Residential Lettings Privacy Policy

The Benacre Company Limited,
Benacre Properties Company Limited
and
Benacre (2022) LLP

RESIDENTIAL LETTINGS PRIVACY POLICY

About this policy
This policy describes how we collect and use personal data about tenants, residents and guarantors (and about individuals who are in the process of applying to be a tenant or resident).  We have provided this policy to ensure that you understand what personal data we may collect and hold about you, what we may use it for and how we keep it safe.  You have legal rights to access the personal data that we hold about you and to control how we use it which are also explained.

We use sub-headings to help you find specific information that you may be looking for more easily, including information about:

Who we are and how you can contact us
What personal data we collect about you
What we use your personal data for
When we need your consent to use your personal data
Personal data you are legally obliged to provide
Your rights to know what personal data we hold and to control how we use it
Automated decision making and profiling
When we will share your personal data with others
How we keep your personal data safe
How we use your personal data for marketing
When we will send your personal data to other countries
How long we keep your personal data
How you can make a complaint
How we keep this policy up to date

Who we are and how you can contact us
We are organisations registered in England and Wales which let properties to residential tenants. Our registered address is The Estate and Farms Office, Hall Farm, Benacre, Beccles, Suffolk, NR34 7LJ. The data controller of your personal data will be the organisation with which you register your interest in renting a property and/or to which you make an application to rent a property.
You can contact our Data Protection Manager by post or by emailing: dpm@benacre.com

What personal data we collect about you
We collect:

• personal data that you provide to us. When you apply for a tenancy, we will ask you to provide us with your personal data so that we can assess your application, and also so that if your application is successful, we have the information we need to set up and administer the tenancy or residency.

The personal data we will typically ask you to provide as part of your application will include your name, telephone number, occupation, bank details, car registration, details of any welfare benefits received by you, proof of right to rent in the UK, details of any health issues or disability, and details of anyone who will be living in the property with you. We will also ask you to provide documents to prove your identity and right to rent in the UK, such as a copy of your passport or driver’s license. 

During the course of your tenancy, we will collect further details from you, such as any personal data provided in any enquiries you raise with us or any correspondence you have with us.

In some of our properties, we will also collect personal data via CCTV cameras which we have placed in common areas. CCTV will be clearly signposted and will never be within your flat or house.

• personal data that we receive from third parties. There are several circumstances in which we may receive personal data about you from third parties.

  • • If you are applying for a tenancy, then we may receive personal data from:

      • Online rental portals such as Openrent, Gumtree and Rightmove

      • Letting agents

      • Your Guarantor

      • Credit reference agencies

      • Your referees

    • If you are a current tenant, then we may receive personal data from:

      • Local authorities

      • The police or other law enforcement agencies

      • Utility companies or service providers

      • Your joint tenant/any other residents in the property

      • Your neighbours

      • The Department for Work and Pensions

  • If you are a resident, we will receive some personal data about you from the tenant, including your name, date of birth, details of any welfare benefits received by you, proof of right to rent in the UK, and details of any health issues or disability you have. 

• •  We will also receive some limited personal data about you if are the Guarantor for one of our tenants or residents. This will normally include your name, contact details, occupation and salary.

What we use your personal data for

If you are a tenant or resident, or have applied for a tenancy or residency, we use your personal data to:

• • Assess applications for tenancy/residency.

  • Verify your credit status.

  • Check your immigration status and whether you have a right to rent in the UK.

  • Carry out our obligations and enforcing our rights under the residency or tenancy agreement.

  • Comply with our legal and regulatory obligations as your landlord.

  • Maintain a record of services provided and costs incurred

  • Arrange for utilities and services to be provided to your property

  • Arrange for contractors to attend your property to carry out any repairs.

  • Provide you with the information and services that you request from us

  • Provide you with marketing information in accordance with your marketing preferences (see How we use your personal data for marketing)

  • Maintain our waiting list

If you are a guarantor, we will use your personal data to:

• • Verify that you have sufficient earnings to cover the rental commitment of the tenant.

  • Contact you to request payment if the tenant breaches their payment terms.

Legal grounds for processing your personal data

We will only process your personal data where we have lawful grounds for doing so. The lawful grounds we will typically rely on are:

• entering into and performing our obligations under a contract with you;

• we are subject to legal obligations which require us to use your personal data in certain ways, such as for health and safety purposes;

• ensuring equality of opportunity and treatment; and

• we need to use your personal data for our own legitimate interests (such as the administration and management of our business and the improvement of our services) and our doing so will not interfere with your privacy rights.

We will not usually require your consent to process your personal data. If we do, we will explain what we want to do with your personal data and ask for your consent. You are not required to give consent just because we ask for it.  If you do give consent you can change your mind and withdraw it at a later date.

