This document was last updated on 23rd June 2024.
LYL HOMES Ltd (company number 1426997) (‘we’, ‘us’, or ‘our’) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal data. This privacy notice will inform you how we collect and process personal data, and tell you about your privacy rights.
1. Who we are
This Privacy Notice applies to the use and processing of personal information collected by LYL Homes Ltd and its subsidiary companies. The ICO registration numbers of these companies is detailed at the end of this notice and further information about the Group can be found on our website.
The phrases “us”, “we” or “our” will mean those businesses which are majority-owned subsidiaries of LYL Homes Ltd on behalf of and in respect of whom this Privacy Notice is made.
For information concerning the collection, use and processing of personal information by any of our third-party business partners or suppliers, please contact our representative with whom you usually deal.
2. Information covered by this Privacy Notice
Personal data. This is information, or any combination of separate pieces of information, that could be used to identify you
Special categories of personal data. This is information which is classified as sensitive (for example details of your health)
Please read this Privacy Notice carefully. If you have any questions about this notice or our use of your personal data, please contact the LYL Homes Data Protection Officer by email to lettings@lyl.homes or in writing to [address].
3. Where we get personal information from
When you enquire or register for products and services provided by LYL Homes Ltd we may collect personal information from a variety of sources.
The majority of the personal information which we collect will have been provided by you during the course of your relationship with us either through face to face contact, by telephone, email or electronic communications such as messaging or through the internet.
However, we may also obtain your personal data from other sources including:
Information we collect when you visit or create an account on our websites
Other LYL Group companies
Companies which support advertising services that promote our services including online property portals (such as Rightmove and Zoopla), social media sites (such as Facebook and Twitter) and online advertising platforms (such as Google Adwords)
Information provided to us by other third parties, as part of a service we are providing to you or our customers such as:
Next of kin / delegated authorities
Business associates
Employers
Government / Land / Police registers
Credit / Default Agencies
Financial Institutes (Banks, Building Societies, Loan Agencies, Credit Card companies)
Insurance Companies
Other Law firms
Health providers
Third party service affiliates or suppliers who have sought your consent
Other publically available sources such as the electoral roll and HM Land Registry
We will always attempt to provide you with our Privacy Notice in regards to information received from other sources than yourself if it is not deemed to be disproportionate or prejudicial
4. What information we collect
4.1 Information we collect directly from you
Depending on the type of service or product we are discussing, the following are examples of information we may collect directly from you:
Your name, postal address, phone number, email address and details of your requirements
Previous names and address history, mothers maiden name, health and family history, information about your status and dependents.
Your marital status, gender, date of birth, nationality and tax status
Employment details, national insurance number, nationality, residential status, bank details and credit history
To provide you with estate agency services, land and new homes developments, auction, rental or lettings
To inquire or apply for mortgage or protection products on your behalf
To carry out referencing and credit checks and the results of those checks
Proof of identity to include, but is not limited to, passport, driving licence, and address documents.
We may also need to collect information on other individuals who have an interest in the property who are not considered to be our customers.
Details of your mortgage arrangements, confirmation of how long you have owned the property and details of the source of monies invested in the property
To perform ‘know your client’, anti-money laundering and right to rent checks, as required by law
Your bank account details or payment card information
Processing payments and transactions including: Accounting, Authorisation, Clearing, Chargebacks, Auditing, Billing, Reconciliation, Collection, Credit Checks and related dispute resolution activities
Proof that you have sufficient funds to support any offer that you may wish to make to buy a property
Financial information, for example, a copy of your bank statement or an agreement in principle from your mortgage provider
To ensure you able to pay the required amount of deposit
To provide evidence of the source of funds you will be using to buy a property
Bank Statements, Mortgage Statement, Proof of deposit, Payslips and P60, Accounts, SA302’s & SA100’s, Tax Year Overviews, ID and proof of address, AST’s
Supporting your mortgage and/or insurance application
Details of any mortgage or insurance, licensing documentation and service contracts which you have in place in relation to a property you wish to let
Where you are a landlord and we are providing you with letting services
Photographs of your property, an inspection report and inventory, to record the condition of your property at the start or end of a tenancy
Move in and move out dates, utility meter serial number and meter readings before a tenant moves into a property and when the tenant moves out
Your move in and move out date and details of the deposit paid where you are a tenant when registering or releasing any deposit from a deposit protection scheme
To deliver our service to you when you engage us to let a property on your behalf
Details relating to your property including photographs, floor plans, energy performance certificate ratings/ home reports, property description and survey results
To deliver our service to you when you engage us to market a property for you
Your communication and marketing preferences
To ensure we only send you details of products and services you are interested in through your preferred communication channel
Where you ask us to help you with your life, critical illness or income protection insurances, and we collect personal information from you which is of a sensitive nature, we treat this ‘special category’ information in accordance with the additional protection it is given under data protection laws.
