Privacy Policy

This policy applies to personal information collected through the Muslim Rentals website, including browsing, accounts, listings, messaging, reports and the Contact form, and to emails Muslim Rentals sends about those services. It applies to visitors who are signed in and to those who are not.

It does not apply to websites or services operated by others, including sites linked from a listing or a message, or arrangements that users make with each other outside Muslim Rentals. Information a landlord, tenant or roommate collects from you directly (for example, a rental application) is that person's responsibility.

This policy should be read together with the Terms of Service and the Content & Community Guidelines.

Account information. To create an account, you provide your name, email address and a password. Passwords are stored only in a protected, non-reversible (hashed) form.

Optional profile information. You may add a phone number, a short bio and a profile photo. You can change or remove these in Settings at any time. Profile photos are handled in the same way as listing photos (below).

Listings. When you post a listing, or save a draft of one, you provide details such as the title, description, rent, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, property type, amenities, an audience label, the city, neighbourhood and province, the street address and unit, the location you confirm on the map, and any contact information you choose to include.

Listing photos. When you upload a photo, Muslim Rentals removes information embedded in the file, such as the location where the photo was taken, camera details and other descriptive metadata, before the photo is stored and published. The image itself, its colour profile and its orientation are kept. What a photo shows can still reveal where it was taken or who is in it, so avoid photos that show your address, people, documents or other personal details.

Messages. The content of messages you send to other users through Muslim Rentals, along with the time they were sent and whether they have been read.

Saved listings. The listings you save for later. A listing owner is told that someone saved their listing, but not who.

Reports. When you report a listing, a user or a message, the reason you select, any description you add, and the item reported. A message report includes a copy of the reported message so that it can be reviewed even if the conversation changes.

Contact form and email. When you use the Contact page, your name, email address, the topic you select and your message are sent to the Muslim Rentals inbox by email. Contact form submissions are not stored in the Muslim Rentals website database. Emails you send to us directly are received in the same inbox.

Request and server logs. When your browser communicates with Muslim Rentals, our servers and hosting providers record standard technical information: your IP address, the date and time, the address (URL) requested, including any search terms or location coordinates contained in it, the response, the referring page, and your browser's user agent, which describes your browser, device type and operating system. Server logs also record location and address search text, and the results of address lookups, for troubleshooting.

Account activity. Information generated as you use your account, such as your notifications and the status of your listings, reports and conversations. Server logs also record when you sign in and connect to messaging.

Abuse prevention. Your IP address is used to apply temporary limits on how many requests can be made in a short period. These counters are held briefly in server memory and are not stored as a record.

Listing views. Muslim Rentals keeps a running total of how many times a listing has been viewed. This total is not linked to the accounts of the people who viewed it.

Email delivery. Our email provider records information about the delivery of the service emails we send to you, such as the recipient address and whether delivery succeeded.

Listing address and public location. Muslim Rentals collects a listing's street address, unit and exact map location so the listing can be placed on the map and searched by area. The street address, unit and exact location are never shown publicly. Public maps and search results use an approximate point, moved by up to about 200 metres from the actual location and shown with a privacy circle with a radius of about 250 metres. The city, neighbourhood and province of a listing are shown publicly.

Your device's location. Muslim Rentals uses your device's location only when you choose “Use my location” (or a similar locate button on the map) and your browser asks for and receives your permission. When you search with “Use my location”, your device's precise coordinates are sent with that search request so that nearby listings can be shown. They are not saved to your account or kept in your browser, but they are recorded in server request logs as part of the request. The map's locate button only re-centres the map in your browser. You can refuse or withdraw location permission at any time in your browser or device settings and search by typing a place instead.

Location and address searches. Place names, addresses and other location text you type into search are sent from our servers to an address-lookup provider to find matching places, and are recorded in server logs. These searches are not saved to your account. The address-lookup provider receives the search text from our servers, not your IP address.

Listing addresses sent for lookup. When a listing is posted or edited, its street address, city and province (but not its unit) are sent to an address-lookup provider to find the map location, and the confirmed map location is sent to a Statistics Canada geographic service to confirm the municipality. These lookups, including the address and map location, are recorded in server logs used to operate and troubleshoot the service.

Muslim Rentals does not ask you to state your religion and does not record it as part of your account. Information you choose to include in a profile, listing or message may reveal it, and you control what you include.

Muslim Rentals does not ask for government identification or date of birth to create an account or post a listing, and does not collect credit or banking information or payment details. The service is free and does not process payments. Muslim Rentals does not use analytics or advertising tools, does not track your activity across other websites, and does not buy personal information about users from third parties.

