This Policy explains when and why we collect personal information about our residents, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure. We may change this Policy from time to time so please check this page occasionally to ensure that you’re happy with any changes.
Any questions regarding this Policy and our privacy practices should be sent by email to: post@abbeyfield.com or write to:
The Company Secretary, Abbeyfield Living Society (a trading name of The Abbeyfield Society), Hampton House, 17-19 Hampton Lane, Solihull, West Midlands, B91 2QT.
Who are we?
Abbeyfield Living Society is a registered charity (no. 200719) and company limited by guarantee (no. 574816). The registered address is Abbeyfield Living Society (a trading name of The Abbeyfield Society), Hampton House, 17-19 Hampton Lane, Solihull, West Midlands, B91 2QT.
How we collect your information
Abbeyfield Living Society collects information from you via a variety of sources, including when you apply for one of our properties or services, complete one of our forms, when you call, write, e-mail or meet with us or respond to a survey. We may collect information when you use our social media sites or website.
We operate a CCTV system at Abbeyfield premises for the detection and prevention of crime. It operates continuously and recordings are held for one month.
From time to time we may operate CCTV / sound recording and / or use photography to capture evidence of alleged anti-social behaviour or crime.
We may also take photographs at our events, at our properties and in our communities to use for general marketing and publicity. However, photographs of individuals will only be used for those purposes with your consent.
We may receive information about you from third parties including:
- Your council or benefits office relating to your home.
- Prior landlords and credit agencies when you apply for your home.
- Welfare or support organisations dealing with you.
- Councillors, MPs or other representatives acting on your behalf/instruction.
- Financial institutions when you apply for our services.
What information we collect about you
The information we may require from you, the resident, tenant(s) or leaseholder(s), includes:
- Full name (and proof of your identity / photo ID).
- Date of birth
- National Insurance number (your unique identifier).
- Contact details (phone, e-mail or correspondence address).
- Details of anyone authorised to act on your behalf if applicable.
- Basic details (name and DOB) of all residents.
- Banking details if you pay your rent by Direct Debit.
- Any interest or equity in other property.
- Other personal information that will vary on a case by case basis to help us resolve breach of tenancy, alleged anti-social behaviour or fraud.
- Disabilities or vulnerabilities. We use this information to tailor our service to better meet your particular circumstances and needs. We may use this information for safeguarding of staff.
- Financial information. We may use this to help resolve arrears payments and optionally to provide welfare, benefits and debt advice as a free service to help you budget and pay your bills. We may use this to apply for funding on your behalf.
- Health and medical information. We may use this information to tailor our service to better meet your particular circumstances or needs. We may use this information for safeguarding of staff.
- Photo ID, bank statements, payslips or income details when we require this information for processing a house sale or purchase.
If you do not provide the information we need then we may not be able to provide all our services to you, and ultimately you may not be able to hold a tenancy or lease with us, or sell or purchase a property through us.
What processing we do with information collected
The information we require from you is used to manage your tenancy or leasehold agreement or other contract between you and Abbeyfield. Please read your contract carefully for specific details as ‘performance of a contract’ is usually the legal basis for Abbeyfield processing your information and carrying out our activities.
The processing activities we conduct can be summarised as:
- Managing your account charges and payments, including arrears.
- Managing the repairs, maintenance and adaptations of our properties.
- Ensuring tenancy (or contract) conditions are complied with, such as dealing with anti-social behaviour or fraud.
- Complying with relevant legislation and regulation.
Abbeyfield Living Society conducts research and statistical analysis to help improve our business processes and the services offered to our residents, as well as to evaluate our performance against other benchmarks. When possible, statistical information is anonymised or pseudonymised.
At this time, we do not share any data for planning or research purposes for which the national data opt-out would apply. We review all of the confidential patient information we process on an annual basis to see if this is used for research and planning purposes. If it is, then individuals can decide to stop their information being shared for this purpose. You can find out more information at https://www.nhs.uk/your-nhs-data-matters/.
Abbeyfield Living Society conducts surveys regularly and periodically relating to our services in order to gauge satisfaction and make improvements based on feedback.
