Privacy Policy
Your privacy is important to us. This Policy explains what personal data Alama collects when you use our website and services, why we use it, who we share it with, and the rights you have under Saudi Arabia's Personal Data Protection Law (PDPL).
Alama Realty (Alamat Alardh Real Estate Company)
Version 1.4 · Effective: October 2026 · Arabic & English (Arabic prevails) · Governing law: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
1. Who we are
Alama Realty ("we", "us", "our") is the controller of the personal data described in this Policy. We process personal data in line with the PDPL, its Implementing Regulations and guidance from the Saudi Data & AI Authority (SDAIA).
Data Protection Officer: privacy@aalama.com · Escalations and breach reports: escalation@aalama.com
2. Scope
This Policy applies to our website, installable web app, forms, accounts and messages, for all users aged 18 or over: buyers, tenants, owners, agents, developers and partners.
3. What we collect
| Category | Examples | Why | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Account | Name, email, mobile number, password (stored encrypted), sign-in with Google, Apple or SMS code, profile photo | To create and secure your account | Contract |
| Enquiries | Name, mobile, email, the listing or service you ask about, your message | To answer you and arrange viewings | Contract / your request |
| Saved items | Wishlists and private notes, saved searches, alert settings, home search preferences (budget, districts, property types) | To provide the features you use | Contract |
| Complaints | Your complaint, attachments and our response | To handle complaints as required for licensed brokers | Legal obligation |
| Consents | Date and version of the privacy policy you accepted; whether and when you agreed to marketing | To prove and respect your choices | Legal obligation |
| Technical | IP address, device and browser, pages viewed, how you reached our site (campaign tags and the referring website), taps on our WhatsApp and call buttons, error reports, security signals | To keep the service secure, prevent abuse and fix problems | Legitimate interest |
| Personalisation | The city you choose (or the city nearest to your location, worked out in your browser), homes you viewed with the price shown at the time, your search filters and the districts you looked at | To tailor the home page and search to you (homes in your city, recommendations, price drops on homes you viewed) | Legitimate interest; you can switch it off at any time |
| Analytics cookies | Usage statistics and ad click identifiers (Google, Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, X, LinkedIn, Microsoft Clarity, Hotjar) | To improve the service | Consent (cookie banner) |
We do not collect sensitive data (such as health or biometric data) and we do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 18.
4. Marketing
We send marketing messages (offers, new launches, market news) only if you opt in. The tick box is never pre-ticked. You can withdraw at any time from Account → Settings → Privacy, or with the unsubscribe link in any email. Saved-search alerts are a service you switch on for each search, and every alert email has a one-click link to stop it.
5. Personalisation
To make the home page and search more useful, we remember a few things about how you use the site:
- Your city. You can pick it at the top of the page, or press "Use my location": your browser then works out the nearest city on your device. Your exact location is never sent to us or stored, only the name of the city. Until you choose, we may guess your city from the approximate location of your internet connection (city level only, provided by our hosting provider) and otherwise show Riyadh.
- Your history on this site. The homes you viewed (with the price shown at the time, so we can tell you when it drops), the filters of your searches and the districts you looked at. At most the latest 50 homes, 20 searches and 30 districts, and nothing older than 90 days.
Where it is kept. The city is kept in a first-party cookie (alama_city, up to 12 months); the history stays in your browser's local storage. If you are signed in, the same history and city are also saved on your account so they follow you to your other devices, and the copy in the browser is removed when you sign out. Alama uses this data only to choose which listings to show you. It is not used for advertising, not shared with third parties and not sold, and we do not use it to infer sensitive information about you.
Your choices. You can switch personalisation off, or clear your history and city, at any time from the "Personalisation" link at the bottom of every page or from Account → Settings → Privacy. Turning it off stops the recording and deletes the history; the site then shows everyone the same selection. Deleting your account deletes your history straight away.
