Additional privacy information
This notice provides privacy information for customers / households who apply to join the Council's Affordable Housing scheme and those who buy, part buy or rent a property on the scheme.
It applies to any personal/sensitive data which you may provide to us in person, over the telephone, by e-mail, when you access our web pages and/or by post. This Notice also applies to any personal/sensitive data which we may collect from other parties about you / your household.
By using our web pages or accessing any services we offer, you agree to be bound by this notice in respect of any information we collect about you / your household.
This notice sets out the basis on which any personal/sensitive data about you/your household will be processed by us.
Why do we need personal information?
- To enable us to process your Affordable Housing application and carry out checks to ensure that you are eligible to join the Affordable Housing Scheme in accordance with procedures, local Planning Policy and Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and, to ensure you meet the required occupancy and financial criteria when you find a property on the scheme that you want to buy, part buy or rent.
- To prevent fraud, protect public funds and ensure the information you have given us is correct.
- To obtain statistical information to help us make decisions about future affordable housing development.
- To maintain accurate and up to date records, including those on the Affordable Housing Database and those who have purchased properties, part purchased properties and/or rented properties on the Scheme.
- To ensure that our services are fair and equal to all and, to improve the service we provide to you.
We will only use your information in ways which are permitted by the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA).
What types of personal information do we handle?
- Contact details such as names, addresses, e-mail addresses and telephone numbers;
- Personal demographics including birth and gender;
- Sensitive data such as annual household income, savings, capital investments, financial gifts and equity from the sale of an existing property;
- Characteristics such as ethnicity, religion, language and disability.
How do we collect personal information?
- When an Affordable Housing application form is completed and submitted to us via our web pages. We do not collect and store any personal/sensitive information about individuals who access our web pages, except where they voluntarily choose to give us their personal details via e-mail or, by completing the electronic Affordable Housing application form;
- When you apply to and/or buy, part buy or rent a property on the scheme;
- When another party/third party sends us relevant information in connection with your Affordable Housing application or sales/rental transaction.
Most of the information we collect is electronic data which is stored securely on our system. Hard copy data is stored in a locked filing cabinet.
We only process and store adequate, relevant information and, as such, we regularly review the information we collect to ensure it is accurate and still needed.
Legal basis for processing personal information
Generally we collect personal information:
- where you have given consent;
- to enable us to determine whether you are eligible to join our Affordable Housing Scheme and/or buy, part buy or rent a property on the Scheme, in accordance with procedures, local Planning Policy and Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990;
- to prevent and detect crime including fraud and money laundering;
- to protect public funds.
If the required information is not provided
If you fail to provide certain information when requested, we may be unable to comply with our obligations. This may prevent you from joining the Affordable Housing scheme and/or buying, part buying or renting a property on the Scheme.
Information sharing and recipients
Your personal information will be treated as confidential but, it may be shared with other sources across the Council such as Customer Support and Collections (CS&C) and Elections and Land Charges, to verify the details on your application form and enable you to apply to and/or buy, part buy or rent a property on the Scheme.
We may also obtain information about you and share relevant personal information (defined in paragraph 3 above) with third parties including, private developers, Six Town Housing, registered providers, solicitors, financial advisors and sales and letting agents in order to process your application and/or facilitate a sales/rental transaction.
The Council has a duty to protect the public funds it administers and may use information held about you for lawful purposes, including but not limited to the prevention and detection of crime, including fraud and money laundering.
We will not share information without your consent, unless permitted by law. Consent is gained when you complete an Affordable Housing application form and submit it to us. In other cases we may have to contact you directly to ask for permission.
We will not disclose your personal information to third parties for marketing purposes.
Automated decisions
All decisions we make about you involve human intervention.
Data retention
We will retain your information in accordance with statutory retention periods, in order to comply with legal and regulatory requirements or, for other operational reasons. In most cases this will be a minimum of seven years. More information about our retention schedules can be found online.
Rights of individuals
You have the right to:
- request a copy of your information (known as a subject access request);
- request rectification or erasure of your information;
- request a restriction on the processing of your information and, object to processing of your information;
- complain to the Information Commissioner's Office about the way the Council processes your information.
If you require further information about the use of your data, please contact us.
Further information about exercising your rights and the Information Commissioner Office guide is available on our privacy notice.
Review
We may update or revise this notice from time to time.
Our core data protection obligations and commitments are set out on our privacy notice.