PRIVACY POLICY

This is the privacy statement of Angela Watt trading as Watt Property and Watt Property Management. We are a Property Firm specialising in Property Letting  and Property refurbishment. Our Letting Agency, Registration 1812021, is subject to the Letting Agent Code of Practice whose enforcement is through the First Tier Tribunal, Housing and Property Chamber. Our trading address is Watt House Unit 2 5A Giles Street, Edinburgh EH6 6DJ.

This privacy statement explains how we collect and use personal information about you. Watt Property is fully committed to handling personal information in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (EU) 2016/679 (as updated) and best data practices.

This means that your personal data will be

  • Processed lawfully, fairly, and in a transparent manner.
  • Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes.
  • Only collected so far as required for our lawful purposes.
  • As accurate and up to date as possible.
  • Retained for a reasonable period of time, in accordance with retention policies.
  • Processed in a manner which ensures an appropriate level of security

Watt Property collects personal information to fulfil its role as a professional Property Business providing Letting Agency and Property Refurbishment services. As there are many different aspects to our business, the information requested and collected will vary from person to person.

From our clients:

The personal information most commonly collected from clients is as follows:

  • Name.
  • Contact details (including home and business addresses, email, telephone number).
  • Date of birth.
  • Photo and address ID
  • Next of kin details
  • Employment details (including current and previous employers).
  • Credit and personal references
  • Records of enquiries, meetings and other direct engagement.
  • Copies of physical and electronic correspondence.
  • Financial information.
  • Tax information
  • Property information
  • Demographic information
  • Phone call recordings
  • Land registry information
  • Income levels

From the public:

The personal information most commonly collected from members of the public is as follows:

  • Name.
  • Contact details (including home and business addresses, email, telephone number).
  • Records of enquiries, meetings and other direct engagement.
  • Copies of physical and electronic correspondence.
  • Photo and address ID
  • Financial information
  • Credit reports

WHERE WE COLLECT PERSONAL INFORMATION FROM

Like most organisations that handle personal information, there are various ways in which Watt Property collects information from the people we deal with.

  • Email and written correspondence.
  • Telephone discussions and recording.
  • Visitors to the Watt Property website.
  • Social media.
  • Application forms and other information requests.
  • Direct contact at Watt Property and elsewhere.
  • In nearly all instances, it should be obvious to you that Watt Property is collecting your personal data

Processing is necessary for Watt Property to meet its legitimate interests as a Professional firm, including

  • the maintenance of our client and contact database
  • the provision of services to our clients and potential clients.
  • promotion and marketing of other services we provide to various parties

Examples of processing activities

  • deliver services and meet legal responsibilities
  • verify identity where this is required
  • communication by post, email or telephone
  • understand needs and how they may be met
  • maintain records
  • process financial transactions
  • prevent and detect crime, fraud or corruption
  • Carry out specific requests ie provide previous tenants with a reference
  • Newsletters, social media posts, service updates and other general marketing

Some of the processing activities set out above require Watt Property to share personal information with third parties. Whenever we share personal data, we take all reasonable steps to ensure it will be handled appropriately and securely by the third party

The following is a list of the main third parties with whom Watt Property shares information

  • Oversight regulators and statutory bodies (e.g. HMRC, the The First Tier Tribunal Housing and Property Chamber, CMP)
  • Other professional firms (on a ?advisor-to-advisor? basis).
  • Insurers
  • Contractors
  • Utility providers and co-ordinators
  • Banks and Mortgage providers, as authorised by clients
  • Software providers which allow Watt Property to operate efficient digital processes, including:
    • Microsoft
    • Xero
    • SME
    • Fixflow
    • Dropbox

For practical reasons, this is an indicative, but not exhaustive list. Please also note that the list may be updated from time to time.

If you do not provide your personal information this may result in Watt Property being unable to provide the service that it has been asked to perform. This can specifically impact the delivery and submission of statutory information. As a result of which you may be charged penalties surcharges and interest. It may also result in Watt Property withdrawing from acting if insufficient data is held for them to fulfil their legal obligations.

