Privacy and housing

When you contact Buckinghamshire Council about housing, homelessness, if you are threatened homelessness or needing advice we will ask you for your personal details and the personal details for your household.

This means that we need to provide you with certain information; this Privacy Notice (below) explains what happens to your information

Buckinghamshire Council has statutory duties on housing and homelessness set out in the Housing Act 1996, the Homelessness Act 2002 and the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.

Should you contact us about your housing, homelessness or threatened homelessness, the personal data provided by you will be used

• to assess your situation;
• to contact you about your situation and the information you have provided;
• to request you to provide documents in relation to your housing issue
• to contact third parties with your personal information to request further personal information about you; and
• refer you to third parties and / or other agencies that may be able to help you

The third parties and / or other agencies which we may contact for further information about your household, or refer you to for further support will depend on your personal situation, but may include:

• Social services and related agencies
• NHS medical professionals
• Police, or probation services
• Your Doctor or associated Doctor's surgery staff
• Housing Associations
• Rent Start
• Other departments within Buckinghamshire Council
• Citizens' Advice

This list is not exhaustive, and we may need to use your data to refer you to other third parties and / or other relevant agencies.

Buckinghamshire Council has a legal basis in processing your data in this way without your explicit consent because we carry out a 'public task' (General Data Protection Regulations Article 6(1)(e)). This means that using your personal data, we will contact third parties to obtain and share information in order to comply with the statutory obligation of processing your housing and/or homelessness application. The processing of your personal data is necessary for Buckinghamshire Council to comply with its legal obligations under the law on housing and homelessness

For the purposes of housing and homelessness applications, approaches for advice on homelessness and housing, you are the applicant and are the source of the personal data about you and the members of your household.

Personal information about you relating to you and your household may also be gathered from other sources such as private sector landlords, housing associations, credit agencies, lettings agents, mortgage lending companies, friends and relatives you and your household may have been living with, health services, children, family and adult services, education services, Department of Work and Pensions, Housing Benefit and Council Tax services, Job Centre Plus, Ministry of Defence, the Police, prisons, probation and youth offending services, secure training units, employers, Citizens Advice and voluntary sector organisations. This list is not complete, and depending on what your circumstances we may collect data from other third parties. Information is obtained to assess any help for which you may qualify and to combat fraud.

You are advised that we may undertake an enquiry with a credit agency. This will leave an enquiry footprint with the credit reference agency we search. These are for your protection so that you may see who has been searching your credit report and when. Such enquiry footprints are not the same as those recorded by lenders when you apply for credit and do not affect your credit score, nor your ability to get credit.

Your data will be collected and processed by Buckinghamshire Council staff involved in the administration and management of the housing register, homelessness, housing advice and options.

Information about you relating to your housing, homelessness or threatened homelessness may be shared with third parties such as private sector landlords, housing associations, lettings agents, health services, children, family and adult services, education services, Department of Work and Pensions, Housing Benefit and Council Tax services, the Police, prisons, probation and youth offending services, Citizens Advice and voluntary sector organisations.

If you are homeless or threatened with homelessness Buckinghamshire Council is also required to provide the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government with your personal information for the purpose of evaluating and researching homelessness nationally.

Buckinghamshire Council will not transfer the personal data you have provided outside of the UK or European Union unless this is permitted in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.

The personal data you have supplied is stored on a database and we do not maintain paper files. Any personal data that you supply will be held for a period of five years after your case has been closed.  After five years your data will be redacted from out IT systems.

There is no statutory obligation on you to provide any personal data about you, however, if you do not, your application cannot be considered further.

You have some specific rights in respect of your personal data. These may include some or all of the following rights to:

• see what personal data about you Buckinghamshire Council holds at any time (subject to certain limitations, for example where third parties are identified);
• have Buckinghamshire Council correct any errors (if any) in the personal data it holds about you;
• request your personal data is erased (though this right will not apply where Buckinghamshire Council is processing your personal data because it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation);
• request that processing of your personal data is restricted (this will only apply in certain situations, for example where its accuracy is contested, where the processing is unlawful and you oppose its proposed erasure by Buckinghamshire Council, or where Buckinghamshire Council no longer needs to process the personal data, but it is required by you in connection with legal claims);
• object to the processing where the processing is necessary for a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller (though Buckinghamshire Council will still be able to continue with the processing in certain circumstances, such as if there are compelling grounds for the processing which override your interests

If you wish to exercise any of your rights under data protection laws, please contact the Data Protection Officer details below.

No. If Buckinghamshire Council needs to inform recipients about any action it has taken under the Data Protection Act then it will do so by placing a Notice on Buckinghamshire Council’s website informing the public of any relevant changes.

Buckinghamshire Council as a data controller is committed to respecting the privacy of personal information which it uses in connection with its day to day activities. Our address is:

Buckinghamshire Council
The Gateway
Gatehouse Road
Aylesbury
HP19 8FF

Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at Buckinghamshire Council, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF or email [email protected]

If a data subject is concerned about the way we have processed their personal data and wishes to make a complaint or request a review they should write to:

The Data Protection Officer
Buckinghamshire Council
The Gateway
Gatehouse Road
Aylesbury
HP19 8FF

or email [email protected]

If not you are not content with the outcome of your complaint or review, contact:

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone: 0303 123 1113