Privacy Policy
This privacy policy clarifies how we (Barrows Estates Limited) process personal data relating to you (a prospective, current or former tenant).
How do We Obtain Your Personal Data?
Either:
a) Directly from you (eg. contacting us for information or completion of an application form), or
b) From a third party (eg. details on a contract compiled by an agency such as OpenRent or by a solicitor, or via data you provide as part of credit checks / referencing, eg.through an organisation such as Rentguard).
How Long Do We Keep Your Personal Data For?
Data on current / former tenants is retained for a minimum of 6 years after a tenancy is concluded in case of dispute, audit, investigation or other legal or legitimate interest purposes. However, in some rare cases HMRC can investigate as far back as 20 years so normally we will keep records for at least this long unless we are satisfied there is no risk of such a longer investigation.
Data on prospective tenants would typically be retained for a minimum of 12-24 months, eg. in case of follow up such as if we turned down an expression of interest but want to later offer you an opportunity that subsequently becomes available, or in case you later contact us at a future date and can therefore give you a personalised greeting. If the data we hold could be deemed potential important for a case of dispute (eg. containing reasons for turning down an application and want to demonstrate we have not discriminated) we would keep the data for a minimum of 6 years.
Who Do We Share Personal Data With?
It may be necessary to share your personal information with trusted third parties. Third parties may include, for example, contractors for inspection or maintenance.
We will not divulge personal contact details to any other third-party organisation for marketing purposes without prior consent unless this is necessary to comply with a statutory obligation. Personal data may be backed up to cloud service(s), but we have ensured it complies with GDPR and is encrypted in transit wherever possible. Part of being GDPR compliant means data is stored in an EU country, a country outside the EU for which the EU has made an adequacy decision under article 45 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, or in the case of the USA, is certified under an EU-US Privacy Shield framework.
Your Rights
You have certain rights regarding your personal data under GDPR. These are as follows:
a) The right to be informed - to be told what your data is being used for. We will notify you if this privacy policy changes.
b) The right of access - to be able to request copies of all data held on you. Contact us by post or email (details at the top of this page) and we should reply within 30 days. There is no fee for this but we reserve the right to charge a fee where requests are repetitive and/or require a greater degree of retrieval work.
c) The right of rectification - to be able to amend any incorrect information. The accuracy of your information is important to us. Please contact us if anything changes.
d) The right to erasure - to have your data removed from systems/storage. However, we may not be able to comply with such a request if your data is required, especially if required for legal reasons, for example.
e) The right to restrict processing - to prevent processing, i.e. with regards to marketing.
f) The right to data portability - to be able to have data stored in a medium that is easily transferred to you or a third party.
g) The right to object - When you object to the processing and there is no legitimate overriding interest for continuing the processing.
h) There are rights on automated decision making and profiling. Such processing may have been carried out by separate referencing organisations from whom we obtain your personal data, but we don't undertake such processing ourselves.
What Personal Data do We Obtain and What is The Legal Basis for Processing It?
We require your personal data for contractual reasons, for legitimate interest and for complying with legal obligations. The types of data are outlined in the table below:
| What Data | Examples of Why We Hold the Data |
|---|---|
| Name | Maintaining contact, eg a) to arrange viewings or follow up with prospective tenants, or b) to arrange visits with current tenants (eg. for inspections, safety certification or attending to maintenance), or any other legal or legitimate interest purpose, or c) in case of need to contact former tenants (eg. regarding collection of possessions, unpaid bills, mail still arriving in your name, etc) or in case of legal or legitimate interest purposes to pass your details on to a third party, eg. in case money is owed or Police need to reach you; d) I may also seek your views or comments on the services I provide; e) Notify you of changes to my services; f) Send you communications which you have requested and that may be of interest to you. |
| Address | |
| Contact details (eg. email, telephone) | |
| Former addresses | For referencing/credit searches, debt collection or in case I am legally required to pass such information to a Government department eg. HMRC, The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the Police and/or other legal entities. |
| Emergency / relative contact details | For notifying in case of emergency, eg. if we learn something has happened to you, or for debt collection or legal requirement. |
| Guarantor name, address and contact details | In case of you fall into arrears or any other legal or legitimate interest purpose, eg. debt collection. |
| Photograph/photocopy of eg. ID / proof of residency | For evidence of "Right to Rent checks" carried out, as required by English law. |
| Details collected by application or referencing, often including some details from above and others, eg. date of birth, employer details / reference, former landlord details / reference, bankruptcy / county court search results, credit score, assessment score of suitably of tenant by referencing agency, bank details. | To assess suitability to enter into contract with a prospective tenant, and then retained in case of debt collection, or in case we are legally required to pass such information to a Government department, or in case needed by insurance company (eg. as part of a claim for unpaid rent, if appropriate). |
Questions or Complaints
Please contact using details in the header of this document if you wish to lodge an enquiry or complaint.
If you are not satisfied with our response and/or wish to report your concern to the relevant authority, please contact the Information Commissioner's Office:
https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
Helpline: 0303 123 1113
Barrows Estates Limited is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office, ref: ZA536404 (Search here: https://ico.org.uk/register)