Privacy

StreetSpy is built from public records about buildings, not about people. We collect as little about you as we can while still running the site. This page says exactly what we collect, what we do not, and what we will never do with it.

The short version

You can use every public-records feature without an account and without telling us anything.
We ask for an email address only if you create an account or set an alert.
We do not sell personal data, and we never share who wrote a review with a landlord, broker or anyone else.
Analytics are pseudonymous and run in the EU region. We honor Do Not Track.
We also use cookieless analytics (Cloudflare Web Analytics and our own anonymous event counts) that set no cookies and store nothing that identifies you.
To delete your account and contributions, email hello@streetspy.nyc.

What we collect

Email address, only if you create an account or set a building or neighborhood alert. We use it to sign you in and send the alerts you asked for.
Declared preferences, such as neighborhoods and a budget, if you set alerts. These are optional and you can change or clear them at any time.
Contributions you submit: reviews, what you paid, insider reports and owner responses. Reviews are shown publicly without your name. For a short time after you post, a review or rent report is linked to your account (if you were signed in) and to your browser's contribution cookie, so we can check it for spam and enforce one review per building. That link is removed after that (details).
A verification document, only if you choose to send one for a Verified tenant badge. It is checked by a person and then deleted, or deleted after 7 days if nobody has checked it (details).
Pseudonymous product analytics through PostHog: pages viewed, searches made, features used. These are tied to a random identifier, not your name or email.
A signed cookie that remembers you have contributed, so the community layer stays unlocked on your device.
Standard server logs: IP address, browser type, the pages requested and the time. We use these for security and to keep the site running.
API key holders' email addresses (and the organization and intended use given with the request), if you ask for a key to our data API or grade widget. We use the email for service messages about the key only: confirmation and sign-in links, and notices about usage, billing or changes to the API. Never for marketing. The API itself contains no personal data about renters: no reviews, rents, insider reports or alert subscribers (API terms).
Takedown and copyright requests, if you send one: your name, contact details and what you asked, kept as the record of what we removed and why. A copyright counter-notice is sent to the person who filed the original notice, as the law requires (details).

What we do not collect

No phone numbers.
No real names. An account needs an email address and nothing else.
No precise location. We know the addresses you type into the search box, because we have to look them up. We ask your browser or phone for your location only if you press Near me on the map, and only to center the map: the location stays on your device and is never sent to us or stored. The map then asks our server for the buildings in the area on screen, as it does for any view.

Browser extension

The StreetSpy extension for Chrome sends exactly one thing: the street address of the StreetEasy or Zillow listing you are viewing (house number, street, city, state and ZIP code as the listing shows them, with any apartment number removed), and, on StreetEasy search results, the neighborhood name printed on each card. It goes over HTTPS to streetspy.nyc to find the building. Nothing else is sent: no cookies, no account, no page address, no browsing history, no prices and nothing about you.

We do not save the address or write it to our logs. Your IP address reaches our server as with any web request; we use it only to rate-limit lookups and never link it to the address. Answers are cached in your browser for 24 hours and never leave your computer. The extension has no analytics, no tracking, no ads and no account, and removing it deletes the cache.

Reviews and rent reports: what we keep

Reviews, rent reports and insider reports are anonymous on the site, and we keep them anonymous in our database too.

What we never store with a contribution: your IP address, your browser's user agent, your email address or your name. Per-connection limits on how often you can post are kept only in the server's memory and reset when it restarts.
What is stored for a short time: the account the contribution came from (only if you were signed in) and your browser's contribution cookie identifier. Insider reports never carry either.
When it is removed: once a contribution has cleared moderation and is a day old, or 30 days after it was posted if it is still waiting for review, whichever comes first. A nightly job removes the account link and the cookie identifier from the stored row.
What is kept after that: the contribution itself, its building, its date and its moderation status; a "verified resident" label if you had one, as a label with no link to an account; and a one-way code made from the cookie identifier (it cannot be turned back into the identifier or tied to you), kept 14 more days only so the one-review-per-building rule and repeat-spam checks keep working, then deleted.
Apartment numbers: on the review form, the apartment number is optional and is never shown on the site; it is kept only to match city records to the unit.
What this means for you: once the link is removed we can no longer tell which contributions are yours. To have one taken down after that, use "Report this review" on it or email us the building and the text.

