Thank you for visiting the Department of Housing and Community Development's ("Department") web site and reviewing our Use Policy. You should also be aware that the Department has a privacy policy, also available on this web site. The Department wants you to know about the collection, use, security, and access to information that may be obtained through use of the Department's web portal. By visiting this web site, you are accepting the policies and practices described in this Notice. This notice covers the following topics:

  • Personal Information and Choice
  • A Special Note about Children
  • Information Collected and how it is Used
  • What Happens to Information You Submit to Us
  • If You Send us Email
  • Public Disclosure
  • Personal Information
  • Automatic Collection of Information/Cookies
  • Security
  • Links to Other Sites
  • Limitation of Liability
  • Ownership

Please note that this Use Policy is subject to change without notice, and that it reflects the Department's currently business practices.

Personal Information And Choice

"Personal information" is information about a natural person that identifies or describes an individual, including, but not limited to, his or her name, social security number, physical description, home address, home telephone number, education, financial matters, and medical or employment history, readily identifiable to that specific individual. A domain name or Internet Protocol address is not considered personal information, however, it is considered "electronically collected personal information."

According to Government Code § 11015.5, "Electronically collected personal information" means any information that is maintained by an agency that identifies or describes an individual user, including, but not limited to, his or her name, social security number, physical description, home address, home telephone number, education, financial matters, medical or employment history, password, electronic mail address, and information that reveals any network location or identity, but excludes any information manually submitted to a state agency by a user, whether electronically or in written form, and information on or relating to individuals who are users, serving in a business capacity, including, but not limited to, business owners, officers, or principals of that business. "Electronically collected personal information" we automatically collect includes your domain name or Internet Protocol address, and statistical information about which web pages you visit. If you voluntarily participate in an activity that asks for specific information, more detailed data will be collected. If you choose not to participate in these activities, your choice will in no way affect your ability to use any other feature of the web site.

If any type of personal information is requested on the web site or volunteered by the user, state law, including the Information Practices Act of 1977, Government Code Section 11015.5, and the federal Privacy Act of 1974 may protect it. However, this information may be a public record once you provide it, and may be subject to public inspection and copying if not otherwise protected by federal or state law.

Additionally, departments and agencies of the State of California are required to adhere to the Privacy Policy which is also accessible on this web site. Please see Department of General Services Management Memo 00-14, effective January 1, 2001.

A Special Note About Children

Children are not eligible to use services that require submission of personal information and we require that minors (under the age of 18) do not submit any personal information to us. This includes submitting personal information to the Department as part of a user profile or personalization profile. If you are a minor, you can use these services only if used together with your parents or guardians. If you are a minor you should seek guidance from your parents.

If the Department decides to begin collecting personal information from children, it will notify parents that it is being requested, disclose the reasons for collecting it, and disclose our intended use for it. The Department will seek parental consent before collecting any personally identifiable information. If it does collect it, parents may request information on the type of data being collected, view their child's information and, if they choose, prohibit the Department from making further use of their child's information. The Department will not provide personal information about children to third parties.

Information Collected And How It Is Used

We do collect personal information directly from individuals who volunteer to use some of our services. Collection of this information is required to deliver the specific services, but use of these services is voluntary. If you do nothing during your visit to the web site, but browse or download information, we automatically collect and store the following information about your visit:

  1. The Internet Protocol Address and domain address used but not the email address. The Internet Protocol address is a numerical identifier assigned either to your Internet service provider or directly to your computer. We use the Internet Protocol Address to direct Internet traffic to you and generate statistics used in the management of this site;
  2. The type of browser and operating system you used;
  3. The date and time you visited this site; and
  4. The web pages or services you accessed at this site.

The information we automatically collect or store is used to improve the content of our web services and to help us understand how people are using our services. This information does not identify you personally and is used for gathering web site statistics. The information we automatically collect and store in our logs about your visit helps us to analyze our web site to continually improve the value of the materials available. Our web site logs do not identify a visitor by personal information, and we make no attempt to link other web sites with the individuals that browse the Department's web site.

Government Code § 11015.5 (6) prohibits all state agencies from distributing or selling any electronically collected personal information, as defined above, about users to any third party without the permission of the user. The Department may provide or distribute certain lists and statistical reports of regulatory information as provided by law. All relevant legal protections still apply to the Department's web sites. The Department does not sell any "electronically collected personal information" other than bulk information regarding the registration and title status of manufactured homes, mobilehomes, commercial coaches, truck campers and floating homes for statistical purposes.

What Happens To Information You Submit To Us?

