How we use your personal information for Social Housing Letting Agency purposes.
The Council provides services for local communities and the people who live in them. Undertaking this work means that we must collect and use information about the people we provide services to and keep a record of those services. Because we collect and use personal information about individuals, we must make sure that they know what we intend to do with their information and who it may be shared with.
We have summarised in this privacy notice some of the keyways in which we use your personal information for Social Letting Agency purposes. This information should be read in conjunction with the Council’s corporate privacy notice.
1. Who are we, What we do?
The Social Housing Letting Agency (SHLA) manages Private Rented Sector properties on behalf of Landlords to provide a long term, high standard, and affordable housing within the private rented sector.
The Social Housing Letting Agency are responsible for management of all the properties and provide tenancy support to enable tenants to maintain their tenancy and become independent with managing a tenancy.
The Social Housing l Letting Agency aims to break down barriers that may be experienced by some client’s in accessing private rented properties and help reduce the waiting time for those waiting to be housed.
The SHLA is also a priority within the RCTCBC Homelessness Strategy 2018-2022
2. What and whose personal information we hold?
The information we hold, and process will typically include:
Tenants
- Name, address, date of birth, NI number
- Details of all people living in the property; names, ages and if in receipt of benefits for monitoring purposes
- Contact details such as telephone numbers and email address of the tenancy holder
- Financial income details and benefits, and bank details.
- Any tenancy related debt or issues
- Support / medical information to ensure we are providing the right level of support, to be able to manage any risks, reduce rent arrears and prioritise repairs
- Any current criminal conviction information that is required to assist with your application, for example, location of property offered, bail conditions.
Landlord
- Name, personal home address
- Contact details such as telephone number and email address
- Bank details (to process rent payment, loans, and grants)
3. Where does the service get my information from?
We will get this information from:
- You, the applicant when you apply for housing through the Councils Home finder Team
- Other Council departments, e.g. Housing Solutions Team
- Information provided by other organisations, for example if you have a Social worker or support Worker, Probation Officer, Police, or anyone else who maybe supporting you with managing a tenancy.
4. What will we do with your personal information?
We will use your information to:
- Provide you with suitable housing options and manage your tenancy agreement.
- Support you with your tenancy agreement, i.e. put in place payment plans.
- Work with partner organisation to carry out any repairs and maintain the property condition.
- Carry out property inspections.
- We will also become involved with any neighbour disputes and work with the Community Safety Team to provide support and action where appropriate
5. What is the legal basis for the use of this information?
Data Protection Law says that we can use and share personal information only where we have a proper and lawful reason for doing so.
Our lawful basis for processing personal information and to provide you with support with Tenancy services and to meet the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is as follows:
Personal Information:
Article 6 1. (c), (e) - to fulfil our legal and statutory obligations under the:
- Welsh Government PRS Lease scheme
- Housing Act 2014
Special Category Information ((i.e. information about a person’s race, ethnic origin, politics, religion, trade union membership, genetics, biometrics, health, sex life or orientation):
Article 9 2. (g) - to fulfil our legal and statutory obligations under the:
- Welsh Government PRS Lease scheme
- Housing Act 2014
6. Does the service share my personal information with any other organisation?
Yes, we will share your personal information with other Council departments or external organisations to manage and support your tenancy agreement as follows:
External Organisations
- Partner organisations for safety checks and repairs i.e. Trivallis and Care and Repair
- Cynon Taff Community Housing Group for out of hours emergencies and repairs.
- Alma Economics for consultancy services
- Charities and support organisations who offer support such as financial matters or coping with isolation.
- Emergency services for welfare and safeguarding issues.
To show compliance for Welsh Government funding and grant conditions but all personal information will be anonymised
Internal Council Departments
- Public Health and Protection to complete property inspections and determine property suitability.
- Finance Team to process rent payments /grant and loan payments.
- Legal Services to process signing of contract/lease (Landlord) or any tenancy matters such as evictions/court proceedings.
- Property Law Team if applying for a loan or grant (Landlord)
- Housing Solutions Team for client referrals
- Children’s Services and Adult Social Care for welfare and safeguarding issues.
- Community Safety Team for neighbour and anti- social behaviour issues.
7. How long will my information be kept?
Your information will be kept for 7 years after your tenancy ends, this is in case there is a complaint or legal concern regarding the way the tenancy was conducted.
8. Your information, your rights
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) gives you important rights, including the right to access the personal information the services hold about you.
Click here for further information on your information rights and how to exercise them.
9. Contact us
If you have any concerns or would like to know more about how the service using your personal information, please contact us in one of the following ways:
By email: SocialHousingLettingAgency@rctcbc.gov.uk
By telephone: 01443 281490
In writing: Social Housing Letting agency
Sardis House
Sardis Road
Pontypridd
CF371DU