Who we are

Westways Estate Agents is a limited company registered in England with registration number 2810684. Our registered office is 20 Great Western Road, London W9 3NN and VAT number is 626466818. For the purposes of UK data protection law, the data controller is Westways Estate Agents.

In this privacy notice, references to “we” or “us” means Westways. Any reference to “you” or “your” throughout this document, means a user of our website or any of our services.

Introduction

This privacy notice sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following notice carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.

We will process your personal information in accordance with all applicable laws, including the Data Protection Act 2018, which is the UK’s implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

What information do we collect and how do we use it?

Most of the information will come directly from you, by communicating with us, whether face-to-face, by telephone, by email, filling in forms, using our website or otherwise. It can also come from other parties such as (but not limited to): legal advisors, financial advisors, brokers, mortgage brokers, landlords, block managers, banks, previous employers. We may also obtain your data from publicly available sources such as (but not limited to): Companies House, HM Land Registry, local authority planning portals.

The information that we collect from you may also include information relating to individuals connected to an application such as guarantors, beneficial owners, company directors, trustees, representative, agent or nominee, or any other persons or entities with whom you have a relationship that is relevant to your relationship with us. Prior to providing information to us about any other person relevant to your relationship with us you shall ensure that they have consented to us processing their information as set out in this notice.

The information we collect may include:

• Personal details, e.g. name, previous names, gender, occupation, date and place of birth
• Contact details, e.g. residency, home address, work address, landline and mobile number, email address
• Information concerning your identity e.g. photo ID, passport information, and nationality
• Information regarding your employment status and salary (Buyers, Tenants)
• Banking information, e.g. bank statements in order to substantiate your salary; (Buyers, Tenants)  details or instructions in order for us to make payments to you or receive payments from you (Landlords, Tenants, Staff)
• Information we use to identify and authenticate you (e.g. your signature, additional information that we receive from external sources that we need for compliance purposes)
• Investigations data, proof of ownership of property and source/destination of funds;  for due diligence checks, anti-money laundering checks (vendors, Landlords)
• Records of correspondence and other communications between us, including email, instant messages and social media communications
• Images/photographs of your property (vendors and landlords)
• Information about your previous employment (job applications)
• We use closed circuit television (CCTV) in and around our office and these may collect photos or videos of you.

How we use your information:

• We will only use your information when we have your consent or implied consent or have another lawful reason for using it
• Need to process the information to carry out  a contractual obligation
• Need to process the information to comply with a legal obligation
• Have received your consent to process your information or believe the use of your information as described is in the public interest e.g. for the purpose of preventing crime

Who we share your personal information with?

• We might share your personal information with your legal advisor, financial advisor, broker or mortgage broker, Insurance broker, your block manager
• We might also share your personal information with other bodies and public authorities such as, Trading Standards, Police, HMRC
• If you are a Landlord we will share your personal information, contact details including email address and telephone number, your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR), VAT Registration Number and your bank account details, to HMRC for legal obligations. We might share your contact details with your tenant(s) upon request.
• If you are a tenant we will share your financial status and contact details with your landlords, we will share your name and contact number with the contractors we use on a daily basis
• We will share your name, property address and contact details to government authorised deposit schemes, i.e. Tenancy Deposit Services
• We may forward your present and future address, contact number and email address to utility suppliers, local authorities and credit or reference providers, including for the purposes of debt recovery (Tenants and Landlords)

Subject to certain legal exemptions, we will not share your information with any additional third parties, unless you have given your express consent.

How long do we keep your personal information for?

The personal information that you provide will be retained by us in accordance with applicable laws and our internal policy. However, we will take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information we hold if it is no longer needed for the purposes set out above.

Call and email enquiries – for the duration of the viewing if no interest is shown

Withdrawn/unsuccessful applications – for 3 months. We will retain your data for this period of time in the event that we need to follow up any aspect of your application.

Withdrawn applications with money transactions – 6 years for legal requirements

If you are a Buyer, Seller, we will keep your personal information for six years for legal requirements

Tenants and Landlords we will keep your personal information for six years after your contract ceases for legal requirements

International Transfers

We will not transfer your personal information outside the EU or European Economic Area (EEA). When the UK is no longer part of the EU, we will continue to ensure that appropriate technical and organisational measures are implemented to safeguard personal information.

Security of your personal information

We take appropriate measures to ensure our systems, processes, contractors and staff secure personal data and protect it from loss or unauthorised disclosure or damage, e.g. we keep hard copies of documents in locked cabinets; we use strong and different computer passwords and change them frequently; We have security software installed and two–factors authentication/verification system.

Website Use and Cookies

We may record information about the devices used to access our website and information about your use, such as the pages you have visited. We also use cookies to provide us with information about how our website is used. Cookies are text files placed on your computer when you use a website. For detailed information on the cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them see our cookie policy.

Your rights

The Data Protection Legislation gives you certain rights in relation to the information held about you, including the right to:

• access,  request a copy of your personal data
• have personal data about you rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete
• object to some uses of personal data, such as direct marketing
• erasure, request that your personal data is deleted and destroyed; except when the data is necessary for establishing, exercising or defending legal claims; and/or If we have a legal obligation to keep certain information
• data portability, request the transfer of your personal data to another party
• withdraw consent, where we process your personal data based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent. 

Please contact us by email, post, phone or in person should you have any of the above requests.

We will respond to requests to access or delete your personal data within 30 days.

If you would like to complain to Information Commissioner’s Office about the way your personal information is processed, you have the right to do so. They can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
www.ico.org.uk

However we would appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the ICO.

How to contact Westways:

Westways Estate Agents
20 Great Western Road,
London W9 3NN
UK

t: +44 (0) 20 7286 5757
e: info@westways.co.uk
www.westways.co.uk

Changes to our Privacy Notice and your duty to inform us of changes

It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate, therefore please keep us informed if your personal data changes. For instance, if you change your postal or email address or telephone numbers.

We keep our privacy policy under regular review. If we make changes that affect how we handle your data, we will let you know by email. This privacy policy was last updated on 1st April 2024.