Privacy Policy

What we collect

Information you give us directly: your name, email, phone number, the nature of your inquiry, your message, and, where you request a property consultation or feasibility study, the property address and related details.

Information collected automatically: standard website analytics such as pages visited, approximate location, device and browser type, and cookies as described below.

If the link that brought you to tesa.ca carried advertising tags (the campaign name an ad or a shared link adds, or a click id from Google or another ad platform), your browser keeps them for that tab until you close it. They go with the forms you send us your details through, such as the contact form, a call-back request, a listing alert, an event sign-up, and the email box at the foot of every page, together with the page you first landed on, so we know which ad or link brought you. They are not sent when you sign in, open or claim a Lot Report, download a package, or use the chat.

When you sign in, we also keep a record of your activity on the site, such as the listings you open, the searches you run, and the lot checks you request, tied to your account so we can follow up with properties and analysis relevant to you.

In the Yield by TESA app: your name, email, and phone number when you first sign in, the addresses you look up, the lots and listings you save, the searches you save, and the same record of your activity. The app runs no analytics service, does not ask for your device location, and never reads your contacts, photos, or calendar.

The one thing the app counts is the request buttons on its listing cards: when you press one, or send the request it opens, the app tells us which button it was and which listing, with a random code it makes when it opens and forgets when it closes, so we can see which requests people use. That count is not tied to your account. The request itself, once you send it, reaches us like any other message: with your name and contact details, the button you pressed and the listing, so we can answer you.

If you turn on alerts in the app, we keep the address Apple and Expo use to deliver notifications to your phone, tied to your account, so we can tell you when a lot you saved or checked changes, and when a new listing matches a saved search (a lot alert) you set up in the app or on tesa.ca with the same email as your account. Turning alerts off, signing out, or deleting your account removes it.

If the app hits an error or closes unexpectedly, it sends us a short report: the app and system version, the screen it was on, and what went wrong. The report carries no name, email, phone number, account, or address, and we keep it for 90 days.

On the website and in the app we also keep a scrambled key derived from the network address a request came from, rather than the address itself, and we use it to cap free Lot Checks and stop abuse.

How we use it

To respond to your inquiries and provide the services you request, including property consultations and feasibility studies; to administer program registrations and notify lists you join; to send you insights, event invitations, and program announcements where you have opted in; to operate, secure, and improve the website; and to meet legal and regulatory obligations.

Email and consent

Our email lists are opt-in. Every marketing email we send includes an unsubscribe link, and you can withdraw consent at any time by using that link or contacting us at hello@tesa.ca. We comply with Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).

If you have signed in as a member, you can delete your account from the app or by writing to hello@tesa.ca. Deleting it removes your account, your saved lots, your saved searches (every lot alert sent to your account's email, whether you set it up in the app or on tesa.ca), and your Lot Check history, and stops alerts on every phone you turned them on. If you have ever claimed a Lot Report or contacted us, the contact record created then stays in our customer records with your name, email, phone number, and the property address, so we can answer you. Write to hello@tesa.ca and we will remove that too. We also keep a record that an account existed and was deleted. It holds no name, no email, and no phone number, and where a contact record exists it holds a reference to it.

Deleting your account does not take you off any other email list you joined separately, such as our newsletter; those have their own unsubscribe link. A saved search's phone notifications can be turned off in the app, one search at a time. Its emails keep coming until you stop the search in the app or use the unsubscribe link in one of them; either way stops both.

Sharing

We do not sell personal information. We share it only with service providers who help us operate the website, manage communications, and run our business (for example, hosting, customer relationship management, and email platforms), under obligations to protect it; within the TESA group of companies for the purposes above; and where required by law. Where a service provider stores data outside Canada, it may be subject to the laws of that jurisdiction.

On tesa.ca we use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages and forms are used. On every page except your Lot Reports and a few of our staff tools, your browser tells Google the address of the page you opened, the page you came from, and basic facts about your device and browser, and, when a form you send reaches us, which form it was (never what you typed in it). Google also sees your device's network address. Nothing is sent to Google from a Lot Report or its printed brief, so its private link never reaches Google. It runs whether or not your browser has Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track switched on; Google's own opt-out add-on for your browser, or a content blocker, stops it.

