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Scott Owen Lettings Limited Privacy Notice

This privacy notice advises how we collect, use, secure, transfer and share your information. We are Scott Owen Lettings Limited. We are registered in England & Wales under company number 8647715. You can contact us in writing at 45a High Street, Heathfield, East Sussex TN21 8HU, via email info@scottowenlettings.co.uk or telephone us on 01435 868202.

Our Information Commissioner's Office Registration number is ZA020104

Who does this Privacy Notice apply to?

• Tenants, Guarantors & Relevant Persons - new, current or expired
• Landlords - new, current or expired
• Leaseholders, Property Owners or Block Tenants - new, current or expired
• Contractors, Suppliers and Service Providers - new, current or expired

How we use your information & the lawful bases we use for processing:

We process the minimum personal information required and only use your information in ways that you would expect based on the services we are providing to you.

Each processing purpose must be attributed to one of the 6 lawful bases under GDPR - General Data Protection Regulation. The legal bases we apply to our processing are:

Article 6 (1) (b) Contract - The processing is necessary for a contract with the individual such as a Landlord, a Leaseholder or a Supplier.

Article 6 (1) (c) Legal - The processing is necessary to comply with the law such as relevant legislation or compliance with industry standards.

Article 6 (1) (f) Legitimate Interests - The processing is necessary for our legitimate interests to provide services or the legitimate interests of a third party such as Tenants or Landlords.

Why we process and store your information, the lawful basis & our legitimate interests:

· Communication by email, contact form, text, phone & post - We may collect your contact details from your correspondence method under our legitimate interests to respond to enquiries, messages and keep a record of correspondence.

· Prospective Tenant general incoming enquiries - Under our legitimate interests we will record your enquiry and contact details. You will not be added to any mailing lists or be marketed to for any other reason. If you ask us to advise you of any appropriate upcoming properties we will contact you only with that specific information. Our processing of your data will be lawful, proportionate & will have minimal privacy impact. If you do not progress to the application stage we will delete your data in line with the retention policy confirmed in this privacy notice.

· Prospective Landlord incoming enquiries with potential property to let - Under our legitimate interests we will record your enquiry and contact details. You will not be added to any mailing lists or be marketed to for any other reason. We will send you the information you require & may make follow up contact with you within a reasonable time. Our processing of your data will be lawful, proportionate & will have minimal privacy impact. If you do not progress to appointing us we will delete your data in line with the retention policy confirmed in this privacy notice.

· Collecting proof of Identity from Landlords - our legitimate interests to ensure we have verified the identity of our Landlords and to protect the legitimate interests of their prospective Tenants.

· Advertising our Landlord's available property to let on Rightmove who will collect your contact data before referring leads to us - our legitimate interests to fulfil our contract to find a Tenant for the Landlord.

· Taking contact details & arranging viewings for prospective Tenants on available properties - our legitimate interests and those of the Tenant(s) to find a suitable property to live in.

· Assessing Tenant applications for property available to let including obtaining references, from your chosen referees, and making credit checks - our legitimate interests to secure a property for Tenants with a view to them meeting the criteria to enter into a contract with a Landlord.

· Collecting Right to Rent Identification - to comply with the Right to Rent Immigration Act.

· Arranging a rental contract between Landlords and Tenants which involves sharing their data with each other - our legitimate interests to provide the service of setting up a rental contract between Landlords and Tenants.

· Arranging Deposit Protection and providing Prescribed information detailing both the Landlord(s), Tenant(s) and Relevant Persons personal information as required under Tenancy Deposit Protection Law - to meet legal obligations

· Responding to & arranging property maintenance & repairs requests for Tenants - our legitimate interests to manage the property, provide good quality housing & protect the interests of all parties.

· Arranging property maintenance & repairs for Property Owners & Landlords - to fulfil contracts with Tenants, Contractors, Service Providers or Suppliers.

· Processing Payments & accounting for Property Owners - to fulfil contracts with Landlords, Leaseholders, Contractors and Suppliers.

· Processing Payments & accounting for Tenants - our legitimate interests to record the rental history for Tenants and refund any overpayments or expenses.

· To comply with all relevant rental property legislation and industry standards - to meet legal obligations.

· To retain records in compliance with all relevant legislation - to meet legal obligations

· Disclosure of information for legal reasons - to meet our obligations to prevent crime, exercise our or our client's legal rights, defend legal claims, resolve disputes, accounting and VAT investigations or comply with all other legal obligations.

