Privacy Policy

Introduction

The Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) sets out the data protection framework within the UK and incorporates Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation, “GDPR”) into UK law. The purpose of the Act is to protect the rights and freedoms of natural persons (living individuals) and to ensure that personal data is not processed without their knowledge and wherever possible, that it is processed with their consent.

Real Estates Strategies Limited, trading as Realest, is committed to protecting your privacy and the safeguarding and security of all personal information.

Where Realest is stated to be the Data Controller, we are legally bound to protect any information collected from you. We use both in-house  procedures and technology to achieve this including security standards to prevent unauthorised access.

Within the remits of this legislation, we are a Data Controller and registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). You can access the Register of Data Controllers at www.ico.org.uk. Our registration number is ZA226117.

Realest

This Privacy Policy sets out the way in which we any third party providers collect, use, secure, transfer and share your information. Realest is a provider of commercial property agency and consultancy services. We take data protection very seriously. 

The use of our website is possible without the provision of personal data. We will only collect data provided by a Data Subject with consent via our contact page.

Personal Data processing shall always be in line with current UK Data Protection Laws.

Reason/Purpose for Processing Information

Realest provides services to investors, developers, commercial businesses, corporations, local authorities, and the general public. We process personal information to enable us to provide our full range of services, promote our services, maintain our accounts and to support and manage our employees. Full details of the services we provide can be found on our website: www.realest.uk.com.

Type of Information Collected

The type of information we collect and process about you depends upon our relationship with you and the context in which we obtain and process your personal information.

The type of information we collect and process may include (without limitation):

  • Title
  • First Name
  • Middle Name
  • Surname
  • Your Occupation/Job Title
  • Date of Birth
  • Nationality
  • Primary ID
  • NI Number
  • Company Address
  • Residential Address
  • Email Address
  • Personal Numbers
  • Company Website
  • Employer/Registered Company Name
  • Employer Details
  • Employer Switchboard Numbers
  • Employers Annual Turnover/Size of Company
  • Bank Details
  • Landlord Details
  • Tenant Details
  • Tenure Details for Property Requirement
  • Price Band of Property Requirement
  • Size/Area of Property Requirement
  • Type of Property Requirement
  • Photograph/Video Imagery
  • Lease Details
  • Type of Property Required
  • Information included in any documents you send to us (such as identification documents)
  • Information you provide to us (e.g. questionnaires or other information we ask you to provide)
  • Any other information we collect, use and process (such as credit references). This includes information relating to employees of our clients


Types of Identification Realest will collect (for Anti-Money Laundering Purposes) may also include:

  • Passport
  • Driving Licence
  • National Identity Card
  • Armed Forces ID Card
  • ID Card Issued by the Electoral Office for NI
  • Firearms Certificate
  • Utility Bill
  • Council Tax Bill
  • HMRC/Inland Revenue Assessment/Statement
  • UK Bank/Building Society Statement
  • UK Mortgage Statement
  • DWP Letter Confirming Pension Details


Methods of Collection

In the general course of business, Realest collects information relevant to the services being sought across the range of services it offers (listed on our website) from: 

  • Yourself (the data subject), and/or Next of kin, spouse, partner, family member 
  • Realest’s Website 
  • “Trusted Sources” including: 
    • Property portals 
    • Government/Land Registers 
    • Credit Agencies
    • Insurance Companies
  • Through consent to third parties disclosing information about you to us that they have collected.

Such information will generally be collected directly via the use of any of our standard forms, over the internet, via email, in our offices or through a telephone/video conversation with you and/or the sources mentioned above.  We may also collect personal information through our affiliates or suppliers. 

In addition, you may choose to submit information directly to us via several methods, including:

  • Via Realest’s website
  • In response to marketing or other communications 
  • Via social media 
  • Signing up for Realest’s services
  • In connection with an actual or potential business, or an employment relationship with us 
  • At events, conferences, meetings and seminars


You may also agree to third parties disclosing information about you to us that those third parties have collected, e.g. from a solicitor, insurance company, via joint agency agreements etc., depending on the services being offered. 

