Forum: Building’s access app opens tenants to marketing content

My office moved into a brand-new building at the southern tip of Alexandra Road in April 2025. To enter the building, we must use an app created by the landlord and scan a QR code at the gantry. The app also lets us invite guests and notifies tenants about essential operational matters such as guest arrivals and fire drills.

However, the app has become a vehicle for relentless spam such as promotional messages from food and beverage offers to tenant openings and even mammogram screenings. Sometimes the same message is repeated multiple times within minutes and occasionally late at night.

When I raised this, the property management company claimed we had given consent when installing the app. But refusal to consent means we cannot use the app and cannot access our own office.

Consent for a legitimate use like building access has been twisted into permission to receive marketing content. There is no reasonable limitation of purpose, and users cannot withdraw consent without losing access to what should be an operational tool.

The only workaround offered is turning off notifications, which renders the app useless for its intended purpose. The management has not responded for over a month since I raised the issue, showing a dismissive disregard for tenants.

Should landlords or their managing agents be allowed to bundle consent for essential services with consent to receive marketing messages? If businesses and institutions are required to obtain marketing consent even from existing clients, what makes this landlord an exception? When consent cannot be withdrawn without losing access, and operational necessity is used to justify spamming marketing content, who is protecting tenants’ rights?

Ravindranath Balakrishnan