Habitat Oldham are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

We aim to provide our customers and clients with the best possible safe and secure service.

Our "Services" include property Sales and Lettings, Property Auctions, Valuations, EPC, Mortgages and Insurance Products.

We use the personal information you share with us to tailor our Services to your requirements, and to provide the best possible user experience when dealing with our staff or when using our website www.habitat-oldham.co.uk

The purpose of this privacy policy is to give you a clear explanation about how Habitat Oldham use, store, share and control the personal and behavioural information you provide (or that we collect from you) when you contact us or otherwise engage with us via our Website or other media. This can be done in a variety of different ways which can include but are not exclusively limited to:-

  • Via our Website
  • by post,
  • by telephone,
  • by SMS,
  • by email,
  • in person via our branch office network,
  • social media such as Facebook and Twitter,
  • via our Website,
  • via third party websites such as www.allagents.com,
  • via property portals such as www.rightmove.co.uk,  These are collectively known as our "Communication Channels".

By engaging the Services of Habitat Oldham or by visiting our Website you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this Policy.

For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Data Controller is “ Habitat Oldham”16 Rochdale Road, Royton, Oldham, OL2 6QJ.

Personal information we collect from you

“Personal information” is any information that identifies you personally or relates to you, either alone or in combination with other information available to us.

We may collect and process the following personal information about you:

1. Information that you provide by:-

  • Filling in forms on our Websites, third party websites and Portals which send information to us.
  • In person.
  • Via telephone calls, emails and social media.

This information can include, but is not limited to, personal information (name, address, email address and telephone number); financial or employment information that you disclose when agreeing to register as an applicant or enter in to a transactional relationship with us.

2. Minimum required information to ensure our staff are safe when attending external appointments such as viewings and market appraisals will be your name and contact details, including a contact number and a residential address in the UK.

3. Information required to comply with legislation such as Right to Rent checks required under Section 22 of the Immigration Act 2014 if you are renting a property and The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (more commonly referred to as the Money Laundering Regulations 2017) which is a legal requirement for a number of our Services.

4. Information to enable us to tailor our marketing and communications to you, based on your personal preferences, such as the types of service you are looking for, the location of your search area, the budget you are willing to spend etc. (hereafter “Criteria”).

5. If you contact us, we may keep a record of that correspondence and ask for information if you report an issue with our services, or with a property you are renting.

6. We may also ask you to complete surveys, either on our own Website or through a third party provider, which we use for research purposes; although you do not have to respond to them.

7. When you visit or otherwise access our Website, details including but not limited to:-

a. Weblogs and other communication data.

b. Traffic data including the URL of the website that referred you to our website if applicable.

c. Location data including geolocation (this can be explicitly controlled in your device)

d. Information about the device and browser (hereafter “Device”) you are using to access the Website e.g. type, version, operating system, etc.

e. The resources that you access including social media interaction.

f. Your IP (Internet Protocol) address.

g. The date and time of the visit and how long you remained on our Website

h. The pages visited on our Website and interactions performed,

When you register with us you are stating that you are eighteen [18] years of age or over. You agree that any information you provide to us about yourself upon registration or at any other time will be true, accurate and complete and that you will ensure that this information is kept accurate and up-to-date at all times. You consent to any information concerning you which we collect and process being used, stored and processed in accordance with this Policy.

Cookies Policy

Cookies are small text files that are placed on to your computer by websites that you visit. They are used to make websites work, to improve efficiency of websites, to improve the user’s experience and to provide usage information on websites. This information should make your website visits more productive by storing and using information on your website preferences and habits.

The settings on your web browser can usually allow you to choose whether or not to accept cookies. Most web browser software is initially set up to accept them.

We may offer cookies to you and you should ensure that your web browser is set up to not accept cookies if you do not wish to receive them. Please note that if you disable cookies, some services or website functionality may not be available. For further information about cookies and how to disable them please go to www.aboutcookies.org. 

Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal information that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.

By continuing to use this site, you are accepting our use of the cookies described below that make advertising and communications more relevant to you and your interests, and further help us to improve the site.

We use the following cookies:

Analytical cookies. These are persistent cookies that allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.