Cookies

Our website uses cookies, as almost all websites do, to help provide you with the best experience we can. Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer or mobile phone when you browse websites.

Our cookies help us:

  • Make our website work as you would expect
  • Remember your settings during and between visits (including autofill contact us form)
  • Improve the speed/security of the site
  • No personal or sensitive data is stored on our website


We do not use cookies to:

  • Collect any personally identifiable information
  • Collect any sensitive information
  • Pass data to advertising networks
  • Pass personally identifiable data to third parties
  • Pay sales commissions


Granting us permission to use cookies

If the settings on your software that you are using to view this website (your browser) are adjusted to accept cookies we take this, and your continued use of our website, to mean that you have consented. Should you wish to remove or not use cookies from our site you can adjust your browser settings to stop it from accepting cookies. However, doing so will likely mean that our site will not work as you would expect.

Purposes of Collection

In the course of our business, we will collect, use and hold your information for the purposes of: 

  • Assessing applications for and providing Realest products/services 
  • Conducting business, developing relationships with Realest 
  • Process payment transactions including: accounting, authorisation, clearing, chargebacks, auditing, billing, reconciliation, collection, complaints, enquiries, credit checks and related dispute resolution activities 
  • Protect against and prevent fraud, unauthorised transactions, money laundering, tax evasion, claims, other liabilities and manage risk exposure and agent/franchise quality, integrity, compliance and security of business processes 
  • Provide, administer and communicate with you about Realest services
  • Compile business directories, including business contact information 
  • Operate, monitor, evaluate and improve our services, websites, mobile applications, other digital assets and business 
  • Managing communications, assess effectiveness and optimisation of advertising 
  • Functionality of our website, mobile applications and other digital assets 
  • Evaluate your interest in employment and contact you regarding possible employment opportunities
  • Enforce Realest Terms of Use, other legal rights as may be required by applicable laws and regulations or requested by any judicial process or governmental agency having or claiming jurisdiction over Realest. 
  • Comply with industry standards and Realest policies 
  • To provide focused marketing and information, especially with regard to the collection of photography and videography for building/site inspections or marketing purposes.


Photography/Videography

Realest will take photographs of properties/site inspections for the purposes of reports, building/site inspections, marketing etc. We have a legitimate interest for taking such photographs as an accurate record of the condition of the property at that time. Photography and/or videography may also be taken at events, under a legitimate interest, in order to keep a record of the event and/or to use for marketing purposes on social media, our website and other promotional material following the event and for publicity of future events. Any event attendee not wishing to be part of our photography or filming should advise a member of the team, whose details will also be on your invite at the time. One to one filming/interviews may also take place at such events, where specific informed consent will be sought prior to commencement of the event.

Rights of the Data Subject (Articles 12-23 of the GDPR) 

UK Data Protection Laws afford Data Subjects with rights, which are summarised later. In order to claim any of these rights, the Data Subject may contact Realest at any time. 

Your rights regarding the sensitive/personal information we maintain about you enable you to make choices about what personal information we collect from you, how we use that information, and how we communicate with you. 

Right of Access and Confirmation 

You shall have the right to: 

  • Obtain confirmation that we hold personal information about you and request access to/copies of the personal information we maintain about you. 
  • Obtain information as to whether personal data are transferred to a third country or to an international organisation. Where this is the case, the data subject shall have the right to be informed of the appropriate safeguards relating to the transfer.

The right to access personal information may be limited in some circumstances by local law requirements. 

Right to Rectification 

If you believe that the information we hold about you is incorrect or inaccurate you can contact us outlining the information you believe to be incorrect of inaccurate. 

If we refuse to correct your personal information, we will provide you with a written notice that sets out the reasons for our refusal (unless it would be unreasonable to provide those reasons) and provide you with a statement regarding how to make a complaint. We will provide you with access to information we hold about you.

