PIPEDA Finding: Residental property appraisal is the owner's personal information

It's been a while since we've seen a published PIPEDA finding that wasn't from a high-profile case.

In this case, a bank refused to provide a customer with access to the appraisal conducted by the bank of the customer's property. The bank argued it was about the property and not about him. Further, they argued it was confidential commercial information. The Assistant Commissioner did not agree:

Commissioner's Findings - PIPEDA Case Summary #: Residential Property Appraisal Documents are Owners’ Personal Information (May 7, 2008)

The Assistant Commissioner first examined the question of whether the residential property appraisal should be defined as personal information under section 2 of the Act. After considering both the bank’s views and the CBA’s, as well as this Office’s earlier deliberation on the same question in another finding, the Assistant Commissioner remained of the opinion that, since the property was in the complainant’s name, the information relating to the property, including its market value, was his personal information. He therefore had a right of access to it.