Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

The controller responsible for your personal data is expathome.ge, operator of the website at https://expathome.ge (and its redirecting domains). Questions about this policy or requests to exercise your rights can be sent to contact@expathome.ge.

Where we decide why and how your data is processed, we are the controller. Where we host or process property information supplied by third parties (see "Publicly available listings" below), the same contact applies for any request concerning that data.

2. The personal data we collect

We collect only the data we need to run the Platform and to help you find, list or enquire about property. Depending on how you use expathome.ge, this may include:

Account and profile data

• your name, e-mail address and phone number;
• your account type (individual or agency) and, for agencies, your business name;
• your preferred language and communication settings;
• a profile photo (avatar), if you choose to add one;
• how you heard about us (e.g. search, social, referral), if you tell us.

Search and preference data

• your saved search profile — what you are looking for (buy or rent), budget range and currency, target cities and neighbourhoods, timing, and qualification details such as furnishing, pets, payment method, residency status, income source, financing and due-diligence preferences;
• the listings you save to your favourites.

Listing and submission data

• when you submit a property, the property details (type, location, price, area, rooms, condition, description and photos) and the contact details you provide;
• if you tick the optional box to display your phone number publicly on the listing, your consent to publish that number (see "Owner contact details" below);
• reports you send us about a listing (e.g. a listing that is sold, mispriced, duplicated or fraudulent).

Agent and developer data

• if you apply to be listed as a certified agent, your languages, phone, WhatsApp and Telegram, licence number and related professional details;
• for property developers, the company and authorisation details we need to publish a developer profile.

Technical and usage data

• your IP address, device and browser type, and approximate location derived from your IP;
• pages viewed, actions taken and referring pages, and diagnostic and security logs generated by our hosting and infrastructure providers;
• cookies and similar technologies (see our Cookie Policy).

Data from third parties

• if you sign in with Google or Apple, the basic profile information (such as name and e-mail) that provider shares with us;
• property information that is publicly available on third-party real-estate sources, which we aggregate and index (see the next section).

3. Publicly available listings

Part of the Platform is a catalogue of property listings that we compile from publicly available advertisements published on third-party real-estate sources. We index this public information so that expats can search Georgian property in one place and in their own language.

For these aggregated listings we do not publish an advertiser’s full phone number. Contact numbers are masked, and any transaction is routed through a certified agent. We do not create the underlying advertisements and we take reasonable steps to keep only publicly available, non-sensitive information.

If you are an owner or advertiser and you want a listing that originates from a public source removed or corrected, contact us at contact@expathome.ge or use the "Report a listing" form, and we will act on your request.

4. How we use your data and our legal grounds

We use personal data for the following purposes, each with a legal basis under Georgian and EU data-protection law:

• to provide the Platform — create and secure your account, show and save listings, run your searches, and connect you with agents and owners (performance of a contract);
• to publish a property you submit and to manage its moderation and lifecycle (performance of a contract, and your consent where you opt in to publish contact details);
• to process certified-agent and developer applications (performance of a contract / steps prior to a contract);
• to keep the Platform safe — prevent fraud, abuse and scraping, and protect our users and systems (legitimate interests, and legal obligation where applicable);
• to improve and develop our services and understand how the Platform is used (legitimate interests);
• to communicate with you about your account, enquiries and service updates (performance of a contract / legitimate interests);
• to send you marketing or newsletters where you have asked to receive them, which you can stop at any time (consent);
• to comply with our legal obligations and respond to lawful requests from authorities (legal obligation).

Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time; withdrawal does not affect processing carried out before you withdrew.

5. Owner contact details, masking and reveal

Protecting contact information is central to how the Platform works. By default an owner’s phone number is never published: enquiries on a listing are handled through a certified agent.

An owner’s phone number is shown on a listing only where the owner who submitted it explicitly opted in by ticking the "display my phone publicly" box. Even then, the number is masked (the last digits are hidden) in the page, and the full number is released only to a signed-in visitor through a controlled reveal action. This prevents automated harvesting of contact details.

You must not use any contact information obtained through the Platform for spam, marketing lists, resale, or any purpose other than a genuine enquiry about the specific property.

6. Who we share data with

We do not sell your personal data. We share it only as needed to run the Platform:

• Certified agents — when you enquire about a listing or ask to be contacted, we share the details needed for the agent to respond;
• Service providers (processors) who host and operate the Platform on our behalf, including Google Firebase and Google Cloud (hosting, authentication, database and storage), reCAPTCHA / Firebase App Check (abuse and bot protection), e-mail delivery providers, and map providers (MapLibre / MapTiler) used to display location. These providers act on our instructions under appropriate data-protection terms;
• Authorities and legal parties where we are required to disclose data by law, or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims;
• A successor entity if expathome.ge is involved in a merger, acquisition or asset transfer, subject to this policy.

7. International data transfers

Our infrastructure runs on Google Cloud, primarily in the European region (europe-west1). Some of our providers may process data in other countries. Where personal data is transferred outside Georgia or the EEA, we rely on appropriate safeguards, such as the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision, so your data keeps an equivalent level of protection.

8. How long we keep data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes above:

• account and profile data — for as long as your account is active, and for a reasonable period afterwards to meet legal, accounting and dispute-handling needs;
• listing and submission data — for the life of the listing and a limited period afterwards; published listing content may be retained in a pseudonymised or archived form;
• technical and security logs — for a short period appropriate to security and diagnostics;
• data we must keep to comply with the law — for the period the law requires.

When data is no longer needed we delete it or irreversibly anonymise it.

9. How we protect your data

We apply technical and organisational measures appropriate to the risk, including encryption in transit, access controls, bot and abuse protection (reCAPTCHA / App Check), and restricting access to personal data to those who need it. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security, but we work to protect your data and to respond promptly to any incident.

10. Your rights

Subject to Georgian and, where applicable, EU data-protection law, you have the right to:

• access the personal data we hold about you and learn how it is processed;
• have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected;
• have your data deleted ("right to be forgotten"), subject to legal exceptions;
• restrict or object to certain processing, including direct marketing;
• block processing or withdraw a consent you previously gave;
• receive your data in a portable format and, where technically feasible, have it transmitted to another controller;
• lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at contact@expathome.ge. We will respond within the time limits set by applicable law. You may also complain to the Personal Data Protection Service of Georgia (personaldata.ge) or, in the EEA, to your local data-protection authority.

11. Children

The Platform is intended for adults (18 and over) and is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from minors. If you believe a minor has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

12. Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies for essential functions, your preferences and, where enabled, measurement. For details and how to manage them, see our Cookie Policy.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes we will update the "Last updated" date above and, where appropriate, notify you. Please review it periodically.

14. Contact us

For any question about this policy or your personal data, or to exercise your rights, write to us at contact@expathome.ge.