This privacy policy explains how Fleming Lettings and Developments UK Limited (trading as Fleming Lettings) (“we”, “us”, “our”) collects, uses, shares and protects personal information when you use our services, contact us, or visit our website. It also explains your rights under data protection law. As a letting and property management agent, we handle personal information about landlords, tenants, guarantors, applicants and others connected with the properties we let and manage, and this policy reflects how we use that information in that role.

Our Contact Details

Name: Fleming Lettings and Developments UK Limited

Address: Creative Industries Centre, Glaisher Drive, Wolverhampton Science Park, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV10 9TG

Phone: 01902 212415

Email: enquiries@fleminglettings.co.uk

ICO registration reference: ZB571711

Data Protection contact: Robert Fleming

Who We Are and Our Role

We are a data controller in respect of the personal information we collect and use to provide our services. In the course of letting and managing property, both we and our landlord clients act as independent controllers of tenant, guarantor and applicant personal information — each of us is separately responsible for our own use of that information. Where we provide a service on a landlord’s behalf, we use the personal information involved to carry out that service and to meet our own legal obligations as an agent.

Summary of Key Points

What information do we collect? We collect information you provide to us and information generated during a tenancy or application — for example contact details, identity and right-to-rent documents, referencing and financial information, and property details.

Do we receive information from third parties? Yes. As an agent we receive information from third parties such as referencing and credit-check providers, open-banking services, guarantors, previous landlords or agents, and onboarding providers such as Goodlord.

Do we process sensitive information? We may process limited special-category or sensitive information where necessary and where a lawful basis applies — for example information arising from identity and right-to-rent checks.

Do we share information? Yes, with specific categories of third parties (see “Who We Share Your Information With”), and, on completion of a let, we transfer relevant tenancy information to the landlord, who then becomes the controller of it.

How long do we keep it? Only for as long as necessary for the purpose, or as required by law — financial records are kept for at least six years (see “How Long We Keep Your Information”).

What are your rights? You have rights over your personal information, including access, correction, erasure and objection (see “Your Rights”).

What Information We Collect

We collect personal information that you provide to us directly — by telephone, WhatsApp and SMS, email, social media, web forms, our website, and in person — and information generated in the course of an application, tenancy or management instruction. Depending on your relationship with us, this may include:

• Names, contact details (phone, email, residential and billing addresses) and contact preferences;
• Identity and immigration information, including documents required for right-to-rent and anti-money-laundering checks, and nationality;
• Referencing and financial information, including employment status and length, salary, creditworthiness data, and information obtained through open-banking technology;
• Property information, including property preferences and requirements, budget, property details, ownership details and photographs;
• Tenancy information, including the tenancy agreement, deposit details, inventory and condition reports, and correspondence relating to the tenancy;
• Where relevant and lawful, payment information needed to process rent, deposits and fees.

Sensitive information. Where necessary, and where a lawful basis applies (such as our legal obligation to carry out right-to-rent checks, or with your consent), we may process information that can reveal race or ethnic origin (for example from identity documents) and financial or creditworthiness data. We limit our use of such information to what is necessary for the relevant purpose.

Information collected automatically. When you visit our website we automatically collect technical information such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language and other usage and diagnostic data, primarily to maintain the security and operation of the site and for analytics. We also collect information through cookies and similar technologies (see “Cookies”). Some of this may include approximate location derived from your IP address; you can limit this through your device or browser settings.

Information We Receive From Third Parties

Unlike many businesses, as a letting agent we do receive personal information about you from third parties. This may include references and referencing outcomes from referencing and credit-check providers, results of open-banking and financial-viability checks, information from guarantors, information from previous landlords or agents, information from utility and onboarding providers such as Goodlord, and information from publicly available sources where necessary to verify identity or carry out our legal checks. We combine this with the information you give us in order to assess applications and manage tenancies.

How We Use Your Information

We use personal information to provide and administer our letting and property management services. Depending on your relationship with us, this includes:

• Responding to enquiries and arranging viewings;
• Assessing applications, including referencing, creditworthiness and right-to-rent checks;
• Preparing and managing tenancy agreements, inventories and related documentation;
• Collecting and remitting rent, holding and protecting deposits, and managing maintenance and repairs;
• Carrying out identity verification, anti-money-laundering and sanctions screening as required by law;
• Communicating with you about your tenancy, property or instruction, and sending service-related and administrative messages;
• Sending marketing communications where you have not opted out and where we are permitted to do so — you can unsubscribe at any time;
• Keeping our services and systems secure and preventing fraud;
• Meeting our legal, regulatory, tax and redress-scheme obligations;
• Understanding and improving how our services and website are used.