Right to Object 

If you would like to object to any processing of your information by Realest, you can contact us outlining what processing of information you would like to object to. 

Right to Restrict and Erase (Right to be Forgotten) 

If you would like Realest to delete, block or anonymise information we hold about you, you can contact us outlining what information you would like deleted, blocked or anonymised. 

To update your preferences, ask us to remove your information from our mailing lists or submit a request to access, update, correct or delete your personal information, please contact us. 

Right to Withdraw Consent 

Where we obtain your personal data by consent, you have the right to withdraw consent to the processing of your personal data at any time. Realest will apply your preferences going forward. 

The right to withdraw consent of processing personal data may be limited in some circumstances by local law requirements and you will be informed appropriately where this is the case. 

You can exercise your right to prevent data processing by contacting us. On receipt of your request we will remove your personal data, where we are required by law to do so, from our central CRM system and all email marketing will cease with immediate effect.

Anti-Money Laundering

In the course of our business services, Realest must comply with certain regulations, for example, the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 as amended from time to time (referred to as “the Regulations”). 

Realest is required to obtain certain information from you to comply with the Regulations. The information provided will only be used by Realest in relation to complying with the Regulations and will not be shared with any other party outside of our group of businesses, unless we are required to do so by law. 

If you decide to enter into a business relationship with Realest, to comply with certain regulations, we will require two separate identification documents – one primary and one secondary document even if it appears on both lists. The information may be required at various stages of the process depending whether you are purchasing or selling. We reserve the right to employ third party electronic verification for the purpose of verifying identity. This search will not affect your credit rating.

Lawful bases of processing (Article 6 GDPR) 

Realest processes personal information under the following lawful bases: 

  • Performance of a contract: where you enter into a contract with Realest and we need to process your information as part of this contract 
  • Legitimate interests: some information is processed by Realest as part of its legitimate interests which include: fraud, risk assessment, due diligence, network and information security, suppressions and managing opting out of communications, profiling, direct marketing, monitoring, web analytics, cloud storage, acquisitions, updating customer details, lettings, sales, financial services and other core products and service provided by the data controller to carry out our business in favour of the well-being of all of our employees and shareholders 
  • Public interest: where processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the interest of the public, or in the exercise of official authority. 
  • Consent: where we process information under consent, we will seek clear and unambiguous consent prior to processing your data 
  • Legal obligation: where processing is necessary in order to fulfil a legal obligation, such as for anti-money laundering due diligence checks 
  • Vital interests: where personal data may need to be processed/shared in order to uphold the data subject, or other natural persons vital interests


Special Category Data Processing (Article 9 GDPR/Schedule 1 DPA 2018) 

Where Realest may be provided with information defined as ‘special category’ personal data, our lawful bases for processing are: 

  • Explicit consent: your permission has been granted directly to us and documented. 
  • Purpose of employment and social security: such as complying with employment laws, or processing next of kin details of employees signed up to the company pension scheme. 
  • Data manifestly made public by the data subject: such as electoral register. 
  • Establishing, exercising or defending a legal claim: such as litigation against the business or our employee(s).


Information We Share 

Realest does not sell or otherwise disclose personal information we collect about you, except as described in this Privacy Notice. We may share your information with relevant third parties, as per below, but not limited to: 

