Privacy Policy

1. About this Privacy Policy

Letting Services Online Ltd (a company incorporated in Scotland under the Companies Acts with company number SC450219 and having its registered office at 26 Dublin Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6NN), and each of its subsidiaries, holding companies and associated companies from time to time (hereinafter referred to collectively as "the Let Tech Solutions Group"), is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected when personal information about you is provided to it. Throughout the remainder of this Privacy Policy references to:-

"we" or "us" shall mean Letting Services Online Ltd and/or any other member of the Let Tech Solutions Group from time to time;

"you" shall mean the user of this website (which may include Customers, Tenants and Guarantors);

"Customers" means the persons who are registered users of this website and "Customer" shall mean any one of them;

"Guarantors" means those individuals who may be required to guarantee the rents payable by Tenants to landlords and whose personal information is supplied to us (whether via the Website or otherwise) by a Customer or by Tenant and "Guarantor" shall mean any one of them;

"Services" means the services made available to Customers and Tenants via the Website but in particular shall include the tenant vetting service (which involves, among other things, of obtaining of credit information in respect of Tenants and Guarantors (as the case may be)), the service of arranging for policies of insurance for Customers and/or Tenants, and services which are designed to help tenants move property;

"Tenants" means those individuals who are existing tenants or prospective tenants of Customers whose personal information is supplied to us (whether via the Website or otherwise) either by Customers or by the tenant or prospective tenant themselves and "Tenant" shall mean any one of them; and

"the Website" means the website on which this Privacy Policy appears, accessible at www.lettingref.com and www.lettingref.co.uk.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. It explains:

● the types of personal information which we hold and process;

● the purposes for which we hold and process personal information;

● how we use the personal information which we hold;

● for how long we hold personal information; and

● the procedures we have in place to protect your privacy.

Unless you object in writing to us at the time the relevant personal information is collected, by accepting this Privacy Policy and submitting your sign-up form you consent to your data being used in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy.

If we change our privacy policy, we will post the new Privacy Policy on the Website. This Privacy Policy was last updated February 2022. Your continued use of the Website and/or the Services will constitute acceptance of such changes.

We welcome your views about any of our websites and our Privacy Policy. If you would like to contact us with your views, please email info@lettingref.co.uk

Controller and Data Officer

This website is being managed by Let Tech Solutions Ltd which is also the data controller for the UK data protection law and GDPR. Our privacy department can be contacted at privacy@lettechsolutions.com, 0845 338 3721 or 14 Albany Street, Edinburgh, EH3 6SH.

Data Protection Registration Number

Letting Services Online Ltd: ZA005503

Let Tech Solutions Ltd: ZA783993

2. What Personal Information Do We Hold and Process?

We hold the following types of personal information:

● information which you voluntarily provide to us (via the Website or otherwise) which may include the following types of information (without limitation):-

○ your name, gender, telephone number(s) and e-mail address(es)); and

○ details of your current address and previous addresses at which you have lived

○ details about your finances and credit history;

○ your date of birth; and

○ your current occupation, details of your current employer and details of your employment history;

● information about your use of the Website (including your IP (internet protocol) address);

● if you are a Tenant or Guarantor, information about you provided to us by third parties (such as our Customers, credit reference agencies, fraud prevention agencies and insurance reference agencies), which may include without limitation:-

○ all of the types of information listed above which you might have otherwise provided to us directly

○ whether you have any adverse credit history;

○ whether you have had any County Court Judgments or similar legal judgments against you;

○ whether you have every been declared bankrupt;

○ details of any previous addresses at which you have lived;

○ references given by your previous employers and/or landlords;

○ details of previous insurance claims;

○ copies of documents provided by our Customers such as your birth certificate, passport, utility bills, bank statement and drivers licence;

● information which we obtain from public sources, such as the voters roll.

The way we use your personal information:

● To provide you services. We use your personal information to provide the services you requested.

● For marketing and advertising. We use your personal information to provide you, or to permit selected third parties to provide you with information about goods or services that we think will interest you. We may use your personal information to provide you with information that we think that might be interesting for you. You'll provide your consent e for us to share your information with third parties. The mailing list contains an unsubscribe link. You are always able to change or request information about our mailing lists by emailing us at privacy@lettechsolutions.com.

● To improve our services. We contact you to keep you updated about our services. We may contact you to help us improve our websites and services.

3. Legal basis for processing

● Consent. We received your consent to use your personal information when you created your account, when you subscribed for the mailing list or when you agreed to enter your information as requested (by phone or email). You can always withdraw this consent by using an unsubscribe link (in case of a mailing) or by changing your account and marketing settings (if applicable). Your consent can always be withdrawn by sending an email to the GDPR officer at privacy@lettechsolutions.com and support@lettingref.co.uk.

● Legitimate interests. It is in our legitimate interests to utilise your personal information to manage our website, to provide and promote our services (for example, when we customise your experience or use your information for analytics purposes), and to protect our business.

