PRIVACY NOTICE

Data controller: Oscar Houseago, Managing Director of Houseago Properties Ltd

Data Controller Contact Information – Email: houseagopropertiesltd@gmail.com Telephone: 07498 941584

1. Introduction

Oscar Houseago is a “data controller”. This means that he is responsible for deciding how we hold and use personal information about you.

Houseago Properties Ltd (“The Landlord”) collects, stores, and processes personal data relating to tenants, residents, and guarantors in order to provide rental accommodation. This privacy notice sets down how the Landlord collects and uses personal data about you before, during, and after a tenancy.

The Landlord is committed to protecting the privacy and security of your personal data. The Landlord is committed to being clear and transparent about how it collects and uses that data and to meeting its data protection obligations.

2. Data Protection Principles

The Landlord will comply with data protection law. This means that the personal data we hold about you must be:

· Used lawfully, fairly, and in a transparent way;

· Collected only for valid purposes that we have explained to you clearly and not used in any way that is incompatible with these purposes;

· Relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited to those purposes only;

· Accurate and kept up to date;

· Kept only for such time as is necessary for the purposes we have told you about; and

· Kept securely.

3. What Information Does the Landlord Collect and Process?

The Landlord collects and processes a range of personal data about you. Personal data means any information about an individual from which the person can be identified. This includes:

· Identity and personal contact details, such as your name, title, address, email address, telephone number, date of birth, national insurance number, car registration;

· Background information such as previous landlord details, employer details, educational details, accountant details, next of kin, dependants, and emergency contacts;

· Bank account details, bank references, and credit check results;

· Tenancy details including renewals, joint tenants, other residents, and guarantors;

· Tenancy deposit information (if any) including return on tenancy termination;

· Immigration/right to rent checks (England only);

· Rent and utilities payment records;

· Recovery of arrears, claims, or possession proceedings;

· Repair and health and safety records;

· Breach of tenancy terms/complaints;

· Council Tax and utilities records;

· Universal credit/housing benefit records;

· Notices and correspondence regarding termination of tenancy;

· CCTV and audio recordings (if any); and

· General correspondence in all formats (letters, emails, text messages etc).

We may also collect, store and use the following special categories of more sensitive personal data (known as “special category personal data”): 

· Information about medical or health conditions, including whether or not you have a disability for which the Landlord needs to make adaptations; and

· Equal opportunities monitoring information, including information about your ethnic origin, sexual orientation, health, and religion or belief.

The Landlord collects this information in a variety of ways. For example, personal data is collected through the tenancy application process and through correspondence during the tenancy. The Landlord also generates its own records such as rent payment records.

In some cases, the Landlord collects personal data about you from third parties, such as:

· References supplied by former landlords, employers, and personal referees;

· Information from credit reference agencies;

· Other tenants, residents, or neighbours;

· Guarantors;

· Local authorities;

· The police or other law enforcement agencies;

· Department for Work and Pensions

· Utility companies or service providers;

· Letting/managing agents; and

· Websites or online rental portals for lettings.

Personal data is stored in a range of different places, including in paper files and in the Landlord’s IT systems (including the Landlord's email system).

4. Why Does the Landlord Process Personal Data?

The Landlord needs to process personal data to consider applications for tenancy agreements and manage tenancies.

In addition, the Landlord needs to process personal data to ensure that we are complying with our legal obligations. For example, we are required to check a tenant’s “right to rent” for properties in England.

In other cases, the Landlord has a legitimate interest in processing personal data before, during and after the end of the landlord/tenant relationship.

