Privacy
Privacy Policy
Effective September 4, 2026. Dean & Associates Inc (“we,” “the Broker”) is a residential leasing and property management brokerage located at 4000 Eagle Point Corporate Dr, Suite 240, Birmingham, AL 35242. This policy explains what information we collect through deanandassociatesinc.com and our leasing process, why we collect it, who receives it, how long we keep it, how we protect it, and how to reach us about it.
What we collect and why
Website visitors. We use Google Analytics, which sets cookies and collects usage information such as pages viewed, approximate location, and device and browser type. We use it only to understand how the site is used. You can block cookies in your browser settings or install Google’s Analytics opt-out add-on.
Contact and rental analysis forms. Your name, email address, phone number, property address, and message, used to respond to you.
Rental Application. Your name, date of birth, contact information, current address and rental status, employment status, the home you are applying for, household and occupant information, vehicles, pets or assistance animals, recurring obligations and supporting documents, your reason for moving, and your electronic signature. We use this information to evaluate your application under our published Minimum Requirements, which are applied consistently to every Applicant.
Credit and background screening. You provide your consent and Social Security Number directly to TenantReportX, the consumer reporting agency we use. We do not collect or store your Social Security Number. We receive your credit report and your nationwide criminal and eviction background report and use them only as described in the Minimum Requirements.
Income Documents forms. Your employer’s and supervisor’s contact information, your pay rate and pay frequency, and the documents the Minimum Requirements call for — pay stubs, bank statements, IRS transcripts, W-2 forms, benefit and award letters, offer letters, and CPA statements. We use them to verify income under Section 14. Each document is screened for alteration by our third-party document verification service and reviewed by our staff.
Identity verification. Our third-party identity verification service collects an image of your government-issued identification and a photograph of you to confirm your identity. That service’s own privacy policy governs its handling of that information.
Employment verification. We prepare an Employment Verification Letter that you sign electronically through DocuSign and that we send to your employer, and we receive your employer’s written response.
Pets and assistance animals. PetScreening collects pet and assistance-animal information directly from you under its own privacy policy and shares the resulting profile with us.
Payments. Application and verification fees are processed by PayPal. We receive confirmation of payment; we do not receive or store card numbers.
Self-guided showings and portals. Rently collects identity and scheduling information directly from you to provide self-guided tours. Buildium operates the Tenant and Landlord portals under its own privacy policy.
Accommodation requests. Only the information you choose to give us about the accommodation you need. We do not require a diagnosis or medical records, and we use the information solely to evaluate and provide the accommodation.
How we use information
We use personal information to evaluate applications under published criteria, prepare and manage leases, communicate with Applicants, Tenants, Property Owners, and vendors, comply with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (including adverse action notices), the Fair Housing Act and the Alabama Fair Housing Law, Alabama real estate license law, and other legal obligations, and protect against fraud. We do not sell or rent personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.
Who receives information
Service providers that act on our behalf and are permitted to use the information only to provide their services: TenantReportX (consumer reports), our document and identity verification service, PetScreening, PayPal, DocuSign, Rently, Buildium, Google Workspace (email and file storage), Google Analytics, and our website host and form software provider.
Property Owners. Our management agreement authorizes the Broker to approve or decline applications. Property Owners do not receive your application, credit or background report, or income documents.
Legal requirements. We disclose information when required by law, subpoena, or court order, to enforce a lease or our agreements, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of any person, including reporting suspected identity fraud to law enforcement.
How we protect information
The site is served over HTTPS. Documents you upload are stored in secured, access-restricted storage and are opened only by authorized staff who are logged in. Access to application files is limited to employees who need it to process your application or manage your tenancy. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure; if a breach affecting your information occurs, we will notify you as required by the Alabama Data Breach Notification Act.
How long we keep information
Form entries on this website are deleted automatically 365 days after submission. Application files — the application, screening reports, income documents and calculation, employment verification, and any adverse action notice — are retained for three years after the application decision or, for approved Applicants, three years after the tenancy ends, consistent with the record-keeping requirements of the Alabama Real Estate Commission, and are then destroyed securely. Consumer-report information is disposed of in accordance with the FTC Disposal Rule.
Your choices
You may ask what personal information we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete information we are not required to keep, by writing to info@deanandassociatesinc.com. If we take adverse action based on a consumer report, the adverse action notice tells you how to obtain a free copy of the report from the reporting agency and how to dispute inaccurate information with that agency. Our services are for adults age 19 and older; we do not knowingly collect information online from anyone under 19.
Changes and contact
We may update this policy from time to time; the effective date above identifies the current version. Questions about this policy or our handling of your information may be sent to info@deanandassociatesinc.com, by phone to (205) 259-1918, or by mail to Dean & Associates Inc, 4000 Eagle Point Corporate Dr, Suite 240, Birmingham, AL 35242.