Personal information protection is an important part of consumer rights protection in the real estate industry. The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Administration for Market Regulation's "Opinions on Regulating Real Estate Brokerage Services" set clear provisions on strengthening personal information protection in real estate brokerage services. However, a small number of real estate intermediary agencies and practitioners still exploit the convenience of their positions to illegally collect, use, and trade citizens' personal information, infringing on citizens' lawful rights and interests in personal information. To further strengthen the protection of citizens' personal information in the real estate intermediary industry and give play to the warning and educational role of negative examples, the following five typical cases of violations of laws and regulations infringing on citizens' personal information in the real estate intermediary industry are hereby reported.

1. Employees of Shanghai Deyou Real Estate Brokerage Co., Ltd. illegally sold the company's internal homeowner information to outside parties

Employees Chen, Zhu, and Ma of Shanghai Deyou Real Estate Brokerage Co., Ltd. conspired to sell homeowner information held by the company to outside parties for profit. The three used Ma's employee account and permissions to access the company's big data information platform, query and export homeowner information for listed properties, and sell the information externally to obtain kickbacks. By the time the case was uncovered, Chen had obtained 200,000 yuan in kickbacks from Zhu, and Chen had given Ma 60,000 yuan in kickbacks. In April 2021 alone, Chen sent out a total of 12,716 pieces of information. In November 2021, the judicial authorities sentenced Chen to three years and six months in prison and a fine of 100,000 yuan for the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information; sentenced Zhu to three years in prison and a fine of 80,000 yuan; and sentenced Ma to one year and ten months in prison and a fine of 50,000 yuan.

2. Real estate brokerage practitioner Shen illegally obtained citizens' personal information by purchasing, accepting, and exchanging it

From 2017 to 2019, Shen successively engaged in real estate sales-related business at Wuxi Changsheng Real Estate Brokerage Co., Ltd., Wuxi Hulian Real Estate Brokerage Co., Ltd., Wuxi Lianpu Network Technology Co., Ltd., and Wuxi Da Wanjia Real Estate Marketing Planning Co., Ltd. During this period, Shen illegally obtained citizens' personal information of homeowners in multiple residential projects from Zhou and others by purchasing, accepting, and exchanging it, including community names, door numbers, homeowner names, and contact phone numbers, totaling more than 78,100 pieces, and provided more than 8,600 pieces to others. In December 2020, the judicial authorities sentenced Shen to three years in prison and a fine of 20,000 yuan for the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information.

3. Employees of Zhongshan Yufeng Real Estate Consulting Co., Ltd. illegally purchased citizens' personal information

In September 2019, Huang, an employee of the West District Cuijing Branch of Zhongshan Yufeng Real Estate Consulting Co., Ltd., in order to seek profit, after adding Tan's WeChat account, purchased a large amount of citizens' personal information of residents in relevant residential communities in Zhongshan from Tan via WeChat transfer, including citizens' names, addresses, contact phone numbers, and property areas, totaling 53,590 pieces. In June 2020, the judicial authorities sentenced Huang to three years in prison and a fine of 5,000 yuan for the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information.

4. Ke used the "Fanglibang" website to illegally obtain and sell homeowner property listing information

Starting in January 2016, Ke began operating the "Fanglibang" website and developed a mobile app of the same name, with the main business of selling second-hand property rental and sale listing information to outside parties. During operation, Ke offered cash incentives to website members who uploaded genuine homeowner property listing information, attracting real estate intermediary personnel who possessed such information to register as members and provide information to the website. In this way, Ke obtained for consideration a large amount of homeowner property listing information containing non-public content such as property door numbers and homeowner names and phone numbers, totaling more than 300,000 pieces, and sold it in the form of membership packages, making a profit of more than 1.5 million yuan. In December 2019, the judicial authorities sentenced Ke to three years in prison with a four-year suspension and a fine of 1.6 million yuan for the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information.

5. Cai of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Yiju Real Estate Brokerage Service Co., Ltd. in Hunan Province privately retained homeowner information to conduct business

Cai, the person in charge of Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Yiju Real Estate Brokerage Service Co., Ltd. in Hunan Province, during the period when he was engaged in real estate sales at a sales office, exploited the convenience of his position and, without the consent of the sales office or the homeowners, photocopied 1,095 sets of materials including community homeowners' names, door numbers, property areas, and contact phone numbers. Cai later established Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture Yiju Real Estate Brokerage Service Co., Ltd. and used this homeowner information to conduct real estate brokerage business, using it in daily business activities to call homeowners and ask whether their properties needed to be sold or rented out. In March 2022, the judicial authorities sentenced Cai to one year in prison with a one-year suspension and a fine of 1,000 yuan for the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information.

In December 2023, the National Housing and Urban-Rural Development Work Conference proposed that the order of the real estate market must be rectified with heavy measures, chaos in real estate intermediation and other areas must be corrected, and the lawful rights and interests of the people must be effectively safeguarded. Housing and urban-rural development departments at all levels must thoroughly study and implement the spirit of the National Housing and Urban-Rural Development Work Conference, earnestly implement the requirements of Document Jianfang Gui [2023] No. 2, draw inferences from one case to another, strengthen management of the real estate intermediary industry, and, together with relevant departments, intensify the investigation and handling of illegal and non-compliant acts infringing on citizens' personal information in the real estate industry, so as to promote the steady and healthy development of the real estate market.