Privacy Statement

Gibbs Gillespie is committed to protecting your privacy and your personal information and aims to maintain a high standard of compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998. The Privacy Statement forms part of the Gibbs Gillespie Privacy Policy and is intended to inform you about the following:

• How Gibbs Gillespie collects your personal information;
• What type of personal information Gibbs Gillespie collects;
• The purposes for which Gibbs Gillespie uses that information;
• How Gibbs Gillespie maintains and keeps the information secure; and
• How you may access, correct or update any personal information that Gibbs Gillespie holds about you.

How does Gibbs Gillespie collect personal information about me?

In its marketing activities, Gibbs Gillespie may access various databases in the public domain such as the electoral roll or other property databases. Gibbs Gillespie may also obtain referrals and recommendations from existing clients.

When you become a client or prospective client of Gibbs Gillespie, most of the personal information about you is collected by Gibbs Gillespie either directly from you, or indirectly from Gibbs Gillespie Lettings Ltd, The Mortgage & Insurance Bureau or from public-domain, government databases such as the previously mentioned example.

As part of its due diligence process prior to entering into lease or rental agreements with you, Gibbs Gillespie may use authorised credit-checking agencies.

What type of personal information does Gibbs Gillespie collect about me?

Gibbs Gillespie may collect any of the following information about you if you are a prospective Vendor, Purchaser, Tenant or Landlord:

• Contact details
• Property ownership details
• Desired property ownership details

If you are a prospective tenant, Gibbs Gillespie may collect the following information from you:

• Employment details such as your employment status, employer, salary, length of employment
• Other sources of income
• Personal and financial referees whom we may contact

Sometimes Gibbs Gillespie may also need to ask you for other personal information to enable Gibbs Gillespie to provide its services to you.

Why does Gibbs Gillespie collect this information?

Gibbs Gillespie collects this information to:

• Enable Gibbs Gillespie to provide you with the services and/or products you may require.
• To comply with estate agency legislation or regulations with respect to property sales, lettings and administration.
• Enable subsidiaries and third party partner businesses to assist you with related or ancillary services, as required.

How does Gibbs Gillespie use the personal information held about me?

Any personal information about you that Gibbs Gillespie collects and records will only be used or disclosed by Gibbs Gillespie lawfully and by fair means for the purpose of:

• compliance with our and your obligations under estate agency legislation and regulations and other minor acts
• helping Gibbs Gillespie and Gibbs Gillespie Lettings Ltd and The Mortgage & Insurance Bureau efficiently and effectively deliver and improve on Gibbs Gillespie, Gibbs Gillespie Lettings Ltd and The Mortgage & Insurance Bureau products and services or any other purpose specified to you at the time of collection; or
• any other purpose if you would reasonably expect Gibbs Gillespie to use or disclose that personal information for that other purpose and that other purpose is related to the above purpose; or
• sending you news and other information about Gibbs Gillespie’s activities and general promotional material which Gibbs Gillespie believes may be of interest to you, however, when Gibbs Gillespie does this, Gibbs Gillespie will provide you with an express opportunity to decline receiving any further communication from Gibbs Gillespie of this type via an opt-out mechanism.

If Gibbs Gillespie wishes to use or disclose any of your personal information in any other ways than described above, Gibbs Gillespie will not do so unless:

• Gibbs Gillespie has your express consent to do so;
• Gibbs Gillespie has reasonable grounds to believe that the use or disclosure is necessary to prevent a threat to life or health; or
• Gibbs Gillespie has reasonable ground to believe that the use or disclosure is required by law or to enforce the law.

Can I be anonymous when I deal with Gibbs Gillespie?

To some extent you can preserve your anonymity when you deal Gibbs Gillespie. You can visit our website without providing any personal information and you can access our estate agency advertising in various publications including weekly newspaper advertising.

However when you enter into transactions with Gibbs Gillespie or Gibbs Gillespie Lettings Ltd or The Mortgage & Insurance Bureau, that involve the sale, purchase or rental of property, then various Acts, statutory legislation and regulations require you to provide us with personal information so as to identify you.

What happens if I want to access or correct the personal information held about me?

You may access your personal information held by Gibbs Gillespie, subject to some exceptions. We will respond to your request for access within 14 days and endeavour to provide the requested information within 30 days.

We may charge you a reasonable fee to recover our costs for providing access based on the quantity of material and time involved in providing access.

We may not be able to provide access to information in some situations including:

• Where in our opinion providing you access may create a serious threat to the life or health of any individual or may be an unreasonable intrusion into the privacy of another individual;
• Where your request for access is in our opinion frivolous or vexatious; or
• Where providing access would be unlawful, may prejudice an investigation of possible unlawful activity, may prejudice enforcement of law, or denying access is specifically unauthorised by law.

If for any reason Gibbs Gillespie does not allow you to access your personal information, Gibbs Gillespie will provide you with reasons in writing for its decision.

Does Gibbs Gillespie provide my personal information to third parties?

There are some instances when we need to provide your personal information to third parties. We may be bound by law to provide your details to government-related bodies including but not limited to the tax office.

Sometimes we may need to outsource some of our administrative and other property-related functions to external organisations such as Advertising Agencies, Signwriters, building and garden maintenance contractors, or consultants such as accountants, lawyers, surveyors and other advisors. Most of the above organisations are bound by express or implied confidentiality obligations to Gibbs Gillespie.

Gibbs Gillespie does not sell your personal details to other organisations. We may however use the information about you to assist us with internal marketing and research.

How does Gibbs Gillespie keep my personal information secure?

Gibbs Gillespie will take reasonable steps to ensure information Gibbs Gillespie collects, uses or discloses is stored in a secure environment that is accessed only by persons authorised by Gibbs Gillespie so as to prevent misuse, loss or unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

If the personal information is no longer needed for any purpose, Gibbs Gillespie will take reasonable steps to destroy or permanently de-identify the personal information.

Gibbs Gillespie endeavours to provide a secure environment and a reliable system but you should be aware that there are inherent risks associated with the electronic storage and transmission of information (particularly via the Internet) which cannot be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

Who do I contact for further information?

You can write to the Privacy Officer at:

Gibbs Gillespie
Chapel Lane Chambers
1 Chapel Lane
Pinner
Middlesex
HA5 5EH

T 020 8866 6428
Email privacy@gibbs-gillespie.co.uk

What if I have a complaint or concern?

If you have a complaint or concern you can phone the Gibbs Gillespie Privacy Officer on 020 8866 6428 or write to the Privacy Officer at the address above. We will do our best to try and resolve your complaint within 90 days.