Privacy Policy

Note: Replication or distribution of this policy document is not permitted and this must only be used by AST Lettings Ltd.

This privacy policy has been compiled to better serve those who are concerned with how their ‘Personally Identifiable Information’ (PII) is being used online. PII, is any data that can be used to identify a specific individual. Social Security numbers, mailing or email address, and phone numbers, IP address, login IDs, social media posts, digital images, Geolocation, biometric, and behavioural data. It is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context. Please read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website and EU data protection regulations.

What personal information do we collect from the people that visit our blog or website?

When you visit our website, office or telephone our office, you may be asked to provide certain information about yourself, e.g. to make a property enquiry and arrange a property viewing. We will collect:

Your name
Email address
Telephone number
Information relating to the reason you are seeking our advice or response, e.g. to arrange a property viewing

If you use our lettings service, we may ask you to provide additional personal information. For example, to create a Tenancy Agreement, Terms of Business or Guarantor Agreement. The information we ask for may include all or some the following:

Full name, email address, contact numbers, current address and where appropriate next of kin details, e.g. to inform a parent a tenant is ill.
University or employment status and relevant references
Information to enable us to check and verify your identity and for credit-check or other purposes, including date of birth, passport and national insurance number
Your financial details relevant to your instruction
Any other relevant information to enable AST Lettings Ltd to comply with our legal and contractual responsibilities.

Who collects information for our organisation?

In addition to AST Lettings Ltd, the following organisations (our processors) collect information on our behalf:

These are organisations who hold, store or process data on behalf of AST Lettings Ltd and have been audited for GDPR compliance.

Lowaire Digital (Hosting provider)
Let’s Encrypt (SSL)
Google, Inc (Analytical tracking)
Cloudflare, Inc (Security tool)
Any other wholly-owned AST Lettings Ltd subsidiary organisations
Any other organisation which processes data for AST Lettings Ltd

When do we collect information?

We collect most information from you directly or when you complete one of our standard application or registration forms, in order that we may assist you. We may also collect information directly from a third party with your consent. Third party providers may include;

credit referencing agency and reports;
employers;
Next of kin, spouse, partner or other family member;
Government or land registers;
Insurance companies;
Your bank or building society;
Your referees and guarantors;
University, employer or other professional bodies
Property portal websites including Rightmove, Zoopla and other third-party sites AST Lettings Ltd employs (we recommend you read each third-party portal sites Privacy Notice)
Via our website (www.astlettings.com). We use cookies on our website to improve the experience of the user
Third party contractors

Why do we collect information? (‘legal basis for processing’)

We will only collect information from you that is relevant to the service(s) you require of AST Lettings Ltd and to enable us;
to provide you with information, products or services that you request from us
to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations
to establish a contract with you, e.g. a Tenancy Agreement or Terms of Business and provide the service you require
for any other purpose where you have given consent
for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, e.g. financial ability to rent a property

How long do we keep your personal information ?

Your personal information will be kept securely after we have finished advising or acting for you but will not be kept for longer than necessary for the purpose we obtained it for. Any information that is no longer needed will be securely deleted or anonymised. The retention period may vary depending on our obligations and the information we hold, for example;

to meet possible legal and regulatory requirements. It is best practice to keep financial records for a minimum period of 11 years to support HMRC & other audits;
to meet agreed industry practices e.g. rentals contracts may be held for 11 years.

Why do we store your personal data ?

In order to comply with legal obligation on us to furnish information to authorities e.g. The Home Office, deposit protection schemes and to demonstrate our contract with you, if any.

How do we protect your information?
Our website is scanned on a regular basis for security holes and known vulnerabilities in order to make your visit to our site as safe as possible. Our security systems have also been designed to identify, isolate and remove any infected files or malware.

In addition, we only provide articles and information. We never ask for credit card numbers via email or contact forms and we use regular Malware Scanning.

Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights/access to such systems and databases, and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology via our third party processor “Let’s Encrypt”.

We’ve implemented a variety of security measures when a user enters, submits, or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information. All transactions are processed through a gateway provider and are not stored or processed on our servers.

Do we use ‘cookies’ ?

Yes we do! Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the site’s or service provider’s systems to recognise your browser and capture and remember certain information.

They are also used to help us understand your preferences based on previous or current site activity, which enables us to provide you with improved services. We also use cookies to help us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future. You can view further information about how we use cookies on our website by visiting our cookie information page.

We use cookies to:

Compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interactions in order to offer better site experiences and tools in the future. We may also use trusted third-party services that track this information on our behalf.
Remember your preferences and previously selected options, when visiting our website

You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this by visiting our cookie information page.

If you turn cookies off, some of the features that make your site experience more efficient may not function properly.

Third-party disclosure
From time to time we may disclose your information to third party suppliers and sub-contractors who act on our behalf or assist us in relation to the services we provide. For example, we may disclose your information to credit referencing agencies regulatory bodies so we may comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, or maintenance contractors in order that the repair can be completed. We will only allow your personal data to be handled by third party service providers provided we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal data.

Third-party links

AST Lettings Ltd’s website provides links to third-party websites, products and services, some of which are designed to improve the service we provide to you. We recommend that you read the privacy notices of those third parties.

