Electronic Verification of Rent (Evor) Procedural Guide for Businesses

Electronic Verification of Rent (EVoR)
Procedural Guide for Businesses

Contents

Electronic Verification of Rent (EVoR) Procedural Guide for Businesses

About the Procedural Guide

About EVoR

Apply for EVoR

Complete the Business Application

Sign the Business Application

Help completing the Business Application

Outcomes of an application

Conditions of approval (additional terms)

Suspend or withdraw our approval for you to use EVoR

Review of our decision

Registrations and accreditations

External dispute resolution mechanisms

Use of our material—intellectual property

Businesses writing to Customers about EVoR

EVoR service

EVoR accommodation services

Accommodation data

How to access EVoR

Centrelink Business Online Services (CBOS)

User access to CBOS

Access Customer information

Business Online Services—User Details Form

Fees to use EVoR

Support available

Privacy of Customer information

Providing information to a Business with the Customer’s consent

Where a Business is required to give Customer information to a third party

When we give Customer information to a Business

Application of the law

Special rules for Customer Reference Numbers (CRNs)

Organisations with an annual turnover of more than $3 million

Customer consent

Written and verbal consent

Standard consent wording

Storage and retrieval of consent forms

Customer representative

Audits and Reviews

Audit and review process

What you need to provide

Outcomes of audit or review activities

Process for compliant outcomes

Process for remedial breaches

Process for breaches not able to be remedied

Compliance plan

Provide feedback or lodge a complaint

About the Procedural Guide

The Electronic Verification of Rent (EVoR) Procedural Guide provides guidance on the service delivery arrangements, requirements and obligations that are applicable with usingEVoR. This includes:

applying for EVoR
access to EVoR
customer consent
privacy of Customer information, and
audits and reviews.

Your obligations and the Department of Human Services (we, us, our) expectations when using EVoR are outlined in:

the EVoR Policy
theEVoR Terms
the Business Application
your Approval letter, and
this Procedural Guide.

About EVoR

EVoR is a free and secure online data exchange service. It is used to verify and update Customer rent amounts each time there is a change in rent. This helps you complete rent reviews and helps your customers receive the correct amount of Commonwealth Rent Assistance.

Apply for EVoR

If you would like to use EVoR, you will need to complete and submit an EVoR Business Application. You must complete each question in the application.

The EVoR Policy outlines the criteria used by us to determine approval for you to use EVoR. This includes key requirements that the Business:

is a legal entity (or is represented by a legal entity)
is a not-for-profit Community or Indigenous Housing organisation providing affordable rental accommodation to Customers, or a Business that provides Supported accommodation to Customers
has an Australian Business Number (ABN) or an Australian Company Number (ACN)
has processes and procedures in place to ensure compliance with its obligations under relevant secrecy provisions and the Privacy Act 1988, in particular, to protect Customer information from misuse, interference and loss, as well asunauthorised access, modification or disclosure
complies with any of our directions related to the collection, recording, use, or disclosure of Customer information, and
complies with all applicable Australian requirements for registration, industry regulation, licensing or accreditation.

Refer to the EVoR Policy and Terms for the full criteria and considerations.

Complete the Business Application

The Business Application has questions required by us to make an assessment in order to approve a Business to use EVoR. This includes questions relating to the services provided by the Business, legal and corporate structure and contact information.

The Business Application must be completed by a legal entity to be eligible to use EVoR. A legal entity that has legal standing in the eyes of the lawis:

an association
a corporation
a partnership
a proprietorship
a trust, or
anindividual.

A legal entity:

has the legal capacity to enter into an agreement or contract
can assume obligations
can incur and pay debts
can sue and be sued in its own right, and
canbe held responsible for its actions.

Sign the Business Application

The Business Application must be signed by a person who has been authorised by the legal entity that is applying. We cannot provide legal advice on your application. We suggest you seek independent legal advice, if you consider it necessary.

Help completing the Business Application

For help completing the Business Application call the EVoR helpdesk on 1800 887 774 or email us at

Once completed, fax the Business Application to us on 1300 727 760. If you are unable to fax the Business Application please contact the EVoR helpdesk to organise alternative lodgement arrangements.

Outcomes of an application

In response to an application to use EVoR the Business may be:

approved to use EVoR on the standard EVoR Terms
approved to use EVoR on the standard EVoR Terms and with additional conditions contained in the Approval letter
approved to use EVoR if the Business agrees to any variations to the standard EVoR Terms notified in the Approval letter, or
not approved to use EVoR.

We may request more information about the EVoR Business Application from you or other sources before completing our assessment. If we require more information from you, it must be provided within 28 days or the application may be rejected.

