Privacy Policy

This privacy notice sets out how we will process personal data we collect from or about you, or which you provide to us.  Please read this notice carefully to understand why data is being collected and what we do with that data.

This privacy notice was last amended in April 24 and supersedes any earlier version.  We may change this privacy notice from time to time by amending this page.

What type of information will we collect from you?

We will collect and process the minimum amount of personal data in order to fulfil our service to you.  This information may include:

Name and contact details (including your telephone number, email address and postal address)

Usage information about your visits to our websites (which enables our websites to remember information about you and your preferences) and use of our site. We may automatically collect information about your computer or mobile device, including your IP address. This information may be combined with other information you provide to us, as described above

Information relating to your identity, where we are required by law to collect this in order to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 and the Immigration Act

Information on your close connections, where we are required to conduct conflicts of interests under regulatory obligations

Your bank details, where required e.g., where you are letting/renting a property, or we are refunding a payment made by you.

Credit Card details where we are taking payment for a service (in these circumstances the card details are entered directly into the payment system and are not retained).

Details about your areas of interest where we wish to send you marketing information about similar products and services

Your communications with us, including a record of any email correspondence between us and/or any call recording of your telephone enquiry

Where we need to collect personal data by law (for example to meet our obligations to prevent fraud and money laundering) or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with our services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us.  In this event, we will notify you.

On what basis can we process your information?

The legal grounds under the General Data Protection Regulations for processing your personal data are as follows:

It is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, or to take steps prior to entering into a contract with you, for us to provide you with our products and services

You have given us explicit consent to the processing of your personal data namely to receive electronic marketing by us (you do not need to provide us with marketing consent in order to receive our services)

It is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests, except where our interests are overridden by the interests, rights or freedoms of affected individuals (such as you). To determine this, we shall consider a number of factors, such as what you were told at the time you provided your data, what your expectations are about the processing of the data, the nature of the data, and the impact of the processing on you. Our legitimate interests include processing necessary data to improve and to promote our services and products and to better understand our customers’ interests and knowledge of the property market and to administer the technical aspects of our service and products

Where we need to comply with a legal obligation; or in rare circumstances where it is:

needed to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests); and/or

needed in the public interest or for official purposes

What are we going to do with your information?

We will hold and use personal information about you in the following ways:

• In order to fulfil our obligations to you when providing you with our property services
• To share your information with others where necessary to fulfil our property services for you or where we are acting as an agent for a third party on your behalf
• To comply with our statutory and regulatory obligations, including verifying your identity, prevention of fraud and money laundering and to assess your creditworthiness
• To communicate with you during the course of providing our services, for example with your enquiries and requests
• For statistical purposes so we can analyse figures to help us manage our business and plan strategically for the future
• To monitor and improve customer service
• To facilitate the training and development of our personnel
• To provide you with information about goods or services we feel may be of interest to you, where you have provided permission for us to do so or, if you are an existing customer, where we choose to contact you by electronic means with information about our own goods and services similar to those which you have already obtained from us or you have negotiated to obtain from us (for marketing communications you can unsubscribe at any time)
• To track your use of our services in order to improve these services
• To notify you about changes to our services
• To ensure that content from our site is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your device

How long do we keep your data?

We will retain your personal data for different periods depending upon the service you have asked us to provide, which may be a longer period than that for which we need to hold your data to provide those services e.g., where we are under regulatory or statutory duties to hold your data for a longer period or need to retain it in the event of a legal claim or complaint.

Who will your information be shared with?

We engage third-party service providers (our “data processors”) to perform a variety of business operations on our behalf. In so doing, we may share your personal information with them. We provide our service providers with only the personal information they need in order to perform the services we request.  We contractually require that they protect this information appropriately and not use it for any other purpose.  We will also share your personal details with any third party from whom you have opted to take additional property related services.

These third parties may include:

• Contractors
• Tradesmen
• Mortgage brokers
• Solicitors
• Accountants
• Surveyors
• Photographer/Floor planner/EPC engineer
• For Sale/To Let Board Companies
• Other Estate Agents for the purposes of progressing a sale or tenancy
• Registered Housing Providers
• Local Authorities in respect of planning/building regulations applications we submit on your behalf

We will also disclose your personal information to third parties:

• In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we will disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.
• If our company or substantially all of our assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by us about our customers will be one of the transferred assets.
• If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal or regulatory obligation or to protect the rights, property, or safety of our company, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

The success of our business depends on your trust.  We do not sell your personal information and we will only share your personal information within our organisation.  We will not share your personal information with any third parties for marketing purposes, without obtaining your prior consent.