The periods for which Watt Property retains personal information depend on the purpose for which the information was obtained but, in general terms, we will retain personal data for so long as required by law, or as may be required for record keeping and legal claims purposes.

Some of the cloud-based software providers hold their servers out with the EEA. Should you wish specifics as to the location of any of the cloud-based services please refer to the Privacy Policies on each individual website. Each cloud based software provider used will be liable for any noncompliance with EEA (or any derivative thereof appropriate to Scotland) UK legislation and /or breach of their systems.

Watt Property and/or their SEO provider may collect information about the computer or device which is used to access www.wattproperty.co.uk. We use this information to improve the user experience, and to help us better understand the ways in which our website is used. This may include information about:

  • The computer or device type.
  • IP address.
  • Operating system.
  • Browser type and version.
  • Time zone setting and browser plug-in types and versions.

Our website may make use of cookie files to distinguish you from other users of our site, to provide you with a bespoke user experience tailored to your individual preferences. A cookie file (a small file of letters and numbers) will be placed on your computer or other access device each time you visit our site.

Watt Property may also use analytical cookie files. These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to our site and to see how visitors move around our site when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our site works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.

If you wish to delete any such cookie files, please refer to the instructions for your file management software to locate the file or directory that stores cookies.

You may refuse to accept cookie files when visiting our site, by activating the setting on your browser which allows you to refuse the setting of cookies. However, if you choose this setting, you may not get an optimal web site experience and you may be unable to access certain parts of our site.

Our website may contain links to other websites that may be of interest to you, so you may access them easily. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, we do not have any control over that site. As a result, we cannot be held responsible for the protection and privacy of any information that you provide while visiting such sites. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Access to your information. You have the right to request a copy of the personal information about you that we hold.

Correcting your information. We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up to date and you may ask us to correct any personal information about you that you believe does not meet these standards.

Deletion of your information. You have the right to ask us to delete personal information about you where:

  • You consider that we no longer require the information for the purposes for which it was obtained.
  • We are using that information with your consent and you have withdrawn your consent.  See Withdrawing consent to using your information below.
  • You have validly objected to our use of your personal information. See Objecting to how we may use your information below.
  • Our use of your personal information is contrary to law or our other legal obligations.

Objecting to how we may use your information. You have the right at any time to require us to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes. In addition, where we use your personal information to perform tasks carried out in the public interest then, if you ask us to, we will stop using that personal information unless there are overriding legitimate grounds to continue.

Restricting how we may use your information In some cases, you may ask us to restrict how we use your personal information. This right might apply, for example, where we are checking the accuracy of personal information about you that we hold or assessing the validity of any objection you have made to our use of your information. The right might also apply where this is no longer a basis for using your personal information, but you don’t want us to delete the data. Where this right is validly exercised, we may only use the relevant personal information with your consent, for legal claims or where there are other public interest grounds to do so.

Automated processing  If we use your personal information on an automated basis to make decisions which significantly affect you, you have the right to ask that the decision be reviewed by an individual to whom you may make representations and contest the decision. This right only applies where we use your information with your consent or as part of a contractual relationship with you.

Withdrawing consent using your information  Where we use your personal information with your consent you may withdraw that consent at any time and we will stop using your personal information for the purpose(s) for which consent was given.

Please contact us in any of the ways set out in the Contact information and further advice. section if you wish to exercise any of these rights.

Changes to our privacy statement

We keep this privacy statement under regular review and will place any updates on this website. Paper copies of the privacy statement may also be obtained by sending a request e-mail to info@wattproperty.co.uk

This privacy statement was last updated on 26 April 2021

If you have any questions which are not covered in this notice, we suggest that you email us at info@wattproperty.co.uk. To help us deal with your query as quickly as possible, we recommend that you include the following in the email subject FAO Data Protection Officer.