Abbeyfield Living Society operates a range of information and communications systems and technologies for efficient operation of the business. Personal information is stored and managed within those systems which are maintained to achieve a high level of confidentiality, integrity and availability including following best practice cyber security standards.
We hold information in IT systems which may be copied for testing, backup, archiving and disaster recovery purposes. All data is held within the UK.
Additional services
Abbeyfield Living Society has a number of volunteers who may assist with the running of our homes or provide assistance to residents. Where your personal information is needed by the volunteer(s), we will always notify you about the voluntary offering being provided.
Property information
Much of the data we use relates to our properties and their maintenance and repair. We do not consider property information used in conjunction with the property address to be your personal information. For example, the age of the kitchen, results from an asbestos survey, planning to replace windows or a repair to a tap.
We are usually happy to provide you with answers to questions you may have about the home you are living in and work done to it. As soon as your name, contact details or other personal information is used in conjunction with property information, such as to complete a property repair visit, then this is treated as personal information.
How we will communicate with you
Abbeyfield Living Society needs to communicate with our residents and this will usually be in person, in writing or by telephone, but is more commonly becoming electronic and paperless.
Our residents may receive our newsletter with information about what is going on within Abbeyfield. We are required by our regulator to keep our residents informed and to offer opportunities for involvement, but you may opt-out of receiving this by contacting post@abbeyfield.com or writing to the Company Secretary at the registered address (details are above).
Abbeyfield Living Society operates an opt-in mechanism for receiving direct marketing. You may remove your consent to receive direct marketing or object about direct marketing to post@abbeyfield.com or writing to the Company Secretary at the registered address (details are above).
We will only discuss or communicate your tenancy or lease details with those named on the agreement or those authorised (temporarily or permanently) by you. You can authorise someone temporarily verbally over the phone or permanently in writing.
Who we share data with and how long we keep information
Abbeyfield Living Society shares limited personal data with our contractors who are carrying out services on our behalf. Our contractors are required to comply with the law and our own Data Processing Agreement to ensure data is managed appropriately and for specified purposes, including to run our out-of-hours telephone service or to complete emergency, responsive or planned property repairs.
Abbeyfield Living Society may need to share personal information with government departments and agencies, with our regulator and auditors, with medical professionals, utility companies or with other organisations and agencies where we are legally allowed to do so.
Information relating to a tenancy or lease agreement will be kept for as long as the agreement is active or where money is owed on the account, and for a period not exceeding six years afterwards. The basic history of who held a tenancy at which property and when will be held indefinitely.
We may need to share information with solicitors, agents, mortgage brokers, financial advisors, court agents, surveyors and valuers relating to a property sale.
What we will not do
We will not send you unsolicited marketing material. We will not sell your personal data on to third parties. We will not pass on your personal data to unrelated third parties unless we are allowed or required to do so by law or we have your explicit permission to do that.
We will not transfer or store your personal data outside of Europe (the European Economic Area) outside of the control of the UK / European regulations.
Your rights, the right to complain and the ICO
You have the right to request a copy of the data we hold about you. If you wish to request access to any of your personal data please complete a Subject Access Request form. We will respond within a month of making a request.
It will always help if you can be as specific about what personal data you want to see, what it relates to and within what time frame, as that will assist our search.
You have the right to correct information that we hold. Please advise us of any changes or corrections by contacting post@abbeyfield.com. You may withdraw your consent to use any information that was previously provided with your consent. Please advise us if you wish to withdraw any consent previously given to post@abbeyfield.com.
You also have other rights which can be seen by visiting the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) website and reading about Data Protection law.
You have the right to complain about any matter relating to our service, including how we use your personal data. In the first instance please refer to our Complaints policy, which is available in our homes.
If you wish to complain about our use of your personal data you may complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
Further information
Abbeyfield Living Society produces a Resident Handbook and a number of different leaflets designed to inform you about our services and other useful topics. There are leaflets on ‘Making a Complaint’ available from your home.
Changes to our Privacy Notice
Our Privacy Notice is regularly kept up to date and this version was updated on 12 June 2024.