Google

Google’s advertising requirements can be summed up by Google’s Advertising Principles. They are put in place to provide a positive experience for users. https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/1316548?hl=en

Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our site. Google’s use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to our users based on previous visits to our site and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt-out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google Ad and Content Network privacy policy.

Our data processors

Below we have outlined organisations who act as a processor on behalf of AST Lettings. These are organisations who hold, store or process data on behalf of AST Lettings and have been audited for GDPR compliance.

Lowaire Digital (Hosting company)
Let’s Encrypt (SSL)
Google, Inc (Analytical tracking)
Cloudflare, Inc (Security tool)
Any other wholly-owned AST Lettings Ltd subsidiary organisations
Any other organisation which processes data for AST Lettings Ltd

What are your rights?
If at any point you believe the information we process on you is incorrect, you can request to see this information and have it corrected or deleted. If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO) who will investigate the matter. If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data not in accordance with the law you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Our Data Protection Officer is Mr Sidney Lloyd and you can contact him at info@astlettings.com

We have implemented the following:

Google Analytics
Demographics and Interests Reporting

We, along with third-party vendors such as Google use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookies) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) or other third-party identifiers together to compile data regarding user interactions with ad impressions and other ad service functions as they relate to our website.

Opting out (‘the right to object’):
If you would like to opt-out of our cookie consent, please visit our cookie information page for instructions on how to do this. You can also opt-out of our marketing emails through our data subject form and we will ensure your request is fulfilled promptly.

Right to erasure (‘right to be forgotten’)
Ensuring that your data is correct, up to date and accurate is important to us, therefore if your details change you should let us know via email or phone at the earliest possibility. If you would like to remove your personal information from our systems “the right to be forgotten” you can send your request through our data subject form and we will ensure your request is fulfilled promptly.

Right to data portability
The right to data portability allows individuals to obtain and reuse their personal data for their own purposes across different services. It allows them to move, copy or transfer personal data easily from one IT environment to another in a safe and secure way, without affecting its usability. You can send your request through our data subject form and we will ensure that your request is fulfilled promptly.

California Online Privacy Protection Act
CalOPPA is the first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy. The law’s reach stretches well beyond California to require any person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) that operates websites collecting Personally Identifiable Information from California consumers to post a conspicuous privacy policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals or companies with whom it is being shared. – See more at:

http://consumercal.org/california-online-privacy-protection-act-caloppa/#sthash.0FdRbT51.dpuf

According to CalOPPA, we agree to the following:

Users can visit our site anonymously.

Once this privacy policy is created, we will add a link to it on our home page or as a minimum, on the first significant page after entering our website.

Our Privacy Policy link includes the word ‘Privacy’ and can easily be found on the page specified above.

This version of our Privacy Policy was published on 23rd May 2018 and you will be notified of any Privacy Policy changes:

On our privacy policy page
Via email

How does our site handle Do Not Track signals?
We honour Do Not Track signals and Do Not Track, plant cookies, or use advertising when a Do Not Track (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.

Does our site allow third-party behavioural tracking?
It’s important to note that we allow third-party behavioural tracking.

COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act)
When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under the age of 16 years old, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, United States’ consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children’s privacy and safety online. We do not specifically market to children under the age of 16 years old.

Fair Information Practices
The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information.

In order to be in line with Fair Information Practices we will take the following responsive action, should a data breach occur we will:

Contact our third-party processor(s) in order to put into place our data breach procedures and processes
Inform affected individuals without undue delay about a breach when it is likely to result in a high risk to their rights and freedoms
Inform the supervisory authority for our processing activities
Notify the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) of a breach within 72 hours of becoming aware of it, even if we do not have all the details
Put into place our process to assess the likely risk to individuals as a result of a breach
We may also temporarily remove access to our service completely, in order to mitigate damage and protect sensitive data we hold

We also agree to the Individual Redress Principle which requires that individuals have the right to legally pursue enforceable rights against data collectors and processors who fail to adhere to the law. This principle requires not only that individuals have enforceable rights against data users, but also that individuals have recourse to courts or government agencies to investigate and/or prosecute non-compliance by data processors.

CAN-SPAM Act
The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.

We collect your email address in order to:

Send you information, respond to your inquiries, and/or other requests or questions
Process orders and to send information and updates pertaining to orders.
Send you additional information related to your product and/or service

To be in accordance with CAN-SPAM, we agree to the following:

Not use false or misleading subjects or email addresses.
Identify the message as an advertisement in some reasonable way.
Include the physical address of our business or site headquarters.
Monitor third-party email marketing services for compliance, if one is used.
Honour opt-out/unsubscribe requests quickly.
Allow users to unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of each email.

If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails from our company, you can fill in our data subject form and we will ensure your request is fulfilled promptly.

Contacting Us

This website is owned and operated by AST Lettings Ltd.

We are registered in England and Wales under registration number 06956696, and our registered office is at C/o LSL Accountancy Limited, 32 Quorn Close, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 2AW.

Our principal place of business is at 2d Moscow Lane Shepshed LE12 9EX.

You can contact us:

(a) by post, to the postal address given above;

(b) using our website contact form;

(d) by email, using the email address published on our website from time to time