How we use your information

This privacy notice tells you what to expect when we collect personal information. It applies to information we collect about tenants and tenancy applicants, people whose services we use, visitors to our website and people who communicate with us.

We do not collect more information than we need to fulfil our stated purposes and will not retain it for longer than is necessary.

1.    Tenants & Tenancy Applicants

Property Enquiries

When someone makes an enquiry about the tenancy of a property, we obtain and store their name and contact details, plus any additional information they may supply, on our tenancy system.  Where no formal application is made, this information is deleted once the property is let, unless we are requested by the enquirer to hold the data for further use (for example to record their interest in other properties that may become available).  Such data is deleted after two years.

Applicants for Tenancies

The information we ask from applicants is used to assess your suitability for a tenancy. You don’t have to provide what we ask for but it will affect your application if you don’t.

Applicants and Guarantors are requested to provide their names and email addresses which are passed to a third party professional referencing organisation.  The referencing organisation collects the information required to decide on the viability of the tenancy. This is obtained from the applicants and other sources, as necessary (e.g. referees, employers, accountants, etc) as well as credit checking agencies and voter registration lists.  The information obtained is compiled into a report and a recommendation produced on the acceptability of the tenants, including any risk factors.  The report is forwarded to us for review and decision.

If the tenancy proceeds to contract, the report becomes part on the tenancy documentation.  If the tenancy does not proceed, the report is held for twelve months and then deleted, along with any other residual documentation relating to the application.  The report may be held in paper form or in electronic form, where it is stored on our internal electronic storage media.

Tenants

When a tenancy is agreed, the tenancy agreement, together with the application data and all other tenancy documentation is filed.  Most documentation is held electronically and the key documents, including the tenancy agreement (unsigned copy) is made available to view on the ‘Tenancy Area’ of our website.  Tenants are provided with usernames and passwords which provide access the Tenancy Area where key documents are available relating to the tenancy, safety certificates, equipment manuals, inventory pictures and landlord contact information.

All information relating to a tenancy is held for the duration of the tenancy and then retained for seven years following the termination of the tenancy to comply with legal and inland revenue requirements.

Signed documents and correspondence are held in paper form on our premises and electronic documents and communications are held on our internal electronic storage media.

At the end of the retention period, paper documents are shredded and electronic data deleted.

Tenant’s names and contact details may be passed onto third parties for the provision of specific services to the property.  Tenants’ contact details may also be stored on a mobile phone for emergency use.

2.     People Whose Services We Use

Contact details and invoices for people and organisations whose services we use to supply, maintain or insure our properties are filed and held for seven years for inland revenue purposes.  We maintain an electronic directory of suppliers and additionally, some suppliers contact information may be stored on a mobile phone.

3.     Visitors to Our Websites

You may visit our website and browse its public content without revealing any personal information including your identity.  As a tenant, you will have access to the “Tenants’ Area” which requires you to identify yourself by signing in.

Use of cookies

Cookies are defined as small text files generated by a website and saved by your device. Their purpose is to remember information about you and may be used to store login information, preferences and site settings.

When someone visits our website, we collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns using Google Analytics which generates cookies. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone.

Where a tenant signs into the Tenants’ Area of the website, we store small temporary pieces of 'cookie type' information on our server (sometimes referred to as 'sessions' ). These are small files of information created when you visit our site and used to enhance your experience when using our site, for example by remembering whether you are viewing the site on a computer, tablet or mobile device and storing user name so that you can access your own data freely and securely.  A cookie, PHPSESSID, is placed on your computer to maintain a link to the 'session' but expires when you leave our website.

4.     People Who Communicate With Us

Email

We use Transport Layer Security (TLS) to encrypt and protect email traffic.  However, you should be aware that if your email server or an intermediate email server does not support TLS, then emails we send or receive may not be protected in transit.

We will also monitor any emails sent to us, including file attachments, for viruses or malicious software. Please be aware that you have a responsibility to ensure that any email you send is within the bounds of the law.

Social media, messaging services and text messages

We do not use social media as a means of personal communication.

We may occasionally use direct messaging or text messaging services to communicate with our tenants, potential tenants or suppliers.  Where we receive information that we need to retain from these sources, it is transcribed into a more secure medium.  We never send, nor expect contacts to send sensitive or personal information using this medium.

Website Contact Form

Contact made with us using any of our website contact forms results in the generation of an email.

Telephone

Information given during telephone calls made or received by us may be transcribed and stored.  We do not make audio recordings of our calls.

5.     Complaints and Queries

We continually strive to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.

This privacy notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of our collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Any requests for this should be sent to the address below.

If you want to make a complaint about the way we have processed your personal information, you should contact us in the first instance but if you feel we have not adequately addressed your concerns you should contact the ICO in their capacity as the statutory body which oversees data protection law. Their website is www.ico.org.uk.

6.     Access to Personal Information

You can find out if we hold any personal information about you by making a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection Act 1998. If we do hold information about you we will:

To make a request for any personal information we may hold you need to put the request in writing addressing it to the address provided below.

If you agree, we will try to deal with your request informally, for example by providing you with the specific information you need over the telephone.

If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to correct any mistakes by contacting us in writing with clear details of the changes you require us to make to your data.

7.     Disclosure of Personal Information

In most circumstances we will not disclose personal data without your consent.  However, we may pass your name and contact details to people or organisations providing services to your property so that they may contact you regarding appointments to visit or where it is necessary for you to set up an account with them, for example electricity and gas suppliers.

We may also pass your details to local authorities, government agencies or other organisations where it is required by law.

8.     Links to Other Websites

This privacy notice does not cover the links within our website linking to other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on the other websites you visit.

9.     Changes to This Privacy Nnotice

We keep our privacy notice under regular review. This privacy notice was last updated on 27 May 2019.

10.   How to Contact Us

If you want to request information about our privacy policy, you can email us at info@windrushvalley.com or write to:

David Sandy
Property Lettings
2 Windrush Court
Ford, Temple Guiting
Gloucestershire
GL54 5RU