Verified tenant documents

After you review a building you can, if you want, send one document to get a Verified tenant badge on your review: the first page of a lease or a renewal, a utility bill, or a renters insurance page showing the building's address. It is optional, and your review stays up either way.

What is uploaded: the one photo or PDF you choose (JPG, PNG, HEIC or PDF, up to 10 MB). You can cover anything on it except the address. When a photo arrives we remove its hidden details (the location it was taken, the time and the phone model) before it is stored.
Who sees it: one person at StreetSpy who checks that the address matches the building, and, if you leave your rent visible, whether the rent matches the rent you reported and whether the lease or a rider says the apartment is rent-stabilized. It is stored privately, never shown on the site, in an email or in our data API, and never shared with the landlord or anyone else.
When it is deleted: as soon as it is checked, approved or not. If nobody has checked it within 7 days, it is deleted then, and the request is closed.
What we keep: whether the review was verified, the dates the document arrived and was checked, and, only if the reviewer ticked them, that the rent matched and that the document showed a stabilized lease. Never the file, its name or anything written on it.
Verify later: if you ask us to email you a link to do this later, we use the email address for that one email and do not keep it. No reminders follow.

What we never do

We do not sell personal data.
We do not share the identity of a reviewer with landlords, brokers or anyone else. An owner who responds to a review sees the review, not the person.
We do not use your data to build advertising profiles. StreetSpy shows no advertising.

Third parties

A small number of providers process data on our behalf. Each one receives only what it needs to do its job.

PostHog for product analytics, hosted in the EU region. Receives the pseudonymous usage events described above.
We use Sentry to record technical errors on the site, and the error reports contain no IP addresses, contact details or rent figures.
Stripe for payments, if you buy a paid plan. Stripe receives your payment details directly; we never see your full card number.
An email delivery provider for alerts and account messages. Receives your email address and the message content.
NYC Open Data and the other public sources listed in our methodology. We pull data from them. They never receive anything about you.

Cookies

Session cookie, to keep you signed in if you have an account.
Contribution cookie, a signed cookie that records that you have contributed a review.
Analytics cookie, the random PostHog identifier. This one is optional; see your choices below.

We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies.

Your choices

Every email we send has an unsubscribe link. Using it stops that type of email immediately.
To delete your account, your contributions, or both, email hello@streetspy.nyc from the address on the account. We confirm the deletion by reply.
If your browser sends a Do Not Track signal, we do not load analytics for your visit.
You can clear or block cookies in your browser. Blocking the contribution cookie means the community layer will ask you to sign in to stay unlocked.

Data retention

Account data is kept while the account is open and deleted when you ask us to close it. Contributions are kept while they are published; when you delete one, it is removed from the site and from our database. The link between a contribution and your account or browser is removed within 30 days of posting, as described above. Server logs are kept for a limited period for security purposes and then discarded. Analytics events are kept in aggregate form without the random identifier after a limited period.

Children

StreetSpy is not directed at anyone under 18 and we do not knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has created an account, email us and we will delete it.

Security

Traffic to StreetSpy is encrypted in transit. If your account has a password, it is stored only as a salted hash, never in plain text. Access to production systems is limited to the people who operate the site. No system is perfectly secure, and if a breach affects your personal data we will tell you.

Business transfers

If StreetSpy is acquired or merged into another organization, your data may transfer to the new owner. It will remain subject to the commitments on this page, in particular that reviewer identities are never shared with landlords and personal data is never sold.

Changes

When we change this policy we update the effective date at the top. If a change materially reduces your rights or expands what we collect, we will tell account holders by email before it takes effect.

Rights for residents of California, Virginia and Colorado

If you live in a state with a comprehensive privacy law, including California, Virginia and Colorado, you have the right to know what personal data we hold about you, to receive a copy of it, to correct it, to delete it, and to opt out of sale or targeted advertising. We do not sell personal data or use it for targeted advertising, so there is nothing to opt out of, but the other rights apply.

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@streetspy.nyc with the subject line "Privacy request" from the email address on your account. We will verify the request by replying to that address and respond within the period the applicable law requires. We will not treat you differently for making a request. If we decline a request, we will say why, and you may appeal by replying to our response.

Contact

Questions about this policy: hello@streetspy.nyc.