We may, during the course of your relationship with us, request additional information from you which is relevant to the provision of specific services.
Any telephone calls either to or from our customer service teams may be recorded for training, monitoring, compliance and security.
4.2 Information we collect when you visit or create an account on our websites
We use cookies and other technologies to collect information when you visit our web sites, including when you make use of our online chat.
We may collect personal information in connection with your use of our website, such as:
Your name, email address, telephone number and property address when you register for an account or use an online form to arrange a viewing, register for property alerts, request a valuation or lettings consultation, book a mortgage appointment or submit an enquiry
Details included on any enquiry form you submit in relation to property insurance, life, critical illness or income protection, conveyancing or mortgages
Data sent from your browser to our server which may include:
the time, date and duration of your visit
the site from which you have come (the referral URL)
the pages you have visited and
your IP address
Details of how we use cookies are provided in ‘Our Use of Cookies’ and in our Cookies Policy
4.3 Information we obtain from online portals
Where you contact by providing your details through online portals such as Rightmove or Zoopla, we will use the details contact you to provide the services you have requested.
4.4 Information we obtain from third parties
Where we are required by law, or for business needs, we will obtain information about you from third parties, but only after we have your agreement to do so. For example (but not limited to) the third parties we may need to contact our credit reference agencies, banks, employers, accountants and solicitors in order to obtain references, undertake identity verification and basic criminal record checks, and validate your income level and financial history.
4.5 Circumstances under which criminal disclosures will be collected
The arrangement of certain types of insurance may involve disclosure by you to us of information relating to historic or current criminal convictions or offences. This is relevant to insurance related activities such as underwriting, claims and fraud management.
When we process any Criminal Disclosures we do so on the basis that it is in the substantial public interest to be able to provide vital insurance products as permitted by UK data protection-related laws and regulations from time to time. Information on Criminal Disclosures must be capable of being exchanged freely between insurance intermediaries such as us and insurance providers, to enable customers to secure the important insurance protection that they require.
5. How we use your information
We will process the information you provide or we obtain from other sources to provide you with products and services and answer any questions you may have.
The following are examples of how we use the information we collect:
To process your registration and confirm your identity
To provide you with the estate agency services which you have asked us to provide, including but not limited to:
helping you to sell your property
valuing your property
arranging and carrying out accompanied viewings
finding a property to purchase
To provide a full lettings service for tenants, prospective tenants and landlords
To provide property management services
To arrange a survey and valuations
To provide advice on financial products and services, such as mortgages, insurance and protection products
To keep you informed of any developments in relation to any mortgage product, protection product or insurance product which we help you to take out;
To provide conveyancing services
To provide will writing and associated legal services
To provide property auction services
To create and manage your online account
To process payment for our services
To protect against and prevent fraud, unauthorised transactions, money laundering, tax evasion, claims, other liabilities and manage risk exposure and agent or franchise quality, integrity, compliance and security of business processes
To provide, administer and communicate with you about LYL Homes Ltd products, services, offers, programs and promotions, their issuers, acquirers, retailers and partners
To protect a tenant’s deposit by registering it with a deposit protection scheme
To process the receipt and payment of rent, maintenance and tax for you if a property is being let
To arrange an energy performance certificate or home report inspection for you
To arrange an inventory check or to prepare a report on the condition of a property if it is being let
To ensure that utilities are in place and that utility company and local authorities are able to contact you for billing purposes when you move into a property
To carry out tenant referencing and credit checks to assess if you are creditworthy before you move into a property. To carry out such checks, your personal information may be shared with credit referencing companies
To compile business directories, including business contact information and maintain up to date client records
To operate, monitor, evaluate and improve our products, services and websites
To evaluate your interest in and suitability for employment
5.1 Customer Surveys
From time to time we may provide your information to our customer service agencies for research, survey and analysis purposes so that we can monitor and improve the services we provide. We or our agents and sub-contractors may occasionally contact you including by post, email or telephone to ask you for your feedback and comments on our services.