  • Landlords and landlord associates and sub processors 
  • Data Controllers where we have collected your data on their behalf, under contract with them in our capacity as a Data Processor: 
    • You are the tenant/proposed tenant of a property we have let or are marketing to let.
  • Formally contracted service providers to perform services on our behalf: 
    • Hosting datacentres, infrastructure, applications (development/support), cloud services (software as a service – SaaS, platform as a service – PaaS, infrastructure as a service – IaaS) 
    • Helpdesk, call centres etc. 
    • Contractors and Sub contractors appointed to undertake necessary works, including utility companies. 
    • Employees and other Agents of the Client appointed to undertake necessary works at a development. Solicitors, accountants and other professional bodies instructed on behalf of the Client, including insurance companies. 
    • Councils, health and care providers, educators and examining bodies 
    • Other law firms 
    • Credit agencies, Land Registry Office, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and other relevant regulatory bodies 
    • Additionally, we may share information about you, if required legally, to prevent harm or financial/reputational loss, for investigation of suspected or actual fraudulent or illegal activities, including to insurance companies. 
    • Prospective employers requesting references via your written consent


Features can be accessed, on websites, where we partner with other entities who are not affiliated with Realest. These include, but are not limited to, social networking, geo-location tools etc. which are operated by third parties, who may use or share personal information in accordance with their own privacy policies. It is recommended that you review the third parties’ privacy policies if you use such relevant features.

Data Transfers, Including International and Third Party Data Transfers (DPA 2018 Part 2 Chapter 2 Section 18, Part 3 Chapter 5, Part 7 Chapter 6 Section 207, and GDPR Articles 44-50) 

Realest reserves the right to transfer your information in the event of a sale or transfer (wholly or partially) of our business or assets, with reasonable efforts for the acquirer to protect/use your information consistent with this Privacy Notice. You can exercise your rights to contact the acquiring entity with questions concerning the protection and processing of your information. 

Some of our external third party suppliers may be based outside of the UK and EEA, so their processing of your personal data may involve a transfer of data outside of the UK and EEA. Under Data Protection Law, international transfers of personal data may take place if the third country ensures an adequate level of protection, and both controller and processor, provide appropriate safeguards/transfer mechanisms, through means such as International Data Transfer Agreements (IDTA), Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC), or Binding Corporate Rules (BCR), where applicable. Furthermore, legislation provides for derogation clauses, allowing for the transfer to take place, even where neither an adequate level of protection, nor appropriate safeguard is in place. 

Realest may transfer the personal information collected about you to recipients in countries other than the country in which the information was originally collected. Those countries may not have the same data protection laws as the country in which you initially provided the information. When we transfer your information to other countries, we will protect that information as described in this Privacy Notice and in full compliance with all aspects of current UK Data Protection Laws and in accordance with the country-specific legislation applicable, or as otherwise disclosed to you at the time the data is collected (e.g. via a program specific privacy notice). 

For any transfer of personal data outside the UK/EEA, we aim to ensure a similar degree of data protection is applied following at least one of the following implemented safeguards: 

  • We will only transfer personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the UK Government (Adequacy Decision). 
  • Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the UK Government in line with the UK Supervisory Authority, which give personal data the same level of protection it has in the UK (IDTA, New EU SCC with UK Addendum, or BCR) for the transfer of personal data to third countries. 
  • Where personal data is being transferred to us in the UK by a supplier/service provider outside of the UK (in the EU/EEA), we will ensure that an appropriate transfer mechanism(s) are in place, if/where required. 
  • Where we use providers based in the USA, we may transfer data to them as part of a contractual service. Where this is the case, we will ensure adequate transfer contracts are in place in line with Article 46 of the UK GDPR and that an appropriate Transfer Risk Assessment (TRA) has been carried out.


Where we are unable to rely on one of the safeguards outlined above, we may rely on Article 49 of the GDPR – ‘Derogations for specific situations’, when the transfer relates to the performance of a contract at your request or in your interest, where you have given explicit consent, for public interest or legal claims, the vital interest of you or another person. Where your personal data is transferred outside of the UK, controls on data protection may not be as wide as the legal requirements within the UK.

Profiling 

For the purposes of business conduct, enhancement, identification of fraud, money laundering and other potential un-authorised activities, Realest engages profiling activities via direct use of personal information. 

