Privacy policy.
What we do with your information when you rent, buy, sell or let a property through us, and when you use this website.
The short version
- We do not sell your information. Not to data brokers, not to marketing lists, not to anybody.
- We collect what a letting and estate agent has to collect. Who you are, how to reach you, and for a tenancy or a purchase, enough to prove you are who you say you are and that the deal can go ahead.
- We share it where the job requires it. Landlords, tenants, referencing companies, the deposit scheme, contractors attending your property, solicitors and the property portals. Section 8 lists the lot.
- You can ask us what we hold and tell us to correct or delete it. Section 15 explains how, and it costs nothing.
01Who we are, and how to reach us
LLH Residential is a letting and estate agent working across east London, with an office at 291 Railway Arches, Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9HA. For everything described on this page we are the data controller, which means we are the ones who decide why your information is held and what happens to it.
We are registered in England and Wales under company number 08956033, with our registered office at 291 Railway Arches, Cambridge Heath Road, London, E2 9HA. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under number ZA284605.
For anything to do with your information, email [email protected] or write to the office address above, marked for the attention of Giuseppe Amoruso.
02What this policy covers
Everyone we deal with. People who enquire, tenants and their guarantors, landlords, buyers, sellers, contractors and suppliers, and anybody who uses this website. Where a section applies to only one of those, it says so.
It does not cover other companies' websites we link to. Once you have left this site you are on their terms and their privacy policy, not ours. That includes LLH Financial, which section 9 deals with separately.
03What we collect
Not all of this applies to you. What we hold depends entirely on what you came to us for.
Anyone who contacts us
Your name, phone number and email address, what you are looking for or what you own, and the messages that pass between us, including notes we make after a call or a viewing.
People who use this website
Which pages you looked at, roughly where you are from your IP address, what device and browser you used, and how you arrived. Section 13 covers cookies.
Tenants and guarantors
Date of birth, current and previous addresses, employment and income, bank details, photo identification, documents proving your right to rent, previous landlord or agent details, an emergency contact, and the results of your referencing.
Landlords
Identification and proof that you own the property, bank details for paying rent across, safety certificates and compliance documents, mortgage and insurance details where they affect the letting, and your tax status if you live outside the UK.
Buyers and sellers
Identification and proof of address, proof of funds or a mortgage agreement in principle, your solicitor's details, and information about the chain.
Contractors and suppliers
Contact details, insurance and qualification documents, and bank details so we can pay you.
People who apply for a job with us
Your CV and covering letter, references, and our notes from any interview. .
04Where we get it from
Mostly from you, directly. We also receive information about you from:
- Property portals, when you enquire about a listing through one of them
- Referencing and credit reference agencies, when an application is being checked
- Your previous landlord, agent or employer, as part of that referencing
- Your landlord if you are a tenant, or your tenant if you are a landlord
- Public records, including the Land Registry and Companies House
- Utility companies and the local authority, when a change of occupier is registered
05Why we use it, and what allows us to
The law says we need a reason for every use of your information. Ours are these.
- Answering your enquiry and arranging viewings
- Legitimate interests
- Referencing and checking a tenancy is affordable
- Steps before a contract
- Setting up and running a tenancy
- Contract
- Managing a property, repairs and inspections
- Contract and legal obligation
- Marketing a property for let or for sale
- Contract
- Handling rent, deposits and client money
- Contract and legal obligation
- Identity, right to rent and money laundering checks
- Legal obligation
- Keeping records for tax, complaints and disputes
- Legal obligation and legitimate interests
- Sending you property alerts you asked for
- Consent
- Keeping this website working and secure
- Legitimate interests
Where we rely on legitimate interests, the interest is running a lettings and sales business properly, and we have satisfied ourselves that doing so does not override your rights. Ask us about any one of them and we will explain how we weighed it up.
06Sensitive information
Occasionally we hold information the law treats as more sensitive. Usually that is health information, where it affects a property or a tenancy: an adaptation you need, an assistance dog, or the reason a tenancy is ending early. Identity and immigration documents also fall into this section.