A bot check supplied by Cloudflare runs on the website's sign-in screen, in the chat, and on each form that asks for your name, email, or phone number, such as the email box at the foot of every page; once you are signed in, some of those forms skip it. The sign-in screen in the app runs it too. The Lot Check address search, which asks only for an address, does not. On the website it loads only once you start using one of them. It sees your device's network address and basic facts about your browser and device, and uses them to tell people from bots.

The chat on tesa.ca is run for us by Retell, a chat service that stores its data mainly in the United States, and its replies are written automatically. What you type in the chat, and the part of the site you opened it on, go to Retell, which keeps a record of each conversation for us and uses its own service providers to write the replies. If you give the chat your name, email, or phone number, it passes them to us with a short note of what you are looking for, so a person on our team can follow up.

App alerts reach your phone through Expo's notification service and Apple's, which carry the text of each alert: the lot's address and what changed, or, for a new listing that matches your alert, its address and the kind of listing it is (never its price), or how many new listings match.

On tesa.ca we use the Meta pixel to measure our ads on Facebook and Instagram and to show them to people who have visited. When you open a public page, or a form you send reaches us, your browser tells Meta which page or form it was (for a listing, a Committee of Adjustment ruling, or a ward's list of rulings, only which of those it was) and, if the link that brought you here carried a click id from Meta, that click id. Meta also sees your device's network address and may connect the visit to your Facebook or Instagram account. We never send Meta your name, email, phone number, or any address you type in, and nothing is sent from your Portfolio, your saved listings, or a Lot Report, or while your browser has Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track switched on.

MLS® listing files

Full listing files on tesa.ca come from the MLS® System through PropTx under TESA Real Estate Inc.'s Virtual Office Website agreement with the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board. Before you open one, you accept the board's Terms of Use for listing files. By accepting, you consent to us keeping your name, email, phone number, the date and version of the terms you accepted, and a record of the listings you open, and to that information being shared with the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board and PropTx for auditing and legal purposes, including checking that this site follows the MLS® Rules. The board requires us to keep this login record for at least 180 days after your access ends, so it stays in place for that period even if you delete your account.

Retention and security

We keep personal information only as long as needed for the purposes above or as the law requires. When you send a form on the website, we keep our own copy of it, with any advertising tags described above, while we file it in our customer records, and delete that copy 30 days after it is filed; a copy that could not be filed stays until a person on our team files it. If contact details reach the address our chat uses to pass them on and we cannot confirm they came from our chat, we keep them apart, file them only after a person on our team has checked them, and delete them 30 days after they arrived. We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect it. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure.

Cookies

The site uses cookies to keep you signed in and for analytics, and keeps the advertising tags described above in your browser's storage for that tab only, along with a random code for that tab, which lets us count how often the request buttons on our listings are shown without counting one view twice. After you save a seat at one of our events, the event's page also keeps a note in your browser that you did, so it does not ask again. Google Analytics sets cookies named _ga and _ga_ followed by a code, which last up to two years. You can control cookies through your browser settings; disabling them may affect parts of the site. While the Meta pixel is on, Meta can set its own cookie, named fr, on facebook.com when your browser sends it the message described above; it lasts 90 days.

The Yield by TESA app has no browser and keeps no browsing cookies, and it runs no analytics service. Your sign-in is one token in the device's own secure storage, on that device only, and signing out removes it. The bot check on the app's sign-in screen runs in a small web view and may set its own.

Your rights

Subject to applicable law, you may request access to or correction of your personal information, withdraw consent, or ask questions about this policy by contacting hello@tesa.ca or writing to the address above. You may also contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada with concerns.

Third-party links

The site links to third-party platforms, including social media, and the maps on the site load from OpenFreeMap, a free map service, which sees your device's network address and the part of the map you are looking at. Their privacy practices are their own.

Children

The site is intended for adults and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes

We may update this policy from time to time; the current version is always posted here with its date.