5.2 Information about our products and services
We may also use your personal data to contact you by post, email, telephone or other electronic means to provide you with information about products and services from LYL Homes Ltd and carefully selected third parties which we feel may be of interest or relevant to your needs.
Please see Section 12 for information about how you can exercise your rights.
5.3 Credit scoring
Some of the services provided by third parties may involve an automated decision and/or credit scoring to determine whether we are able to provide a service or product.
Using third parties to undertake searches and collate information on our behalf helps make fair and responsible decisions. When coming to these decisions we and third parties will consider:
the information provided on the application form
information about previous account conduct, including any payment arrears and official public records information such as fraud record information and insolvency records
Any credit scoring methods used by third parties are regularly tested to ensure they remain fair, effective and unbiased.
For further information about automated decisions or credit scoring, please contact the LYL Homes Ltd Data Protection Officer by email at lettings@lyl.homes
6. Who we share your information with
We may share your information both within LYL Homes Ltd of companies and also relevant third party business partners, both for the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice, or for other purposes approved by you.
6.1 LYL Group
We may share information within the LYL Homes Group of companies for the following purposes:
where services are provided by one LYL Homes Group Company to another pursuant to an intra-company
for the purpose of administering our business
to provide you with information about products and services
for any other purpose agreed by you
6.2 Third Party service providers
Where we engage third party service providers to provide products (such as mortgages, house and contents and family protection insurances and utility services) or other business services and operations, we provide them with only the personal information they need to perform the service or provide the product we request. We contractually require them to securely protect the information, and not to use it for any other purpose.
Indicatively - but not limited to - we may disclose your information to the third parties listed below for the purposes listed:
Approved contractors
To install for sale or to let boards, to appoint managing agents and building maintenance contractors, to arrange EPC visits, to arrange for contractors to providing safety & statutory tests and to take inventories
Surveyors
To undertake a structural or Homebuyers survey
Firms on our conveyancing panel
To provide home conveyancing services
Our panels of mortgage lenders
To progress your enquiry or application for a residential or buy to let mortgage application
Other insurance companies we work with
To progress your enquiry or application for buildings and contents insurance
To progress your enquiry or application for term insurance, critical illness cover and income protection
To progress your enquiry or application for insurance
Rent and Legal insurance providers
To set up landlord insurances, and in the event of a claim
Solicitors
To pursue a claim for breach of tenancy
Referencing Companies
To check your creditworthiness, obtain tenant references and to help prevent fraud and money laundering
TransUnion: To check credit worthiness and obtain references for tenants. For fraud prevention, anti-money laundering checks and identity verification. Details regarding TransUnion can be found at https://www.transunion.co.uk/legal-information/bureau-privacy-notice).
