Privacy

Privacy Policy

We are committed to the protection of personal data and take this very seriously. My Property Box Group has adopted strong data protection principles to ensure that your privacy is protected and this Privacy Policy governs our use of your personal data.

My Property Box is a network of leading Lettings and Estate Agents across the north of England, with branches in Darlington and Newcastle. On this site, "My Property Box", "our" and "we" each mean all companies forming part of My Property Box Holdings Ltd (including but not limited to My Property Box Ltd and Acorn Properties (Jesmond) Limited and their respective subsidiaries) which collect and use your information in the manner set out in this Privacy Notice.

Any reference to "you" or "your" refers to anyone whose personal information we process. Please read this policy carefully as it contains important information on who we are, what data we collect, how and why we collect it, how we use and share your personal data and where we store it.

When we collect and use your personal information, we are subject to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 and for the purpose of these laws we are responsible as the 'controller' of the personal data.

Who We Are

We are My Property Box Ltd, company number 08140860 trading as 'My Property Box'. This privacy policy is issued on behalf of the My Property Box Ltd.

Key terms used within this policy:

We, us, our — My Property Box Ltd trading as My Property Box, part of My Property Box Holding Company.
Department responsible for data protection compliance — Operations Team, Alton House, 27-31 Grange Road, Darlington, County Durham, England, DL1 5NA.
You or Your — Refers to anyone whose personal data we hold.

What Data We Collect

Personal data is any information that tells us something about you where you are directly or indirectly identified or identifiable as an individual. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. We may collect and use the following personal data about you:

Identity Data — Includes first name, maiden name, last name, username or similar identifier,
marital status, title, date of birth, your image (photographic or video), nationality, and gender.
Contact Data — Includes residential address, property ownership information, relevant contact addresses, email address and telephone numbers.
Financial Data — Includes bank account, payment card details and information to enable us to undertake Anti Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing electronic checks on you.
Transaction Data — Includes details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us.
Technical Data — Includes internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access this website.
Profile Data — Includes purchases or orders made by you, your interests, preferences, feedback and survey responses.
Usage Data — Includes information about how you use our website, products and services.
Marketing and Communications Data — Includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third parties and your communication preferences.
Call Recordings — Includes recording all calls made and received externally.

We also collect, use and share Aggregated Data such as statistical or demographic data for any purpose. Aggregated Data could be derived from your personal data but is not considered personal data in law as this data will not directly or indirectly reveal your identity.

This personal data is required to provide our services to you. If you do not provide the personal data we ask for, it may delay or prevent us from providing services to you.

We do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health, and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.

How We Collect Personal Data

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

Direct Interactions You may give us your Identity, Contact and Financial Data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise. This includes personal data you provide when you:

Apply for our products or services
Create an account on our website
Subscribe to our service or publications
Contact us through social media
Request marketing to be sent to you
Walk-in to our branch offices
Enter a competition, promotion or survey
Give us some feedback
Speak with us on the telephone and we record the call
Make a complaint

Automated Technologies or Interactions

As you interact with our website, we will automatically collect Technical Data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs and other similar technologies. Please see our cookie policy for further details.

Third Parties or Publicly Available Sources

We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources,

including:

Sanctions screening providers
Payment service providers
Credit and tenant referencing agencies
Government or police databases or registers
Customer due diligence providers
Property portals through which you request our services
Analytics providers such as Google based outside the EU
Advertising networks such as Google based outside the EU
Search information providers such as Google based outside the EU
Data brokers or aggregators such as Rightmove, Zoopla or Facebook
Publicly available sources such as social media sites, Companies House, HM Land Registry and the Electoral Register.

How We Use Personal Data

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your

interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.

Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.

Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data

although we will get your consent before sending third party direct marketing communications to you via email or text message. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.

Purposes for Which We Use Your Personal Data

Prevent and detect fraud — Legitimate interest to minimise fraud damaging to you and us.

Manage our relationship (records, notifications, surveys) — Performance of contract; legal obligation; legitimate interests.
Customer identity checks / sanctions screening — Legal and regulatory obligations.
Audits and regulatory enquiries — Legal and regulatory obligations.
Business policy adherence — Legitimate interests to ensure internal procedures are
followed.
Statistical analysis — Legitimate interests to manage our business efficiently.
Statutory returns — Legal and regulatory obligations.
Staff administration and safe working practices — Legal obligations; legitimate interests.
Record telephone calls — Performance of contract; legitimate interests (staff training and service quality).
Administer and protect our business and website — Legitimate interests (IT, security, fraud prevention); legal obligation.
Prize draws, competitions or surveys — Performance of contract; legitimate interests.
Deliver relevant website content and advertising — Legitimate interests (marketing strategy and business growth).
Data analytics — Legitimate interests (improving website, products, services and marketing).
Marketing our services — Legitimate interests (developing products/services and growing our business).