If applicable, we will arrange for Businesses with an annual turnover of more than $3 million to be prescribed under the Privacy Act 1988 and associated regulations. For more information refer to the ‘organisations with an annual turnover of more than $3 million’ section on page 13in this document.

A letter will be sent to you advising the outcome of the application.

Conditions of approval (additional terms)

We may approve a Business with additional or different conditions to the standard EVoR Policy and Terms.

Any additional conditions will be sent out in the Approval letter.

Suspend or withdraw our approval for you to use EVoR

We expect you to use EVoR and conduct your activities in a way that is beneficial to Customers and not detrimental to us.

We may suspend or withdraw our approval for you to use EVoR:

where the EVoR Policy or Terms have been breached
where we believe a Business is not acting in the best interests of Customers, or
if you do not meet the expectations as set out in the Policy, Terms and any additional conditions that were advised in your Approval letter.

We expect you will:

obtain Customer consent before using the service
ensure privacy of Customer information and secure storage of information, and
access the system and manage logons and passwords appropriately.

If we suspend or withdraw your approval to use EVoR, we will advise you in writing.

Review of our decision

You may ask us to conduct a review of a decision.

A request to review a decision must be made in writing and submitted within 14 days of you being notified of the decision. The request must include the reasons for seeking the review, together with any information and evidence to support the request for review.

The review will be conducted by an officer not involved in the original decision under review and you will be notified of the review decision within 28 days of us receiving the request.

The reviewing officer may undertake one or more of the following actions as appropriate:

review relevant applications, records and documents used to make the decision
review the original decision maker’s notes
consider the information contained in the request to review the decision
contact the Business to discuss the matter further, and
make corrections where appropriate.

You will be given reasonable opportunity to make any additional written submissions to the officer reviewing the decision before a final decision is made.

A letter will be sent to you advising the outcome. The review decision is final and there are no other merit reviews.

Registrations and accreditations

We require that you have all of the registrations, licences and accreditations applicable as required by any Commonwealth, state, territory or local government. We suggest you independently consult any relevant government agencies to ensure you have the appropriate registrations or accreditations.

If any of these are withdrawn, you must notify us.

External dispute resolution mechanisms

To protect Customers, we encourage Businesses to use external dispute resolution mechanisms, if they exist, relating to the type of services they provide.

You should identify the external dispute resolution mechanism applicable to your Business and include it in the Business Application, for example, the Ombudsman or the Residential Tenancy Tribunal. The relevant state or territory consumer affairs office may also be able to assist you if required.

Use of our material—intellectual property

We may provide you with materials to access and use EVoR, including:

software
technical specification documents including private algorithms
access credentials or secret keys
equipment
goods, or
information or data stored by any means.

If we make any material available:

ownership of intellectual property rights in that material remains with us at all times
you may use that material solely for the purpose of accessing and using EVoR
you must treat all material as confidential and not make the material available to any other person or party, and
you must comply with any directions given by us in relation to any material we provide.

You must not:

modify, decompile, exploit for commercial use or customise the material
sub-licence any of the material, or
represent in any way that we endorse any aspect of your Business.

We may, at any time, require you to return, delete, destroy or otherwise cease using any material we provide. If you no longer use EVoR, you must immediately return or securely delete from any system or documentation any EVoR material that has been provided by us.

Businesses writing to Customers about EVoR

In the event you need to reference us in any large scale mail out or electronic messaging to Customers regarding EVoR, you must obtain permission from us in writing first.

EVoR service

Using EVoR, you can sendus Customer rent details (accommodation data) electronically via a secure internet service. You can provide updates for individual Customers or lodge a batch file for multiple Customers.

We usethe accommodation data to update the Customer’s accommodation circumstances information on the Customer’s Centrelink record. This will trigger a re-assessment of the Customer’s eligibility and entitlement for Commonwealth Rent Assistance.

The serviceis limited to updates for existing Customers living at their current address.

The service cannot be used to notify a customer’s change of circumstances such as:

address changes for a Customer that has just moved into the accommodation
relationship status changes
when the customer starts or stops sharing accommodation with anyone else, and
purchase or sale of real estate.

Note:Customers must advise us direct of any changes in their circumstances as listed above.

EVoR accommodation services

EVoR can only be used by Businesses providing the following accommodation services, which includes rent, bond and arrears:

Accommodation type / Detailed description of relevant goods/services
General community housing / Accommodation provided by community organisations
Indigenous community housing / Accommodation provided by Indigenous community organisations
Supported accommodation / Retirement village, nursing home, lifestyle village or hospice style accommodation

Accommodation data

The Accommodation data that you provide to us contains the information as set out below (information on how to enter the data into the online service can be found in the EVoR User Guide).

