Privacy policy & consent

The UK’s data protection legislation includes the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Together, they set rules for how organisations use personal information and protect people’s privacy.

Read the GOV.UK guide to the UK’s data protection legislation

The Data Protection Act (2018), replaces the Data Protection Act (1998), is designed to supplement the EU GDPR regulations.
The Information Commissioner's Office, with whom we are registered, will be monitoring it's progress and updates will follow.
As such, our Privacy Policy (hazelwells.com/privacy) and Terms & Conditions (hazelwells.com/terms) may be updated on a ongoing basis.

Find out more

The GDPR has direct effect across all EU member states and has already been passed. The UK government has legislated to observe this EU regulation with the UK Data Protection Act 2018. This means that organisations will still have to comply with this regulation and the UK will still have to look to the GDPR for most legal obligations, despite the UKs withdrawal from the EU. However, the GDPR gives member states limited opportunities to make provisions for how it applies in their country. One element of the DPA 2018 is the details of these. It is therefore important the GDPR and the DPA 2018 are read side by side. However, the DPA 2018 is not limited to the UK GDPR provisions.

If you are an existing customer with a contractual link to our business, you have already provided the required consent to maintain contact with you to meet our contractual obligations. If you are a new customer who has made an initial enquiry through our website, or through one of the many portals where we market property listings, then you will have also provided the required tacit informed consent for us to make contact with to begin pre-contractual discussions towards negotiations of a contract. However, if you have contacted one of our agents by telephone or in person and have requested further information in relation to our services or with regard to a property listing then there may be a requirement for you to complete the GDPR Consent Form available at /privacy.

Identity Data including but not limited to your full name, date of birth, status and job title; Contact Data including but not limited to email address, address and phone numbers; Communications Data including but not limited to marketing preferences and promotions; Usage Data including but not limited to preferences and other information relevant to applications, contracts, customer surveys, security procedures both online and offline; Financial Data including but not limited to banking details, charges and payment history, income and credit reference data.

We may collect your personal data and other information using different methods, both online and offline, when you: apply for our services; register your details with us; subscribe to our updates; request direct marketing; engage with us on social media; enter competitions/promotions or surveys; provide feedback; visit us in branch; call us.

We process personal data to meet our legal obligations of accurate internal record keeping, understand your needs and provide our services. We may also use your information to contact you for research purposes. We may contact you by email, phone, fax or postal mail. We may use the information we gather internally to improve our products and

services. We may use the information to customise the marketing we send to you. We may periodically send promotional emails about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address or other contact details you have provided.

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial processes to safeguard the information we collect both online and on paper. Our data security is subject to ongoing updates and reviewed on a continual basis. We may at times engage external third parties to assist us who operate under the duty of confidentiality.

By providing your details to Hazelwells (and/or any third party for whom we act as an agent), you consent to us contacting you to discuss both your initial enquiry and any subsequent negotiations along with any other relevant communications and direct marketing. Your consent can be withdrawn for the purposes of marketing at any time, however, we may still be required to retain your details on file for a number of other purposes as outlined below.

If you have entered into business with us (and/or any third party for whom we act as an agent) on a contractual basis then we are legally required to hold and process the personal data you have provided in order to comply with our obligations under such contract. This may also apply where you have begun discussions with us (and/or any third party for whom we act as an agent) as a first pre-contractual step towards negotiations of a contract, at which point we will be required to process your personal data in order to progress towards any potential contractual agreement and to exercise the performance of any such contract.

There are numerous instances where Hazelwells may be subject to a legal obligation under both EU and UK law which may require personal data to be held and processed in order for us to fulfill such legal obligations and remain compliant with the law. This does not mean that there must be a legal obligation specifically requiring the specific processing activity – however, data may be held in order to comply with a number of regulatory requirements, such as: The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002, The Immigration Act 2014; The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017; to name just a few recent pieces of legislation under which we are obliged to retain relevant records.

As a responsible agent and managing agent, Hazelwells will require personal data for all occupiers of property along with Next of Kin information and other personal data which may be held for processing in order to secure the vital interests of the subject or of another natural person. This vital interest includes but is not limited to medical emergencies and other emergencies.

Hazelwells will provide personal data to external official authorities in line with our legitimate interest in order to allow said official authority to carry out its public task/duty. This includes, but is not limited to public authorities, Police, local councils, private utility companies and private water companies who rely on the public task basis to process personal data. This is because they are considered to be carrying out functions of public administration and they exercise special legal powers to carry out their services in the public interest.

As a business, it is within Hazelwells legitimate interest not only to abide by its contractual and legal obligations (including vital and public interests) but to pursue the growth and sustainability of our business and relationships with all clients and contacts. It is in this regard that we may contact you in relation to any previous transaction or communication to offer our services, using personal data which you may have previously provided, wherever reasonable. We will pursue our commercial interest with minimal privacy impact and without overwhelming the data subject’s interests or causing intrusive/unwarranted harm.

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. If you have any queries in relation to this policy or you would like a copy of the information or wish to update the personal data we hold on you then you must contact us by email at dpo@hazelwells.com or by writing to the Data Protection Officer, Hazelwells, 32 Winckley Square, Preston, Lancashire PR1 3JJ. If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible at the above address. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect. You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information for marketing purposes: if you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used for direct marketing purposes. If you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in

any marketing email or by writing to us at the above address or by email at unsubscribe@hazelwells.com

We will maintain a record of your personal data following your use of our services for a minimum period of seven years in order to meet our legal, regulatory and accounting obligations. If we are required for any reason to hold your data for any longer then we will only do so in our legitimate interest, however we will consider any potential security risks to data when making such a decision in order to ensure the safeguarding of the personal data.

We will not transfer your data outside of the EEA, except to another third country offering the same level of protection. We may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or acquire other assets. If such a change happens with our business, these terms will still apply and the new entity will control/process your data as outlined in this privacy notice.

Under current EU and UK law you have the right to protection of your personal data. This includes the following rights: the right to be informed, the right of access, the right to rectification, the right to erasure, the right to restrict processing, the right to data portability, the right to object and, finally, rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling. Your statutory rights are not affected. The rights listed above may only apply in certain circumstances and if we are otherwise compelled to retain and process your data we may not always be in a position to comply with your specific request. We will endeavor to respond to your subject access request within one month of receipt, but this may take longer if your request is detailed or complex in nature or if you have made a number of similar requests. You will not have to pay a fee in order to exercise these rights, however where any requests are deemed to be unfounded, repetitive or excessive we may refuse to comply with your request. If you are not satisfied with how we have handled a subject access request then you must in the first instance contact The Data Protection Officer by emailing dpo@hazelwells.com or writing to Data Protection Officer, Hazelwells, 32 Winckley Square, Preston, Lancashire PR1 3JJ.If you remain unsatisfied, you can raise a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office or with the Property Ombudsman Service, of which we are registered members. They will advise you that you must have exhausted our internal processes before they will accept an official complaint. This is the same for all formal complaints, not just those related to privacy.