Tenancy deposit protection privacy notice
Updated 4 April 2023
Applies to England and Wales
© Crown copyright 2023
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tenancy-deposit-protection-privacy-notice/tenancy-deposit-protection-privacy-notice
The following is to explain your rights and give you the information you are entitled to under UK data protection legislation.
The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has policy responsibility for tenancy deposit protection and conducts statistical research to help inform the department’s broader understanding of the private rented sector.
DLUHC will always take appropriate account of the requirement to meet its data protection obligations, as set out in this privacy notice.
DLUHC is the data controller. If you have any concerns about how DLUHC is handling your personal information, you can email the department’s Data Protection Officer at: dataprotection@levellingup.gov.uk.
Or contact us at the following address:
DLUHC Data Protection Officer
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
1. What personal information are we collecting and what will we do with it?
The tenancy deposit protection providers collect data, including personal data relating to the landlord and tenant, to fulfil their obligations under the Housing Act 2004. We have asked the three government-approved tenancy deposit protection providers, Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS), MyDeposits and the Deposit Protection Service (DPS) to provide your personal data to support the department in the delivery of its policy responsibility on deposit protection and to conduct statistical research to gather a broader understanding of the private rented sector.
MHCLG will be collecting your personal details – name, address, contact details – alongside information relative to the legislative requirements set out in the Housing Act 2004 to protect a deposit where it is taken under an assured shorthold tenancy. This may extend to other tenures where a deposit has been protected with a tenancy deposit protection provider.
2. Who will we be sharing your personal information with?
Your data– including personal data – will be shared with:
The Office for National Statistics – For the purposes of fulfilling its statutory functions under the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 and the Census Act 2020. Such functions limit the ONS use of the Information to the production and publication of anonymous statistics and statistical research that serve the public good.
The Valuation Office Agency – For the purposes of fulfilling its statutory functions under the rent officers (Housing Benefit Functions) Order 2013 as amended, Rent Officers (Universal Credit Functions) Order 2013 as amended, Rent Act 1977 and Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976. Such uses will include operational determinations and valuations, sample frame estimation to support planning and qualitative evaluation , quality assurance and to improve knowledge of the private rental market. Processed data in the form of private rental market lettings information may be included in the rent officer data provided to the Office for National Statistics for research and statistical purposes including private rental market statistics, the Index of private housing rental prices as well as national accounts and measures of inflation
Welsh Government – For the purposes of informing policy and fulfilling its statutory functions under the rent officers (Housing Benefit Functions) Order 2013 as amended, Rent Officers (Universal Credit Functions) Order 2013 as amended, Rent Act 1977 and Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976. Such uses will include operational determinations and valuations, sample frame estimation to support planning and qualitative evaluation , quality assurance and to improve knowledge of the private rental market. Processed data in the form of private rental market lettings information may be included in the rent officer data provided to the Office for National Statistics for research and statistical purposes including private rental market statistics, the Index of private housing rental prices as well as national accounts and measures of inflation
3. What is the legislative basis for processing this data?
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the lawful bases DLUHC relies on for processing this information are:
- Article 6(1)(e) as the processing is necessary for the performance of a task in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller. And
- Section 8(d) of the Data Protection Act 2018 provides for this to include processing that is necessary for a function of the Crown, a Minister of the Crown or a government department.
4. How we store your personal information?
Your personal information will not be sent outside of the UK: it will be securely transferred through a trusted third-party provider and stored in the UK by DLUHC on DLUHC systems.
DLUHC will keep your personal information and store it securely for as long as it is required for exercising the department’s statistical research and policy responsibilities for tenancy deposit protection and the wider private rented sector. Keeping the data will enable us to understand the longer term picture. To ensure we don’t retain the data for longer than is necessary, we will carry out an annual review and a detailed review every 5 years with key partners. If a decision is taken that the data is no longer needed, your personal information will be securely deleted.
DLUHC will only use your data within the terms of data protection laws, will delete your data securely and only keep it for as long as necessary for our work as a public body.
Data security and anonymity is of high importance to this project. The personal identities of households will be protected, and all data will be transferred between organisations using secure transfer methods. Strict security procedures will be agreed and put in place for each organisation involved in the project.
5. Automated decision making
DLUHC will not use your data for automated decision making.
6. What are my rights?
You have the right to object to the use of your personal information, the right to see the personal information held and the right for it to be changed if it is wrong. You also have the right to ask us to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances. If you would like to exercise these rights, please contact DLUHC ’s Data Protection Officer at dataprotection@levellingup.gov.uk or at the below postal address:
DLUHC Data Protection Officer
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
7. What if I want to complain or find out more information?
When we ask for information, we will keep to the law, including the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation.
If you are unhappy with the way the department has acted, you can make a complaint.
If you are not happy with how we are using your personal data, you should first contact dataprotection@levellingup.gov.uk.
If you are still not happy, or for independent advice about data protection, privacy and data sharing, you can contact:
The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow, Cheshire,
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545 745