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Privacy

Policy

Welcome to hotkeyinvest.co.uk

Privacy Policy

HKI – Privacy policy


Who we are – Hotkey Consultancy Ltd trading as Hotkey Invests of 44-46 High Street, Wem, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY4 5DG who we refer to as “HKI” hereafter.


We, HKI act to ensure your privacy is protected and this document aims to describe how, when and what personal data is collected and how we may use this information.

 

This privacy notice was last amended in May 2018. It supersedes any earlier version.

Outline information


Use of your personal data will be in accordance with this privacy policy and we, HKI, are the controller for the collection and use of this personal information. We aim to ensure this information is treated as confidential, held and used in accordance with current General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and only shared as described in this policy. This policy may change from time to time to ensure compliance with all relevant legislation.


What personal information is
How we collect your personal information
The types of personal information we collect
How we use your personal information
The legal basis for processing your personal information
How we share your personal information
How long we keep your personal information
How we keep your personal information secure
Overseas transfers of your personal information
Your rights in relation to your personal information
How to make complaints and how to contact us
If there are any changes to the way in which your personal information is used, this Privacy Policy will be updated.

Personal information


This is any information that identifies you, personally e.g. Your name, address, contact details (phone, email etc.), date of birth that would enable anyone to identify you personally.
There are other types of information considered to be 'Special Data’, e.g. Ethnic origin, religious beliefs, sexual orientation. HKI does not collect or store any data in this category.

Information HKI may collect 


We will regularly collect your full name and contact details (such as phone number, email address and postal address) usually from the point of first contact with us.
If you are a client and we are providing a service to you, we may legally be required to collect information relating to your identity, which will be at least one form of photographic identification (such as a passport, a driving licence or an identification card) and one form of documentation with proof of your place of residence (such as a recent utility bill).
Depending on the service that we provide to you (or on your behalf) we may also collect additional personal information as detailed below;

Selling or letting with HKI


If you are selling or letting a property through us;
We will collect telephone number(s), email address etc. to get in touch with you to ensure we can make viewing appointments, provide feedback, discuss marketing, negotiate offers received etc. in accordance with the contract we have entered into.
If you are not the legal owner of a property, we will require suitable legal documentation supporting your right to act in the sale or let. This may be as but not limited to a Power of Attorney, Guardianship Order or Grant of Probate.
If a landlord, we will collect your bank account details to arrange onward payment of rent due to you.

Looking to Rent and Renting Through HKI

 

Information of your requirements, so that we can find a property that is suitable for your needs
Your bank / building / similar account details to allow us to manage an approved tenancy deposit account for you and to set up your rental payments.
All legally required information that may be required to allow HKI to carry out 'Right to Rent' checks
Further information reasonably required to allow referencing procedures to protect the interest(s) of our landlord clients

Looking to Buy and Buying Through HKI 


Information of your requirements, so that we can find a property that is suitable for your needs
Financial information (bank statements, mortgage arrangements in principle) to allow compulsory Anti-Money Laundering checks and to protect the interest(s) of our vendor(s).
Information relating to your ability to proceed to purchase without delay e.g. Information of any related sale, your Estate Agent's contact details, mortgage broker and Solicitor.
Further information reasonably required to allow referencing procedures to protect the interest(s) of our landlord(s).

Where HKI Manage your property


Further information as may be required to enable us to act in emergency on your behalf.
Information required to be able to report to HMRC where you are an overseas based landlord.
 

Use of your personal information


HKI will only use your personal information for a number of legally accepted activities: -
To fulfil our contract to you as a client such as but not limited to the letting, selling, buying, leasing of a property. Meaning all estate agency activities reasonably undertaken to generate interest, viewings and to attract offers to let, sell or lease a property.

For HKI legitimate business interests.

 

This may include sending you marketing information to promote our brand or services, sending you details of properties that may meet your requirements, sharing of property market news/information that you may find of interest, contacting you to ensure our information is accurate and up to date. You have the right to opt out of any or all communication at any time unless our actions are necessary to fulfil our contractual obligations to you, as a client.
Processing your information to ensure our legal compliance e.g. Anti-money laundering checks and right to rent checks.
Processing that is necessary to maintain the security of your data.
 

When buying through HKI, sharing your personal information with solicitors appointed in the transaction and other estate agents within the 'chain' that your purchase lies.  In the event of any complaint, we may also be required to share your personal details with the Property Redress Scheme.
 

When renting through HKI your information may be shared with third party referencing agencies (e.g. Tenant Referencing UK).
With any governmental enforcement body where disclosure of such information is a legal requirement i.e. To comply with Anti-Money Laundering requirements, the avoidance of fraud and assessment of 'Right to Rent'.

Where we are managing property on the landlord’s behalf, we may need to pass your personal information from time to time on to third party contractors whom we have engaged to carry out maintenance on the properties.


We may pass your information to Independent Mortgage Advisers, Estate Agents/Management Companies, Furniture Companies where HKI has an introducer relationship on a referral basis in relation to the arrangement of financing, property management, tenant referencing or furniture to allow you to acquire a property and/or other related financial and non-financial products that may be considered suitable. We will get your express opt-in consent before we share your personal data with any company outside the HKI Group of companies for marketing purposes.


