Legal Notice

How we collect, use, share and protect personal information, and the rights available to you under the Data Protection Act, 2018 (including how to contact the Information and Data Protection Commission), are explained in our Privacy Notice.

The descriptions, turnaround times and fees applicable to our services are shown on the relevant service pages and are governed by our Terms & Conditions. Fees are quoted in Botswana Pula (BWP); our professional fees are inclusive of value-added tax where applicable, and any government or statutory fees are quoted separately.

Property listings and job vacancies submitted through the website are user-generated content. We review such content before publication and may decline, edit or remove any listing or vacancy at our discretion, as set out in our Terms & Conditions and our Acceptable Use Policy.

Where you submit a property enquiry, your enquiry and contact details are shared with the relevant lister or agent; and where you submit a job application, your application is shared with the relevant employer, so that the matter can be progressed. The handling of that personal information is explained in our Privacy Notice.

The website, its design, text, graphics, layout, software and all other content (other than user-generated content and third-party material) are owned by or licensed to The Secretary and are protected by copyright and other intellectual-property rights. All such rights are reserved.

The name "The Secretary", together with our logos, brand elements and any trade marks displayed on the website (whether registered or unregistered), are owned by or licensed to The Secretary. Nothing on the website grants any right or licence to use them without our prior written consent.

You may view the website and print or download extracts for your own personal, non-commercial reference, provided that you do not remove any copyright or proprietary notice. This is a limited permission and does not transfer any ownership or other rights to you.

Except as permitted above, you may not copy, reproduce, republish, distribute, modify, sell or commercially exploit any part of the website or its content, and you may not use any automated means to access, scrape, harvest or extract content or data from the website, without our prior written consent.

Any automated or AI-assisted feature on the website that helps answer questions is provided to assist with general information only, on the same basis, and does not constitute professional advice or a professional engagement.

You should not act, or refrain from acting, in reliance on information on the website without first obtaining advice appropriate to your circumstances, whether by formally engaging us for the relevant service or by taking independent professional advice.

A professional engagement with us, and the duties that attach to it, arise only once we have agreed to act for you on the terms set out in our Terms & Conditions, and not by reason of your use of the website alone.

We take reasonable care to keep the information on the website accurate and up to date, but we do not warrant that it is complete, current or free from error, and information may be changed or removed at any time without notice.

We do not warrant that the website will be available without interruption or free from faults, viruses or other harmful components, and access may be suspended for maintenance, security or operational reasons.

The website may contain links to third-party websites and resources. Those links are provided for convenience only; we do not control and are not responsible for the content, accuracy, availability or practices of any external site, and a link does not imply our endorsement.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the warranties, exclusions and limitations of our liability that apply to your use of the website are those set out in our Terms & Conditions, which you should read.

Nothing in this Legal Notice or in our Terms & Conditions excludes or limits any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited, including liability for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or a consumer's non-excludable statutory rights under the Consumer Protection Act, 2018.

If you wish to report an error, abusive or unlawful content, or content that you believe infringes your intellectual-property or other rights, please contact us by email at info@thesecretary.co.bw or by telephone at +267 73 835 546.

To help us act on your report, please identify the content and its location on the website, describe the problem and, for an infringement claim, the right concerned and the basis of your complaint, together with your contact details. On receiving a valid report we will review the content and, where appropriate, remove or disable access to it. The conduct expected of users and the grounds on which content may be removed are set out in our Acceptable Use Policy.

By using the website and transacting with us electronically, you agree that we may communicate with you electronically, including by email and by notices posted on the website, and that electronic communications and records satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing, in accordance with the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, 2014.

The website uses only the cookies and similar technologies that are strictly necessary to operate the website and to keep you signed in securely. We do not use advertising or third-party analytics cookies. Further detail is set out in our Cookie Policy. Nothing in this clause affects your statutory rights.

This Legal Notice forms part of the documents governing your use of the website and should be read together with our Terms & Conditions, our Privacy Notice, our Cookie Policy and our Acceptable Use Policy, which explain, respectively, the terms on which our services are provided, how we handle your personal information, our use of cookies, and the conduct expected of users.

We may update this Legal Notice from time to time to reflect changes in our business or in applicable law. The version in force is the version published on the website, and your continued use of the website after a change takes effect indicates your acceptance of the updated notice.

If any provision of this Legal Notice is found to be invalid or unenforceable, that provision applies so far as it lawfully can and is otherwise severed, and the remaining provisions continue in full force and effect.

This Legal Notice and any matter arising from it are governed by the laws of Botswana, and the courts of Botswana have jurisdiction.