CRN (Customer CRN)
Customer’s family and given name
Customer’s date of birth
address*, suburb and postcode in which the Customer resides
start date of the new rent amount to be paid
total amount of rent paid to the Business for the premises in which the Customer resides
amount of rent paid by the Customer

*=non-mandatory data

How to access EVoR

Centrelink Business Online Services (CBOS)

We provide online services to assist you to conduct your business with your Customers and us. You can access CBOS from 7.00 am to 8.45 pm Monday to Friday, Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST).

CBOS is not monitored on national public holidays or outside of the above times. Subject to system availability, you can access the services outside of these times. If you experience problems when the service is not monitored, please try again during the above times. Helpdesk support is available from 8.30 am to 5.00 pm Monday to Friday AEST.

CBOS will display important news and alerts regarding system interruptions, for example, scheduled maintenance.

These announcements will advise of:

information about new services
advance notice of any changes to EVoR services, and
any problems that we know about EVoR services.

To log on to CBOS go to humanservices.gov.au/business

User access to CBOS

Access to CBOS by you, your employees, contractors or agents is controlled by us. We allow access to CBOS by providing a unique logon and passwordto each nominated user. Each user must keep their logon and password details strictly confidential.

Users must:

adhere to the requirements on the use and management of passwords in the Business Online Services—User Details Form (SA445)
maintain the security of individual logons and passwords, and
not share logons or passwords.

Businesses must:

ensure staff are aware of and comply with our requirements
immediately notify us when individual users no longer require access to EVoR, for example, when their employment ceases, or they are no longer authorised to use EVoR on behalf of the Business, and
notify us of any changes to your Business’s arrangements.

Access Customer information

There are two different methods for a Business to access EVoR through CBOS:

1)Single entry service via the Unified Government Gateway (UGG)allows you to:

search for a single (mutual) Customer
view and update a Customer’s Rent Assistance details, and
update the amount of a Customer’s rent deductions that are currently being paid to the Business using Centrepay.

For information on Centrepay go tohumanservices.gov.au/centrepaybusiness

2)Batch entry service via the Organisational Online Mail system (OOM) allows you to:

submit accommodation and deduction details for many Customers at one time
compose a new email message
attach a file (containing bulk Customer data) to be sent to us
receive an email message notifying that the file has been successfully submitted
receive an email message notifying of file or data format validation problems, and
receive Rent Verification Reports detailing the outcome of each update you attempted to make.

Business Online Services—User Details Form

To use CBOS and to choose your access type, you need to complete a Business Online Services—User Details Form(humanservices.gov.au/business/forms/sa445) for each of your employees that require access (this is in addition to completing the EVoR Business Application). The form is also used to update and remove users’ access to EVoR.

Fax your completed Business Online Services—User Details Form to 1300 727 760.

Read more about accessing EVoR from the Electronic Verification of Rent User Guide located in CBOS or contact the EVoR Helpdesk.

Fees to use EVoR

Testing for batch entry, if required, by new and existing EVoR users may incur a cost which is available on request via the EVoR Helpdesk and will be quoted on a case by case basis.

There are no ongoing fees to use EVoR.

Support available

We provide the following support to registered users of EVoR:

Online - humanservices.gov.au/evororgs
User Guide - Electronic Verification of Rent User Guide located in CBOS
EVoR Helpdesk - 8.30 am to 5.00 pm AEST, Monday to Friday excluding public holidays
Phone: Freecall™ 1800 887 774 - calls to ‘1800’ numbers from your home phone are free. Calls from public and mobile phones may be timed and charged at a higher rate
Email us at
Fax: 1300 727 760
State Account Managers - dedicated state or territory staff

Privacy of Customer information

Providing information to a Business with the Customer’s consent

When we receive information about a Customer, we are required to keep the information safe from disclosure to anyone else except where the law allows us to provide that information to a third party.

Permission to provide Customer information to third parties under the law is allowed where the Customer authorises us to provide that information to the third party.

For EVoR, we will not release Customer information to a Business unless the Business has:

told the Customer what information it will seek from us, and
obtained the Customer’s consent for us to provide it with that information.

You will be required to keep a copy of the Customer’s consent as proof.

The Customer may withdraw their consent for us to provide you with their information at any time. If this occurs you must immediately stop using EVoR for that Customer. Failure to do so may result in a breach of the law, which is punishable by imprisonment.

Where a Business is required to give Customer information to a third party

There may be situations where you need to provide Customer information to a third party. That second disclosure is only permitted if you first obtain:

the Customer’s consent to disclose the information to the third party, or
the Customer’s acknowledgement that the information will be given to that third party.

Where you know that you are required to provide information to a third party, you should obtain the Customer’s consent first.

Customer consent may be withdrawn at any time, in which case the Business is no longer permitted to disclose that Customer’s information to a third party.

When we give Customer information to a Business