Where our clients are new homes builders/developers we may share your personal information to these clients and/or Financial Advisers acting alongside/with these clients as per our contractual obligation to such clients.
 

Where you are purchasing a property under the Help to Buy scheme we will disclose information which needs to be provided to the scheme operators to check your eligibility and to allow you to participate in and obtain benefits from the scheme.

Other uses of your personal information.


If we sell any part of our business your details may be disclosed to our advisers and to our prospective purchasers and their advisers. If this occurs the new owners of the business will only be permitted to use your information in the same or similar way as set out in this privacy notice.
We will share personal information with our regulators, governmental or quasi-governmental organisations, law enforcement authorities and with courts, tribunals and arbitrators as may be required from time to time in order to comply with our regulatory and legal obligations;
Where we use third party services providers who process personal information on our behalf in order to provide services to us. This includes IT systems providers and IT contractors as well as third party referencing or screening agencies for the purposes of the prevention and detection of crime and protection of our client(s) interests. This currently includes Microsoft, 123-Reg and Adobe Sign, for the purpose of email services, HubSpot, Inc. for client management systems, Wix for website provision and hosting.
We may share your personal information with any person working within HKI on a need to know basis to ensure we are able to perform our obligations to you.
Where we use your information for our legitimate business interest and for marketing of services/products, your information will be shared with Sendinblue, MessageBird B.V. and Wix.com Ltd (our marketing contractors) purely for this purpose.

We will hold your personal information on our client management systems and use this to provide you with marketing information about similar services offered by HKI to those which you have engaged us to provide which we feel you might find useful from time to time.

 

You have the right to withdraw your consent for us to use your personal data for marketing purposes at any time. You also have the right to withdraw consent for us to pass your information to third parties for marketing purposes. If you do withdraw your consent, this will result in us ceasing to market goods and services to you.

 

You can ask us to stop sending you marketing messages at any time by:

 

If you do withdraw your consent to receiving marketing messages, we will still process your personal data in order to fulfil our contract with you and in accordance with our legal, accountancy and regulatory obligations.

 

If you no longer wish to be contacted by third parties for marketing purposes, please follow the instructions in their marketing communications, or consult their privacy policies about how to unsubscribe.


Keeping your information secure


The security of information is very important to us and we have measures in place which are designed to prevent unauthorised access to your personal information including but not limited to:
Our client files are stored on our secure client management systems (currently HubSpot, Inc.). Access is restricted on our client systems to those within the business who are required to have access to your information for legitimate business purposes. Data is stored on HubSpot, Inc. cloud-based servers located within the EU.
Hard copy documentation is stored in cabinets which are locked outside of usual business hours.
All data is hosted in EU datacentres which have systems and protections in place to protect against both unauthorised access, and other external factors that could cause damage to your personal data. There are strict access requirements in place and access is restricted to those absolutely necessary.

How long do we keep your personal information?


The period for which we will keep your personal information will depend on the type of service you have requested from us. The retention period may be longer than the period for which we are providing services to you where we have statutory or regulatory obligations to retain personal information for a longer period, or where we may need to retain the information in case of a legal claim. Also, where we have legitimate business interest in marketing our services to potential future clients, your data will be retained unless you choose to opt out of receiving such marketing.

Your personal information rights


You have a number of rights in relation to your personal information, these include the right to:
Be informed about how we use your personal information
Obtain access to your personal information that we hold
Request that your personal information is corrected if you believe it is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate
Request that we erase your personal information in the following circumstances:
If HKI is continuing to process personal information beyond the period when it is necessary to do so for the purpose for which it was originally collected
If HKI is relying on consent as the legal basis for processing and you withdraw consent
If HKI is relying on legitimate business interests as the legal basis for processing and you object to this processing and there is no overriding compelling ground which enables us continue with the processing
If the personal information has been processed unlawfully (i.e. in breach of the requirements of prevailing data protection legislation)
If it is necessary to delete the personal information to comply with a legal obligation
Ask us to restrict our data processing activities where you consider that:
personal information is inaccurate
our processing of your personal information is unlawful
where we no longer need the personal information but you require us to keep it to enable you to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim
where you have raised an objection to our use of your personal information
Request a copy of certain personal information that you have provided to us in a commonly used electronic format. This right relates to personal information that you have provided to us that we need in order to perform our agreement with you and personal information where we are relying on consent to process your personal information
Object to our processing of your personal information where we are relying on legitimate interests or exercise of a public interest task to make the processing lawful. If you raise an objection we will carry out an assessment to determine whether we have an overriding legitimate ground which entitles us to continue to process your personal information; and
If you would like to exercise any of your rights please contact info@hotkeyinvest.co.uk

Complaints and who to contact 


Complaints
If you have any complaints about the way we use your personal information please contact the Data Protection Officer at complaints@hotkeyinvest.co.uk who will try to resolve the issue. If we cannot resolve any issue, you have the right to complain to the data protection authority in your country (the Information Commissioner in the UK). If you need more information about how to contact your local data protection authority, please let us know by contacting info@hotkeyinvest.co.uk


Contact details
If you have any questions, comments or requests regarding any aspect of this Privacy Policy, please do not hesitate to contact us by sending an email to info@hotkeyinvest.co.uk or writing to the Data Protection Officer, Hotkey Invest, 44-46 High Street, Wem, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY4 5DG.

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