Muslim Rentals uses personal information to:

• create, secure and maintain your account and keep you signed in;
• publish, display and manage listings, including placing them on the map and in search results;
• find listings near a place you search for, or near your device's location when you ask;
• deliver messages between users and show notifications about your account, listings and conversations;
• send service emails, such as password reset and email change confirmation;
• respond to questions, support requests and privacy requests;
• review reports, enforce the Terms of Service and Content & Community Guidelines, and prevent fraud, spam, harassment and other abuse;
• protect the security of the service and diagnose and fix technical problems; and
• comply with legal obligations and respond to lawful requests.

Muslim Rentals does not use personal information for advertising, does not build advertising profiles, and does not sell or rent personal information.

By creating an account or using Muslim Rentals, you consent to the collection, use and disclosure of your personal information as described in this policy, for the purposes needed to provide the service you request. Optional information, such as a phone number, bio, profile photo or contact details in a listing, is collected only if you choose to provide it. Device location is used only after you ask for it and your browser grants permission.

You may withdraw your consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions, by removing optional information, turning off location permission, or deleting your account. Some information is needed to provide the service, so withdrawing consent to it may mean you can no longer use certain features or hold an account.

You sign in with your email address and password. When you sign in, Muslim Rentals issues sign-in credentials that keep you signed in and are renewed while you use the site (see Cookies and similar technologies below). Sign-in credentials are stored on our servers in protected form.

If you forget your password, Muslim Rentals emails you a single-use reset link that expires after a short time. If you change your email address, a confirmation link is sent to the new address, and the change takes effect only once it is confirmed.

Muslim Rentals does not independently verify the identity of users or confirm that a user controls the email address they register with. Keep your password confidential and contact us promptly if you believe someone else has accessed your account.

Public profile. Your name, profile photo, bio, the date you joined (“member since”) and your active listings appear on your public profile page, which anyone can view, including visitors who are not signed in. Your name and profile photo also appear on your listings and in conversations.

Listings. Listing details, including the title, description, price, photos, audience label, amenities, city, neighbourhood, province and approximate map location, are visible to anyone. The street address, unit and exact location are not shown publicly. Contact information you include in a listing is shown only to visitors who are signed in. Anyone can create a free account, so treat that contact information as visible to the public.

Photos. Listing photos and profile photos are stored at public web addresses. Anyone with a photo's address can view it.

Messages. Messages are visible to the participants in the conversation and, as described below, to authorized moderators.

Private account details. Your email address, phone number, password, saved listings and reports are not shown to other users. Muslim Rentals does not tell a reported user who reported them.

Listings are published to the public parts of the website so that people looking for housing can find them. You can edit a listing or delete it permanently from My listings, except while it has an open report or after a moderator has removed it. Deleting a listing permanently also deletes its photos.

Messages are stored on Muslim Rentals' servers so that both participants can see the conversation history. Messages are not end-to-end encrypted. Muslim Rentals staff with an administrator or moderator role can access conversations. They do so for safety and moderation purposes, including investigating a report, preventing fraud, spam and other abuse, addressing a security concern, responding to a support request you make, and complying with a legal obligation. Sent messages cannot be edited or deleted by the sender, and remain visible to the other participant.

Do not send passwords, banking details, government identification numbers or other sensitive information through messages, and be careful about what personal information you share with people you have not met. See the Safety Guidelines for more advice.

Muslim Rentals uses the information described in this policy to review reports and to detect, investigate and respond to fraud, scams, harassment, spam, misuse of the service and violations of the Terms and Guidelines. Moderation is carried out by people who review reports and other information that comes to their attention. Muslim Rentals does not monitor all content and does not use automated profiling to make decisions about users.

When reviewing a report, authorized administrators and moderators can see the report, the reported item, related listings and conversations, and the account details of the people involved, including email addresses. Moderation actions, such as removing a listing, restricting messaging, suspending or banning an account, and the reasons recorded for them, are kept as part of Muslim Rentals' moderation records.

Muslim Rentals sends the following emails, which relate only to your account or a request you made:

• a welcome email when an account is created;
• a password reset email when a reset is requested;
• a confirmation email to a new address when an email change is requested; and
• replies to messages sent through the Contact page or by email.

Contact form submissions are delivered to the Muslim Rentals inbox through our email provider. Muslim Rentals does not send marketing emails or newsletters.

Muslim Rentals uses service providers to operate the website. They process personal information on Muslim Rentals' behalf, only as needed to provide their services, and under their own terms and privacy policies. The categories of providers are:

• website hosting (Netlify) and application server hosting (Render), which receive all requests to the site, including IP addresses and request logs;
• database hosting (Supabase), where account, listing, message, report and other records are stored;
• cloud file storage, where listing photos and profile photos are stored;
• email delivery (Resend), for service emails and Contact form submissions;
• email inbox (Google Gmail), where Contact form submissions and emails to Muslim Rentals are received;
• address and place lookup (such as Geocodio or the OpenStreetMap Foundation's Nominatim service), which receive listing addresses and location search text from our servers;
• map tiles (OpenStreetMap), loaded directly by your browser when you view a map; and
• a Statistics Canada geographic service, which receives a listing's map location to confirm its municipality.