How will we ensure the security of your data?

Your data will be stored electronically with all reasonable technological and operational measures put in place to safeguard it from unauthorised access and any identifiable information will be encrypted or minimised.  Where necessary your data will be stored securely, in hard copy format, within our premises.  Access to this data is limited to relevant personnel of the Mortgage Decisions.

Call Recording

Mortgage Decisions currently record.  The recording of these calls is necessary to protect the interests of you, our personnel or both.

When a call is recorded, we collect:

• A recording of the conversation
• Your telephone number

These recordings are encrypted for security and stored electronically.

We will use these recordings to:

• assist in the monitoring of customer service levels
• facilitate the training and development of our personnel
• investigate and resolve a complaint

If you object to your call being recorded, you will need to end the call when you are told that calls may be recorded. Alternative methods of communication are available.

Call recordings are retained for 12 months to ensure that any subsequent investigation can be completed.

The information provided will be managed, as required by Data Protection law.

You have the right to:

• receive a copy of the call recording
• request that the call recording be deleted if you believe we are processing it for longer than necessary

Your Rights

How you can access and update your information

You have a right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you, known as a data subject access request. You also have the right to request that information we hold about you which may be incorrect, or which has been changed since you first told us, is updated or removed. These requests are free of charge and can be sent to Christie West c.west@mortgagedecisions.com. Alternatively, please send your request by post to our Head Office premises, 123 Winchester Road, Chandlers Ford SO53 2DR.  We will respond to any such request within one calendar month, subject to us receiving satisfactory identification. The right to access personal information may be limited in some circumstances by local law requirements.

How you can request erasure of your data

You can ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good reason for us continuing to process it. You also have the right to ask us to delete or remove your personal data where you have successfully exercised your right to object to processing (see below), where you have withdrawn consent for us to process it (as explained below), where we may have processed your information unlawfully or where we are required to erase your personal data to comply with local law.  Note, however, that we may not always be able to comply with your request of erasure for specific legal reasons which will be notified to you, if applicable, at the time of your request.

How you can withdraw your consent

You have the right at any time to withdraw any consent you have given us to process your personal data. Please note if you withdraw your consent, it will not affect the lawfulness of any processing of your personal data we have carried out before you withdrew your consent. Should you wish to do so you can change your consent preferences at any time by contacting Christie West at Mortgage Decisions, 123 Winchester Road, Chandlers Ford SO53 2DR or via email to C.West@mortgagedecsions.com

How you can restrict or object to us using your data

You can ask us to suspend the way in which we are using your information in certain scenarios, or object to our processing your data where we are relying on a legitimate interest ground (or those of a third party) and you feel it impacts on your fundamental rights and freedoms, or where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes. In some cases where you object, we may demonstrate that we have compelling legitimate grounds to process your information which override your rights and freedoms.

Please note that if you want us to restrict or stop processing your data this may impact on our ability to provide our services. Depending on the extent of your request we may be unable to continue providing you with our service.

If you have any queries or concerns about the way in which your data is being used, please contact Christie West at Mortgage Decisions, 123 Winchester Road, Chandlers Ford SO53 2DR or via email to C.West@mortgagedecsions.com

Moving your information to another organisation

In the event that we process your data by automated means where you have either provided us with consent for us to use your information or where we used the information to perform a contract with you, you have the right to request that we send to you or to another organisation, a copy of the personal data we hold about you, for example when you are dealing with a different service provider. If you would like us to move, copy, or transfer your information please let us know by email to C.west@mortgagedecsions.com We will respond to you within one month after assessing whether or not this is possible, taking into account the technical compatibility with the other organisation in question.

Queries about the use of your personal data

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact us to have the matter investigated by writing to Christie West at Mortgage Decisions, 123 Winchester Road, Chandlers Ford SO53 2DR or via email to C.West@mortgagedecsions.com

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are not processing your personal data in accordance with the law, you can complain to the UK data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office.  Further details can be found at www.ico.org.uk or 0303 123 1113.