● Legal obligations. We need to process your personal information to comply with the law

4. For What Purposes Do We Hold and Process Personal Information?

We hold and process information which you provide to us:-

● for our own administrative, sales, marketing and product / service development purposes;

● to enable us to provide the Services;

● subject to section 9 below, for direct marketing purposes;

● for the prevention of fraud and money laundering;

● for debt recovery purposes;

● if you are a Tenant or Guarantor:

○ to make credit decisions about you which may involve credit scoring;

○ to make judgments about your suitability to rent a property or act as guarantor (as the case may be) and make recommendations about such matters to Customers.

○ To send reference requests to referees

Unless we have your prior consent, we shall not sell, rent, trade or share any personal information which we hold except that:

● we may disclose information which is held by us where required to do so by law or in connection with legal proceedings;

● we may disclose aggregate statistics to third parties which are made up from statistics in respect of individual persons but these statistics will not include personally identifying information;

● we may disclose personal information to our legal, accounting, marketing or other professional advisers, our website hosts and our courier, postal or transport providers, and insurers (names and addresses only in the latter case);

if you are a Tenant or Guarantor:-

● we may also disclose your personal information (including details about your financial history and credit worthiness) to Customers;

● we may also disclose your personal information to credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies;

● we may also disclose your personal information to other agencies who maintain/compile databases of insurance claims and information for the purposes of sharing that information with providers of credit and insurance ("Insurance Reference Agencies"); and

● we may also disclose your personal information to insurers and/or insurance agents;

● we may disclose your personal information to third parties (such as your existing employer, previous employers, existing landlord and previous landlords) for the purposes of obtaining a reference about you from such persons;

● We may use your personal data to provide you, or to permit selected third parties, including Movinghub Limited (company number 11634183 with registered office at Suite 2020, Letraset Building, Wotton Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 6LN) and Ethical Introductions Limited (T/A Just Move In) (company number 09280849 with registered office at 14a Commercial Road, Bournemouth, BH2 5LP) to provide you, with information about goods or services that we think will interest you. Our lawful basis for this processing is consent, or where appropriate our legitimate interest in advertising products that we believe may be of interest to you. You can opt out of receiving these communications from us by clicking on the "unsubscribe link" in any email, or by emailing us at privacy@lettechsolutions.com.

if you are a Customer:-

● we may also disclose your personal information to insurers and/or insurance agents;

● we may disclose your personal information to Tenants and Guarantors;

● we may disclose personal information to our agents and service providers; and

● we may disclose personal information to other members of the Let Tech Solutions Group.

Should we wish to use your personal information for a purpose not permitted under this Privacy Policy, we will contact you to seek your consent.

We will ensure to take all reasonable steps to keep accurate and up to date any information which we hold about you. If, at any time, you discover that information held about you is incorrect, you should contact us info@lettingref.co.uk to have the information corrected.

5. For How Long Do We Hold Personal Information?

We will not hold on to any personal information for any longer than is reasonably necessary for the purposes noted above.

6. Storing your personal information

The data gathered from you may be transferred to, and stored at, a storage location outside the European Economic Area ("EEA"). By providing your personal information, you agree to this transfer and storage. We will do everything we can to ensure your personal information is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.

All information you provide to us is stored on our secure servers. Any payment transactions will be encrypted using SSL technology. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share a password with anyone.

Transmission of information via the internet is not always completely secure. We do our best to keep your personal information secure, but we can not guarantee the security transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

We store the personal information for as long as needed for the purposes which it was originally requested. This "retention period" is different for all our services. After this period the data will be deleted from our systems. Detailed information about the retention periods can be requested at privacy@lettechsolutions.com and support@lettingref.co.uk.

7. Important information for Tenants and Guarantors

Where you or an agent or landlord acting on your behalf (or, if you are a Tenant or Guarantor, or a Customer) voluntarily supply details of third parties to us (such as your existing or previous employers, and your existing or previous landlords), we may contact those third parties with a view to verifying any information which we have been provided about yourself.

You hereby agree that we or our agents may search the databases of third party data providers such as credit reference agencies and Insurance Reference Agencies for the purposes described at section 3 above.

We may use your personal information to make credit decisions about you and/or to make judgments about your suitability to rent a property or act as guarantor (as the case may be) and make recommendations about such matters to Customers. To make or assist in the making of such decisions and recommendations, we may use a process called credit scoring and/or other automated decision making processes. Your personal details will be passed to our Customers, who may use that information to make similar decisions and recommendations about you. They in turn may pass your personal information to the landlord of the property which you propose (or, if you are the Guarantor, the Tenant whose obligations you are prospectively guaranteeing proposes) to rent.

As explained above, if you are a Tenant your personal details may be passed on to credit reference agencies and Insurance Reference Agencies. Such agencies may record the search and such information may be shared with credit grantors, insurers or other persons making a search against you in future and be used for credit decisions and insurance decisions and fraud prevention.

In the event of you defaulting on rental payments in terms of any lease or tenancy agreement which you may have with a Customer, such information may be supplied to credit reference agencies and Insurance Reference Agencies.

8. What if you wish to object to our use of your personal data?

If you do not consent to us using your personal information in the manner for the purposes described above you must alert the managing agent or landlord immediately.

