Residential property managers ‘sleepwalking into data abuse crisis’

For property managers the lockdown has shone a light on the way we use technology as never before and raised the importance of cleaning up data sharing, according to a report by the Institute of Residential Property Management.

This exponential growth is driving the ethical issues around privacy, data harvesting and function creep further up the agenda.

In response, the Institute of Residential Property Management has published Data ethics: plotting a roadmap for the new frontier.

This paper focusses on the challenges faced by residential property managers and the wider property sector, as they seek to harness the benefits of digital technology to add value to service delivery and the customer experience.

The IRPM brought together a group of leading industry experts to discuss the way in which data is now being used in residential buildings and the ethical questions this raises for the property profession. How can we better regulate and manage that technology to ensure it is used in an ethical way while still giving homeowners and renters quick and easy access to the digital revolution that is transforming all our lives?

The white paper captures this conversation, highlighting the ethical challenges now being faced and sets out next steps for the property management profession.

On launch of the white paper, Andrew Bulmer, CEO of IRPM said: “We are sleep walking into a data abuse crisis that could seriously damage trust between property managers and residents. The same data that will underpin great customer service and Dame Judith Hackitt’s Golden Thread is also a fantastic resource to be mined and monetised by the unscrupulous. Managers and software firms need to collaborate right now, so that people’s data is not used against them, with property managers the unwitting accomplices.”