Privacy notice
How we handle personal data
This notice explains what personal information we, Queens Cross Housing Association and Maryhill Housing, collect, when we collect it and how we use it for the purpose of the Find My Home common housing register.
Queens Cross Housing Association are a registered charity with the Scottish Charity Number SC036434. We are registered as a Data Controller with the Office of the Information Commissioner under registration number Z623665.
Maryhill Housing are a registered charity with the Scottish Charity Number SC032468. We are registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under registration number Z5989470.
We collect and use personal data for a variety of reasons in line with the guidelines published in the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act of 2018 and we are the data controller of any personal data that is provided to us. Any personal data we process is done so for a clear purpose and with a clear legal basis for doing so. We only hold personal data for as long as is necessary, as is required by law or as is set out in any contract we enter. The length of time we hold certain types of personal data for is set out in our Data Retention Policy.
How we collect personal information and what we collect
We collect information from our customers – people who wish to go onto the common housing register:
- When you apply for housing with us, or otherwise provide us with your personal details
- When you telephone the office and speak to a customer advisor the calls are recorded
Depending on our relationship with you as a customer, we may collect the following information about you:
- Full name
- Date of birth
- National Insurance number
- Email address
- Phone numbers
- Security question and answer
- Current address
- Address history for three years
- Housing status – e.g. owner occupier, renting privately, housing association tenant etc
- Landlord’s details
- Reasons for leaving previous addresses
- Correspondence address
- Gender
- Sex
- Do you consider yourself to be a trans person?
- Ethnic Origin
- Religion
- Sexual Orientation
- Marital status
- Are you in a Civil Partnership?
- Preferred language
As part of your application further questions on health conditions will be asked.
We may receive the following information from third parties:
- Benefits information, including awards of Housing Benefit/Universal Credit
- We may receive a referral from the local authority that you require housing
Why we need this information and how it’s used
We require this information for the following reasons:
- To undertake and perform our obligations and duties to customers under the terms of our contract with them
- To enable us to supply customers with the services and information which they request
- To enable us to respond to repair requests and housing applications
- To send customers details of any changes to our suppliers which may affect them
- To contact customers to find out their views on our products and services.
- To perform our public task in relation to provision of secure tenancies and for the alleviation of homelessness
- To analyse the information we collect so that we can administer, support and improve and develop our business and the services we offer
- For all other purposes associated with the proper performance of our operations and business
Your data will be processed by either of the housing associations named in this privacy notice.
When you visit our common housing register system
We may collect personal information about you, if you:
- Submit your application
- Progress your application
- make a complaint to us
- complete and submit a “contact us” form
We may use this personal information to:
- provide you with the services that you have requested from us
- communicate with you, including in response to any of your enquiries
- improve our services and respond to changing needs
- handle and resolve complaints made by you
- keep the personal information that we hold about you accurate and up-to-date
- your image may be captured by our CCTV cameras. Notices are available where the cameras are in operation.
Lawful Processing
Data protection law requires us to rely on one or more lawful grounds to process your personal information. We consider the following grounds to be relevant:
Legitimate interest
By submitting your details on our common housing register we are using our legitimate interest to process your data. You may opt out of this process.
When we legitimately process your personal information in this way, we consider and balance any potential impact on you (both positive and negative), and your rights under data protection laws. We will not use your personal information where our interests are overridden by the impact on you, for example, where use would be excessively intrusive (unless, for instance, we are otherwise required or permitted to by law).
Consent
Any data, such as health, which is considered special category data is processed on the basis of explicit consent from you the data subject. You may opt out of this process at any time.
When we use sensitive personal information, such as health information, we require an additional legal basis to do so under data protection laws, so will either do so on the basis of your explicit consent.
Sharing information
The information provided to us will be treated confidentially. When we use a third-party (a data processor) to process personal data, we enter into a written data sharing agreement with the processor to ensure that they fulfil the obligations of the data protection law.
We do not share your information out with the two housing associations named in this document.
This will be reviewed regularly and if this changes our privacy notice will be updated.
Unless required to do so by law, we will not otherwise share, sell or distribute any of the information provided to us without your consent.
Security of personal information
We take steps to make sure that personal information we hold is kept secure and safe. We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal information. Our systems are password protected and all electronic data is stored securely. All information is kept in line with our Data Protection Policies which are available on request.
Transfers outside the UK
Your information will only be stored within the UK and EEA.
How long we keep personal information
We review our data retention periods regularly and will only hold personal data for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as required by law (we may be legally required to hold some types of information), or as set out in any relevant contract we have with the individual.
We will generally keep information for the minimum periods set out in our Data Retention Policy, which is available on request.
Your rights
Under certain circumstances, the law gives you the right to request:
- A copy of your personal information and to check that we are holding and using it in accordance with legal requirements.
- Correction of any incomplete or inaccurate personal information that we hold and use about you.
- Deletion of your personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to hold and use it. You also have the right to ask us to do this where you object to us holding and using your personal information (details below).
- Temporarily suspend the use of your personal information, for example, if you want us to check that it is correct or the reason for processing it.
- The transfer of your personal information to another organisation.
- You can also object to us holding and using your personal information where our legal basis is a legitimate interest (either our legitimate interests or those of a third party), including the right to object to direct marketing.
If you wish to make any of the above requests, please contact our admin team. When you make a request, we are required to verify your identity and may ask you for specific information to fulfil this purpose. Normally, you will not need to pay a fee when you make any of the above requests, but we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse to comply if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive.
Keeping in touch with us
The accuracy of the personal data we hold is important to us. Please help us keep our records updated by telling us about any changes to your personal and/or contact details via the Find My Home system.
Complaints
We seek to directly resolve any complaints about how we handle personal information and would request you contact us in the first instance.
More information on our processes for complaints can be found on our websites.
If you are not happy thereafter, you also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office in relation to our use of your information. The Information Commissioner’s contact details are noted below:
Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
We keep this privacy notice under regular review and will place any updates on this website.