Credas: For fraud prevention, anti-money laundering checks and identity verification
The Local Council
Payment/collection of Council Tax
Law enforcement bodies including the police, HMRC and local authorities
To comply with court orders or legal obligations
Landlord, tenant or Guarantor
To comply with our legal obligations where we are providing a lettings service
OVO Energy (Also trading as ‘SSE’)
Where a landlord of property has asked us to arrange the property’s gas and/or electricity supply to be provided by OVO Energy(Also trading as ‘SSE’)
The parties whose property you have viewed or on whose property you have submitted an offer
The parties whose property you have viewed or on whose property you have submitted an offer
Utility Companies
For payment of utility bills
Debt collection companies
To assist us in recovering any monies which are owed and overdue
Deposit Protection Scheme providers
To provide a Tenancy Deposit Protection Scheme
ARLA Propertymark, a professional body responsible for raising professional standards amongst letting agents
If information relating to you is requested by them in order to protect your interests
The Property Ombudsman or Property Redress Scheme
Where they are providing a dispute resolution service in connection with letting services
Land Registry Office
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC),
Other estate agents and parties involved in the sale or purchase of your property
To support the progression of the sales chain
We also provided a link from our website to Google Maps, to show the location of a branch or a property, and to allow you to input your postcode to get directions. If you use or access Google Maps you are bound by the Google Maps/Google Earth Additional Terms of Service https://maps.google.com/help/terms_maps.html including the Google Privacy Policy https://www.google.com/intl/ALL/policies/privacy/index.html
7. Lawful basis of processing
LYL Homes Ltd processes your information under any of the following lawful conditions:
i. Performance of a contract - this is where the collection and processing of your data is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract
ii. Legal obligation - this is where the collection and processing of your data is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation, for example, verification of identity and fraud prevention
iii. Consent - where we process information under consent we will seek your clear and unambiguous consent before processing your data, for example, to send and/or receive marketing information from other Connells Group companies
iv. Legitimate interests - some information is processed by LYL Homes Ltd as part of its legitimate interests which include network and information security, direct marketing, web analytics, updating customer details, lettings, sales, and other core services provided. We may also process further information for Fraud prevention and detection, Risk assessment, Due diligence, Training, communication and awareness, Profiling, Acquisitions, Management Information, Compliance and Audit self-assessments.
8. Profiling
LYL Homes Ltd may use direct or anonymised information to engage in data analysis, data matching and profiling activities for a variety of purposes, including, but not limited to:
Business conduct
Investigation and identification of fraud, money laundering and other potential unauthorised activities,
Financial Viability analysis / reports
Business partner / client portfolio position, performance, risk positions
Anti-money laundering
Tax reporting
Credit defaulting / exposure
9. Other situations
We may transfer or otherwise process your personal information:
As part of the sale of a LYL Homes Ltd business to another company, or in relation to the purchase of another business
When we have received your instruction to pass the sale of your property to another agent
To enforce our terms and conditions
When required by law and/or government authorities
When requested by the Property Ombudsman Service or any other consumer ombudsman or trade association
10. How long we keep your information for
We will keep your information for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, and to fulfil our legal and regulatory obligations.
In certain circumstances we have a statutory obligation to keep your personal information for a set period of time, for example, financial information (normally 7 years) for financial auditing purposes. Information is always retained in line with its purpose of processing and only for as long as necessary usually, information is kept for 7 years after last contact with you. However, this period may be extended dependent upon any legal or contractual obligations LYL Homes Ltd may be required to comply with, as well as any overriding business legitimate interests.
For further information about how long we will keep your information, please contact the LYL Homes Ltd Data Protection Officer by email at lettings@lyl.homes
11. When we communicate with you
11.1 Service related
We will send you service-related communications and respond to any questions which you may ask.
11.2 Marketing our services to you
Where you contact us through our website or make an enquiry in branch or on the phone, or via Rightmove or Zoopla we will use the details you have supplied to us to provide you with our general property marketing list by email.
If you choose to 'opt-out' then we will not email you any further information relating to our general property marketing list.
We may also contact you in order to provide you with information about our core products and services which we believe may be of interest to you, in accordance with your preferences including:
general updates in relation to the property market
information on mortgages, protection and insurance products and conveyancing services
We may also carry out targeted advertising to you on social media websites such as Facebook where you have already shown an interest in our services. This is done by analysing the information we collect about your interactions on our websites and making this available to social media networks.
12. How we communicate with you
For service related communications, we will contact you either by email or through the post. We may also telephone you or send you SMS messages, which may include automated SMS reminders for viewings.
We give you choices about how we communicate promotions and offers to you.
We may contact you by email, post, SMS or telephone. You have a right to object to us using your data for direct marketing. You can exercise this right by:
e-mailing [email]
Unsubscribing via the “unsubscribe link” within the marketing e-mails you receive from us, or
13. Your statutory rights
You have a number of rights concerning the personal information we use. These include the right to:
ask us for access to a copy of your personal information we hold about you
ask us to correct your personal information
ask us to delete your personal information
You can delete your online account at any time. This will delete any personal information in your account that we have about you, and it will mean any data about how you’ve used the online account will be made anonymous.
