PRIVACY POLICY
1. WHO ARE WE?
In this privacy policy, the terms "we", "our", and "us" are used to refer to Britten Properties LLP, company number: OC384729, Britten Management Limited, company number: 08460745, Britten Properties (St Albans) Limited, company number: 09973791 and Britten Properties (St Albans Residential) Limited, company number: 10846034, all of whose registered office is PO Box 8, Chobham, Woking, Surrey, GU24 8YE.
2. HOW WE USE YOUR DATA AND HOW TO CONTACT US
We are committed to protecting your privacy and it is important that you understand how we look after your personal data and how we make sure that we meet our legal obligations to you under the UK data protection rules (including associated guidance) (the "Data Protection Laws"). This privacy policy outlines how we will use, store and share your personal data.
If you have any questions in relation to this policy or generally how your personal data is processed by us please contact us in writing at
PO Box 8, Chobham, Woking, Surrey, GU24 8YE or by email at bml@jb999.com.
3. KEY TERMS
Personal data
Any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual.
Special categories of personal data
Personal data regarding your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, genetic data, biometric data for the purposes of uniquely identifying a person, data concerning your health (including mental and physical health), or data concerning your sex life or sexual orientation.
4. THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND WHY
COMMERCIAL TENANTS
What we collect
Contact details (including name, address, email address, phone number(s)) and company information (including financial information e.g. credit reference checks and self-employed/ sole-trader/ partnership accounts/company accounts).
Other corporate information may be collected in respect of commercial tenancies; however most of this is not personal data and therefore falls outside the scope of this policy.
Why we need it
To (a) assess commercial tenancy applications (to take steps prior to entering a contract), (b) enter into a contract as landlord and tenant, and (c) to administer and fulfil our obligations under our tenancy agreement.
Where we store it
On our systems in the UK.
How long we keep it
For the length of the tenancy agreement, plus seven (7) years (for legal reasons).
RESIDENTIAL TENANTS
What we collect
Contact details (including name, address, email address, phone number(s)), date of birth, residential status, previous addresses, nationality, NI number, IP address, dependant information (e.g. name, contact details, date of birth), financial information (including bank and credit card details and statements, details of debt and expenditure, salary information, payslips and credit checks), proof of deposit, proof of identification (including passport information) employers details (including name and contact details), gender, insurance details, marital status.
Why we need it
To (a) assess residential tenancy applications (to take steps prior to entering a contract), (b) enter into a contract as landlord and tenant, and (c) to administer and fulfil our obligations under our tenancy agreement.
Where we store it
On our systems in the UK.
How long we keep it
For the length of the tenancy agreement, plus seven (7) years (for legal reasons).
BUSINESS REPRESENTATIVES
What we collect
Commercial/ corporate representative of a business that we engage with (e.g. former landlords/ employers of potential tenants, third party service providers, agents or suppliers – business contact details.
Why we need it
To take steps to enter, enter and fulfil the contract between the business we engage with.
Where we store it
On our systems in the UK.
How long we keep it
For the length of the agreement/ arrangement with the business, plus seven (7) years (for legal reasons).
VISITORS TO OUR WEBSITE
What we collect
Technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, MAC addresses, traffic data, location data, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform and cookies, information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our website (including date and time), services you viewed or searched for, your conduct via the site and (where relevant) any other site activity, page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page.
Our website is hosted by a third party (Wix.com, Inc). This information will therefore be collected directly by Wix.com, Inc.
Why we need it
For our legitimate business interests, being:
(a) to administer our site and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
(b) to improve and enhance our site and to ensure that (where applicable), content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your device; and
(c) to measure and analyse traffic via our website.
Both you and we benefit from the effective management, updates and administration of our site and it is a necessity for us to use this information for these purposes, as we would be unable to achieve the same aim in any other way. We do not consider the collection and use of this information to be intrusive.
You are able to disable cookies, as set out in our Cookies Policy.