· When you provide us with goods and services - to fulfil our contract with you.

Types of information we may collect about you:

· Full names, age and date of birth

· Present address, forward address or property to let address

· Telephone numbers & email addresses

· Marital status, Residential status, Employment status

· Guarantor details, Deposit Relevant Person details or Next of kin

· Referees, Previous Landlord details, Previous Renting history

· National Insurance number or other Identifying reference numbers when necessary

· Salary & Employers details

· Bank statements & bank details where necessary

· Right to Rent ID, Primary ID, Address ID

· Dependant(s) details with dates of birth and some lifestyle preferences such as any pets or smokers.

· Rental history record whilst a customer with us

How we collect or obtain information about you:

In the general conduct of business Scott Owen Lettings Limited collects information relevant to the services we are providing to you. We collect this information from:

· Yourself, Your Spouse or Partner

· Employers & previous Landlords

· Referees & Reference Agencies

· Banking Records

· Throughout our business relationship with you

We collect this information through our website contact page, via email, post, application forms, text, over the telephone, face to face or record keeping. You may also agree to third parties disclosing information about you to us that those third parties have collected.

Information we share with third parties:

We will only share personal information we collect about you where it is absolutely necessary and lawfully disclosed. Your data may be shared with, but not limited to:

· Advertising the property details on Rightmove or any other medium to display properties to let to fulfil our contract with Landlords.

· Names, addresses & contact details between Landlord(s) and Tenant(s) to facilitate the rental contract.

· Names, contact and any other details required by the Tenant(s) chosen referees & our chosen reference agencies to exercise our legitimate interests to facilitate a Tenant's application and suitability for a rental property.

· Tenants Right to Rent ID may be passed to Landlords so that they can demonstrate legal compliance.

· Statutory information shared between Landlords, Tenants and Relevant Persons such as contact details which is submitted to The DPS (Deposit Protection Service) and is required to comply with Tenancy Deposit Protection law under legal obligations.

· Contact details between Landlord(s), Tenant(s), Leaseholders, Block Management Companies, Tradesmen, Suppliers, Maintenance or Service Contractors to meet contractual repairs & maintenance.

· Contact details shared with Gas Safe Engineers, Electricians, Specialist Tradesmen, Inventory Clerks or EPC Assessors to meet good practice and legal obligations.

· Statutory details required by The PRS (Property Redress Scheme) to respond to enquiries or complaints under legal obligations.

· Payment details required by our Bank to facilitate payments & meet contractual obligations.

· Tenancy details required by our Insurance providers, Legal representatives or Solicitors to defend any legal claims and protect our legitimate interests.

· Statutory details required by HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs), Land Registry, The Home Office, Local Authorities or other relevant regulatory bodies to meet legal requirements.

· Names, contact & tenancy details of previous, current and new tenants as required by Local Councils and Utility companies to ensure all contractual liabilities are paid.

· Names, contact & tenancy details required by Solicitors, Law firms, Courts, Guarantors, Tracing Agents or Debt Collectors under our legitimate interests to ensure all Tenant contractual liabilities are met.

· Tenancy details and rental history to respond to future reference requests with your written consent.

· We may also share information about you, if required legally, for investigation of suspected or actual fraudulent or illegal activities.

We do not sell your information to any third parties.

Scott Owen Lettings Limited also reserve the right to transfer your information in the event of a sale or transfer (wholly or partially) of our business assets. We will make reasonable efforts to request that the new owner processes and protects your information in line with this privacy notice. Your rights will not be affected as detailed in the section below.

Transfers of your information to a Third Country or International Organisation:

We may occasionally have to transfer personal information about you to recipients in other countries such as Non-resident Landlords. We will obtain your written consent in these circumstances & will record your acceptable method of transfer in line with GDPR.

How long we retain your information:

We will keep your information for a reasonable amount of time after our relationship ends with you in order to perform the purposes listed above. Our retention time frames take into account all legal and tax year retention periods for our trading years, typically 7 years, after which your personal information will be securely deleted. For example:

· Non Progressing Tenant enquiries - deleted after 1 month.

· Non Progressing Landlord enquiries - deleted after 6 months.

· Right to Rent ID - kept for 1 year after the known end of your tenancy.