Cookie ID   Type of cookie   Origin   Reason
__ga
__gid
__utmb
__utmt
__utmc
__utma
__utmz
AnalyticalGoogle Analytics   Google Analytics is a third-party website
monitoring tool that allows users to see volumes
of website visitors, their source, and to analyse
how the content of their website is viewed and
navigated. Google Analytics does not store any
personal information about website visitors. It
does use persistent cookies to identify repeat
visitors. You may universally opt-out of all Google
Analytics tracking used by all websites by
visiting
https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout
Google's privacy policy is available at:
https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

How we use your personal information

  • Improving our products and services: 
    We will use your personal information to build a profile on you in order to understand your requirements and to personalise the properties and Services we offer you. We process your personal information in this way as it is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests in providing better products and Services for you and our other customers.
  • Processing your transaction: 
    We use relevant personal information described above (including your name, address and financial details) to enable us to complete a transaction with you when you are using any of our Services. This information may be required to be passed on to third parties, including but not limited to solicitors, surveyors, financial advisors and contractors.
  • Preventing fraud: 
    We will also use your personal information to assess your credit worthiness (in the case of buying or renting a property) and to prevent fraud. For this purpose, we may need to share your personal information with our referencing providers and/or solicitor. This is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests in ensuring we are not the victim of fraud and to protect our legal rights.
  • To provide customer support: 
    If you contact Habitat Oldham (or vice versa), we will use personal information such as your email address, phone number and residential address as well as your contact history to process your request. We will process your personal information in this way if it is necessary for the performance of a contract or if it is required, for us to comply with any legal obligations. If it is not necessary to process your personal data for either of these reasons we will process it as it is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests in ensuring we can provide the best service possible.
  • Marketing:
    When you register your details with us for any of our Services, or enter in to a transaction with us, provide feedback on our service online or use our Website; we will use your personal information to create a profile based on the information we hold about you. This is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests in ensuring we have accurate information about you in one place. We create your profile in accordance with your preferences in order to provide you with the best personalised experience, to send you relevant and personalised information and property updates.

Below you can find a more detailed description of the ways in which we will use your personal information for these purposes.

What kind of information

The way you interact with us across all the different channels described above (e.g. our Website, social media and marketing messages we send you) and the information we collect in that regard from each of these channels provides us valuable information about your current circumstances and preferences. This insight gives us the opportunity to offer you the best customer service experience possible. To learn about you and your interests, we analyse your interactions with our company using various kinds of information, as set out above.  If you have registered your details with Habitat Oldham or engaged one of our Services by entering into a transaction with us, or if we are permitted by law to send such communications without obtaining your consent, we use the information that you have provided to us when interacting with us for sending you personalised marketing messages about our products or services, events and promotions. In some instances, we will also aggregate your personal information with that of other individuals, to create comprehensive reports about how clients and customers use our products and services. This is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests in analysing our brand and determining how to improve our services.

What kind of messages

The messages we will send you will be personalised and tailored to your individual preferences and requirements. We use analytics in order to generate such personalised messages. These analytics will process your personal information and place you in categories, which determine the content of the messages you will receive from us. These direct marketing messages may contain information about our products and Services, events or promotions and other company news. We personalise these messages on the basis of that it is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests in ensuring that we provide the most appropriate information. We will, in certain circumstances, also use the channels for opinion research (such as to ask if you would like to participate in a survey) and to learn about your experience and improve your experience Habitat Oldham by sending you personalised messages.

How we share your personal information

We treat your personal information with care and confidentiality and do not share it with third parties other than as set out below:

With Service Providers

Where required we may share limited personal information you provide when you register with us or enter in to a transaction with us, as necessary and only for the purposes and on the lawful grounds described above with various third parties who process your personal information on our behalf (Data Processors), such as;

Lettings

Including but not limited to tenant referencing agencies, other estate agents or landlords, contractors and property maintenance services, gas and electrical contractors, utility companies, EPC, Legionella and insurance providers.

Sales

Including but not limited to Solicitors/Conveyancers, Surveyors, Financial/Mortgage advisors, other estate agents in a chain, contractors, Removals and property maintenance services. 

Software and system providers including but not limited to Acquaint crm, Sage, Auction House, allAgents,

Website Hosts and analytics platform providers including but limited to, Google Analytics, Google AdWords Remarketing & the Google Display Network. 

We require that these service providers and other third parties adhere to strict rules when processing your personal information, including to only use your personal information in accordance with our specific instructions (such as for the purposes of completing referencing or contacting you to arrange access to carry out necessary repairs) and the applicable laws.

With Legal and Law Enforcement

Habitat Oldham will disclose personal information where required by law or legal process, for the administration of justice, to protect your vital interest, for investigations by law enforcement or regulatory bodies, to protect and defend Habitat Oldham property and legal rights, to protect the personal safety of our website users or by order of a valid injunction from a court or law enforcement agency.

