Privacy Policy

Introduction

Under data protection law, individuals have a right to be informed about how we use any personal data that we hold about them. We comply with this right by providing ‘privacy notices’ (sometimes called ‘fair processing notices’) to individuals where we are processing their personal data.

This privacy notice explains how we collect, store and use personal data about you.

Grovewell Properties Ltd, are the ‘data controllers’ for the purposes of data protection law.

Grovewell Properties Ltd registered offices are:

Suite 8 Broadhurst House

 Bury Old Road

Salford

M7 4QX

The personal data we collect and hold

Personal data that we may collect, use, store and share (when appropriate) about you includes, but is not limited to:

• Names
• Addresses
• Immigration/right to rent checks (UK Only)
• CCTV (if any)
• Contact information – email, mobile and other forms of contact
• National Insurance information
• Marital status
• Employment information such as employment address and contact details
• Salary details such as copies of wage slips
• Copies of ID such as copies of driving license and/or Passport, Utility bills
• Information on past or present benefits information
• References relating to you
• Banking details

We may also hold data about you that we have received from other organisations, including other property managing agents, former and current employers and local authorities such as housing benefit departments.

Methods of data collection

Such information will generally be collected directly via the use of any of our standard forms, via email, in our branches or through a telephone conversation with you. We may use freelance agents based in your area that will have approached you with a view to interesting you in one of our properties. You may have contacted us after seeing one of properties advertised on a third-party property website such as Zoopla or Rightmove, OpenRent etc.

In the instance where a third-party agent manages a property on our behalf where you are the tenant – we may contact you – however this will be contact based on our contractual requirements and not for marketing purposes. In this instance, please see your managing agents’ Privacy Notice for more details on their procedures.

As part of the process of offering you the services we offer we may also receive information and data about you from:

• Other letting/property agents
  • third parties including credit reference agencies, law enforcement/regulatory bodies, companies providing commercially available databases, social networks, introducer companies who have referred you to us for the delivery of services, your employer, your solicitor;
  • online property portals
  • other publicly available sources such as the electoral roll and HM Land Registry

Use of information and data we collect

To provide you with the estate agency services or management services which you have asked us to provide, including but not limited to:

• to arrange adequate insurance cover for the property on your behalf
  • to enable potential purchasers or tenants to see detailed descriptions and images of properties that they may be interested in;
  • renting property to you;
  • to protect a tenant’s deposit by registering it with a deposit protection scheme;
  • to take payment from you for the services which we provide;
  • to arrange and carry out viewings;
  • to process the receipt and payment of rent,
  • maintenance; repairs and mandatory inspections,
  • to arrange an energy performance certificate or home report inspection for you;
    • to arrange an inventory check or to prepare a report on the condition of a property if it is being let;
    • to ensure that utilities are in place and that utility companies and local authorities are able to contact you for billing purposes when you move in to a property;
      • to carry out tenant referencing and credit checks to assess if you are creditworthy before you move in to a property.
      • to better understand your requirements and provide you with services specific to your needs;
      • to improve the services we and managing agents offer by analysing your personal information so we better understand how you use our services;
      • to keep client records up to date;

Our legal basis for processing your data and provided information

Wherever we collect or use your personal information, we will make sure we do this for a valid legal reason. This will be for at least one of the following purposes:

• because it is necessary to fulfil the terms of our contract with you - if you have entered into a contract with us for example to rent a property;
  • because it is necessary to support the legitimate interests of our business in providing letting agency services in relation to interest in our services - in all such cases, we will look after your information at all times in a way that is proportionate and respects your privacy rights
  • to meet responsibilities, we have to our regulators, tax officials, law enforcement, or otherwise meet our legal responsibilities
    • where we have obtained a clear consent from you - we will always make it clear when we need your consent and how you can change your permissions at any time thereafter.

If you would like to know more about the legal reasons or legitimate interests that apply to a particular way in which we use personal information you can contact us at any time. If you would like to know more about the legal reasons or legitimate interests that apply to a particular way in which Grovewell Properties Ltd Limited use your personal information you should refer to this privacy notice or contact us directly.

Data retention

The personal information that you provide will be retained by us in accordance with applicable laws and our internal Retention Policy. However, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or anonymise personal information we hold if it is no longer needed for the purposes set out above. We will only hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary such as the term of your tenancy or for the relevant purpose for which it was collected. A copy of our Retention Policy is available on request.

Disclosure of your data information

We may also disclose your information to the third parties listed below for the following purposes:

• service providers who need to know the information in order to provide us or you with a product or service including our approved contractors for the purpose of carrying out maintenance or gas safety checks at your property,
• surveyors or other regulatory authorities;
• law enforcement bodies and/or other regulatory entities in order to comply with any legal obligation or court order including the police, HMRC and local authorities;
• third parties we work with as part of providing our services and their associated companies and sub-contractors, including (but not limited to) IT administrators, inventory clerks, photographers, utility companies, marketing and transactional communication companies, energy performance certificate companies;
• referencing companies to check your creditworthiness and to help prevent fraud and money laundering;
• debt collection companies to assist us in collecting any monies which you owe to us where payment is overdue;
• our professional advisers, for the purpose of assisting us to better manage, support or develop our business and comply with our legal and regulatory obligations;
• third parties as necessary in the event of a claim or dispute relating to the use of our services;
• if we are providing you with letting services we may share your personal information with:
  • the landlord, tenant or their guarantor to comply with our legal obligations, including our obligation to keep the landlord fully informed where we manage a property on their behalf and to allow you to contact each other directly in circumstances where the landlord is managing the property;
  • Utility providers
  • Third party letting agents
  • Tenancy Deposit Schemes
  • The Property Ombudsman scheme where they are providing an alternative dispute resolution service in connection with the letting services which we are providing.
  • Lawyers and solicitors where required by law
  • The Land Registry or other legal bodies when required to by law

Security

We employ security measures which aim to protect the information provided by you from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage.

We also expect you to take reasonable steps to safeguard your own privacy when transferring information to us, such as not sending confidential information over unprotected email, ensuring email attachments are password protected or encrypted and only using secure methods of postage when original documentation is sent to us.

All the information we gather about you for the provision of the services you have contracted us to carry out in addition to any data we hold on our email servers and what we have received in the post or any other means of communication are held securely. This means that all data

is either stored on secure servers, locked cabinets or cloud providers that have adequate security frameworks in place. We take every precaution to ensure that your data is always kept secure.

Your rights as a data subject

Subject to certain exemptions and in some cases dependent upon the processing activity we are undertaking, you have certain rights in relation to your personal information;

• To access personal information
• To rectify / erase personal information
• To restrict the processing of your personal information
• To transfer your personal information
• To object to the processing of personal information
• To object to how we use your personal information for direct marketing purposes
• To obtain a copy of personal information safeguards used for transfers outside your jurisdiction
• To lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority

For more information on your rights, such as access to the information we hold about you or if your wish to discuss this privacy notice or if you wish to discuss any matter relating to your data, please contact our office;

Grovewell Properties Ltd

Suite 8 Broadhurst House

Salford

M7 4QX

Email: info@grovewell.co.uk

 Tel: 0161 706 1747

If you exercise your right to request details on the information we hold about you we will ask you for forms of ID such as copies of driver’s license or passport and/or proof of address to confirm we are sending the information to the correct person. We will process this request within 1 month of receiving the request and we will not charge a fee for this service unless the request entails extensive research and work or if the request is excessive or repetitive.

This Privacy Notice was last updated in November 2022. We may update this from time to time  and when we do we will inform you accordingly.