Terms, Conditions & Privacy Policies

Privacy Policy & Terms and Conditions These terms of use set out the terms on which you may make use of our website (our site). Use of our site includes accessing, browsing or purchasing services from our site. Please read these terms of use carefully before you start to use our site, as these will apply to your use of our site. By using our site, you confirm that you accept these terms of use and that you agree to comply with them. If you do not agree to these terms of use, you must not use our site. Requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Introduction
This privacy policy (“policy”) sets out how Rent Connect Housing Limited, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 7588779 and with our registered office 258 Capability Green, Luton LU1 3LU, use and protects any information that you provide when using our website or engaging with our services. Rent Connect Housing Limited (“Rent Connect”, “we”, “our” or “us”) are committed to protecting your privacy and we comply with the data protection laws applicable to the UK.

We may revise these terms of use at any time by amending this page. Please check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we made, as they are binding on you. In order to carry out other business functions and to deliver our services, we rely on the following lawful conditions for processing personal data:

● consent – the individual has given their consent to the processing of their personal data.

● contractual – processing of personal data is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the individual is a party or for Rent Connect Housing Limited to take pre-contractual steps at the request of the individual.

● legal obligation – processing of personal data is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which Rent Connect Housing Limited is subject.

● legitimate interests – processing is necessary under the legitimate interests of the Rent Connect Housing Limited or an associated third party unless these interests are overridden by the individual’s interests or fundamental rights. We will be clear and transparent with you about which lawful basis is used when processing your personal data.

Collecting Personal Data

In order to deliver our services and to carry out necessary business functions, we may collect certain personal data from you in a variety of ways, such as, through our website, Instagram, via email, text, LinkedIn, our online platform, or verbally. These details may include (where applicable), names, contact details and basic employment details. Depending on the service we are delivering to you or your company, we may also ask for more detailed information. Personal data we obtain is collected in a few key ways:

● data disclosed by the individual.

● data disclosed by an authorised third party (i.e. employer) on the individual's behalf.

● data obtained from linked system or database.

● data generated through user interaction with systems/services.

Where your data is provided to us by an authorised third party such as your employer or service provider it is the third party’s responsibility to ensure they have the correct lawful basis in place to share this data.

The Purposes of Processing Personal Data

Your data may be used for a number of purposes including, but not limited to: to provide all the elements of the performance and development services we provide to yourself or your employer. Contacting you to assess the quality of our services, administrative activities, legal obligations of the business, statistical and marketing analysis, customer surveys, customer relations communications and offering you services and products we believe may interest you. You will always be told what we intend to do with any personal data we collect from you, however the principal reasons are to:

● support the delivery of contracted services and products, or

● for our own legitimate interests in monitoring usage of our services and improving the service provided to our customers.

● informing relevant prospective customers about our products and services.

We may collect information to better understand how visitors use our website and interact with our marketing content so we can offer timely and relevant information. When using our website to contact us, purchase goods, your data may be used for the following:

● for our own internal records.

● to improve the products and services we provide.

● to contact you in response to a specific enquiry.

● to customise our website for user needs and preferences.

● to contact you via email, telephone or mail for market research reasons.

Rent Connect Housing Limited will only keep data for as long as is necessary to meet these purposes. We will never share, sell, or rent individual personal information to an external party without your advance permission, or unless ordered by a court of law. The personal data you provide to us is only available to relevant employees and contracted service providers. If required by law, Rent Connect Housing Limited may disclose data to government and/or enforcement agencies.

If we intend to use your data for a new purpose outside of those detailed in this policy, this policy will be updated to keep you informed of the same; should consent be required from affected individuals, then it will be sought. Rent Connect Housing Limited will never supply your data to third parties for marketing purposes.

Keeping Personal Data Secure

Keeping Personal Data Secure Our website and online services are protected by firewalls and we have implemented security policies, rules and technical measures to protect the data in our control. These security measures are designed to prevent unauthorised access, improper use or disclosure, unauthorised modification and unlawful destruction or accidental loss.

Any information you provide us with when using our services is stored centrally on secure systems. Direct access to these databases are restricted to authorised personnel and their appointed agents only. We have taken every reasonable step to ensure that your personal data is always held securely, and that access to these are closely monitored. We use security measures to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of data within our systems.

Please be aware however, that no internet or email transmission is ever fully secure or error-free. You should take special care in deciding what personal data you send to us via email and keep this in mind when disclosing any personal data to us via the Internet.

Controlling Your Personal Data

Any personal data we collect from you or we generate as a result of your interaction with our systems and services belongs to you. Under the data protection laws in the UK you therefore have the right to know if your data is being processed, why and for how long. This will include details of what categories of data we process (e.g. storing your name and contact details in a CRM system), whether your data has been disclosed to third parties and their identities, and how to raise a complaint with the information commissioner’s office (ICO).