Push notifications
If you turn on notifications on a device, we store that device's push address and encryption keys (issued by your browser's push service, e.g. Google, Apple or Mozilla), the language and city you chose, a short device label (e.g. "Chrome · Android"), the notification types you picked and, when you agree to offers and news, the date of your consent. If you are signed in, it is linked to your account. We use it only to send the notifications you chose (new matches for saved searches, price drops and deals on homes in your wishlists, viewing confirmations, changes and reminders, activity on shared wishlists and, only with your consent, offers and news). To detect price drops we keep, per account, the last price seen for each home in your wishlists. Non-urgent notifications are not sent between 10 pm and 8 am Riyadh time. Notification content passes encrypted through your browser's push service. You can change or turn notifications off at any time in Account → Settings → Notifications or in your browser settings. We delete a device's record when you turn notifications off, when the push service reports it expired, or when you delete your account. We also delete records that are no longer used: a device not linked to an account that has not received any notification within 60 days, and any device that has not received a notification for 180 days. When you sign out, or your session ends, the device is unlinked from your account and stops receiving your personal notifications. Campaign notifications count taps per campaign only, never per person.
Display preferences
If you choose a currency or area unit, we keep your choice in two functional cookies on your device (alama_cur, alama_unit; up to 12 months) and in your browser storage. If you are signed in, we also save it to your account so it applies on your other devices. These choices are not used for marketing or profiling, and you can change them at any time from the site header or Account → Settings. Converted prices are approximate; prices are set in Saudi riyals.
6. Who we share data with
- Service providers (processors) under written agreements, for: website hosting, database, image storage, email delivery, SMS codes, bot protection (Cloudflare Turnstile), sign-in (Google, Apple) and analytics. Notifications you turn on are delivered through your browser's push service (Google, Apple or Mozilla), encrypted so that the service cannot read them.
- Developers, owners and agents involved in a listing you enquire about, only as needed to answer your enquiry or complete a transaction.
- Regulators, courts and authorities when the law requires it, including the Real Estate General Authority (REGA).
We do not sell personal data.
7. Transfers outside the Kingdom
Some of our service providers store or process data outside Saudi Arabia. We transfer personal data only where the PDPL allows it: to countries with an adequate level of protection, under appropriate safeguards such as standard contractual clauses, or under another exception in the law, and after assessing the risks of the transfer.
8. How long we keep data
| Data | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Account, wishlists, saved searches, preferences | While your account is open; deleted when you delete your account |
| Push notification records for a device | Until you turn notifications off, the push service reports the device expired, or you delete your account; at most 60 days for a device not linked to an account that has never received a notification, and 180 days after the last notification a device received |
| A wishlist you delete | 30 days in Account → Wishlists → Recently deleted so you can restore it, then deleted for good (you can also delete it for good sooner) |
| Enquiries | 3 years after the last contact |
| Complaints and our responses | 5 years |
| Consent records | 3 years after consent ends |
| Personalisation history (viewed homes, searches, districts) | 90 days, or until you clear it or switch personalisation off |
| Chosen city (cookie) | Up to 12 months, or until you clear it |
| Error reports and security logs | Up to 12 months |
| Requests to our data feeds made with a partner API key (the key, time, IP address, address requested, result and app or browser name) | 90 days (security auditing); daily totals without IP addresses are kept longer |
| One-time sign-in codes | Deleted automatically after use or expiry |
9. Security
We use encrypted connections (HTTPS), encrypted passwords, role-based access for our staff, rate limits and bot protection on public forms, security headers, and monitoring of errors on the live service. If a personal data breach is likely to cause harm, we notify SDAIA within 72 hours of becoming aware of it and inform affected people without undue delay where required.
10. Your rights
Under the PDPL you have the right to:
- Be informed about how your data is processed (this Policy).
- Access your data and receive a copy: download it any time from Account → Settings → Account management.
- Correct inaccurate or incomplete data: edit it in Account → Settings, or ask us.
- Delete your data when it is no longer needed: delete your account from Account → Settings, or ask us.
- Withdraw consent for marketing at any time.
To exercise a right, email privacy@aalama.com. We reply within 30 days. You may also complain to SDAIA.
11. Cookies
Essential cookies keep you signed in and remember your choices, including the city you chose (alama_city) and the currency and area unit you chose (alama_cur, alama_unit). Your personalisation history is kept in your browser's local storage, not in a cookie (see section 5). Analytics and marketing cookies load only after you accept them in the cookie banner; you can change your choice at any time by clearing cookies for this site.
12. Changes to this Policy
We will post any update on this page with a new version number and date. If a change is significant, we will tell signed-in users and, where the law requires, ask for consent again.
13. Contact
Data Protection Officer: privacy@aalama.com · Escalations: escalation@aalama.com · Alama Realty, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia