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Privacy Policy
At Robert Aston & Company Limited, we’re committed to respecting and protecting your privacy.

This Privacy Policy explains when and why we collect personal information about our website visitors, customers and people who contact or interact with us, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it to others and how we keep it secure.

If you do not want us to process your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy, please do not provide information to Robert Aston & Company or use our website www.robertaston.com

Robert Aston & Company has a Data Protection Officer who is responsible for matters relating to privacy and data protection. The Data Protection Officer can be reached at sales@robertaston.com or 87 Alcester Road, Moseley, Birmingham, B13 8EB.

This privacy notice was last amended in September 2023 and supersedes any earlier version.

About Robert Aston & Company
Robert Aston & Company is a trading name of Robert Aston & Company whose registered number is 01585642 and registered office is 87 Alcester Road, Moseley, Birmingham, B13 8EB.

How do we collect personal information about you?
We obtain personal information about you that you provide to us through our website, emails, phone conversations, documents you provide to us, or when you visit one of our branches, for example when you:

·        Enquire about specific properties for sale or for rent

·        Ask us to value your property

·        Register for our email newsletters

·        Participate in one of our surveys

·        Interact with us on our social media sites

We also obtain personal information relating to you using automated technical means when you visit our website.

What type of personal information is collected?
The information we collect from you might include (but is not limited to) your name, address, email address, phone number, date of birth and financial details and any other information you choose to provide to us.

The information we collect through our website using automated technical means includes: the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the Internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, identification number, online identifier and location data. We also collect information about your website visit including which website pages are accessed, page response times and length of visits to pages.

How long do we retain your personal information? 
We review our retention periods for personal data on a regular basis. We are legally required to hold some types of information for certain prescribed periods to fulfil our statutory obligations. Outside of specific statutory obligations, we will hold your personal data on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant purposes for which we use it, or in accordance with any retention periods set out in any relevant contract you hold with us.

How do we use your personal information? 
We may use the information that you directly provide to us in the following ways:

·        We may use your name, address and contact details for the purpose of carrying out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into by you and Robert Aston & Company. Our legal basis for this use is that it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party.

·        We may use your name, email address and postal address to provide you with information, you have requested from us, respond to enquiries or requests from you, communicate with you in relation to those enquiries or requests. Our legal basis for this use is our legitimate interests, namely carrying out activities in the course of Robert Aston & Company’s business in response to customer enquiries or requests.

·        We may use your name, email address and postal address to provide you with information regarding our services to those you have already enquired about or purchased.  Our legal basis for this use is our legitimate interests, namely the ongoing marketing of our services to individuals with whom we have an existing relationship in connection with our goods and services and/or who have expressed an interest in those goods and services.

·        Where you have entered into a contract with us or we have provided you with services, we may use your name, email address, postal address or phone number to ask for your feedback about the services we have provided to you.  Our legal basis for this use is our legitimate interests, namely evaluating and where necessary improving the quality of our service provision with a view to promoting the success of our business and positive customer relationships.

·        Where you are a party to an existing contract with us or regularly enter into contracts with us for our services, we may use your name, email address, postal address or phone number to notify you of changes to the terms and conditions of our services.  Our legal basis for this use is our legitimate interests, namely the administration and management of our business contracts and relationships.

·        We may use your name, email address and postal address to send you marketing communications, if you have provided us with consent. These may include information about properties for rent or for sale, the current property market, promotions or offers. Our legal basis for this use is consent.

Tenants and prospective tenants, guarantors and prospective guarantors
We will hold and use your information in the following manner:

·        Viewings – We will, organise viewings on your behalf.  We may provide the occupier or the person meeting you at the property with your contact details.

·        Identification Details – We may hold copies of your photographic identity documents for the purposes of carrying out an immigration right to rent check to verify your right to rent before letting a property. This will never be passed to third parties without your consent.

·        Tenancy Application Form – We may use information provided on our tenancy application form to assess your application, process your application if applicable and fulfil our legal and contractual duties.  We will share your information with the landlord to enable them to assess your application and a tenant referencing agency to verify your information.  We currently work with Rent4sure and more information on them can be found on their website https://rent4sure.co.uk/home  

·        Tenancy Agreements and other related documents – Once a tenancy is agreed we will provide a copy of the tenancy agreement and any other related documents to our client, the landlord.

·        Contractors – We may use contractors to carry out maintenance or repair work on the property during the tenancy. We may share your contact data with contractors to enable them to liaise with you and obtain access.  A list of the third party contractors is available on request.

·        Utility suppliers – We will provide your details to the appropriate utility suppliers, as and when it is required to ensure correct billing from the suppliers.

Landlord
We will hold and use your information in the following manner:

·        Prospective Tenants – Basic information about your property will be held. This information will include the property details we produced and any information you provide to us in a property information form.

·        Viewings – We will organise viewings on your behalf, to suit you, the viewer and any tenant who may be residing at the property

·        Negotiating with prospective tenants – We will negotiate with prospective tenants. This process will involve providing potential tenants with relevant personal information to facilitate a successful negotiation.

·        Tenancy Applicants – We will deal with applicants to ensure we provide you with appropriate information to decide on the acceptability of the applicant.  This will involve providing you with relevant and necessary personal information about the applicant.  You should ensure that you treat any information we provide to you as confidential and it must not be passed on or shared with any other person or business.

·        Tenants – Once a tenancy is agreed we will provide the tenant with your personal contact information, as there is a legal requirement to do this.

·        Sub-Contractors – We may sub-contract out some of the services we provide to you under this agreement during tenancies. A list of the third party sub-contractors is available on request.

·        Contractors – We hold a list of preferred contractors who we may use to provide services to you at the property we are marketing and/or managing. We may obtain estimates/quotes for work from these contractors and we may instruct them to carry out work on your behalf. To do this we will provide the appropriate personal information they need to provide the required services. A full list of these contractors is available upon request.

·        Utility suppliers – We will provide your details to the appropriate utility suppliers, as and when it is required to ensure correct billing from the suppliers.

Seller
We will hold and use your information in the following manner:

·        Identification Details - We may hold copies of your photographic identity documents and at least one document that confirms your home address.  We may also use an online service to verify your identity. This is done to meet our obligation under Money Laundering Regulations. It assists us to ensure we are dealing with the owners of the property and we are not becoming involved in any money laundering situation. We will not provide any other party with copies of these documents, except solicitors or estate agents involved in the sale of your property, who also have an obligation to verify your identity and they formally request it.

·        Prospective Buyers - Basic information about your property will be provided to anyone who makes an enquiry about potentially viewing or purchasing your property.  This information will include the property details we produced and any other relevant information you provide to us.

·        Viewings - We will organise viewings on your behalf, to suit you and the viewer. We may provide the viewer with details of the person who is to meet them at the property and conduct the viewing.

·        Negotiating with Prospective Buyers and Handling Offers to Purchase the Property - We will negotiate with prospective buyers and take offers from them.  This process will involve providing potential buyers with relevant personal information to facilitate a successful sale. This will also involve providing you with relevant and necessary personal information about the potential buyer.  You should ensure that you treat any information we provide to you as confidential and it must not be passed on or shared with any other person or business

·        Agreed Sale - Once a sale is agreed we will provide your personal contact information to the buyer and the solicitors acting for both parties. We may provide your contact information to various professionals that may be acting for the buyer, such as surveyors and contractors wanting access to the property to produce estimates, etc. We will discuss the sale of your property with various parties once a sale is agreed in order to facilitate exchange of contracts and completion of the sale.

Buyers and Prospective Buyers
We will hold and use your information in the following manner:

·        Viewings – We will, organise viewings on your behalf.  We may provide the occupier or the person meeting you at the property with your contact details.

·        Identification Details - We may hold copies of your photographic identity documents and at least one document that confirms your home address.  We may also use an online service to verify your identity. This is done to meet our obligation under Money Laundering Regulation. Additionally, it is required to protect our position and look after your interests.  It assists us to ensure we are not becoming involved in any money laundering situation. We will not provide any other party with copies of these documents, except solicitors or estate agents involved in the process, who also have an obligation to verify your identity and they formally request it.

·        Financial position – We may hold copies of your financial status which proves your ability to purchase a property; we may discuss this information with the seller.  We will not provide any other party with copies of these documents without your consent to do so

·        Sellers – Your basic details and your buying position may be provided to a seller whose property you are interested in or arranging to view.

·        Negotiating with Prospective Sellers and Handling Offers to Purchase the Property - We will negotiate with the seller and put forward offers made. This process will involve providing sellers with relevant personal information to facilitate a successful negotiation. This will also involve providing you with relevant and necessary personal information about the seller.  You should ensure that you treat any information we provide to you as confidential and it must not be passed on or shared with any other person or business.

·        Agreed Sale - Once a sale is agreed we may provide your personal contact information to the seller and the solicitors acting for both parties.  We will discuss the purchase of the property with various parties once a sale is agreed in order to facilitate exchange of contracts and completion of the sale.

Who has access to information? 
It may be necessary for us to process or share all or some of your personal data with a range of individuals, businesses and organisations and these may include those listed below:

·        Referencing Agencies

·        Financial Advisors

·        Solicitors

·        Property Surveyors

·        Contractors / Tradesmen

·        Utility Companies

When we use third-party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and otherwise use your information in accordance with applicable data protection law.

Use of Cookies
Like many other websites, our website uses cookies. 'Cookies' are small pieces of information sent by an organisation to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow that website to recognise you when you visit. They collect statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns. Cookies allow us to provide important site functionality so you don’t have to re-enter lots of information. They also allow us to remember what links and pages you have been or viewed during a session. This helps us deliver a better, more personalised service to you. It is possible to switch off cookies by setting your browser preferences. 

Links to other websites
Our website may contain links to other websites run by other organisations. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those organisations or the content of their websites. You should read the privacy policies of these organisations before providing them with any personal information.

How Secure are your details? 
When you register your details, we will take all reasonable steps to keep these details secure and free from unauthorised access by use of technology and internal systems which will be updated as new technology becomes available and is appropriate to our systems.

Accessing Your Data
You have a right to ask for a copy of any personal information we hold on you free of charge. Please contact us to make a request at 0121 449 4411 or e-mail us at sales@robertaston.com

Your rights
In this section we have summarised the rights that you have under data protection law.  Some of the rights are complex, applying only in certain circumstances and subject to certain exceptions, and in the interests of keeping this policy concise, not all of the details have been included in our summaries.  Accordingly, you should read the relevant laws and guidance from the regulatory authorities for a full explanation of these rights. 

You have the right:
·        To object to us processing your personal information for marketing purposes. If you object, we will stop processing your personal information for this purpose.  When we collect your data, you can choose whether or not you wish to receive marketing communications from us. If you wish to stop receiving marketing communications, you can opt out at any time by emailing us at sales@robertaston.com

·        To access the information we hold about you and certain information about our processing of it and your rights in relation to it.

·        In certain circumstances, to obtain erasure of the personal information we hold about you, subject to certain exceptions.

·        To rectification of the information we hold about you.

·        In certain circumstances, to restrict our processing of your personal information or object to us processing it. If you object, we will stop processing your personal information unless certain exceptions apply.

·        Where our legal basis for processing your personal information is your consent or the performance of a contract and we process it by automated means, to be provided with the personal information we hold about you in structured, commonly used and machine readable format and to transmit the information to another controller.

·        To not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, that produces legal effects concerning you or similarly affecting you, subject to certain exceptions.

·        Where our processing of your personal information is based on your consent, to withdraw that consent at any time.  If you withdraw your consent, we will stop the relevant processing, but it will not affect the lawfulness of our processing before the withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights you can email us at sales@robertaston.com or you can write to us at 87 Alcester Road, Moseley, B13 8EB. In addition, you can exercise your right to object to direct marketing at any time by emailing us at sales@robertaston.com.

Changes to This Privacy Policy. 
This Privacy Policy will remain in effect except with respect to any changes in its provisions in the future, which will be in effect immediately after being posted on this page. We reserve the right to update or change our Privacy Policy at any time and you should check this Privacy Policy periodically.

Your continued use of the service after we post any modifications to the Privacy Policy on this page will constitute your acknowledgment of the modifications and your consent to abide and be bound by the modified Privacy Policy. If we make any material changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you either through the email address you have provided us, or by placing a prominent notice on our website.

Enquiries and Complaints 
How to lodge a complaint?
 If you consider that our processing of your personal information infringes data protection laws, you have the right to lodge a complaint. Please contact the managing director Matthew Carlton in writing to: Robert Aston & Company, 87 Alcester Road, Moseley, B13 8EB.

We will acknowledge receipt of all complaints and will endeavor to investigate the complaint as soon as reasonably practicable.

Review of this Policy
We keep this Policy under regular review. This Policy was last updated September 2023.
If we change our Privacy Policy we will post the changes on this page and may place notices on other sections of the website and/or notify you by email.

Further information
You can obtain further information about data protection laws by visiting the Information Commissioner's Office website at www.ico.org.uk.

"Thank you very much for all your assistance Louise. It has been a very smooth process and I have been very grateful to be with you and Matthew for this tenant move. We have had endless poor experience with agents with the other property we own elsewhere. There has been no comparison!"
Miss R