· Managed tenancies - deleted with records for the trading year in which the tenancy ended.

· Introduction only tenancies - deleted with records for the trading year in which the tenancy started.

· All other services - deleted with records for the trading year in which the services were provided.

· Accounts Records - deleted by trading year end, compliant with all tax and retention laws.

We follow a strict retention schedule with monthly and annual data audits. We ensure data is permanently deleted, shredded in-house or we use an accredited data disposal firm who provide us with a certificate of destruction after the data audit.

How we secure your information:

The security of your personal information is very important to us and we take care to protect the information we collect.

We maintain administrative, physical and technical safeguards designed to protect your personal information. Our main objectives are to protect against accidental, unlawful or unauthorised destruction, loss, alteration, access, disclosure or use.

These are the measures we have in place:

· Only lawfully sharing your information to the minimum extent necessary.

· Verifying the identity of any individual requesting access to your information.

· Our website does not use cookies and has SSL encryption.

· All networks, computers, devices and phones are password protected.

· Data files are stored on local PCs and are encrypted where necessary.

· Antivirus and firewalls are kept up to date.

· Client files are all stored away from the public domain & visitors are not left unsupervised.

Security of Email Communication & Data Storage:

In some cases, such as email, the data we collect from you may be transferred to, or stored on servers at a destination outside of the European Economic Area - EEA. Territories outside of the EEA may not have the equivalent legal protections to those that apply within the EEA. We use trusted service providers to process emails, who we have checked to be taking all the steps reasonably necessary to ensure your data is treated securely and in line with GDPR.

Transmission of information over the internet is not entirely secure. If you submit information to us over the internet then you do so entirely at your own risk. By submitting your personal data to us you agree to this transfer, storing and processing.

Your Individual Rights:

Subject to certain limitations on certain rights, you have the following rights in relation to your information:

Right to Access: You have the right to make a SAR (Subject Access Request) to us. We will respond to your request within 1 month and there will be no charge for this service.

We will require proof of your identity with the Subject Access Request to ensure that we do not release personal information to the wrong person. We will only release YOUR personal information unless we have the explicit written consent of any other person concerned.

We will provide you with:

· Confirmation that we hold personal information about you

· Copies of the personal information we hold about you

· Supplementary information such as the information in this privacy notice

Right to Rectification, Erasure or Restriction: If you feel the information we hold about you is incorrect or should be deleted please contact us advising what information you feel needs attention. We will deal with your request or write to you with any reasons why we are unable to process your request within 1 month.

Right to Portability: If you would like to make a request for portability this right is limited to contract or consent. Please make your request in writing and we will respond within one month.

Right to Object: If you would like to object to any processing of the information we hold about you then please contact us advising what processing of information you would like to object to. We will deal with your request or write to you advising of any legitimate interests which may outweigh your request.

Automated Decision Making & profiling: We do not carry out processing of this nature.

Sensitive personal Information and Special Category Data: Under the Immigration Act Right to Rent legislation we have a duty to check and keep a dated copy of the required ID confirming your right to rent in the UK. We also request, from parents or guardians, the details and dates of birth of any dependants under 18 at the start of the tenancy. We will ask for proof of age ID for any dependant aged 16 or over.

Landlords will be required to provide Primary ID such as a passport or photocard driving licence to prove their identity. We may also need to collect required ID to satisfy Money Laundering Regulations.

This is collected directly from you during the application process

Is the Provision of your data a Statutory or Contractual Requirement?

The provision of your personal data will be either of a statutory or contractual requirement or a requirement necessary to enter into a contract. You are obliged to provide the personal data and if you fail to provide the requested information you will not be able to rent a property through us, use any of our services or enter into a contract with us.

How to contact us / complaints and feedback:

Please write to us with regard to any aspect of your Data protection or to make a Subject Access Request.

You can contact us by writing to:

The Data Protection Officer, Scott Owen Lettings Limited, 45a High Street, Heathfield, East Sussex TN21 8HU

Or you may email us:

info@scottowenlettings.co.uk please put FAO Data Protection Officer in the subject line

Complaining to a supervisory authority:

If you wish to advance your complaint further then the supervisory body in the UK is the ICO - Information Commissioner's Office

ICO Contact details can be found on their website:

https://ico.org.uk

Changes to our Privacy Policy:

We will update this policy when required so we suggest that you review this statement at regular intervals.

Last Updated: May 2018