PRIVACY AND YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION.
Who we are.
Bridges Estate Agents Limited (CRN 03255520), registered office address: 77 High Street, Aldershot, Hampshire, GU11 1BY (referred to in this Privacy Policy as ‘Bridges’, “us”, “we” or “our”).
We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors and our customers.
This policy is designed to ensure that we safely handle your personal data in accordance with relevant regulations and legislation such as Data Protection Act 1998 and the UK General Data Protection Regulations (the “Data Protection Regulations”).
How to contact us.
If you have any questions or concerns in regards data security or privacy, please contact our Group Operations and Compliance Officer, Jo Hodgson, at customerservice@bridges.co.uk.
This privacy notice was last updated: 29th July 2024.
How do we collect data? We will collect personal information when you register with us for products or services we provide from a variety of sources. Most information we collect will be from you directly either over the phone, face to face contact, email or other electronic communications. We may from time to time also receive personal information from the following sources:
- Visits to our website, please refer to Cookies Policy for more information.
- Online property portals (such as Rightmove, Zoopla).
- Social media and networking sites (such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X).
- Third parties (such as your conveyancer, financial adviser, employer or previous landlord).
- Publicly available information (such as, but not limited to, the Electoral Roll, Land Registry, Planning Portal, Companies House).
What data do we collect? We currently collect and process the following information:
Contact details which usually include your name, phone number, email, current address and your search criteria. We collect this information so that we can provide our estate agency services and products to you.
Your date of birth, nationality and copies of your photographic ID and proof of address which could include your driving licence, passport, bank statement or a utility bill. We may also ask how long you have owned your property for and for details of your mortgage and financial arrangements. We collect this information because anti-money laundering and right to rent regulations require us by law to complete certain checks.
Details of any property you are looking to sell or rent through us, including photography, video and virtual tours, floor plans, EPC, land registry documents, condition or survey reports and a full description will be collated to enable us to market the property to prospective buyers or tenants for you. We may also ask for forwarding details and or details of a property you are buying or selling and any onward chain information in order to help us progress the transaction.
If you are a landlord and we are providing letting and/or management services, in order to do so, we may ask for information such as details of any insurances, mortgage, licenses, service contracts, management companies, utility meter readings, moving in and out dates, compliance or safety checks or certificates carried out. As part of our lettings and management services we may also hold information such as property visit reports, photographs and inventory reports to record the condition of the property. We will also hold your bank account name, number and sort code, so we can pay the tenant’s rent to you.
If you are looking to buy or rent through us, we will also ask you for information to verify your financial position, this may be your mortgage agreement, proof of savings or income including details of any housing benefit. We ask for this information so we can ensure you can meet the financial obligations whether that is for buying or renting a property.
If you are looking to rent a property through us, then we will also ask for information such as your date of birth, nationality, marital status, employment details, national insurance number, residential status, previous addresses, details of dependents, bank details and credit history so that pre-tenancy qualification, referencing, and credit checks can be completed. We will also record your moving in and moving out dates, utility meter reads, details of the deposit paid when registering or releasing any deposit from a deposit protection scheme. This information is needed so we are able to provide our service and fulfil our contractual obligations to the landlord.
If you wish to engage with any of our additional services such as mortgage and insurance products, we will need to collect current contact information and may also ask for additional information such as gender, previous names, date of birth, previous address, health, dependants, nationality, bank account, savings, investments, financial commitments, credit history, mortgage requirements, protection requirements.
Where we need any further information from you, we will always be happy to explain why the information is needed in that specific instance.
We also keep a record of your communication and marketing preferences to ensure we only communicate with you via your preferred method to provide information of interest to you.
We also record telephone calls for training and compliance purposes.
Why we need this information? We collect information so we can provide our services and products to you, we collect information where required by law and in order for us to qualify your ability to proceed with buying, selling, renting or letting your property. We may, with your permission, send you marketing communications. There may also be other administrative purposes.
Who might we share your Information with? We will not sell your personal information or data to anyone. However, we may share your information with other companies within the Bridges group. If Bridges (or any group company) is sold then your data may be transferred to the purchaser of that company.
We may share information with approved contractors, for example to erect a for sale or for let board, carry out an EPC, provide quotes for work, undertake maintenance or repairs, safety and compliance inspections and to record inventory reports.
We will share information with our clients (sellers or landlords) in regards offers submitted and or viewing feedback.
When an offer is accepted, we will confirm by issuing documentation to all parties which will usually be an offer letter, notification of sale or offer form. These documents will contain information such as name, current address, your conveyancers details, financial/income information, credit history and any terms of the offer agreed. In the case of sales, we may also issue a ‘chain sheet’ to the conveyancers and other agents in the chain, so all parties are aware of any related transactions.
We may also share information with surveyors, conveyancers, solicitors, financial advisors, mortgage lender or bank as part of the sale or purchase process and to provide our assistance.
Where we are acting for a corporate client either selling or renting, but particularly in regards new home sales, we may be required to ask potential buyers or tenants to complete an ‘offer form’ which will be forwarded to our client for their purposes and records. We will always make you aware if you are completing a form that will be shared with our client.
If you are intending to rent through Bridges or are acting as guarantor for a tenant our independent referencing agency will, in line with The Property Ombudsman’s Code of Practice, provide a copy of your reference to the landlord (our client). Tenants and guarantors should be aware that we may share their personal data with each other in provision of our services.
We are members of a Tenancy Deposit Scheme and will therefore share information with the scheme providers.
We may share data with utility companies and the local authority, so they are able to request payment.