However, deleting your online account will not delete any data you’ve shared with us for reasons that are not connected with your online account. If you wish us to delete your data which is unconnected with your online account, please contact us as described below
withdraw your consent to use your personal information
Where you have provided consent for our processing of your personal data, you may withdraw that consent at any time. If you withdraw your consent, your previous consent will remain valid in respect to our use of your data in relation to good or service we are still contracted to provide
If you would prefer not to receive information from LYL Homes Ltd or carefully selected third parties you can opt out by contacting your local Estate Agency Branch, by unsubscribing via the “unsubscribe” link within the marketing emails you receive from us or emailing lettings@lyl.homes
We will act to respond to your request to stop receiving promotional email, phone, text or postal messages from LYL Homes Ltd as quickly as is practicable (around 10 working days, as systems take time to replicate). We will keep information for record keeping purposes, to ensure we fulfil your request not to send particular types of messages.
ask us to restrict the use of your personal data, including direct marketing
object to our use of your personal data
object to an automated decision, including profiling (for example, in terms of credit risk)
lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office, if you object to the way we use your personal information. For more information please go to www.ico.org.uk
If you wish to make a request for access to a copy of your personal data or wish to exercise any of your other rights, please email lettings@lyl.homes
We will acknowledge your request and let you know what we will need from you to carry out your request. Every effort will be made to respond to or comply with your request as quickly as possible, and we will ensure our systems are updated as soon as is practicable in response to your request.
Should we feel the need to verify your identity, identification will be requested within the one month time frame and only limited to what is necessary for confirmation. Once we are satisfied we will then process your request.
Should we refuse to comply with a request we will inform you of this within the one month time frame and provide an explanation outlining our justification, our internal complaints procedure and your right to complain to a supervisory authority and to enforce your rights through a judicial remedy.
14. Our use of cookies
A cookie is a small file placed on your device when you visit a website that can be understood by the site that issued the cookie. We use the information collected by cookies to remember who you are to log you in and to store your preferences when using a particular site. It may contain a unique identifier to ensure that you are not shown the same information and/or are only shown information you have stated that you are interested in.
Our security software may use your IP address and browser version to help protect our systems and provide diagnostic information in the case of an issue.
Further information about our use of cookies is provided in our Cookies Policy which is linked at the bottom of the page.
15. How we protect your information
We store your personal information on our computer systems and in our paper records.
We have implemented strict security procedures to ensure that personal information is not damaged, destroyed or misused, and to prevent unauthorised access to your information.
The information that we collect is stored in a secure facility with restricted physical access.
We also use a number of security measures to prevent electronic access.
Where - in line with this Privacy Notice - information is shared with third parties, similar security measures are used to protect your information.
16. Data Transfers
If we need to transfer data outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and the country it’s transferred to is not on an approved list for having adequate security controls in place, we will limit when we do this and the amount of personal data we send. We will also ensure that there is adequate protection in place before sending anything to other countries outside the EEA by imposing contractual obligations on the recipients to ensure the security and confidentiality of your data.
17. Children’s privacy
We do not offer any products or services to children. In certain circumstances (for example a mortgage application or in relation to a tenancy) we may need to collect the name and date of birth of children from mortgage applicants and share this with the selected mortgage provider.
18. Links to other websites
Our websites, other electronic portals and documentation may provide links to other websites for your convenience and information. These may operate independently from us and have their own privacy notices or policies, which we strongly suggest you review.
Where linked websites are not owned or controlled by us, we are not responsible for their content or data privacy practices.
19. Our Promise to you
When you provide us with this information, you agree to the collection, use and sharing of your information in accordance with this data privacy notice. Our promise to you is that
We’ll work with other businesses to put together offers we think you might like
You are in control of your data
You can change your privacy settings at any time
If you don’t think the data is correct tell us and well put it right
We will keep your data secure
We also promise to collect, process store and share your data safely and securely and to make sure the businesses we work with do the same
19. Updates to our Privacy Notice
We will occasionally update our Privacy Notice, so we suggest that you review this Notice from time to time. If we make substantial changes to our Privacy Notice, we will endeavour to inform you directly about these changes.