9. Direct Marketing

We may use your personal data to provide you, or to permit selected third parties, including Movinghub Limited (company number 11634183 with registered office at Suite 2020, Letraset Building, Wotton Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 6LN) and Ethical Introductions Limited (T/A Just Move In) (company number 09280849 with registered office at 14a Commercial Road, Bournemouth, BH2 5LP) to provide you, with information about goods or services that we think will interest you. Our lawful basis for this processing is consent, or where appropriate our legitimate interest in advertising products that we believe may be of interest to you. You can opt out of receiving these communications from us by clicking on the "unsubscribe link" in any email, or by emailing us at privacy@lettechsolutions.com.

10. Fraud Prevention Agencies

If false, inaccurate or misleading information is provided and fraud is identified, details may be passed to fraud prevention agencies. Law enforcement agencies may access and use this information. We and other organisations may also access and use this information to prevent fraud and money laundering, for example, when:

checking details on application for credit and credit related or other facilities;

managing credit and credit related accounts or facilities;

recovering debt;

checking details on proposals and claims for all types of insurance; or

checking details of job applicants and employees.

11. Cookies

Our websites, including this site, make use of "cookies". We use cookies to ensure that you can use our site properly and by this we need to understand what you've been doing on the site. Please note that unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our website will issue cookies as soon as you visit the site. By using our site you agree to the use of cookies.

What are Cookies?

Cookies are data that a website transfers to an individual's hard drive for record-keeping purposes. Cookies, which are industry standard and are used by most websites, including those operated by us, can facilitate a user's ongoing access to and use of a site. They allow us to customise the site to your needs.

Cookies used by Lettingref

To improve your experience on our site, we use a set of unobtrusive cookies with the following online tracking and web tools: Google Analytics, Optimizely and Crazy Egg. Each provider allows us to track your movements through and your response to our site's pages to find out how they are being used, assess their usefulness and make improvements.

Through affiliate marketing, we also use cookies to track which site, you as the visitor, has come from.

Provider	Cookie	Purpose
Essential site cookie	SessionShareID	This cookie enables our web servers to respond to a visitors actions on the website. The website would not work without this cookie.
Google Analytics	__utma __utmb __utmc __utmz	Set by Google Analytics to track a visitor's journey on a site; the cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come from and the pages they visited. We use Google Analytics to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve our site.
Optimizely	optimizelyCustomEvents optimizelyBuckets optimizelyPendingLogEvents	Set by Optimizely to track a visitor's interaction with a site; the cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site which page variation they were presented with and how they interacted with the site. We use Optimizely to collect information about how visitors respond to our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve our site.
Crazy Egg	is_returning	Set by Crazy Egg to track a visitor's interaction with the site; the cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, which page(s) they visited and how they interacted with the site. We use Crazy Egg as a heat mapping tool to collect information about how visitors interact with our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve our site.
Lettingref Affiliate Marketing	LettingRefAffiliateUID LettingRefAffiliateMID LettingRefAffiliateID	Set by our site to track a visitor's activity and campaign results from external Lettingref affiliate links, images or banner adverts; the cookies collect information in an anonymous form before the visitor registers formerly with Lettingref. We will also measure the type of external Lettingref affiliate link or banner advert used to visit our site, i.e. whether the visitor has clicked through from a Lettingref link, image or banner advert.

To read more about what cookies are being set by Google Analytics, please visit:

https://developers.google.com/analytics/resources/concepts/gaConceptsCookies

To read more about what cookies are being set by Optimizely, please visit:

https://www.optimizely.com/opt_out

To read more about what cookies are being set by Crazy Egg, please visit:

http://www.crazyegg.com/privacy

Opting out of Cookies used by Lettingref

If you do not want information collected through the use of cookies, most web browsers allow you to easily deny or accept the cookie feature. You should refer to the documentation for your particular web browser for instructions as to how to prevent websites using cookies on your computer. However, you should note that cookies may be necessary to provide you with some features of our on-line services.

You can disable the cookies that we attach if your browser supports this. For further information on how to do this, please refer to www.aboutcookies.org

12. Your Rights

Your right is to request us to not use your personal information for marketing purposes. Use this right by using the unsubscribe link in our marketing emails.

The GDPR law gives you the right to access the personal information that we store. We are also required to send the data in machine or human readable format upon request. Furthermore, if we don't need your personal details to perform your requested services, you have the "right to be forgotten". This means that you can request us to delete your personal details. Requests need to be sent to the data officer at privacy@lettechsolutions.com.

13. Links To Other Websites

Our websites, services and documents contain external links to other websites. This privacy policy does not apply to these other websites. Please read the privacy policy of our partners to see how the other websites process your personal information. We cannot accept liability for the content of any other websites.

14.Contact

For any questions about the UK protection law, our privacy policy and how we store your personal information, please contact us at privacy@lettechsolutions.com and support@lettingref.co.uk, 0131 297 0210 or 26 Dublin Street, EH3 6NN Edinburgh.

We hope that we will be able to answer any questions or concerns that you have. You have the right at any time to raise your concern with the Information Commissioner's Office at: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.