Where we are engaged on a ‘Tenant Find Only’ basis, we will disclose to both parties (landlord and tenant), the personal information and contact details for the other party so you may contact one another to manage the tenancy directly yourselves.
We may, where appropriate, share personal information or data as requested with insurance companies whether in regards an enquiry, application, cover or claim.
In the event you purchase a product or service from us where are required to add your interest to insurance policy we hold, we will share the required information with the insurance providers including in the event of a claim arising.
We may, with your permission, share your personal information with the third-party companies that we work with so they may offer you their relevant products and services.
We are members of Propertymark, NAEA, ARLA and The Property Ombudsman. We will share information with these organisations when requested by them.
We may also share your data with a third party for the purposes of carrying out anti-money laundering or any other compliance checks.
We may also share your data for the purposes of debt recovery, dispute resolution, legal action or if we are compelled to do so by any other law, regulation, or legislation.
Where we do share data in the above circumstances, we will only provide the minimal personal information needed.
We do not process personal data outside of the UK, other than strictly in accordance with the Data Protection Regulations.
What is our legal basis to process personal data? We process personal information for certain legitimate business purposes, which may include some or all of the following:
- Providing or promoting the services as estate agents, letting and property management agents that we offer and/or you have requested.
- Enhance, modify, personalise or otherwise improve our services, communications and security for the benefit of our customers.
- To provide electronic, telephone and postal communications which we think we will be of interest to you.
- To identify and prevent fraud.
Whenever we process data for these purposes, we will ensure that we always keep your personal data rights in high regard and take account of these rights. You have the right to object to this processing if you wish and can do so by emailing customerservice@bridges.co.uk. Please bear in mind that if you object this may affect our ability to carry out tasks for your benefit.
Where a contract, either written or verbal, exists between us and you, we will process your personal data in order to fulfill our contractual obligations to you. This will also apply where you have asked us to do something before entering into a contract with us, for example requesting a valuation of your property. We will process your data in a way that is relevant and proportionate to the purpose of the contract.
Where you have opted in to receive marketing communications and other property related news from us, we will process your data on the basis that you have provided consent for us to do so. You can withdraw your consent at any time and if you wish to do so, please email customerservice@bridges.co.uk.
How do we store your Information? We have appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to ensure your data is secure against the risk of unauthorised or unlawful processing and against accident, loss, destruction or damage. Data is stored in electronic computer systems and our paper document management system. Where data is shared with third parties who carry out data processing on our behalf, we will enter into a written agreement that they will only act on our instructions and that they have appropriate security measures in place. Should any breach of data occur, we have internal processes for reporting and reviewing any incidents, including filing a report with the ICO where appropriate.
How long will we keep your information for? We are required to keep your information on record for as long as is reasonably necessary to fulfil our legal and statutory obligations. HMRC state we must keep records for a certain number of years. You can unsubscribe from our marketing communications at any time. If you decide to exercise your right to be forgotten, then we will remove the data that we don’t otherwise need to keep a record of for any legal or statutory purpose.
What Rights do you have? To exercise any of the individual rights you may have, please email customerservice@bridges.co.uk.
Under data protection law, you have rights including:
Your right of access – You have the right to ask us for copies of your personal information.
Your right to rectification – You have the right to ask us to rectify personal information you think is inaccurate. You also have the right to ask us to complete information you think is incomplete.
Your right to erasure – You have the right to ask us to erase your personal information in certain circumstances. Where it is no longer necessary and/or there is no compelling reason for us to process your data, you can request that we delete or remove it. We will delete any personal data that we don’t otherwise have to keep in order to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation or unless there is a specific reason where the right to erasure does not apply and we can refuse to deal with your request.
Your right to restriction of processing – You have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to object to processing – You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
Your right to data portability – You have the right to ask that we transfer the personal information you gave us to another organisation, or to you, in certain circumstances.
You are not required to pay any charge for exercising your rights. If you make a request, we have one month to respond to you.
If we feel your request is manifestly unfounded or excessive then we may charge a reasonable fee and/or if your request is complex or numerous requests are made then we can extend the timescale by a further two months. If we refuse to comply, we will explain why and give you the details of the supervisory body you can complain to.
Sensitive data. Should there be a necessity for us to hold any sensitive personal data, as defined by Article 9 of the GDPR, or any information with regards to criminal convictions we will handle any such data with particular care and prudence.
Will we send you marketing information? We would love to stay in touch with you from time to time to offer you the services of Bridges and our partners, and to keep you informed of what is happening in the property sector. We may do so by email, post, text message, telephone or other reasonable form of communication. Emails will contain a link to unsubscribe, and you can also contact us directly at any time to withdraw your consent for us to contact you for marketing purposes.
How to unsubscribe? You can ask us to stop emailing by clicking ‘unsubscribe’ at the bottom of any of our marketing emails or email customerservice@bridges.co.uk if you no longer want us to contact you. Requests will be processed promptly and usually within 7 days.
Making a complaint. We take your privacy seriously and we hope to always meet or exceed your expectations but if you have any concerns, we would encourage you to speak with us in the first instance, we will always do our best to resolve any issue and reassure you. If you remain unsatisfied, you can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO’s address:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113
ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk
Cookies. Cookies are text files placed on your computer to track the number of visitors to our website and to help us to improve the overall visitor experience. These cookies do not collect or store any personally identifiable information. You can remove cookies from your device and you can set your browser not to accept cookies, however in a few cases some of our website features may not function as a result. Please see our Cookie’s Policy for further information.
Other websites. Our website may contain links to other external sites, this privacy policy applies to www.bridges.co.uk, www.orchard-online.co.uk and www.orchardbybridges.co.uk, so when you click on a link to another website you should read their own privacy policies.
