Privacy Policy Website Updated April 2018
This Privacy Policy sets out the data processing practices in relation to personal information and data which is collected, stored and retained by Property Debt Collection Limited.
Your right to privacy is important to us. This privacy policy sets out how Property Debt Collection Limited uses and protects any information that you give us when you use this website. We are keen to strike a fair balance between your personal privacy and ensuring that you obtain full market value from the internet and other products and services we may be able to market to you.
We are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. When we ask you to provide certain information by which you can be identified when using this website, then you can be assured that it will only be used in accordance with this policy statement.
We may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. You should check this page from time to time to ensure that you are happy with any changes. This policy is effective from 1st December 2014.
You have the right to object to us processing your personal data for direct marketing (which we do only with your consent) and also to processing which is carried out for the purposes of our legitimate interests. For more information, see the section “Your Rights” below.
The law in relation to data protection is changing with effect from 25 May 2018. This Privacy Policy has been updated, to reflect your new and enhanced rights and to update how we process your personal data.
You should read through this Privacy Policy to fully understand the basis upon which we collect your personal data, how we use it, where we store it and to whom it is disclosed.
Commitment to Privacy
We are committed to protecting your personal data and right to privacy. We will always keep your personal data safe and comply with applicable data protection legislation from time to time in place.
Your rights
By law, you have a number of rights when it comes to your personal data. Further information and advice about your rights can be obtained from the data protection regulator, The Information Commissioners Office (ICO).
| Rights | What does this mean? | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The right to be informed | You have the right to be provided with clear, transparent and easily understandable information about how we use your personal data and your rights. This is why we’re providing you with the information in this Notice. |
| 2 | The right of access | You have the right to obtain access to your personal data (if we’re processing it), and certain other information (similar to that provided in this Privacy Notice). This is so you’re aware and can check that we’re using your personal data in accordance with data protection law. |
| 3 | The right to rectification | You are entitled to have your personal data corrected if it’s inaccurate or incomplete. |
| 4 | The right to erasure | This is also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’ and, in simple terms, enables you to request the deletion or removal of your personal data where there’s no compelling reason for us to keep using it. This is not a general right to erasure; there are exceptions. |
| 5 | The right to restrict processing | You have rights to ‘block’ or suppress further use of your personal data. When processing is restricted, we can still store your personal data, but may not use it further. We keep lists of people who have asked for further use of their personal data to be ‘blocked’ to make sure the restriction is respected in future. |
| 6 | The right to data portability | You have rights to obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes across different services. For example, if you decide to switch to a new provider, this enables you to move, copy or transfer your information easily between our IT systems and theirs safely and securely, without affecting its usability. |
| 7 | The right to object to processing | You have the right to object to processing for direct marketing (which we do only with your consent) and also to processing which is carried out for the purposes of our legitimate interests. |
| 8 | The right to lodge a complaint | You have the right to lodge a complaint about the way we handle or process your personal data with your national data protection regulator. |
| 9 | The right to withdraw consent | If you have given your consent to anything we do with your personal data, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time (although if you do so, it does not mean that anything we have done with your personal data with your consent up to that point is unlawful). This includes your right to withdraw consent to us using your personal data for marketing purposes. |
Please see the section titled Requests to us below, for more information on how we will handle your requests to us.
Who we are
Property Debt Collection Limited is committed to protecting your privacy and acts as a data controller and a data processor (dependent on the type of data we hold and the purpose of the processing) within the meaning of data protection laws applicable in the European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA).
We ensure that we handle your personal data correctly and in accordance with data protection law.
What personal data do we collect about you?
We do not collect personal data through our website, we do not use cookies.
We have identified the following types of data we collect as follows:
A/ Employee Information
Acting as: Data Controller
Type of Data Held: Includes Name, Address, Date of birth, next of kin, Bank Account Details, Telephone Number, National Insurance Number, Sickness and Holiday records
Why the data is held and who it is shared with: Data is held electronically and securely. Access is only available to an associate Director and/or the Director. It is used for the purposes of recording employee details, ensuring salary payments are made to the employee and PAYE. Some information is shared with our accountants, TKG Partnership who carry out the firms payroll function
We have identified we are able to process this data for the following reasons:
Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual, or because they have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract.
Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for you to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).
(Please note employee does not have the right to erasure, portability or to object) under legal obligation
Legitimate Interests: the processing is necessary for your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests.
B/Client Information
Acting as: Data Processor
Type of Data Held: Includes Name, Address, Bank Account Details, Telephone Number, Email addresses
Why the data is held and who it is shared with: Most of our Clients are Limited companies, on occasion we act directly for Individuals who are Freeholders. Data is held on our secure database to enable us to record our clients’ information. Account details are held on SAGE to enable us to pay funds collected. Account details can only be accessed by an Associate Director/Director and Dom Re who is a member of the accounts team and directly supervised by an Associate Director. Some information is shared with our accountants, TKG Partnership who carry out the firms bookkeeping functions.
We have identified we are able to process this data for the following reasons:
Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual, or because they have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract.
Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for you to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).
(Please note client does not have the right to erasure, portability or to object) under legal obligation
C/Third party supplier information
Acting as: Processor
Type of data held: Includes Name, Address, Bank Account Details, Telephone Number, Email addresses
Why the data is held and who it is shared with: Most of our suppliers are Limited companies, on occasion we outsource certain external services such as window cleaning to individuals. Supplier information is provided to us. Our contracts are held electronically and securely. Access is only available to Associate Directors and the Director. Account details can only be accessed by an Associate Director/Director and Dom Re who is a member of the accounts team and directly supervised by an Associate Director. Some information is shared with our accountants, TKG Partnership who carry out the firms’ book keeping functions.
We have identified we are able to process this data for the following reasons:
Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual, or because they have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract.
Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for you to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).
(Please note the third party does not have the right to erasure, portability or to object) under legal obligation
D/ Customer/Debtor Information
Acting as: Processor
Type of data held: includes Name, Property Address, Correspondence Address, Telephone Number, Email addresses, and Mortgagee details if applicable. Payment plan cheques if applicable.
Why the data is held and who it is shared with: Most of our customers/debtors are individuals. On occasion they are Limited companies. Debtor information is provided to us at the point of instruction. Our clients are entitled to seek to recover the debt under the terms of the lease/transfer (contract) and to refer matter to a third party such as a debt collection agency/solicitor to act on their behalf. In order to do so they pass customer/debtor information to enable us to comply with the pre- action protocol and make contact with the debtor.
Where there is a mortgagee and /or a party listed on the charges register held on H.M Land Registry Title document we will share the Debtors information with that third party to notify then their security is at risk.
Where necessary the data may be shared with PDC Law to initiate legal proceedings and/or Indemnity Legal UK Ltd, PCS Legal, Legal Alliance UK Ltd and Legal Indemnity UK Ltd to prepare and serve the relevant Legal Notices required
It is important to note any cheque payment plans we receive are stored in a secure locked cabinet with access limited to the accounts team,
Any payments we accept by card are processed via the SAGE payment gateway which ensures we are PCI DSS Compliant.
Some information is shared with our accountants, TKG Partnership who carry out the firms bookkeeping functions.
We also utilise a third party provider to carry out our letter printing and post service, namely PHD Mail Limited. Letters are issued to them via secure portal (each of our users are provided with their own unique login and password) once received, they then print each letter, sort into envelopes and post.
Their accreditations are as follows:
- for data management & security: ISO/IEC 2700l:2005
- for quality: ISO 9001:2008
- for the environment ISO 14001:2004.
- for Data Protection Registration we are registered with the Information Commissioners Office.
- for financial documents we are APACS accredited.
We have identified we are able to process this data for the following reasons:
Legitimate Interests: the processing is necessary for your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests.
E/Direct marketing lists and competitions
Acting as: Processor
Type of data held: Includes Name, Address, Telephone Number, Email addresses, company name, job title
Why the data is held and who it is shared with: Each month Property Debt Collection issues its e-news to clients and prospective clients. In addition Property Debt Collection host competitions, details of which are often posted on social media sites such as Twitter, Linked in and our website.
