Tenants and Guarantors – Privacy Notice

Information we may collect about you

We will collect and process the following categories of your personal information:

• Name, address, contact telephone numbers and email addresses*;
• Date of birth*
• Marital status;
• Information about your housing requirements;
• Information about other people connected to you including number and age of children and dependants, next of kin, emergency contacts and guarantors;
• Information about your finances such as current financial commitments, financial and credit history, any county court judgments, bank details and other relevant payment information*;
• Proof of your identity and your right to reside in the UK;
• Employment information such as salary, workplace and national insurance number;
• Education establishment details if you are a student;
• References in connection with your tenancy application, which may include references from your employer, education establishment or previous landlord;
• Previous tenancy details; and
• Images of you if captured by CCTV at any of our premises.

(*indicates information that we will collect from or about guarantors in relation to your tenancy application.)

We will collect this personal information either directly from you when you fill in forms on our website, complete other forms and documents which we provide to you as part of your tenancy application, call us or otherwise contact us in relation to renting a property.

We will also collect this information from other organisations such as credit reference and fraud prevention agencies, accountants and individuals whom you or we may ask to verify your identity, referees and guarantors, if appropriate.

How we use your personal information

We use information we hold about you in the following ways:

• To notify you about changes to our services;
• To assess and make decisions about your tenancy application;
• To carry out background and reference checks;
• To determine the terms of your tenancy agreement;
• To provide our lettings management service to your landlord;
• To process any payments due to us from you;
• To process your rent payments to your landlord;
• Safeguard your deposit with the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS) (please see their own privacy policy at https://www.tenancydepositscheme.com/privacy-policy);
• To assess any requirements for repairs to your rented property and carry out such repairs;
• To communicate with your emergency contacts and/or next of kin and arrange help for you in an emergency;
• Making decisions about the continuance or termination of your tenancy;
• To fulfil our anti-money laundering and anti-fraud obligations, detect and prevent tax evasion and other compliance obligations;
• To comply with health and safety obligations; and
• Deal with complaints and disputes.

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

• Determine whether we will accept you as a guarantor;
• Make decisions in relation to the associated tenancy application; and
• Communicate with and take payment from you if you are required to guarantee any rent or other guaranteed payment due to us.

You will not be subject to decisions which will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making.

Our legal bases for processing your personal information

We rely on the following legal bases for processing your personal information:

• Where it is necessary to enter into and fulfil our obligations under a contract with you;
• Where it is necessary for our compliance with legal obligations;
• Where it is necessary for the vital interests of you or those who live with you; and
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and our interest does not override your fundamental rights and freedoms.

Some of these lawful bases may overlap and more than one may apply to the processing purposes set out in How we use your personal information.

Disclosure of your information

We may share your personal information with the parties set out below for the purposes set out in How we use your personal information.

• Our service providers, such as IT and systems administration services providers, reference agencies, surveyors, property inspectors, repairers, insurers, warranty providers, lawyers, accountants and auditors;
• External third parties such as our regulators, the Property Ombudsman, local authorities, utility providers, the Tenancy Deposit Scheme, credit reference agencies and anti-fraud agencies;
• Other Quirks partnerships; and
• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business then the new owners may use your personal information in the same way as set out in this privacy policy.

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal information and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third party service providers to use your personal information for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.