Privacy
What we do with your details.
Short version: if you write to us, we keep what you sent so we can reply, and we do not do anything else with it. The rest of this page is the same thing said properly, because both South African and European law expect it in writing.
Who is responsible
Holt and Co (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2026/764382/07, trading as Holt & Co, of Knysna, Western Cape, South Africa. Under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act we are the responsible party. Under the European General Data Protection Regulation, which applies because we offer our services in German to people living in Europe, we are the controller.
You can reach us at melanje@holtandco.co.za or on +27 81 422 6259. Melanje answers these herself.
What we collect, and why
When you use the enquiry form
Your first and last name, your email address, the town the house is in, what you need, and anything you write in the note. Your WhatsApp number if you choose to give it, which is optional.
We use it to answer you and, if it turns into work, to carry on the conversation. The legal basis is your consent, which is the tick box on the form, and after that our legitimate interest in replying to someone who asked us a question. Nothing is added to a mailing list. We do not sell it, and we do not pass it to anyone selling anything.
When you visit the site
Our host records the usual technical information a web server sees, including your IP address, roughly when you visited and what your browser is. That is how the site is served at all and how it stays up.
We also count visits. One of the two ways we do that sets no cookies and does not identify you, and it runs whether or not you accept anything. The other is Google Analytics, and it runs only if you accept it in the banner. The cookie page lists both with what they store and for how long.
What we never ask for
We do not take payment through this site, so there are no card details here. We have no reason to ask about your health, your beliefs, your politics or anything else the law calls special personal information, and we do not.
Who else sees it
As few as possible, and only companies doing a specific job for us:
| Who | What they do | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Serve the website and count visits without cookies | Global network, company in the United States |
| Resend | Deliver your enquiry to our inbox as an email | European Union (Ireland) |
| GoDaddy | Host the mailbox your enquiry lands in | United States |
| Google Analytics, and only if you accept it | United States and elsewhere |
Your information leaving the country
Because those companies are not all in South Africa, your details cross a border. Section 72 of POPIA allows this where the receiving country or the contract gives comparable protection, and each of these companies is bound to us by terms that require it. For readers in Europe, transfers out of the European Economic Area rely on the European Commission's standard contractual clauses.
How long we keep it
- An enquiry that goes nowhere: three years, then deleted. People come back to us a season or two later more often than you would think, and we would rather remember the conversation than make you repeat it.
- An enquiry that becomes work: as long as we work together, and then five years, because South African tax and company law requires us to keep records of what we did and what we charged.
- Analytics: fourteen months at most, and only if you accepted it.
- Server logs: a rolling short period held by our host, not by us.
What you can ask us to do
Whichever country you are in, you can ask us for a copy of what we hold, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. You can withdraw your consent at any time, which does not undo what was already done with it. If you are in Europe you can also ask us to restrict how we use it, to object to us using it, and to send it to you or to someone else in a portable form.
Write to melanje@holtandco.co.za and say what you want. We will do it within 30 days and we will not charge you for it.
If we get it wrong
Tell us first, because it is usually a mistake and we would like the chance to fix it. If that does not satisfy you, you can complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa at complaints.IR@justice.gov.za, or, if you are in Europe, to the data protection authority in the country you live in.
Keeping it safe
The site is served over an encrypted connection. Enquiries travel to our inbox over encrypted links, the accounts involved carry two-factor authentication, and the number of people who can read them is one. No system is perfect, and we will not pretend otherwise: if something happens that puts your information at risk, we will tell you and the Regulator, as the law requires.
Children
This site is meant for adults buying and keeping houses. We do not knowingly collect anything about children. If you think we have, write to us and we will delete it.
Changes
If we change how any of this works, the date below changes and the cookie banner asks you again. We will not quietly broaden what we do with what you have already sent us.