We collect it only where we actually need it, we keep it to the people who have to see it, and we do not use it for anything else. Where a legal duty requires it we rely on the condition in the law that permits it, and otherwise we ask for your explicit consent, which you are free to refuse.
07Identity, right to rent and money laundering checks
Some checks are not optional for us. We cannot let a property or handle a sale without them.
Right to rent. In England we have to check that every adult who will live in a property has the right to rent it, see the original documents, and keep a copy. This applies regardless of nationality, and we apply it to everybody in the same way.
Money laundering. Estate agency work is supervised by HM Revenue and Customs, and we are required to identify buyers and sellers, check where the money is coming from, and keep a record of having done so. The same duty applies to lettings work where the rent is 10,000 euros a month or more.
If a check raises a concern we are required to report it, and the law prevents us from telling you that we have done so.
09Mortgages and introductions
Our mortgages page links out to LLH Financial, a separate company with the same owner. Clicking that link does not send them your information. It carries a tag telling them the introduction came from this website, and nothing else travels with you.
If you would rather we made the call than clicked the button yourself, we will do that when you ask us to, with your name and number and nothing further attached. Once you are dealing with them you are covered by their privacy policy rather than this one.
10Information that leaves the UK
Some of the companies whose software we use are based outside the UK, or store information outside it. Where that happens we rely on the protections the law allows, which normally means either the government having decided that country offers adequate protection, or a contract on approved terms with the supplier.
Ask us and we will tell you which applies to a particular supplier.
11How long we keep it
Longer than the job takes, because disputes and tax do not end when a tenancy does. Not indefinitely.
- Enquiries that do not lead anywhere
- 12 months
- Tenancy records, after the tenancy ends
- 6 years
- Right to rent documents, after the tenancy ends
- 1 year
- Money laundering records
- 5 years
- Accounting records
- 6 years
- Marketing preferences
- Until you withdraw
Where a period above is marked as a suggestion, it is the usual period in this trade and not a decision anybody at LLH has made yet. When the period runs out we delete the information or anonymise it so it can no longer identify you.
12Marketing
We only send property alerts and updates to people who asked for them. Every email carries an unsubscribe link that works immediately. You can also reply to any of them and say stop, or ring the office.
Withdrawing consent does not undo anything we sent before it. It also does not stop the emails we have to send you about a tenancy or a sale you are actually part of, because those are not marketing.
14Referencing scores and automated decisions
Referencing companies often score an application automatically. That score does not decide anything on its own. A person here and the landlord make the decision, and they look at the whole picture.
If an application is turned down you can ask us why, give us more information, and ask for the decision to be looked at again by a person.
15Your rights
These are yours by law, they are free to use, and asking will not affect how we deal with you.
- See what we hold. Ask for a copy of your information and an explanation of what we do with it
- Correct it. If something we hold is wrong or out of date, tell us and we will fix it
- Have it deleted. Where we have no continuing reason to keep it, we will remove it
- Pause our use of it. While a dispute about accuracy or our reasons is being sorted out
- Object. Particularly where we are relying on legitimate interests, and always for marketing
- Take it with you. Receive information you gave us in a form another company can read
- Withdraw consent. Wherever consent is what we relied on in the first place
Email [email protected] and tell us what you want. We may ask you to confirm who you are first, so that we are not handing your information to somebody else. We will reply within one month.
Some rights have limits. Where a law requires us to keep something, we cannot delete it just because it has been asked for. If that applies we will tell you which law and why.
16If you are not happy
Tell us first, at [email protected]. Most things are a misunderstanding and get sorted the same week.
If we do not put it right, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113. You do not have to come to us first, and coming to us first does not stop you going to them afterwards.
Complaints about our service rather than about your information go through our redress scheme, Property Redress Scheme - PRS009098.
17Changes to this policy
We update this page when what we do changes. The date at the top is when it last changed. If we change something that materially affects people we already deal with, we will tell them rather than expecting them to notice.