Social and affordable housing privacy notice

What information do we collect and why do we collect it?

We collect personal and identifying data such as your date of birth, and National Insurance numbers for you and members of your household, including children. We will use this information to manage your tenancy and comply with our legal obligations.

We will collect contact details for you, including next of kin information. We will use this information to manage your tenancy and to contact you in an emergency. 

We will collect financial information such as details of your income, savings and any benefits that you claim. We will also check your credit reference before offering you a tenancy. We will use this information to manage your tenancy, meet our legal obligations and confirm that you are eligible for our housing.

We will collect special category data such as health, disability, ethnicity, religion and sexuality to ensure that the services we provide meet your needs. We will also use this information to ensure that we're meeting our legal obligations and providing our services fairly and in a non-discriminatory way that meets the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. We may also use this data to check eligibility for housing and for dealing with anti-social behaviour.

We will collect information about unspent criminal convictions which we have to use to confirm eligibility for a tenancy and for tenancy management. We may also collect information about up to date unspent convictions for current customers as part of our investigations into ASB and breaches of tenancy.

How do we collect this information?

We collect information at various points in the process of applying for an NCHA home and as a customer. This includes:

• Application: when you make an application directly to us or successfully bid for one of our properties through a choice based lettings scheme. It is also possible that we may receive referrals containing your information from public and voluntary bodies such as local authorities, housing benefit, the Department of Work and Pensions, MPs, councillors, welfare rights centres and the CAB. This should be done with your consent and knowledge of why they are making the referral to our services.
• Before your tenancy starts: we will collect further information including confirmation of income and benefits and updated details of household members, which may include health and special category data, from you as part of the pre-tenancy application process.
• During your tenancy: when you contact us, we will confirm your name, address and contact details and update your information if it is incorrect. We will also collect further information at the one month and nine month tenancy visits to check for any changes in circumstances. We will collect further information every time we speak to you about your rent account or tenancy issues to ensure that we are able to manage your tenancy and provide any necessary advice and support. We will also collect information when you voluntarily complete customer surveys, provide feedback and contribute to customer involvement activities.

Who will we share your information with?

The information you provide is treated as confidential unless NCHA is required to share the information as part of a contract, such as your tenancy agreement or by law. Where there is no contractual or legal requirement, data will only be shared with your consent.

Marketing

From time to time we would like to send you information about NCHA events and services that may be of interest to you. If you have consented to receive marketing, you may opt out at any time you wish by contacting us.

Access to your information and correction

You have the right to view any information the organisation holds about you. We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. You may ask us to correct or remove information you think is inaccurate.

How to contact us

Please contact our data protection officer if you have any questions in relation to this notice or the information we hold about you.

 

Last updated: November 2022. Review due: November 2023.