is over ₹50,000 a month. The tenant needs it to deduct tax at source, so it is printed on the agreement.
• Payment details: an owner's UPI ID, and the payments either party records, such as the amount, date, transaction reference (UTR) and any payment screenshot you upload.
• Tenancy records: repair requests, maintenance records, warning notices, comments, fittings checks and the room-by-room inspection photos you take.
• Messages: what you send our support team, and what you send to our WhatsApp number.

From identity checks

When you verify your identity, you sign in to DigiLocker (a Government of India service) and agree to share your Aadhaar details with us through our verification partner. We keep your name, date of birth, gender and address as recorded in Aadhaar, the last four digits of your Aadhaar number and a one-way code that lets us recognise the same person again without knowing their number. We also keep a record of your consent: when you gave it, the wording you agreed to and the IP address it came from. We never store your full Aadhaar number, your Aadhaar photo or the DigiLocker document itself.

When you check a UPI ID, we receive the name of the bank account holder it belongs to, so a tenant can see who they are paying.

From the other party

An owner who invites a tenant gives us the tenant's phone number and name. Each party's records about the tenancy, such as a recorded payment or a notice, also become part of the shared record the other party can see.

Collected as you use it

• Sign-in details: your sessions and when you signed in.
• Your devices: a notification token for each device, so we can send you notifications.
• Crash reports: when the app crashes or hits an error, it sends a report with technical details (device model, app version and what went wrong) and a short screen recording of the moments before the error, with text and images masked. We set these reports up to leave out your name, phone number and other personal identifiers.

2. Permissions on your phone

The app asks for each permission only when you use the feature that needs it. You can refuse or turn a permission off in your phone's settings; only that feature stops working.

• Camera: to photograph rooms during an inspection, or a repair you report.
• Photos: to attach a photo you choose to a repair or a payment you report. The app only sees the photos you pick.
• Location, only while you use the app: to fill in a property address when you tap "Use my current location", and to print the place and time on inspection photos. We never track your location in the background.
• Notifications: to tell you when something needs your attention.

We do not access your contacts, microphone, messages or call history.

3. How we use it

• To create your rental agreement, arrange the e-stamp and have both parties e-Sign it with Aadhaar.
• To verify who you are, so the agreement is signed in a checked name and a tenant pays the right person.
• To run the tenancy: record payments both parties agree on, and keep repairs, notices, inspections and documents in one place.
• To send you sign-in codes, and updates you need, on WhatsApp and as notifications.
• To take the agreement fee and give you a receipt.
• To answer your questions and resolve disputes and complaints.
• To keep the service secure, prevent fraud and fix what breaks.
• To meet our legal, tax and accounting obligations.

We use your data because you asked for the service or gave your consent (for example, to the identity check), or because the law requires it. We do not use it for advertising or profiling, and we do not make automated decisions about you. Whether to approve a tenant is always the owner's own decision.

4. What the other party sees

A rental involves two people, and each needs to know who the other is.

• An owner sees the tenant's name as verified through Aadhaar and their application answers.
• A tenant sees the owner's verified name, the property details, the owner's UPI ID and bank account name when paying the deposit, and the owner's phone number once approved.
• Both see the agreement (with the owner's PAN where it is required), the payments either records, and the notices, repairs, inspections and records about the tenancy they share.

Our field staff see the verified names and agreement details they need to buy the e-stamp paper.

5. Who else handles it

We do not sell or rent your personal data, and we do not share it with advertisers. We use service providers who process it for us, under contract, only for the job below:

• Meta (WhatsApp): sign-in codes and messages.
• SurePass: DigiLocker identity checks, UPI ID checks and Aadhaar e-Sign.
• Razorpay: taking the agreement fee. Your card or UPI details go straight to Razorpay; we never see or store them.
• Google: sign-in with Google if you choose it, maps and address search, and delivering notifications on Android.
• Apple: delivering notifications on iPhone.
• Expo: sending notifications to the app and delivering app updates.
• DigitalOcean and Cloudflare: hosting our servers and storing files such as agreements and photos.
• Sentry: crash reports.