Most of these providers are located, or process information, outside Canada, mainly in the United States and in some cases other countries. See Processing outside Canada below.

Muslim Rentals does not sell or rent personal information, and does not share it with others for their own marketing. Apart from information you choose to make visible to other users and the service providers described above, Muslim Rentals discloses personal information only:

• where required or permitted by law, for example in response to a court order, warrant or other valid legal process, or to a law enforcement or government body with lawful authority to request it;
• where reasonably necessary to protect the safety of any person, to investigate fraud or a breach of the Terms, or to protect the rights and security of Muslim Rentals and its users, as permitted by law; or
• with your consent.

Business transfers. If Muslim Rentals or its operations are transferred to another person or organization, for example through a sale, reorganization or change of operator, personal information may be disclosed as part of that transaction, including to a prospective acquirer for the purpose of evaluating it, as permitted by law. Any recipient will be required to use the information only for purposes consistent with this policy, unless you are notified and, where required, your consent is obtained.

Muslim Rentals relies on service providers located in the United States and other countries, including for database hosting, so most personal information is stored or processed outside Canada, mainly in the United States. OpenStreetMap services are operated by the OpenStreetMap Foundation, which is based in the United Kingdom. As a result, your personal information may be stored and processed outside Canada and outside your province, including outside Quebec.

While it is outside Canada, personal information is subject to the laws of the country where it is held, and may be accessible to courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of that country under those laws. Muslim Rentals remains responsible for personal information it transfers to service providers and chooses established providers for this purpose.

Muslim Rentals uses a small number of cookies and browser storage items, all of which are strictly necessary to sign you in and keep your account secure. They are set only when you sign in. If you browse without signing in, Muslim Rentals does not set any cookies or browser storage items.

• refreshToken (cookie). Keeps you signed in by allowing the site to renew your sign-in securely. It cannot be read by scripts on the page, is sent only to the Muslim Rentals sign-in service, and lasts for 7 days, renewing while you use the site. It is removed when you sign out, change or reset your password, or delete your account. Changing or resetting your password also ends your sign-in on other devices after a short time.
• muslim-auth (browser storage). Remembers that you are signed in. It holds your basic account details (such as your name, email address, phone number, bio, profile photo link and account role) and a short-lived sign-in credential. It stays in your browser until you sign out or are signed out automatically, when your account details and sign-in credential are cleared from it.
• muslim-auth-notice (session storage). Shows a one-time notice, such as “your session has expired”, after you are signed out automatically. It is removed on the next page load or when you close the browser tab.

Muslim Rentals does not use analytics, advertising, social media or tracking cookies, or any similar technology for those purposes. Because only strictly necessary technologies are used, there are no optional cookies to accept or decline.

You can block or delete cookies and site data in your browser settings, but doing so may prevent you from signing in or staying signed in. Because the sign-in cookie is set by the Muslim Rentals server address, browser settings that block third-party or cross-site cookies may also sign you out more often. On a shared device, sign out when you finish so your account details are cleared from the browser.

Map tiles and images. When you view a map, your browser loads map images directly from OpenStreetMap's servers. Those servers receive your IP address, browser information and the map area being displayed. Photos are loaded directly from our cloud file storage provider, which likewise receives your IP address and browser information. These requests are needed to display the maps and photos you view and are not used by Muslim Rentals for tracking.

Muslim Rentals keeps personal information for as long as it is needed for the purposes described in this policy, including to operate the service, resolve reports and disputes, prevent abuse and meet legal obligations. Muslim Rentals does not currently apply a fixed retention schedule to most categories of information. In general:

• account and profile information is kept while your account is active;
• listings, including listings removed from public view by moderators or by account deletion, are kept until they are deleted permanently;
• messages are kept to preserve conversation history for both participants;
• notifications are kept until your account is deleted;
• reports and moderation records are kept after a report is closed, as a record of the decision and to help prevent repeated abuse. The copy of a reported message's text is removed from closed reports from time to time, unless it is needed for an ongoing investigation, dispute or legal requirement;
• Contact form submissions and emails are kept in the Muslim Rentals inbox for as long as needed to respond and to keep a record of the request; and
• request and server logs are kept by our hosting providers under their own log retention settings, for operational and security purposes.

