Privacy Policy

PRIVACY STATEMENT

Homes for Students Ltd (“Homes for Students”) takes your data privacy seriously and has in place the following privacy statements in order to clearly set out how Homes for Students collects and utilises the information you provide to us.

When you fill in a form on our website, complete an application for accommodation, send us an email, give us a call or live in one of our student properties, we gather your data to make sure we’re giving you the best possible student experience.

Our privacy statements tell you why we collect information, what we do with, how we store it and who we may share your data with.

We collect different sets of data at different stages of our relationship with you and that means that we have a privacy statement for each stage.

Please take the time to read our privacy statements to ensure you understand how information about you will be used:

• Enquiring, registering and applying for a room


• Tenancy Agreements & living with Homes for Students


• Guarantors

PRIVACY POLICY

Homes for Students is committed to protecting your privacy and we treat your privacy seriously.

This privacy policy explains how we use and share your personal information which is collected about you, and how you can exercise your rights in relation to your personal information.

Homes for Students is registered with the Information Commissioners Office.

WHO ARE WE?

Homes for Students is one of the UK’s leading providers of student accommodation. Please visit www.wearehomesforstudents.com for more information regarding the company.

APPLICATION OF THIS POLICY

This policy applies to personal information collected by Homes for Students, it does not extend to the collection of personal information by organisations outside Homes for Students, including third parties, individuals or via other websites which can be accessed through links on our website. Where third parties collect your personal information their own privacy policies and statements will apply.

WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?

The meaning of personal information for the purposes of this policy relates to information which can identify you as an individual or is capable of doing so. Information which Homes for Students will collect will be information that is use for the purposes of processing your enquiry or application to find you a suitable property and room.

General, statistical or anonymous information is not classed as personal information.

WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU?

We collect information about you when you register with us or make an enquiry about our accommodation. You may provide us with personal information when communicating with Homes for Students to complete a registration form, submit your interest for a Property, sign up for additional services or if you contact us with a query or complaint.

Home for Students may collect information when you order a product or service and you give us personal information such as your name, email address, address, telephone number, credit or debit card number, relevant bank details or other relevant information. When you provide us with details of credit, debit or bank account details in order to make payments to us, any such information will only be used for the specific purpose for which it is provided.

We will collect information when you voluntarily complete customer surveys, provide feedback and participate in competitions. Homes for Students will collect information about your preferences and by analysis of customer traffic. Website usage information is collected using cookies.

Homes for Students may also collect information which is classed as sensitive personal data, such as ethnicity, religion, sexuality and health. Such information will only be collected with your express consent.

Guarantor information may have to be provided to us by the tenant and the guarantor will also be required to provide Homes for Students with personal information as outlined in the Guarantor Privacy Statement. Homes for Students collects this personal information in order to provide the tenancy.

HOW WILL WE USE THE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU?

We collect information about you to process your application for a tenancy with us, manage your account and, if you agree, to email you about further services we think may be of interest to you.

We use your information for the following purposes:

• To process your application for a tenancy;


• To administer your tenancy;


• To communicate with you and respond to your requests;


• To process payments;


• To recover any unpaid sums due to us;


• To prevent and detect criminal activity, fraud and misuse of or damage to our property;


• To invite you to participate in our consumer satisfaction surveys or research groups;


• Where we have your consent to do so, to contact you about other products and services that we think may be of interest to you;


• We may conduct Sanctions, Politically Exposed Persons and other checks on all applicants, tenants, authorised residents, and guarantors

We use statistical data about our sales, customers and traffic patterns and provide these to third parties, however these statistics will not include any information which could personally identify you. We may collect traffic data related to your use of and access to our services. If you agree, we shall pass on your personal information to our Marketing team so that they may offer you additional products and services.

Homes for Students collects information from its website which is not anonymous, we use this information along with your preferences to tailor the content, services and offers made to you. Homes for Students will not share your information for marketing purposes with companies outside of the business.

In processing your request for Student Accommodation, we may send your details to, and also use information from credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies.

WHAT IS THE LEGAL BASIS FOR USING YOUR INFORMATION?

In accordance with the data protection law and regulation, we need a “legal basis” for collecting and using information about you. There are a variety of different legal basis for processing personal data which are set out in the data protection laws.

The lawful basis on which we rely on in order to use the information which we collect about you, for the purposes set out in this notice will be:

• Using your information in this way is necessary for us to provide you with information, ensure we can process your enquiry and application at your request and subsequently to enter into and perform a binding contract.