We may also disclose data when the law requires it: to comply with a court order or a lawful request from a government authority, to enforce our terms, or to protect someone's safety. If OwnerWise is merged or sold, your data would move to the new owner under this same policy, and we would tell you first.

6. Where your data is stored

Some of our providers process data outside India (for example, crash reports are processed in the European Union). We only transfer data to countries the Government of India permits, and each provider must protect it as this policy does.

7. How long we keep it

• Your account details stay while your account exists and are erased 30 days after you ask us to delete it (see below).
• Shared rental records (agreements, e-stamps, payment records, receipts, notices, inspection and fittings records) are kept for 8 years after the tenancy ends, or after the deal closes if it never became a tenancy. Both parties rely on them, and tax and accounting law requires us to keep payment records.
• Sign-in codes expire within minutes, and WhatsApp conversation progress within 24 hours.
• Crash reports are deleted automatically within 90 days.

When a retention period ends, we delete the data or anonymise it so it can no longer identify you.

8. Deleting your account

You can delete your account in the app, under Profile, then Delete account. You don't need the app: you can also do it at app.ownerwise.in/delete-account, signing in with your phone number. We confirm the request with a code sent on WhatsApp to the number on the account.

Your account is locked straight away and deleted after 30 days. Until then you can change your mind: sign in again and choose Keep my account. Any rental you were still setting up closes when you ask, and we tell the other party. A tenancy that is already signed carries on under the agreement: deleting your account does not cancel it.

After 30 days we erase:

• Your name, phone number and email.
• Your identity details from DigiLocker, and your PAN.
• Your saved UPI ID.
• Your devices, sign-ins and support messages.

The shared rental records in section 7 stay for the other party, with your contact details removed, until their retention period ends. We may also pause a deletion while a legal claim, investigation or dispute about your account is open.

9. Copies other providers keep

Deleting your OwnerWise account does not delete what these providers hold under their own policies: your WhatsApp chat history with us (Meta), the records of your DigiLocker and e-Sign sessions (SurePass), payment records (Razorpay), and your Google account (Google). Ask them directly to remove those.

10. Your rights

You have the right to:

• Get a summary of the personal data we hold about you and who we have shared it with.
• Have wrong or incomplete data corrected or completed.
• Have your data erased, by deleting your account or by asking us.
• Withdraw your consent. This does not undo what was done before, and we may no longer be able to provide the part of the service that needed it. A signed agreement stays valid.
• Nominate someone to exercise these rights for you if you die or become unable to.
• Complain to our Grievance Officer, and if you are not satisfied, to the Data Protection Board of India.

To use any of these rights, email grievance@ownerwise.in from any address, telling us the phone number on your account. We may ask you to confirm it is you before we act.

11. How we protect it

Data is encrypted as it travels between your device and our servers. Agreements, receipts, payment screenshots and inspection photos sit in private storage and open only through links that expire within minutes. Only staff who need access for their work have it, and actions such as viewing a full PAN are logged. No system is perfectly secure, but if a breach affects your data we will tell you and the Data Protection Board as the law requires.

12. Children

OwnerWise is for adults entering rental agreements. You must be 18 or older to use it, and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone younger. If you think a child has given us their data, write to us and we will delete it.

13. Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the date at the top. If the change is significant, we will tell you in the app or on WhatsApp before it takes effect.

14. Grievance Officer and contact

Grievance Officer
OwnerWise Technologies Private Limited
Om Chambers, 648/A, 4th Floor, Binnamangala 1st Stage, Indiranagar, Bengaluru 560038, Karnataka, India
Email: grievance@ownerwise.in

We acknowledge every complaint within 2 working days and resolve it within 30 days. For anything else, including trouble deleting your account, email support@ownerwise.in.