Our Lawful Bases for Using Your Information

Under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 we must have a lawful basis for processing personal information. We rely on the following:

• Performance of a contract — to provide the services you or our landlord clients have asked for, and to take steps before entering into a contract.
• Legal obligation — to comply with our duties, including right-to-rent checks, anti-money-laundering and sanctions screening, tax reporting and deposit protection.
• Legitimate interests — to run and improve our business, keep our services secure, prevent fraud, and carry out limited marketing, where these interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Consent — where we ask for it, for example for certain marketing or where we share information with a lender at your request. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Vital interests — in rare cases, to protect someone’s life or safety.

Who We Share Your Information With

We share personal information only where necessary, and with appropriate safeguards in place. The categories of recipients are:

• Landlords (and, where relevant, their other advisers) in respect of their property and tenancy;
• Referencing, credit-check and open-banking providers;
• Tenancy deposit schemes (for example the Tenancy Deposit Scheme);
• Utility, council-tax and onboarding providers such as Goodlord;
• Contractors and suppliers carrying out maintenance, repairs, inventories and inspections;
• Payment processors, banks, accountants and our professional advisers;
• IT, cloud-hosting, communication and analytics providers who support our business;
• Regulators, redress schemes, law enforcement and other authorities where we are required or permitted to share information.

We put contracts in place with the third parties who process information on our behalf, so that they may only use it on our instructions and must keep it secure. We do not sell your personal information.

Transfer of information to the landlord on completion of a let. Where we act for a landlord, on completion of a let — or on completion or termination of any data-collection or processing activity we are engaged to carry out as letting agent — we transfer the personal information and records reasonably necessary for the landlord to manage the tenancy and meet their legal obligations. This may include tenant and guarantor contact details, references, right-to-rent records, the tenancy agreement and prescribed information, the inventory and condition report, deposit-protection details, safety and energy certificates, and related correspondence. Once transferred, the landlord becomes the controller of that information and is responsible for using and protecting it in accordance with data protection law. We may keep a copy only for as long as needed to meet our own legal, regulatory, tax, insurance and redress-scheme obligations.

Change of business ownership. If our business or part of it is sold or transferred, relevant personal information may be transferred to the new owner, who may continue to use it as set out in this policy. We will take steps to protect your privacy in any such transfer.

Lenders. If you choose to proceed using a loan, and only with your consent, we may share your information with a relevant lender to introduce you to their product; you should refer to that lender’s own privacy notice.

How Long We Keep Your Information

We keep personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this policy, or for as long as required or permitted by law. In particular, we keep records relating to a tenancy for the duration of the tenancy and for a period afterwards, and we keep financial records for at least six years to meet our tax, accounting and regulatory obligations. We also retain records of identity, right-to-rent, anti-money-laundering and sanctions checks for the periods required by law. When we no longer need personal information, we securely delete or anonymise it, or, where that is not immediately possible (for example because it is held in backups), we securely store and isolate it until deletion is possible.

How We Keep Your Information Safe

We have appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to protect personal information against unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accidental loss, destruction or damage. However, no transmission over the internet or method of storage is completely secure, so while we work to protect your information we cannot guarantee absolute security. Transmission of information to and from our services is at your own risk, and you should access our services within a secure environment.

Children

Our services are directed at adults. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18 years of age in order to provide our services to them as a customer. If you believe we have collected information about a child in error, please contact us and we will take reasonable steps to delete it.

Your Rights

Depending on the circumstances, you have the following rights in relation to your personal information:

• Right of access — to request a copy of the information we hold about you.
• Right to rectification — to have inaccurate or incomplete information corrected.
• Right to erasure — to ask us to delete your information in certain circumstances.
• Right to restrict processing — to ask us to limit how we use your information.
• Right to data portability — to ask us to transfer your information in a usable format.
• Right to object — to object to our use of your information, including for direct marketing or where we rely on legitimate interests.

To exercise any of these rights, or to withdraw consent where we rely on it, please contact us at enquiries@fleminglettings.co.uk. We will respond in accordance with data protection law and will not usually charge a fee unless your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive. Where the law allows, we may decline a request, in which case we will explain why.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information, please contact us first so we can try to resolve the matter. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can contact the ICO at https://ico.org.uk, by phone on 0303 123 1113, or by post at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Cookies

Our website may place and access cookies on your device to improve your experience and our services. Before placing non-essential cookies, we will ask for your consent through a cookie banner. You can decline non-essential cookies, although some features of the site may not then work fully. You can also control and delete cookies through your browser settings.

Strictly necessary cookies are required for the operation of the site, including maintaining your session. Targeting cookies record your visit, the pages you view and the links you follow, so we can make the site and any advertising more relevant; these are only used where you have consented. For more information about cookies, including how to disable them, see aboutcookies.org.

Changes to This Policy

We keep this privacy policy under review and update it from time to time, for example to reflect changes in our services or the law. The current version is always the one published on our website, and it takes effect as soon as it is published. Please review it regularly.

General

You may not transfer any of your rights under this policy to another person. This policy is governed by the laws of England and Wales, and any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. If any provision of this policy is found to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue to apply.