From time to time we may also send marketing to our clients and prospective clients via post e.g Property Life Magazine.
It is important to note our marketing list is made up of information that has been provided to us by ARMA (where consent from the individual has already been obtained by the regulator) and information that has been supplied to us by the individual during conference attendance etc.
This information is shared with TYGA Marketing, the marketing agency who deal with our competitions and marketing.
Where anyone on our marketing list wishes to opt out we are automatically notified and their details are added to our suppression list.
We have identified we are able to process this data for the following reasons:
(a) Consent: the individual has given clear consent for you to process their personal data for a specific purpose.
(Please note the client/prospective client does not have the right to object but can withdraw consent, they have the right to erasure and the right to portability)
How long we keep your personal data for
Information will be stored only for as long as needed or required by statute and will be disposed of appropriately. In reality, most relevant information will be kept for a maximum period of 12 years in accordance with the Limitation Act 1980 (8) (1)
Who we share your personal data with
We may provide your personal data to third party suppliers and processors as instructed by our client and as identified in the relevant sections listed above. We share your personal data with third parties who:
- communicate with you on our behalf via email;
The personal data we collect from you will not, as standard be processed outside the European Economic Area (EEA).Such destinations may not have laws which protect your personal data to the same extent as in the EEA. However, should you provide our client, us and/or HM Land Registry with an email address or correspondence address that is outside of the EEA we will process that data in accordance with Article 49 (1) (a) (b). We have obligations to ensure that your personal data processed by us or by our suppliers operating outside the EEA is treated securely and is protected against unauthorised access, loss or destruction, unlawful processing and any processing which is inconsistent with the purposes set out in this Notice.
In addition, we may disclose your personal data:
- if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to protect the rights, property or safety of our business, our customers or others. This includes, in specific cases, exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection; and
- to successors in title or replacement operators of all or part of our respective businesses.
Other websites
Our website may contain links to other websites which are outside the control of Property Debt Collection Limited and are not covered by this Privacy Policy. If you access other websites using the links provided, the operators of these websites may collect information from you which will be used by them in accordance with their privacy policy, which may be different to the privacy policy of Property Debt Collection Limited. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.
Requests to Us
We are required by law to consider and act on any request and provide information free of charge, except where your requests are manifestly unfounded or excessive (in particular because of their repetitive nature) in which case we may charge a reasonable fee (taking into account the administrative costs of providing the information or communication, or taking the action requested), or refuse to act on the request.
Please consider your request responsibly before submitting it. We’ll respond as soon as we can. Generally this will be within one month from when we receive your request but, if the request is going to take longer to deal with, we’ll come back to you and let you know.
Subject access Requests
You have a right to a copy of and details of the personal information held about you as detailed in Your Rights above. The GDPR comes into force on 25TH May 2018. SAR requests received prior to this date will be completed within 40 days. A £10 charge is levied and the 40 days does not start until the money is received.
Requests received on or after the 25th May 2018 will be completed within 1 calendar month. No charge will be levied for this service unless a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, particularly if it is repetitive or if we are asked to provide further copies of the same information a reasonable fee based on the administrative cost of providing the information will be charged.
The requested information will be provided in permanent or electronic/portable form.
Subject Access Requests can be made by contacting us.
Contacting us
If you need to contact us to exercise any of your rights in relation to data protection as set out above please send your request to:
Daniel Waite & Kat Bye
Property Debt Collection Limited
Sherwood House,
5 Bluecoats Avenue,
Hertford,
Hertfordshire,
SG14 1PB
Or by email to:
customersatisfaction@propertydebt.co.uk
Or by telephone:
01992 449 403
Once we have received communication from you we will log your request on our system. Consider your request, take the action deemed necessary and confirm in writing, the action taken within one month of the date we receive your request.
Making a Complaint
If after contacting us to exercise any of your rights in relation to data protection you are dissatisfied, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) within 3 months of your last meaningful contact with us. Their details are below:
Address:
Customer Contact
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
SK9 5AF
Website:
https://ico.org.uk/media/report-a-concern/forms/1523/information-handling-form.pdf
Telephone:
0303 123 1113