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This privacy policy sets out how Wills & Smerdon uses and protects any information that you give Wills & Smerdon when you use our services.

At Wills & Smerdon we are dedicated to safeguarding and preserving your privacy when visiting our site or communicating electronically with us.

This Privacy Policy explains what happens to any personal data that you provide to us, or that we collect from you when you are on this site or have made enquiries and/or registered interest in our products or services electronically or in person.

We do update this Policy from time to time so please do return and review this Policy regularly.

Data Controller

Wills & Smerdon is a controller for the personal information that it collects and uses about you.

We will treat your personal information as confidential and in accordance with applicable data protection legislation and your personal information will only be shared with others in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Personal Information we collect

Any personal information such as name, postal address, telephone number, and email address supplied via this website & completing our website’s forms or through other means of communications with us will only be used to provide a requested service and will not be disclosed to any other third party without your prior permission or unless we are required to do so by law. We may contact you in response to your enquiry, to offer requested services or to provide you with relevant property information that you have requested. We do not keep your data for any longer than is necessary.

Any non-personal information such as IP address, pages accessed, and files downloaded will only be used to determine how many individuals use our site, how many people visit on a regular basis, which pages are most popular, and which pages are least popular. This information does not tell us anything about who you are or where you live, it is simply used to enable us to monitor and improve our service. This is done by way of cookies on our website and the use of analytical services such as Google Analytics. To find out more please visit our cookies policy

Use of your information

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

  • Internal record keeping
  • We may use the information to improve our services
  • We may periodically contact you by telephone or e-mail concerning properties which are offered for sale/rent which we consider will be of interest to you.  These may be new instructions or properties from our existing portfolio.
  • To meet our contractual commitments to you.
  • To notify you about any changes to our website, such as improvements or service/product changes, that may affect our service.

If you are an existing customer, we may contact you with information about properties and services similar to those which were the subject of a previous enquiry or contract with you.

If you are a new customer, we will only contact you when you have provided consent and only by those means for which you have provided consent.

Buying, Selling, Letting or Renting

If you are selling or letting a property through us;

  • We will collect all necessary details to get in touch with you about organising viewings and updating you on any offers received or rental applications for your property.
  • Where you are not the legal owner of the property we will request details from you as to your ability to sell or let the property such as a Power of Attorney, Guardianship Order or Grant of Probate.
  • We will collect your bank account details to arrange onward payment of rent due to you
  • We will also require satisfactory information for Wills & Smerdon to comply with the current Anti Money Laundering legislation

If you wish to rent a property we are listing we will collect:

  • Specific access 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 Standing order  mandate.
  • We will share your relevant personal information with Utility Companies and/or their agents as well as the relevant authorities to inform them of your details as a new consumer.
  • We will also require all the necessary information for Wills & Smerdon to comply with the current Anti Money Laundering & Right to Rent legislation

If you wish to purchase a property we are listing for sale, we will collect personal information relating to any specific requirements you may have in relation to a property so that we can find a property that is suitable for your needs. We will also collect personal information required to source a property for you and, where required, negotiate the purchase of a property on your behalf. We will also share certain information with relevant parties (solicitors/agents) in the process of chain checking & monitoring progress throughout the conveyance process.

Property Management

Where we engage with you to manage property on your behalf we will ask for additional emergency contact information in case we need to get in touch with you outside of working hours or in the event there is a matter requiring your urgent attention.

If you are renting a property which is also managed by us, your contact details may be shared with appointed contractors on behalf of the Landlord for specific attendance issues.

Telephone Communication

Calls made to and from our Offices may be recorded for training and monitoring purposes.

Securing your personal information

At Wills & Smerdon we are committed to protecting your privacy, we follow strict security procedures to ensure that your personal information is not damaged, destroyed, or disclosed to a third party without your permission, or within the constraints of this Privacy statement and to prevent unauthorised access. The servers that store your information are kept up to date and secured with appropriate firewalls/virus protection and have restricted access.

The transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure and therefore we cannot guarantee the security of data sent to us electronically and transmission of such data is therefore entirely at your own risk. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password so that you can access certain parts of our site, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential.

External links

This website may contain links to third party sites that we have no control over, if you visit those sites you should check you are content with their own privacy policies and terms of use before providing any personal information. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement.

In addition, if you linked to our website from a third party, we cannot be responsible for the privacy policies and practices of that third party site.

Information from social networking sites (such as Facebook and Twitter)

Information from social media activity is collected, including likes, shares and tweets on our Digital Channels and about our content on social networking sites. When a user signs in to an account on Wills & Smerdon using social network credentials, such as a Facebook log-in, permission is granted to the social network to share user’s details.

Depending on the network this will include basic account information such as name, email address, property status and any other details chosen to be shared according to Facebook account settings.  Wills & Smerdon may from time to time, on different apps and services, request more than just basic account information. We will always be clear about this requirement up front, but the user should also check what permissions are being sought before connecting with these apps and services. If the Wills & Smerdon app is removed from social network settings, we will no longer be able to access this information.

Your rights to your personal information

The Data Protection Act 1998 gives you the right to access the information that we hold about you. Please note that any demand for access may be subject to payment of a fee of £10 which covers our costs in providing you with the information requested. Should you wish to receive details that we hold about you please contact us by emailing enquiries@willsandsmerdon.co.uk.

As a user you have the following rights

  • A right to be informed about our collection and use of personal information
  • A right to access your personal information
  • A right to correct your personal information
  • A right to ask us to delete your personal information unless we are obliged to retain it for other legal reasons
  • A right to restrict or object to the processing or use of your personal information
  • A right to report to a supervisory authority about the use of your personal information.

Complaints

If you would like to review or revise information you have previously provided to us both online or in person, or you have any questions relating to this Privacy Policy, you may do so via our contact us page. We will address your concerns and attempt to solve any problem to your satisfaction.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

For further information about your rights, please contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, or your local Citizens Advice Bureau.

Our Acceptance

By using this website, you consent to the collection and use of information by Wills & Smerdon in accordance with this privacy policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not continue to use our site. You have the right to withdraw your consent to us using your data and to request that we delete it. To do this, please contact us at enquiries@willsandsmerdon.co.uk.

Contacting Us

We welcome any queries, comments or requests you may have regarding this Privacy Policy. Please do not hesitate to contact us by email, phone, personal visit or in writing.

Get in touch

Call us or use the contact form below.