Deleted or changed information may also remain for a time in backups maintained by our database provider until those backups expire. Muslim Rentals reviews the information it holds and deletes or anonymizes personal information that is no longer needed for these purposes.

You can delete your account at any time in Settings. Account deletion cannot be undone. When you delete your account:

• you are signed out everywhere and can no longer sign in to the account;
• your name is replaced with “Deleted user”, and your email address, phone number, bio, profile photo and password are removed;
• your listings are removed from public view, and your public profile is no longer available;
• your saved listings and notifications are deleted.

The following information is kept after account deletion:

• an account record that no longer contains your name, email address, phone number or password, including the date it was created and its moderation status;
• the records of your listings, including the address, unit, exact location, description and contact information you provided, and the listing photos, which remain stored and can still be viewed by anyone who has a photo's direct web address;
• messages you sent, which remain visible to the other participants and are shown as from “Deleted user”;
• reports you filed or that were filed about you, and related moderation records; and
• information in server logs and backups, as described under Retention.

To remove a listing's details and photos completely, delete each listing permanently from My listings before deleting your account. A listing that has an open report or was removed by a moderator cannot be deleted this way; write to the person responsible for privacy at muslimrentals.ca@gmail.com instead. You may also ask for any information that remains after your account is deleted to be removed. Muslim Rentals will review each request and may keep information where it is needed for safety, an unresolved report or dispute, or a legal obligation.

Muslim Rentals uses reasonable technical and organizational safeguards, appropriate to the sensitivity of the information, to protect personal information against loss, theft and unauthorized access, use or disclosure. These include encrypted connections between your browser and the service, storing passwords and sign-in credentials only in protected form, limiting access to moderation tools and account details to staff with an administrator or moderator role, and limits on repeated or automated requests.

No method of transmitting or storing information can guarantee complete security, and Muslim Rentals cannot promise that personal information will never be accessed without authorization. If a security incident involving personal information creates a real risk of significant harm, Muslim Rentals will notify affected individuals and the relevant privacy regulators as required by law.

• You can browse listings without an account.
• You can choose whether to add a phone number, bio or profile photo, and change or remove them in Settings.
• You can change your name, email address and password in Settings.
• You decide what to include in your listings and messages, including whether to add contact information to a listing.
• You can edit or permanently delete your listings from My listings, except while a listing has an open report or after a moderator has removed it; in those cases, write to muslimrentals.ca@gmail.com.
• You can decline or turn off location permission and search by typing a place instead.
• You can choose which photos to upload, and remove or replace them at any time.
• You can sign out to clear your sign-in information from your browser, and delete your account in Settings.

Subject to limited exceptions under applicable law, you may ask Muslim Rentals to:

• tell you whether it holds personal information about you, and give you access to it;
• explain how that information has been used and to whom it has been disclosed;
• correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete;
• delete information, including information that remains after you delete your account;
• withdraw your consent, as described under Consent; and
• where the law of your province provides these rights, such as in Quebec, receive certain information in a commonly used electronic format, or stop the dissemination of your information.

To make a request, email the person responsible for privacy at Muslim Rentals at muslimrentals.ca@gmail.com with the subject line “Privacy request”, or send a message through the Contact page, choosing the “Privacy, legal, security or other” topic and writing “Privacy request” at the start of your message. Please send requests from the email address on your account where possible. Before acting on a request, Muslim Rentals may need to confirm your identity. It will ask only for information that is reasonably necessary and proportionate for that purpose, for example by first asking you to reply from the email address on your account. Muslim Rentals will never ask for your password or a sign-in or verification code. Muslim Rentals will respond within the time required by applicable privacy law. If a request is refused, in whole or in part, Muslim Rentals will explain why, where the law requires it.

If you are not satisfied with Muslim Rentals' response, you may file a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada or, where applicable, with the privacy regulator of your province, such as the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta or the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia.

Muslim Rentals is intended for adults. Under the Terms of Service, a person must have reached the age of majority in the province or territory where they live (18 or 19, depending on the province or territory) to create an account, and Muslim Rentals does not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe that a person under the required age has created an account, or that a minor's personal information has been posted in a listing, photo or message, write to muslimrentals.ca@gmail.com. Muslim Rentals will review the matter and take appropriate steps, which may include removing the information or closing the account.

Muslim Rentals may update this policy to reflect changes to the service, its providers or the law. The effective date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated. For material changes, Muslim Rentals will provide notice as required by applicable law, for example by posting a notice on the website or by email to the address on your account, and will ask for your consent where the law requires it.

Questions, requests and complaints about this policy or about your personal information can be sent to the person responsible for privacy at Muslim Rentals, at muslimrentals.ca@gmail.com (subject line “Privacy request”), or through the Contact page.