Where we store it
(1) Information we obtain will be stored on our systems in the UK
(2) Information Wix.com, Inc obtains may be maintained, processed and stored by Wix and its authorized affiliates and service providers in the EEA (e.g. Lithuania, Germany and Ukraine), or outside of the EEA (e.g. in the United States of America and Israel)
How long we keep it
For as long as is necessary for the purpose (which may vary depending on issues arising requiring internal operation e.g. troubleshooting).
Cookie duration is as set out in our Cookies Policy.
SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF PERSONAL DATA
We may ask you for some sensitive details (special categories of personal data) or you may voluntarily give such personal data to us. We will only use this personal data for the purposes of complying with our statutory obligations and implementing appropriate safeguards, and where required, we will obtain your explicit consent to processing this data (see "Consent" below).
We may share any of your personal data which falls into a special category of personal data with other members of our group and Brotherton Real Estate Limited for the purposes of processing your tenancy application and administering your tenancy agreement and implementing appropriate safeguards only.
5. WHERE DO WE GET THIS INFORMATION FROM?
We collect some of your information directly from you, either through information that you give to us or information that we collect through communications with us. However, most of the time we obtain some information from other third parties, including previous landlords, third party partners (e.g. Brotherton Real Estate Limited acting as our agent), estate and letting agents (e.g. Countrywide trading as Hamptons), managing agents, property advisory companies, banks, former and/or current landlords and/or employers, insurance companies, third parties (e.g. our website hosting provided Wix.com, Inc), credit reference agencies and other similar data providers and fraud prevention agencies.
5.1 Credit Reference Agencies(CRA's)
CRA's hold personal data about consumers. Most of the personal data held by the CRA's relates to how you have maintained your credit accounts. They also hold address details and personal data from public sources such as the electoral roll, public records including county court judgments, and bankruptcy and insolvency data. We may obtain personal data about you from the CRA's for debt collection purposes and to check your credit history, verify your identity, to locate you and for fraud and money laundering purposes.
If you fall behind with your payments and a full payment or satisfactory payment plan are not made, then a default notice may be recorded with the CRA's. Any records shared with CRA's will remain on your credit file for 6 years. Other organisations may see these defaults and any searches done on your file, and these may affect your ability to borrow from certain lenders.
6. BASIS FOR USING YOUR INFORMATION
Contract
We use your personal data (excluding special categories of personal data) as set out in this privacy policy to enable us to process your tenancy application and manage your tenancy.
We may also pass your personal data to members of our group and other third parties acting on our behalf (e.g. Brotherton Real Estate Limited) for this purpose.
Legal obligation
In some cases we have a legal obligation to collect information from or about you. For example, where we are processing information such as ethnicity from your passport (or other documents) to establish whether you have a right to reside in the United Kingdom, we are doing so because we are required to by law. You cannot opt-out or refuse to provide this information and a failure to provide the appropriate documentation for this purpose, may impact on, or lead to a rejection of, your tenancy application.
Consent
In some circumstances, we may need your consent to process certain information. You have the right to withdraw your consent to this processing at any time and you will be offered an alternative means of providing the information we need.
Legitimate interests
To use your personal data for any other purpose described in this privacy policy, we will rely on a condition known as "legitimate interests". It is in our legitimate interests to collect your personal data as it provides us with the information that we need to manage your tenancy more effectively. This requires us to carry out a balancing test of our interests in using your personal data, against the interests you have as a citizen and the rights you have under data protection laws (for example, to not have your data sold to third party marketing companies without your knowledge, or not store your personal data in insecure or unstable countries or regions). As a result of our balancing test, which is detailed (where applicable) in Section 4 (THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT AND WHY) above, we have determined, acting reasonably and considering the circumstances, that we are able to process your personal data in accordance with the data protection laws on the basis that we have a legitimate business interest.
7. WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH?
We may share your information with the other members of our group of companies and third parties but only for the purposes specified in this privacy policy. In particular we may share your information with:
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Brotherton Real Estate Limited, who act on our behalf as our agent in connection with the provision of our service as landlord;
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other third party service providers and suppliers, such as letting or estate agents (for example Countrywide, trading as Hamptons), managing agents, property advisory companies and banks. Please contact us using the contact details above if you would like an up to date list of our service providers, agents and/or suppliers;
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credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies who will use your information to prevent fraud and money laundering to enable us to set up and manage your tenancy accordingly and verify your identity. If fraud or money laundering is detected or we are unable to verify your identity, you could be refused certain services;
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our regulators, law enforcement or fraud prevention agencies, as well as courts and any other authorised bodies, for the purposes of investigating any actual or suspected criminal activity or other regulatory or legal matters etc.; and/or
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in a corporate situation, for example, (a) in the event that we consider selling or buying any business or assets, in which case we will disclose your personal data to any prospective sellers or buyers of such business or assets; (b) in the event of any insolvency situation (e.g. the administration or liquidation) of us or any of our group entities; or (c) if we, or substantially all of our assets, are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by us about our tenants will be one of the transferred assets.
Please note that we may combine personal data we receive from other sources with personal data you give to us and personal data we collect about you.
We may also use a number of carefully selected third parties to supply us with products and services, such as legal and/or financial advice. We will only share your information with these suppliers where it is necessary for them to provide us with the services we need. We do not share your information with third parties for marketing purposes. Please contact us using the contact details above if you would like an up to date list of our service providers, agents and/or suppliers.
8. WHERE IS YOUR INFORMATION STORED?
8.1 As set out above, we store your information in the UK. However, when we share your information with the parties listed above (WHO DO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH?) your data may be transferred outside the European Economic Area.
8.2 Where necessary we will make sure safeguards are put in place to secure your information, which may include incorporating European Commission approved clauses into our agreement(s) with third parties to ensure the security of your personal data. A copy of the European Commission approved model clauses is available here:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32010D0087&from=en
9. WHAT RIGHTS DO YOU HAVE?
You have a number of rights under the Data Protection Laws in relation to the way we process your personal data, which are set out below. You may contact us using the details at the beginning of this privacy policy to exercise any of these rights.
In some instances, we may be unable to carry out your request (as permitted by Data Protection Laws), in which case we will write to you to explain why.
1. You have the right to request access to your personal data
You have the right to request confirmation that your personal data is being processed, to access your personal data (through us providing a copy) and to be provided with other information about how we process your personal data.
2. You have the right to ask us to rectify your personal data
You have the right to request that we rectify your personal data if it is not accurate or not complete.
3. You have the right to ask us to erase your personal data
In certain circumstances, you have the right to ask us to erase or delete your personal data where there is no reason for us to continue to process your personal data. This right would apply if we no longer need to use your personal data to provide the services to you, where you withdraw your consent for us to process special categories of your personal data, or where you object to the way we process your personal data (see right 6 below).
4. You have the right to ask us to restrict or block the processing of your personal data
In certain circumstances, you have the right to ask us to restrict or block the processing of your personal data that we hold about you. This right applies where you believe the personal data is not accurate, you would rather we block the processing of your personal data rather than erase your personal data, where we don't need to use your personal data for the purpose we collected it for but you may require it to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
5. You have the right to port your personal data
In certain circumstances, you have the right to obtain and reuse your personal data obtained from us for your own purposes across different services. This allows you to move personal data easily to another organisation, or to request us to do this for you.
6. You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data
In certain circumstances you have the right to object to our processing of your personal data on the basis of our legitimate business interests, unless we are able to demonstrate that, on balance, our legitimate interests override your rights or we need to continue processing your personal data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
7. You have the right not to be subject to automated decisions
You have the right to object to any automated decision making, including profiling, where the decision has a legal or significant impact on you.
8. You have the right to withdraw your consent
You have the right to withdraw your consent to our processing of your special categories of personal data.
10. WHAT IF YOU HAVE A COMPLAINT?
If you have any concerns regarding our processing of your personal data, or are not satisfied with our handling of any request may by you, or would otherwise like to make a complaint, please contact us in the first instance using the details at the start of this privacy policy, so that we can do our very best to sort out the problem.
You can also contact the Information Commissioner's Office at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF www.ico.org.uk.
11. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
We will take all measures necessary to communicate any changes to this privacy policy to you. This policy was last reviewed and updated in May 2018.