Privacy Policy

1. Who is responsible for your data

The controller of personal data processed through Homezone.al is ZoneTech.io, the trading name of Alban Xhaferllari, a sole trader (person fizik) registered in Albania (“we”, “us”).

ZoneTech.io – Alban Xhaferllari
NUIS: M46422205S
Lagjja Lef Sallata, Rruga Aranit Serbi, P. 1259, Vlorë, Albania
Email: info@homezone.al

This policy applies to the website homezone.al and the services described in the Terms of Use. We process personal data under Albanian personal data protection law and, for visitors in the European Union, the GDPR.

2. What we collect

When you browse

• a device identifier stored in a cookie (see cookies);
• your IP address and the approximate location derived from it (country, city), browser, device, language and time zone;
• the pages and listings you view, your searches and filters, and clicks on contact buttons;
• usage data collected by Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity, including recordings of how pages are used (clicks, scrolls and mouse movements).

When you contact an advertiser or chat with Smart Agent

Your name, email, phone number, message, the listing concerned, the Smart Agent conversation and the details you give in it, and the device identifier and IP address used to prevent spam.

When you create an account

Name and surname, email, phone numbers, password (stored only in encrypted, hashed form), sign-in method (Google, passkey), profile photo or logo, agency details, professional certificate details you add, your listings, settings and Smart Agent instructions, and your sign-in history.

When you pay

Payments are handled by Stripe. We receive your Stripe customer reference, the plan or promotion bought, amounts, dates, payment status and receipts; we never receive your full card details.

When you ask for a mortgage offer

Your name, email, phone number, property value, loan amount, down payment, term, interest rate, monthly income, whether you are a first-time buyer and whether you apply alone, together with your consent, its time and your IP address.

When you report a listing or write to us

What you write and the contact details you give us.

From other sources

• Google sign-in: your name, email and profile photo.
• Listings imported from other websites at an advertiser’s request, including the contact details published in them.
• Publicly available business contact details of real estate professionals, which we may use to invite them to Homezone.al.

3. Why we use it and on what legal basis

• Running the Service and your account: to perform our contract with you.
• Passing enquiries and Smart Agent conversations to advertisers: to carry out your request, and in the advertiser’s and our legitimate interest.
• Publishing listings, on Homezone.al, our social media pages and ads, and partner websites: to perform our contract with the advertiser.
• Payments, receipts, accounting and tax: to perform the contract and to meet our legal obligations.
• Security and preventing fraud, spam and scraping: in our legitimate interest in protecting users and the Service.
• Statistics and improving the Service: in our legitimate interest in understanding how the Service is used.
• Sending mortgage requests to a partner bank: with your consent, which you can withdraw at any time without affecting what was done before.
• Service messages (new enquiries, renewals, security): to perform our contract with you.
• Information about our services and invitations to join: in our legitimate interest or with your consent; you can object at any time.
• Legal obligations and legal claims: to comply with the law and to establish or defend claims.

4. Who receives your data

• Advertisers receive the enquiries and Smart Agent conversations addressed to them, with your contact details.
• The public sees listings and the contact details (name, phone, email) the advertiser chooses to publish, also on our social media pages and on partner websites such as Rivierahomes.al.
• Partner banks receive mortgage requests, only with your consent.
• Public authorities, when the law requires it.

We also use service providers who process data on our behalf and under our instructions:

We do not sell personal data.

5. Transfers outside Albania

Some providers process data in the European Union and some outside it, in particular in the United States. Where data leaves Albania or the EU, we rely on providers that offer appropriate safeguards, such as the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision.

6. How long we keep it

• Account data: while the account is open. After a closure request is verified, it is deleted within 30 days, except records the law requires us to keep.
• Enquiries and Smart Agent conversations: 2 years.
• Mortgage requests: 1 year.
• Logs and security records: 12 months.
• Payment and accounting records: as long as tax and accounting law requires.
• Listings: until the advertiser removes them or they expire; afterwards they may be kept for statistics and to handle disputes, without the advertiser’s contact details being shown.
• Backups: deleted when the backup is overwritten, on a rolling basis.

7. Your rights

You have the right to:

• know whether we process your data and get a copy of it;
• have inaccurate data corrected and incomplete data completed;
• have your data deleted, or its use restricted, when the law allows;
• object to processing based on our legitimate interest, and to marketing at any time;
• receive the data you gave us in a commonly used format (portability);
• withdraw your consent at any time.

Write to info@homezone.al. We may ask you to prove your identity, and we reply within 30 days. You can also complain to the Commissioner for the Right to Information and Personal Data Protection (idp.al) or, if you live in the European Union, to the data protection authority of your country.

8. Cookies and similar storage

Cookies and local storage are small files and entries saved by your browser. We use them to make the Service work, to protect it and to measure how it is used:

Google sign-in, Stripe payment pages and embedded maps or videos set their own cookies when you use them, and ads shown by ad networks may do the same, under those providers’ policies. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, but some features, such as staying signed in, may then stop working.

9. AI and automated processing

Smart Agent conversations are processed by an AI model (Microsoft Azure OpenAI) to write answers on the advertiser’s behalf. AI is also used to suggest listing descriptions, translate texts, prepare reports and read imported listings. We do not take decisions with legal or similarly significant effects about you based solely on automated processing.

10. Messages and marketing

We send service messages by email and WhatsApp (for example new enquiries, renewals and security alerts). We may also send information about our services and invitations to real estate professionals. You can stop marketing messages at any time with the unsubscribe link in the email or by writing to us; service messages continue while you have an account.

11. Security

We use encrypted connections (HTTPS), store passwords only in hashed form, limit access to the staff who need it and keep backups. No system is completely secure: if a breach puts your data at risk, we will inform you and the authority as the law requires.

12. Children

The Service is not intended for people under 18 and we do not knowingly collect their data. If you believe a minor has given us data, write to us and we will delete it.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy. The new version is published on this page with a new date, and we tell account holders about important changes by email or in the account. This policy is published in Albanian and English; if the two versions differ, the Albanian version prevails.

14. Contact

For any question about your data write to info@homezone.al or use the contact form. Our details are in section 1.