If you choose to submit information to us the information will be transmitted through secure lines to our Departmental database. Any private information will only be used for the purposes for which it was provided and will not be shared with another entity except as prescribed by law. Please see our Privacy Policy for additional information.

If You Send Us Email

You may choose to provide us with personal information, as in email with a comment or question. We use the information to improve our service to you or to respond to your request. Sometimes we forward your email to other State employees who may be better able to help you, and this staff may be employed by a different agency within the State. Except for authorized law enforcement investigations or as required by law, we do not share our email with any other organizations.

We use your email to respond appropriately. This may be to respond to you, to address issues you identify, to further improve our web site, or to forward the email to another agency for appropriate action.

Public Disclosure

In the State of California, laws exist to ensure that government is open and that the public has a right to access appropriate records and information possessed by state government. At the same time, there are exceptions to the public's right to access public records. These exceptions serve various needs including maintaining the privacy of individuals. Both state and federal laws provide exceptions.

All information collected at this site becomes public record that may be subject to inspection and copying by the public, unless an exemption in law exists. In the event of a conflict between this Use Policy and the Public Records Act, the Information Practices Act or other law governing the disclosure of records, the Public Records Act, the Information Practices Act or other applicable law will control.

Personal Information

Under Government Code § 11015.5, if you choose you may have any personal information collected about you discarded without reuse or distribution, provided we are contacted in a timely fashion.

Automatic Collection of Information/Cookies

Cookies are simple text files stored on your computer by your web browser. This site does not use cookies.

Security

The Department, as developer and manager of this web site, has taken several steps to safeguard the integrity of its telecommunications and computing infrastructure, including but not limited to monitoring, auditing, and encryption. Security measures have been integrated into the design, implementation and day-to-day practices of the entire Department's operating environment as part of its continuing commitment to risk management. This information should not be construed in any way as giving business, legal, or other advice, or warranting as fail proof, the security of information provided via the Department's supported web site. The technical standards governing security are enforced by the Department of Information Technology.

Links to Other Sites

Our web site has links to sites we felt might be useful to you and which may provide services. When you link to another site, you are no longer on our site and are subject to the privacy policy of the new site.

This web site and the information it contains are provided as a public service by the Department. This system is monitored to ensure proper operation, to verify the functioning of applicable security features, and for comparable purposes. Anyone using this system expressly consents to such monitoring. Unauthorized attempts to modify any information stored on this system, to defeat or circumvent security features, or to utilize this system for other than its intended purposes are prohibited and may result in criminal prosecution.

Limitation Of Liability

The Department attempts to maintain the highest accuracy of content on its web site. Any errors or omissions should be reported for investigation.

The Department makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the absolute accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of this web site and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this web site. No warranty of any kind, implied, expressed or statutory, including but not limited to the warranties of non-infringement of third party rights, title, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and freedom from computer virus, is given with respect to the contents of this web site or its hyperlinks to other Internet resources. Reference in this web site to any specific commercial products, processes, or services, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, and does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Department, or their employees or agents.

This Use Policy is subject to change without notice.

NOTE: Loan Closing Sample Documents

These sample documents are provided to the public by the Department for informational purposes only. While the Department, in good faith, endeavors to maintain the information published on this web site to the best of its abilities, the Department assumes no responsibility for and makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, regarding the completeness, accuracy, adequacy, legality, reliability or usefulness of any information so provided. In no event shall the Department be liable for any damages or losses of any nature arising directly or indirectly from any use of or reliance upon any such information.

Changes may be periodically made to the documents and other information provided herein; these changes may or may not be incorporated in any new version of the published information. Additionally, because this web site is frequently under development, documents and information may be deleted, modified or moved to a different part of the web site without advance notice. In no event should any information published on this web site be construed as a commitment by the Department to undertake or maintain any course of action.

These documents and any other information published on this web site do not constitute legal or business advice, and no lawyer-client, fiduciary or other relationship is created between the Department and any person or entity accessing or otherwise using this information. Any person or entity who relies on any information obtained from this web site does so at his, her or its own risk.

Ownership

In general, information presented on this web site, unless otherwise indicated, is considered in the public domain. It may be distributed or copied as permitted by law. However, the Department does make use of copyrighted data (e.g., photographs) which may require additional permissions prior to your use. Furthermore, the unique branding of the site and various official seals and marks may not be used without permission of the Department. In order to use any information on this web site not owned or created by the Department you must seek permission directly from the owning (or holding) sources. The Department shall have the unlimited right to use for any purpose, free of any charge, all information submitted via this site except those submissions made under separate legal contract. The Department shall be free to use, for any purpose, any ideas, concepts, or techniques contained in information provided through this site.