In Relation to Business Interests

In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.

If Habitat Oldham is or all of its assets are acquired by a third party, personal data held by us about our customers will be one of the transferred assets.

Personal Information of others

Before you disclose to us the personal information of another person, you must obtain that person’s consent to both the disclosure and the processing of that personal information in accordance with the terms of this privacy policy.

How long do we store your information for?

The length of time we hold your information for will vary dependent on lawful basis for collecting and processing the data.

Habitat Oldham will hold data supplied where there is a legitimate interest in doing so (such as where a client or customer has registered with us, expressing an interest in in any of our Services such as buying, selling, letting or renting a property through us) for a period of seven years.

Where a transaction has been entered in to and there is a contractual necessity to do so, or where there is a requirement to comply with legal obligations (for example in order to comply with the requirement of the TPO Codes of Practice, both for Sales and Lettings Agents, to maintain clear and full written records of transactions for a period of six years and to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 requirement to hold records for a period of 5 years).

Storage

All information you provide to us is stored in the UK on our secure (password and firewall protected) servers and all paper based information is also securely stored in the UK. Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure and so we cannot guarantee the security of any data sent over the internet between your device and our website. Any such data transmission is at your own risk.

Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access, as part of our secure backups and data disaster recovery procedures.

The data that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the European Economic Area ("EEA"). It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers or contractors. Territories outside of the EEA may not have equivalent legal protections to those that apply within the EEA but we are under a duty to make sure that our suppliers and contractors located outside of the EEA continue to take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Policy.

By submitting your personal data to us, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing.

Your Rights

You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes, to alter your preferences for the type of marketing content you receive (such as properties for sale, information about related services etc) or to alter the methods via which you receive marketing correspondence from us (i.e. via email, text, post or phone call). We will inform you (before collecting your data) if we intend to use your data for such purposes or if we intend to disclose your information to any third party for such purposes.

You can also exercise the right to prevent such processing of your data at any time by contacting us at info@habitat-oldham.co.uk or by following the links contained in our correspondence.

Our Website may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partners and third party service providers. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites may have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites. Use of third party websites is at your own risk.

Access to, deletion, and correction of personal information

You may contact us and we will be able to update your records on our data management systems - please let us know if the personal information which we hold about you needs to be corrected or updated.

If you would like to know what personal information Habitat Oldham holds about you, you may make a request to Habitat Oldham for copies of this information. You should be aware that we will need to see proof of identity before processing any such request (known as a ‘subject access request'). If requested, Habitat Oldham will use reasonable efforts to supply, correct or delete information about you on file. 

All subject access requests should be made in writing and addressed to for attention of The Data Controller, Habitat Oldham, 16 Rochdale Road, Royton, Oldham, OL2 6QJ

In addition, you may write to us at any time requesting amendments to certain personal information that you consider to be incorrect or irrelevant or to request that we block, erase or otherwise remove your personal information (The Right to Erasure/The Right to be Forgotten).

You may also write to us at any time to object to our use of your personal information or request that we provide your personal information in a usable electronic format and transmit to a third party (Right to Data Portability). We will comply with these requests in relation to your personal information in line with applicable law.

Personal Data Breaches

In order to comply with applicable law, Habitat Oldham has implemented procedures to detect, report and investigate personal data breaches.

A data breach is defined by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) as;

“A breach of security leading to the destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or, or access to, personal data.”

The ICO will be informed of all data breaches which present a high risk to our clients and customer’s rights and freedoms and in line with applicable law, a notifiable breach will be reported within 72 hours of us becoming aware of it. The individual(s) involved will also be informed.

Changes to this policy

Habitat Oldham has pledged to adhere to the fundamental principles of privacy and data protection. We therefore regularly review our privacy statement in order to ensure that it is free of errors and clearly visible on our Website, that it contains appropriate information about your rights and our processing activities, and that it is implemented and is compliant with applicable law. If we make significant changes to this privacy statement, we will inform you by posting a notification on our websites along with an updated version of the privacy statement.

The right to lodge a complaint

If you have a complaint regarding how Habitat Oldham have handled your personal data, subject access request or right to erasure, you have a right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in this case the ICO, using the contact details below.

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF 

Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy policy are welcomed and should be addressed to info@habitat-oldham.co.uk

Alternatively, you can write to:

Habitat Oldham
16 Rochdale Road
Royton
OL2 6QJ