Privacy Statement
We take your privacy seriously and this privacy statement explains how we use the personal information we collect from you.
What personal information do we collect?
The personal information we collect from you may include your name, contact details, proof of identification and address, information about your property (if you are looking to sell or let your property), information about your requirements and budget (if you are looking for a property to buy or rent) and financial information such as proof of funds.
Sensitive Personal Data/Special Category Data Information
The Data Protection Act 1998 refers to “sensitive personal data” which includes information about racial or ethnic origin, physical or mental health, sexual life and criminal records. The General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (“GDPR”) which comes into force in May 2018 refers to broadly the same types ofinformation as “special category” data” In this privacy policy we shall refer to such information as “special category data”.
You may provide us with special category data but we shall not process it unless you have given us consent to do so. We shall in any event treat such data with the utmost care.
How do we collect personal information?
We collect personal information from you when you communicate with us in person or by letter, telephone, facsimile, email, text message and our website.
We may also receive personal information relating to you from third parties such as social media, advertising portals and referencing companies.
What do we do with your personal information?
Depending on your relationship with us, we may process your personal information for the following purposes:
- to provide estate agency and lettings services;
- to process and respond to enquiries and complaints received from you;
- for administration, audit purposes, regulatory and governance activities and compliance; and
- (if you have consented to receiving information from us about our services) to send newsletters and other marketing communications to you.
Who do we share your personal information with?
We may share your personal information with the following parties:
- service suppliers who undertake processing on our behalf (for example reference checks); and
- where you propose entering into a contract for the purchase, sale or letting of a property, the other party to the contract and his/her representatives (such as solicitors).
- If you are in a property managed by Brooks Estate Agents Ltd or it has been requested by the owner of the property you occupy, trusted and known contractors in order to arrange convenient appointments to attend the property
How long will we keep your personal information?
As a general rule we will keep financial information and personal information relating to property transactions for a period of 7 years and all other personal information for 4 years. If you have registered to buy or rent a property and we do not hear from you for an extended period of time we may remove your data prior to this.
Anonymised Information and Analysis
We may collect information about your interaction with our website but this will be done on an anonymised basis in order to undertake statistical analysis of the way in which visitors use our website.
Cookies
We may use technology to track the patterns of behaviour of visitors to our website. This may include using a “cookie” (i.e. a small file which is downloaded onto your computer) to enable our website to recognise your computer and see how you use the website. It saves your preferences so as to improve your browsing experience when you next visit our website. It also allows us to provide you with information which is specifically tailored to your interests.
We will only use cookies if you consent to us doing so. Please note that if you disable the cookies function, you may not be able to access all or parts of our website.
User surveys
From time to time we may ask you to complete research surveys so we can improve our services. Your response to such surveys is voluntary and confidential and the information you provide will be used for internal planning and development purposes only.
Your Rights
Under the GDPR you have the right to request access to, deletion of or correction of the personal information we hold about you. You can also request that we transfer your personal information to another person. The exercise of these rights is subject to our obligations to comply with all applicable data protection law. If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@brooksestateagents.com or at the address set out above.
Queries and Complaints
If you have any queries about this privacy statement, or any complaints about the way in which we handle your personal information, please contact us at info@brooksestateagents.com or at the address set out above. We will investigate any complaint promptly with a view to resolving the matter without the need for you to take the matter further (for example by contacting the Information Commissioner’s Office).
Changes to the Privacy Statement
We may change the way in which we process personal data from time to time in which case we will update this privacy policy to reflect the changes.
Confidentiality and IT Security
Any personal information you send to us will be treated in the strictest confidence. However, please be aware that despite the security measures we have in place, no computer system is completely secure and there is always some degree of risk whenever personal information is transferred by electronic means.
Monitoring of telephone calls and e-mails
Your telephone calls and e-mails to us may be recorded and monitored for quality control purposes. We may also intercept communications made to individual members of staff at Brooks Estate Agents when this is required for business purposes.
This Privacy Statement was last updated May 2018.
