Privacy Policy

This privacy notice sets out how we will process personal data we collect from or about you, or which you provide to us specifically in relation to the GDPR 2018. Please read this notice carefully to understand why data is being collected and what we do with that data.

The aim of GDPR is to protect all EU citizens’ data. We live in a modern and digital society, so the data companies hold, in particular personal data in respect of GDPR, needs to protected and securely held.

The purpose of this document is to set out and detail how we as a firm will meet our obligations in relation to GDPR. We aim to be as transparent as possible and only wish to collect/hold data that is deemed necessary in relation to the purposes of your property transaction and or property search.

We are registered with the information commissioner’s office (https://ico.org.uk – registration ref: ZA292913 and our officer is Nigel Sawyers)

Our website and services may contain links to independent websites which are not provided by us. Such independent sites are not under our control, and we are not responsible for and have not checked and approved their content or their privacy policies.

We may change the privacy notice from time to time by amending this page.

What type of information will we collect from you

The personal information we may collect from you will typically include the following:

Full name and contact details (including your contact number, email and postal address)
Information relating to your identity where we are required by law to collect this to comply. This will include 1 piece of photographic ID and 1 piece highlighting proof of residence. We must hold this data for 5 years to comply with Anti-Money Laundering Regulations 2017 and is destroyed thereafter.

Why do we require such data

We require your contact details for obvious reasons when marketing your property or overseeing a property sale to you mainly to be able to establish contact. We also must hold personal data when verifying who you are as a customer in relation to Anti Money Laundering Regulations. For security reasons we ask that prospective purchasers provide their contact details so we are aware as to whom ourselves and our clients are dealing with especially in relation to staff and client safety whilst undertaking direct meetings such as viewings.

On what basis can we process your information

The legal grounds under data protection legislation for processing your personal data are as follows:

• It is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, or to take steps prior to entering into a contract with you, for us to provide you with our products and services.
• You have given us explicit consent to the processing of your personal data for one or more specific purposes, namely 1) where you have given us consent to receive electronic marketing by us and/or 2) to process your Special Category Personal Data described above. You do not need to provide us with marketing consent in order to receive our services.
• It is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests, except where our interests are overridden by the interests, rights or freedoms of affected individuals (such as you). To determine this we shall consider a number of factors, such as what you were told at the time you provided your data, what your expectations are about the processing of the data, the nature of the data, and the impact of the processing on you. Our legitimate interests include processing necessary to improve and to promote our services and product and to better understand our customers’ interests and knowledge of the property market and to administer the technical aspects of our service and products.
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation; or in rare circumstances
• Where we need to protect your interests (or someone else’s interests); and/or
• Where it is needed in the public interest or for official purposes

What are we going to do with your information?

We will hold and use personal information about you in the following ways:

• To fulfil our obligations to you when providing you with our property services.
• To share your information with others where necessary to fulfil our property services for you or where acting as agent for a third party on your behalf.
• To comply with our statutory and regulatory obligations, including [verifying your identity, prevention of fraud and money laundering.
• Communicate with you during the course of providing our services, for example with your enquiries and requests.
• During the course of a property transaction there are often examples whereby we would supply your contact details to third parties to allow the transaction to progress, these include: other estate agents, energy performance assessor, solicitors, firms of surveyors, mortgage lenders, financial advisors (not without prior consent) and tradesmen (not without prior consent). This data would be shared either verbally or by letter/email/text message form. In most circumstances this personal data would consist of name, address, contact telephone number.

We cannot be responsible for the privacy/GDPR practices of third parties whom may receive your contact information.

How long we keep your data for

We will retain your personal data for different periods depending on the service you have chosen to use us for, which may be a longer period than that for which we need to hold your data to provide those services, i.e. where we are under regulatory or statutory duties to hold your data for a longer period or need to retain it in the event of a legal claim or complaint.

How we protect your personal data

Your data will be stored securely and where in digital form we will take steps to ensure the data is stored in an encrypted file system.

Your rights

You have a right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you, known as a data subject access request – all requests can be submitted to Nigel Sawyers, J. G. Sawyers & Sons LTD, 17a Claremont Crescent, Whitley Bay, NE26 3HL.

• You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data at any time, for mailing list purposes you will have the option to unsubscribe at any time and your data will be deleted in full.
• If you feel that your personal data has been breached you do have the right to lodge a complaint with Nigel Sawyers, J G Sawyers & Sons LTD, 17a Claremont Crescent, Whitley Bay. NE26 3HL. If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data not in accordance with the law you can complain to the UK data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office.  Further details can be found at www.ico.org.uk or 0303 123 1113.
• Individuals have the right to obtain confirmation that their data is being processed in addition to access to their personal data and supplementary information, requests can be made free of charge and will be responded to without delay and within a 1 month period.
• Individuals have the right to have inaccurate personal data rectified, or completed if it is incomplete, the individual can make a request for rectification verbally or in writing and will be responded to without delay and within a 1 month period.
• The GDPR introduces a right for individuals to have personal data erased. Requests must be made either verbally or in writing and will actioned within a 1 month period. Requests may be refused if personal data is still required under law i.e. Anti-Money Laundering Regulations.
• The right to data portability allows individuals to obtain and reuse their personal data for their own purposes across different services.

Breach of personal data

We will make every effort to ensure that your personal data is not breached. We will be required to notify the ICO of a breach where it is likely to result in a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals – if, for example, it could result in discrimination, damage to reputation, financial loss, loss of confidentiality or any other significant economic or social disadvantage.