GDPR special primer:

All Site initiated listings, transactions, landlord, seller, developer, the applicant and property-related communication, whether conducted online on the Site or offline post-initiation on different modes of communication such as emails, phone calls, meetings would be subject to the GDPR data protection rules (as mentioned below).

Under GDPR

• Definitions: 

“Listing Agent” – Agent who uploads a property for other Users to match on Xchange

“Introducer Agent” – Agent who uploads the Applicant Lead on Xchange.

“Applicant” – a person who is interested in renting or buying a unit from the listings made by the Listing Agent. The Applicant is also referred to as “Lead” or “Tenant”.

 “Customers”  defined as Landlords, Sellers, Buyers and Tenant, have a right to find a Data Trail on any information that may be personal to them, or related to the property, or related to the lettings or sales process.

• Any “Supplier”  defined by Houzen UK  as the “Platform”, houzenx.co.uk the “Site” and any of the “Agents”  which the Platform or the Site works with are responsible for producing this data trail and transparency. Anyone uploading a Lead on the Site or the Platform automatically qualifies as a Supplier and becomes responsible for maintaining data transparency and traceability trail for Customers in order to duly adhere to the GDPR regulations.

We are committed to respecting your privacy and recognise your need for appropriate protection and management of personally identifiable information you share with us (any information by which you can be identified, such as name, address, and telephone number). That is why we have established this privacy policy so that you can understand the care with which we intend to treat your information.

To protect your privacy, we have adopted the following principles:

INFORMATION

We want to give you information about our privacy policy and assure you that we take reasonable steps to see that it is followed within our company.

CHOICE

There are times when we may collect personal information from you. It is our intent to inform you before we do that and to tell you what we intend to do with the information. Although at times we will need such information, we will make such input optional where it is possible to do so.

ACCURACY

We do our best to maintain the accuracy of personal information you supply to us.

SECURITY

We will take appropriate steps to protect the information you share with us from unauthorised access or disclosure.

COOKIES

Cookies are small pieces of information that are stored on your computer by your browser. They are used for the following purposes:

Keep you logged in to Xchange until you specify otherwise;

                      Remember the screen resolution of your computer’s monitor, so we can optimise Xchange to best fit your screen;

                      Store your preferences in an encrypted format – e.g. your search preferences, or your email signature;

                      Record your site usage and the type of computer and web browser software you use in an anonymised way, so that we can gather general performance and usage data that helps us improve the site;

Remember choices you have made on the site so that we can show you the right parts again – e.g. remember whether you last looked at sales or lettings, so we can show you what you last looked at next time you visit the site Although the browser and some third-party ‘security’ utilities allow you to switch them off, the Site will cease to work correctly if this happens.

You may at any time exercise your right to have these cookies removed by either clearing the cookies from your browser (Xchange technical support will happily show you how to do this if you email legal@houzen.co.uk or using the “Privacy mode” in your browser to erase them automatically if you choose to.

You should be aware that, as Houzen UK depends on some of these cookies to function correctly, choosing to erase these will stop the site from functioning, and you will be required to accept this notice again before proceeding.

By accepting this notice, you consent to the storage and use of the cookies described above on your browsing device, and you acknowledge that you may revoke your consent at any time using the method outline above.

COMMITMENT

We are committed to privacy and support current industry initiatives to preserve individual privacy rights on the Internet. Personal data privacy is a new and evolving area, and we are evolving to meet these demands. Mistakes are possible; miscommunication is possible. If you have any comments or questions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us at Xchange by emailing us. We will address any issue to the best of our abilities. 

FORUM POSTING GUIDELINES

 If you would like to discuss any individual on this forum, you need to ensure that you have obtained their informed, freely given, specific and explicit consent to do so.

HOW TO OBTAIN VALID CONSENT

1. Informed Data protection law obliges you to provide individuals with information about how you may use their personal data. There must always be information before there can be consent. In practice…this means that you must explain in a clear and concise manner what personal information you may share via the Xchange forum, why you may share that personal information and explain any negative effects that the sharing of that personal information may have upon the individual. E.g. if you default on your rent we may share that information with other estate agents on website forums which may hamper your ability to find rented accommodation.
2. Specific To be valid, consent must be specific. In other words, blanket consent without specifying the exact purposes of the processing is not acceptable. In practice… saying: “by ticking this box, you consent to us processing and sharing your personal information for our business purposes” would not constitute valid consent, particularly since tenants may not contemplate that estate agents would share their personal information on Xchange platform.
3. Freely Given Consent – can only be valid if the individual is able to exercise a real choice and there are no significant consequences if he/she does not consent. In practice, this means that you should not make it a mandatory requirement for a prospective tenant to agree that their personal information may be shared with others on the Xchange forums.
4. Explicit Consent – Given the nature of the information potentially being shared via the Xchange forums, it is strongly advisable to obtain the explicit, opt-in consent of individuals before sharing their personal information with others. In practice, this means that individuals should tick a box to indicate their consent to their personal information being shared in this manner, pre-ticked boxes are not acceptable; remember this should not be a mandatory requirement otherwise the consent will be invalid.

Examples Of Appropriate and Inappropriate Posting

 An example of an appropriate posting: “My client, Thomas Jones, has agreed that I can use this forum to ask for a reference about him. If you have had dealings with Mr Jones, and Mr Jones consented to you sharing his personal information, please contact me on 020 123 4567”. An example of an inappropriate posting: “Difficult tenant- Thomas Jones – keep well away – has 5 months of rent arrears”. Disclaimer – Please note that this information has been prepared for information purposes only. It does not constitute legal advice and you should not rely on it in any manner whatsoever. Thank you for your support of these policies and of Houzen UK and Xchange