5. Situations in Which We Will Use Your Personal Information

Situations in which we will process your personal information are listed below:

· To verify the identity of a proposed tenant/ resident;

· To decide on the suitability of a proposed tenant/ resident;

· To assess the financial standing/suitability of a proposed tenant/ resident;

· To check immigration status and/ or right to rent;

· To deal with joint tenants and residents who are linked to the tenancy;

· To enter into a tenancy agreement;

· To secure payment of rent and performance of tenant obligations;

· To collect rent and other payments;

· To manage the tenancy and the property;

· To keep accurate records relating to the Landlord’s rental business;

· To arrange repairs and maintenance of the property;

· To monitor and enforce performance of tenant’s obligations;

· To recover debts and/or obtain possession of a property;

· To ensure Council Tax and utilities charges are billed and paid appropriately;

· To handle tenancy termination and the return of any tenancy deposit;

· To handle complaints;

· To address health and disability issues relating to tenants/residents;

· To provide information to public or local authorities who are legally entitled to require this information;

· To contact next of kin or close relatives in case of emergency;

· To contact the University and/ or school of study;

· To store of emails, records of calls and other communications;

· To comply with legal and regulatory requirements;

· To bring and defend legal claims; and

· To prevent, detect and investigate crime and anti-social behaviour.

6. If You Fail to Provide Personal Information 

If you do not prove certain information when requested, the Landlord may not be able to proceed with the grant of a tenancy agreement.

7. Change of Purpose

The Landlord will only use your personal data for the purposes for which it was collected unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose(s). If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will advise you of this and explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

You should be aware that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent where this is required or permitted by law.

8. Use of Sensitive Personal Information

Some special categories of personal data, such as information about health or medical conditions, are processed to comply with legal obligations (for example, in relation to tenants/residents with disabilities and for health and safety purposes).

9. For How Long do You Keep Data?

The Landlord will only hold your personal data for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including any legal, accounting or reporting requirements. The period for which your data is held after the end of a tenancy is seven years. The period for which your personal data is held following an unsuccessful tenancy application is one year.

10. Who is Information Shared With?

Your information will be shared internally, including with senior management and the financial team.

The Landlord also shares your data with third parties where required by law, where it is necessary in order to administer the relationship with you or where we have another legitimate interest in doing so. Information can be shared with:

· Professional advisers, including solicitors and accountants;

· Letting/managing agents;

· Freeholder and/or their managing agent (for property in block of flats);

· Existing or previous landlords;

· Existing or previous employers;

·  Credit referencing agencies;

· Debt collectors and tracing services;

· Local authorities and government/public bodies;

· Ombudsman/redress schemes;

· Professional body/regulator;

· Courts/Tribunals;

· Police/enforcement agencies;

· Internet service providers;

· Banks/building societies;

· Tenant’s/resident’s next of kin or close relatives in case of emergency;

·  Joint tenants and other residents;

· Guarantors;

· Tenancy Deposit Schemes;

· Universal Credit/housing benefit/other benefit administrator;

· H.M. Revenue and Customs;

· Council Tax authority;

· Contractors and trades people providing services at the property;

· Prospective purchasers of property;

· Other landlords including where you apply to another landlord for a tenancy; and

The Landlord will only store and/or transfer your personal data within the UK.

11. How Does the Landlord Protect Personal Data?

The Landlord takes the security of your personal data seriously. The Landlord has internal policies and controls in place to prevent your personal data being lost, accidentally destroyed, misused, or disclosed. Details of these measures are available on request.

When the Landlord engages third parties to process personal data on its behalf, they do so on the basis of written instructions, are under a duty of confidentiality and are obliged to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure the security of data.

12. Your Duty to Inform Us of Changes 

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current.  Please be sure to keep us informed if your personal data changes during the tenancy application process or during the course of a tenancy.

13. Your Rights

As a data subject, you have a number of rights. You can:

· access and obtain a copy of your data on request (known as a “data subject access request”);

· require the Landlord to change incorrect or incomplete data;

· request erasure of your personal data.  This enables you to ask the Landlord to delete or stop processing your data, for example, where the data is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing;

· object to the processing of your data where the Landlord is relying on its legitimate interests as the legal ground for processing; and

· ask the Landlord to suspend the processing of your personal data for a period of time if data is inaccurate or there is a dispute about its accuracy or the reason for processing it.

If you would like to exercise any of these rights, or you have any questions about the privacy notice, please contact the Data Controller, Oscar Houseago.

If you believe that the Landlord has not complied with your data protection rights, you have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office.