• If you have given permission during the enquiry, registration or application process and have chosen to be included in communication regarding any future accommodation provision, we will use the data provided and we will do this under the legal basis of consent.


• Using your information is necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject.


• Processing personal data which is in our own or a third-party’s Legitimate Interests.  Where we use this as a basis for processing, we carry out a test to ensure that: 1) we have identified the Legitimate Interest; 2) the processing is necessary; and 3) our processing of such data does not adversely affect the rights and freedoms of individuals.

The lawful basis on which we rely in order to use your special categories of personal data which we collect about you, will be that you have provided your explicit consent to our use of the information – see section above.

DO WE USE PERSONAL DATA TO ASK YOU FOR FEEDBACK VIA EMAIL?

We share your name, email address and the product/service you purchased (as obtained during the application process) with review sites, such as Feefo, who will send you an email on our behalf asking you to complete a review. Our legal basis for doing this is our legitimate interest in asking for feedback in order to improve our products and services.

MARKETING

We would like to send you information about products and services of ours which may be of interest to you.

If you have consented to receive marketing, you may opt out at a later date. You have a right at any time to stop us from contacting you for marketing purposes.

If you no longer wish to be contacted for marketing purposes, please click here.

ACCESS TO YOUR INFORMATION AND CORRECTION

You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information, please click here or write to us at the following address: Homes for Students, The Clock Tower, Longmoor Lane, Fazakerley, Liverpool, L10 1LD.

We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. You may ask us to correct or remove information which you think is inaccurate.

INFORMATION RETENTION

The periods for which we keep your information will vary according to the purpose for which we use the information.

Unless there is a specific legal requirement to keep your information, we will not keep it for longer than necessary for the purposes for which the data was collected or for which it is to be further processed. We have an internal data retention policy that details the duration for which we keep certain categories of data.

DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

We may share your personal information with third parties in the following ways:

• Where we have a legal or regulatory obligation to do so – this will include sharing your personal information with local councils for the provision of electoral roll services;


• Where we use third party suppliers to provide services to us (for example, our IT providers) and they need access to your personal information in order to deliver that service;


• Where it is necessary to do so to protect or defend our legal rights or the legal rights of others;


• We provide your name and email address to UCAS so that they can provide us with aggregated profile information about our tenants;


• if you are a tenant and you fail to pay your rent we may contact the guarantor and inform them of this failure when exercising our rights under the guarantee;


• If we sell our business or a property we will transfer information relating to tenants and guarantors to the new owner;


• If you have agreed that we may do so, we will share your personal information with identified third parties so that they can contact you with details of their products and services.

We may also provide accumulated statistics about our sales, customers, traffic patterns and other site information to third parties, but these statistics will not include any information that could personally identify you.

HOW WE PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION

When you review your account information or order services or products online, Homes for Students offers the use of a secure server.

The secure server software encrypts the information that you input before it is transmitted to us. In addition, we have strict security procedures covering the storage and disclosure of your information in order to prevent unauthorised access and to comply with statutory data protection requirements.

Homes for Students therefore may sometimes ask you for proof of identity before disclosing any personal information to you.

COOKIES

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard internet log information and visitor behaviour information. It is a piece of information that is stored on your computer’s hard drive by your web browser, or stored as a temporary object in your web browser for the time of that connection.

This information is used to track visitor use of the website and to compile statistical reports on website activity. During the online registration process we allocate cookies during the registration process for our services. These cookies will hold information collected during your registration and will allow us to recognise you as a web visitor and provide you with the services you require. The type of cookie that we use is known as a ‘session-based’ cookie and is allocated to your computer only for the duration of your visit to our website. The second type of cookie is known as a ‘persistent’ cookie. These cookies will remain on your computer for a period of time set for each cookie.

For further information visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org. You can set your browser not to accept cookies and the above websites tell you how to remove cookies from your browser. However in a few cases some of our website features may not function as a result.

OTHER WEBSITES

Our website contains links to other websites. This privacy policy only applies to this website so when you link to other websites you should read their own privacy policies.

CHANGES TO OUR PRIVACY POLICY

We keep our privacy policy under regular review and if we change the way in which we use or share your personal information we will update this Policy. Homes for Students will notify you of any significant changes and where necessary we will obtain your consent before using your personal information for the new purpose.

HOW TO CONTACT US

Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you:

• Click Here to submit a form


• or write to us at: Homes for Students, The Clock Tower, Longmoor Lane, Fazakerley, Liverpool, L10 1LD

If you are unhappy about the way we have used your personal information, please let us know by emailing us at [email protected], and we will try and resolve your complaint.  If we are unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you may lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.