Marketing

We will hold your personal data on our client management systems and use this to provide you with marketing information about similar services offered by us. You have the opportunity to opt out of receiving this information at any time.

Who We Share Your Personal Data With

We only allow our service providers to handle your personal information if we are satisfied they take appropriate measures to protect your personal information. We also impose contractual obligations on service providers to ensure they can only use your personal information to provide services to us and to you.

We routinely share personal data with:

Other companies within the My Property Box Group on a need-to-know basis
Third parties who help deliver our services (e.g. payment providers, referencing
companies, AML providers, utility services, maintenance contractors, inventory companies)
Other third parties who help run our business (e.g. website suppliers, online tenancy
platforms, case management system providers)
Third parties approved by you (e.g. social media sites you link your account to)
Credit reference agencies
Our banks

We may also share your data in the event of a business sale or merger, with regulatory bodies,governmental organisations, law enforcement authorities and courts as required by law.

We may share an anonymised version of your personal data with third parties such as Facebook and Google to enable these third parties to display My Property Box ads when you visit their websites.

We will not share your personal data with any third party for marketing purposes unless we firstly get your express opt-in consent.

Cookies

You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies, or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. For more information about the cookies we use, please see our Cookies Policy at https://mypropertybox-dev.growleadsfast.com/cookies/

Online Ads & Targeted Advertising

We use online advertising to keep you aware of what we're up to and to help you find our products. We may target My Property Box banners and ads to you when you use other websites and apps, based on your Contact, Technical, Usage and Profile Data, using digital marketing networks, ad exchanges, cookies, pixels, web beacons, and mobile identifiers.

We use analytics and targeted advertising tools such as Google Analytics and Facebook tools to analyse interest-based data and improve our marketing campaigns, strategies and website content.

To opt out of targeted advertising, disable cookies in your browser settings or opt-out via the relevant third-party Ad Settings (e.g. Google Display Advertising Features). You may also use the Digital Advertising Alliance's WebChoices tool to manage your preferences.

Where We Keep Your Data

The security of your data is very important to us. We have measures in place designed to prevent unauthorised access to your personal data, including:

Client files are stored on our secure client management systems, with access restricted to those with a legitimate business need.
Any hard copy documentation is stored in locked cabinets within our offices.
All data is hosted in datacentres with systems and protections against unauthorised
access and external factors that could cause damage to your personal data.

Overseas Transfers of Your Personal Data

We may transfer your personal data to an external third party based outside the EEA. Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the EEA, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by implementing at least one of the following safeguards:

We will only transfer your personal data to countries deemed to provide an adequate level of protection by the European Commission.
Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in Europe (Model Contracts).

Please contact us if you want further information on the specific mechanism used when transferring your personal data out of the EEA.

How Long We Keep Your Data

We will not keep your personal data for longer than we need to. The retention period will depend on the type of service you have requested from us. The 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 data for a longer period, or where we may need to retain information in case of legal claim.

In some circumstances we will anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.

Your Rights in Relation to Your Personal Information

Under certain circumstances, you have rights under data protection laws in relation to your personal data:

Right of Access — Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you (commonly known as a "data subject access request").
Right to Correction — Request that any incomplete or inaccurate data we hold about you be corrected.
Right to Erasure — Ask us to delete or remove personal data where there is no good
reason for us continuing to process it.
Right to Object — Object to processing where we are relying on a legitimate interest, or where we are processing your personal data for direct marketing purposes.
Right to Restriction — Ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in certain
scenarios (e.g. while accuracy is established, where use is unlawful, or where you need the data for legal claims).
Right to Transfer — Receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, machinereadable format.
Right to Withdraw Consent — Where we are relying on consent to process your personal data, you may withdraw consent at any time (this does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal).

If you wish to exercise any of the rights set out above, please contact us. You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights) unless your request is clearly unfounded, repetitive or excessive.

We try to respond to all legitimate requests within one month. Occasionally it could take longer if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests, in which case we will notify you and keep you updated.

Complaints and Contact Details

Complaints

If you have any complaints about the way we use your personal data please contact the Data Protection Officer at aidan@mypropertybox.co.uk who will try to resolve the issue. If we cannot resolve any issue, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

Contact Details

If you have any questions, comments or requests regarding any aspect of this Privacy Policy, please contact us:

Email: aidan@mypropertybox.co.uk

Post: Data Protection Officer, My Property Box Ltd, 27 Grange Rd, Darlington DL1 5NA

Updates to This Notice

From time-to-time we may need to make changes to this notice, for example, as the result of changes to law, technologies, or other developments. Our website will always show the date that this Privacy Policy was reviewed.

This notice was last updated August 2024.