Categories of personal data used	Purpose	Legal grounds
Name and contact details	To register your interest in renting a property from us and to contact you regarding your tenancy/residency, or your application for tenancy/residency	Contract
Name and contact details	To place you on our waiting list if we do not have a suitable, vacant property at the time you register your interest with us.	Legitimate interest, to maximise occupancy of our properties
Details provided as part of your application	To assess your application for tenancy/residency	Contract and/or legitimate interest, to ensure that the tenants we accept are able to meet their obligations under the tenancy.
Name and contact details	To arrange for utilities and other services to be provided to the property on your behalf	Contract
Name and contact details	To arrange for services and repairs to be carried out at the property	Contract
Name, contact details, transaction history	To manage our relationship with you e.g. to keep your details up to date and notify you of any changes to our contractual documents or privacy policies	Contractual necessity and/or legitimate interests (to keep our records updated and maintain our customer relationship).
Name, contact details, proof of identity	To carry out checks to confirm your identity, credit status, and right to rent in the UK	Legal Obligation
Bank details	To collect payment from you under the terms of our agreement.	Contract
Name and contact details	To send marketing communications to you	Legitimate interest, to promote and grow our business.
CCTV recordings	To monitor communal areas for safety, and also to monitor compliance with the tenancy agreement.	Legitimate interest, to ensure that our tenants are safe in our buildings In the substantial public interest, to detect and prevent unlawful acts.

You are not under a legal obligation to provide us with any of your personal data but please note that if you choose not to provide us with your personal data we may be unable to respond to your request, or to process your tenancy application.

Your rights to know what personal data we hold and to control how we use it

You have a legal right to know what personal data we hold about you - this is called the right of subject access.  You can exercise this right by sending us a written request at any time. Please mark your letter “Subject Access Request” and send it to us by post or email using the details in the Who we are and how you can contact us section.  

You also have rights to:

• prevent your personal data being used for marketing purposes (see How we use your personal data for marketing for further details)
• have inaccurate personal data corrected, blocked or erased
• object to decisions being made about you by automated means or to your personal data being used for profiling purposes
• object to our using your personal data in ways that are likely to cause you damage or distress
• restrict our use of your personal data
• require that we delete your personal data
• require that we provide you, or anyone that you nominate, with a copy of any personal data you have given us in a structured electronic form such as a CSV file

You can find full details of your personal data rights on the Information Commissioner’s Office website at www.ico.org.uk.

Automated decision making and profiling

We do not make use of automated decision making or profiling.

When we will share your personal data with others

We share your data with the following people in the day to day running our business:

• other companies that are part of the Benacre group.
• other Landlords (such as where you apply to them for a tenancy and they request information, such as a reference) from us.
• contractors/tradespeople/suppliers who are providing services to the property.
• utility and service providers who are providing services to the property.
• financial organisations such as our bank and insurance company.
• tax authorities.
• Local Authorities.
• the Letting or Managing Agent we instruct in respect of the property.
• your next of kin (in an emergency).
• our professional advisors (e.g. our lawyers and accountants).
• the owner of the Property.
• the Tenancy Deposit Scheme.
• any business partners, suppliers and sub-contractors we work with to provide you with goods or services that you have requested from us.
• advertisers and advertising networks (see How we use your personal data for marketing for more information.
• analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our site.
• credit reference agencies for the purpose of assessing your credit score.
• The civil courts and their officers in the event of a dispute or the collection of rent arrears.

We may also share your personal information with third parties on a one-off basis, for example, if:

• we sell or buy any business or assets (including our own), in which case we will disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets
• we sell the property in which you are a tenant or resident to another Landlord
• we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply the terms of our agreement with you, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our tenants, residents, ourselves or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

How we keep your personal data safe

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

How we use your personal data for marketing

We may send you marketing communications by email, text message or post. You may opt out of receiving these communications at any time by contacting us using the contact details in this privacy policy.

You can also ask us to only send you marketing communications by particular methods (for example, you may be happy to receive emails from us but not text messages).

We do not share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes.

Transfers of your personal data to other countries

We do not currently transfer your personal data outside the UK. If this changes we will update this privacy policy and will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

How long we keep your personal data

We only keep your personal data for as long as we actually need it to fulfil the purposes we collected it for.  To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements.

Please note that we may anonymise your personal data or use it for statistical purposes.   We keep anonymised and statistical data indefinitely but we take care to ensure that such data can no longer identify or be connected to any individual.

How you can make a complaint

If you are unhappy with the way we have used your personal data please contact us to discuss this using the contact details set out in the Who we are and how you can contact us section above.

You are also entitled to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office which you can do by visiting www.ico.org.uk.  Whilst you are not required to do so, we encourage you to contact us directly to discuss any concerns that you may have and to allow us an opportunity to address these before you contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.

How we keep this policy up to date

We will review and update this policy from time to time. This may be to reflect a change in the goods or services we offer or to our internal procedures or it may be to reflect a change in the law. 

The easiest way to check for updates is by looking for the latest version of this policy on our website (www.benacre.com) or you can contact us (see Who we are and how to contact us) to ask us to send you the latest version of our policy.

Each time we update our policy we will update the policy version number shown at the end of the policy and the date on which that version of the policy came into force.

This is policy version 3.1b which came into effect on 28/08/2024