In addition to your right of access to data we process, Rent Connect Housing Limited will uphold other rights afforded to you under the applicable data protection laws in the UK, namely:

● the right to request that errors in your personal data processed by (or on behalf of) Rent Connect Housing Limited is amended or corrected;

● the right to erase your personal data if such data is no longer needed for its original purpose, or where the processing is based on consent and you withdraw that consent (and no other lawful basis for the processing exists);

● the right to restrict processing where the relevant personal data either cannot be deleted (e.g. because the data are required for the purposes of exercising or defending legal claims) or where you do not wish to have the data deleted;

● the right to object to processing carried out for the purposes of direct marketing, where processing is likely to cause or is causing damage or distress, or where you may be evaluated or subject to decisions on the basis of automated processing;

● the right to request a copy of the personal data you have provided to us for yourself, or for it to be transferred to another organisation, if the processing was based on consent, the provision of business services under a contract, or processing carried out by automated means.

Data Breach

We have in place a procedure if a breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, personal data transmitted, stored or otherwise processed in connection with the provision of a public electronic communications service occurs. We will assess the scope and impact of the breach. Based on the assessment of the likely risks to individuals, we will notify the individuals and/or their connected organisations that a data breach has occurred where this may result in a significant risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, or where we may be in breach of a contractual obligation. Any such notification to individuals will be carried out as soon as reasonably possible and will include information on the nature of the breach, the name and contact details of our data protection officer, the likely consequences of the breach, measures taken or proposed by Rent Connect Housing Limited to address it, and recommendations for affected individuals to mitigate any potential adverse effects. Such individuals will also be provided advice on how to make a complaint to the ICO.

If, due to the nature of the breach that Rent Connect Housing Limited is required to inform the ICO, we will do so within 72 hours of becoming aware of the essential facts of the breach. Such notification must include at least: your name and contact details; the date and time of the breach (or an estimate); the date and time we detected it; basic information about the type of breach; and basic information about the personal data concerned.

Who Has Access To Your Personal Data?

We do not sell your personal information to third party companies. We transfer personal data to the following categories of recipients:

● Companies who we appoint under contract to host our services.

● Companies or individuals who we appoint to provide services to us which include processing personal data.

● Actual or potential business partners who need access to personal data to evaluate or carry out a business relationship or to conclude a transaction with us The data we collect about you is generally accessed only by authorised Rent Connect Housing Limited employees for legitimate business purposes and providing services as part of a contract. However, if we work with partners or contractors, they may have limited access to your personal data but only so much to do their job.

The following outlines who has access to your personal data, and under what circumstances:

● Rent Connect Housing Limited employees and other staff who are involved in arranging and delivering the services you request (where privacy is legally covered under their contract of employment);

● a contracted consultant of Rent Connect Housing Limited to provide services to you on our behalf, and therefore bound under terms within their contract relating to confidentiality and privacy that is to the same standard and level as Rent Connect Housing Limited employees;

How Long We Hold Data

We retain personal data for the following periods:

● for customers’ users we retain data while we are contracted. Post termination we will retain information in the same way as other prospective customers as follows.

● for prospective customers we retain data for up to three years post receipt, renewed consent or customer contract termination.

After that time, unless there is a need to retain that data for purposes connected with protecting our interests or those of third parties we will erase all data other than that needed to comply with our statutory obligations.

While this section of the privacy policy summarises and clarifies parts of our data retention policy, it does not supersede it. The time limits for certain items subject to legislation specified in detail in the data retention policy remain in force, and we are happy to provide further information to you about this at your request.

Cookies are used to identify you when you visit a particular site, analyse web traffic, and can help us facilitate a more personal web experience. Rent Connect Housing Limited uses cookies to identify the pages that are being used and help us tailor our website to our customer’s needs, thus allowing our website to respond to you as an individual.

Cookies do not provide us with access to your computer or any information about you, other than that which you choose to share with us. Cookies can also be controlled by the functions within your browser, so do consider changing as you see fit.

Links From Our Website

Our website may contain links to other websites. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over the other websites and are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other websites.

If you submit personal data and other information to a website to which we link, we are not responsible for its protection and privacy. Always exercise caution when submitting data to websites. Read the site’s data protection and privacy policies fully.

Changes To The Privacy Policy

We keep our privacy policy under regular review and reserve the right to amend or modify this policy from time to time. Such modification shall be effective immediately upon posting of the modified policy on this website. Please ensure you regularly review the information posted on our website to obtain timely notice of such changes.

Your continued use and access of Rent Connect Housing Limited services, including our website, will constitute your acceptance of any changes or revisions to this privacy policy.

If we make substantive changes to this policy, we will announce it on our website to ensure that you are aware of the information we collect and how we use it at all times.

If you have any specific questions about our Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policies or Cookie Policies, please contact us by phone (01582 343000) or via email (info@rentconnect.co.uk) and speak to one of our representitives.