Direct Profiling 

Direct profiling is engaged for the fair and lawful purposes, to provide Realest the ability to enforce legal reporting as may be required by applicable laws, regulations, policies/standards or requested by any judicial process or governmental agency having or claiming jurisdiction over Realest; including, but not limited to: 

  • Benchmarking employees: appraisals, performance, bonus payments, disciplinary actions, improvement plans, promotions and awards 
  • Background checks for existing and new employees, clients, business partners, affiliates 
  • Financial Viability analysis/reports 
  • Business partner/client portfolio position, performance, risk positions 
  • Anti-money laundering 
  • Tax reporting 
  • Credit defaulting exposure 


Indirect Profiling 

Indirect profiling via anonymisation of personal information is also used for preparing and furnishing data reports showing information, including, but not limited to, the following: 

  • Compiling and communicating promotional and marketing information about products and services that Realest and other organisations that we have affiliations with and that may be of interest to you. 
  • Conducting market research 
  • Facilitating our internal business operations, including the fulfilment of any legal requirements.


Security of Processing Personal Information (Article 32 GDPR)

The security of your personal information is very important. Realest is committed to protecting the information we collect. We maintain administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect the personal information you provide, or we collect, against accidental, unlawful or unauthorised destruction, loss, alteration, access, disclosure or use. Access to personal data is restricted only to those who have a legitimate business need and data processed by third parties is only done so under strict instruction from Realest, as per the terms of their contract. Procedures are in place to ensure breaches, or suspected breaches, are dealt with in a timely and secure manner with applicable notification applied within the required timeframes set out in accordance with current UK Data Protection Laws.

Retention Period 

Realest will keep your information for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice, and to fulfill our legal and regulatory obligations. We take measures to securely destroy or permanently de-identify personal information if required by law, or if the personal information is no longer required for the purpose for which we collected it. 

Realest will generally keep personal information for 7 years after the last contact with you, in line with UK statutory retention periods; however, Realest reserves the right to keep information for longer were we have a regulatory obligation to do so, or if we are required to do so in relation to legal proceedings or the fulfilment of a contract, or any overriding legitimate business interests.

Contractual Obligation of the Data Subject/Possible Consequences of Failure to Provide Such Data 

The Data Subject has a contractual obligation to provide personal data to Realest where the provision of personal data is required by law (e.g. tax regulations, Anti-Money Laundering etc.), or can also result from contractual provisions i.e. information on the contractual partner. Sometimes it may be necessary to conclude a contract that the data subject provides us with personal data, which must subsequently be processed by us. The Data Subject is, for example, obliged to provide us with personal data when Realest signs a contract with the Data Subject. The non-provision of the personal data would have the consequence that the contract with the data subject could not be concluded.

Data Protection for Employment & Recruitment 

Realest will collect and process the personal data of applicants for the purpose of the processing of the application procedure. The processing may also be carried out electronically. This is the case, in particular, if an applicant submits corresponding application documents by email or via web application to Realest. If Realest concludes an employment contract with an applicant, the submitted data will be stored for the purpose of processing the employment relationship in compliance with legal requirements. If no employment contract is concluded with the applicant, we may securely destroy/erase the applicants’ data. 

Complaints

If you wish to make a complaint regarding how we handle your personal data, or if you believe there has been a breach of your personal information, applicable privacy laws/principles, or have a concern about Realest privacy practices, would like to access and/or update your information or preferences you provided to us, please head to our contact page or write to us at our registered office address. 

We attempt to review and respond to all complaints within a reasonable time. If we cannot for lawful reasons complete your request, we will explain this to you to the extent that we lawfully can. Under Article 77 GDPR and Part 6 Chapter 6 Section 165 DPA 2018, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Supervisory Authority, if you feel we have, or are, processing your personal data in a way in which infringes the Regulation.

About Us

Realest is a trading name for Real Estate Strategies Limited
Registered in England under Company Number 8530447
Registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office under Registration Number ZA226117
Registered Office Address: 1632 Parkway, Solent Business Park, Fareham, PO15 7AH.