Privacy Policy

RentalChain is operated by RentalChain Technologies Private Limited (“RentalChain”, “we”, “us”), registered at 3rd Floor, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560038, India, and operates a rental evidence and trust platform for tenants and landlords in India. This policy explains what personal data we collect, why we collect it, how it is protected, and the rights you have over it under India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act).

1. Data we collect

• Identity & contact: full name, mobile number (used for OTP sign-in), and email if provided.
• KYC documents: Aadhaar and PAN numbers/images submitted for identity verification. These are encrypted with AES-256 before storage and are never stored or transmitted in plain text.
• Rental records: property details, agreement terms, rent amounts, payment records, move-in condition evidence (photos/documents), maintenance tickets and dispute submissions.
• Usage data: device/browser type, IP address, and access logs, collected automatically for security and fraud prevention.

Payments are recorded and attested, not processed — RentalChain never handles card numbers, UPI credentials, or bank account access.

2. How we use your data

• To create and verify your account via OTP.
• To generate rental agreements, payment records, and property-condition evidence.
• To create a tamper-proof, cryptographic fingerprint (a one-way hash) of certain records so their integrity can be independently verified later. This fingerprint contains no personal information and reveals nothing about you — only that a specific record existed unaltered at a specific time.
• To detect fraud, resolve disputes, and comply with legal obligations.
• To send transactional notifications (OTPs, payment reminders, dispute updates).

3. What never leaves this platform

Aadhaar/PAN numbers, phone numbers, names, addresses and any other personal data are never published to any public ledger or shared with third parties beyond what is described in this policy. Only an irreversible cryptographic hash of a record — not the record itself — is used for public verification.

4. Cookies & local storage

RentalChain does not use tracking cookies. Your session is kept in your browser's local storage (not a cookie) so you stay signed in. If you consent to analytics via the cookie banner, we use a cookie-free, aggregated analytics service (see “Analytics” below) that does not set identifying cookies or track you across other sites.

5. Third parties we work with

• SMS providers, to deliver OTP codes to your phone.
• Encrypted evidence storage providers, to host uploaded documents and photos.
• Cloud hosting and infrastructure providers, to run the platform.
• The Ethereum Sepolia test network, on which only non-personal record fingerprints are recorded.

We do not sell your personal data to anyone, for any purpose.

6. Data retention

We retain your account and rental records for as long as your account is active and as required to resolve disputes or meet legal/regulatory retention obligations. You may request deletion of your account data at any time, subject to records we are legally required to keep.

7. Your rights under the DPDP Act

• Access a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Request correction or erasure of inaccurate or outdated personal data.
• Withdraw consent for optional processing (e.g. analytics) at any time.
• Nominate another individual to exercise your rights in the event of death or incapacity.
• File a grievance with our Grievance Officer, and escalate to the Data Protection Board of India if unresolved.

8. Security

KYC data is encrypted at rest with AES-256. Access to personal data is restricted to systems and staff who need it to operate the platform. We use industry-standard transport encryption (HTTPS/TLS) for all data in transit.

9. Children's data

RentalChain is not directed at individuals under 18, and we do not knowingly collect their data.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes will be notified in-app or via the contact details on your account.

11. Contact / Grievance Officer

For any privacy questions, data access/deletion requests, or grievances, contact our Grievance Officer at privacy@rentalchain.in, or write to us at 3rd Floor, 100 Feet Road, Indiranagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560038, India.