HMO Licensing Privacy Statement

The Housing Standards Team collects your data to assess your application for a license for a house in multiple occupation (HMO) in line with requirements under the Housing Act 2004 and associated regulations.

We are committed to protecting your privacy, and this statement is made in light of the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 and the Data Protection Act 2018 in order to advise you how we use your personal information.

When do we collect personal information?

We collect information from you when you submit your application for a licence for a house in multiple occupation.

Provision of information is a requirement under the Housing Act 2004, and failure to properly licence a qualifying HMO is an offence with an unlimited fine.

We may sometimes obtain information about you from third parties including information from other council departments and statutory services such as the fire brigade, police, community safety and neighbours, national rogue landlord register, landlord accreditation schemes, freeholders, leaseholders, mortgage companies and other interested parties.

What personal information do we collect?

• Your name and contact details
• Information to support your application, such as tenancy agreements, fire safety records, gas and electrical safety certificates and insurance documents
• Evidence from on-site inspections, including photographs and detailed notes of what was observed, witness statements, information on fire precautions and disrepair, number and names of people living there.
• We may look up other information the Council or other statutory agencies already hold about you
• Ownership and charge details from land registry.

How do we use your personal information?

We use your information to assess your application for a licence for a house in multiple occupation.

We keep a public register of HMO licences and include the information required by the Housing Act 2004 and associated regulations. Data is held on the public register until the HMO licence has expired, if it is not renewed.

How do we protect your personal information?

We have a data protection regime in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of your personal information and utilise appropriate technical safeguards to keep your information secure.

Your information will be retained by the council for a ten-year period after the licence expires.

Do we share your information with anyone else?

We will share your data with:

• The public via the HMO register which the Council will publish online

We may also share your data with:

• Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs
• Department for Work and Pensions
• Home Office
• Fire Authority
• Solicitors and the Courts
• Other statutory services, other local authorities, and other services within the council.

We will not share your information with any other organisations unless required to do so by law.

Your rights and how to find out more

You have a number of rights under data protection law, including the right to ask for a copy of the information we hold about you, and the right to object to our use of your information in certain circumstances.

For further information about your rights, how the council uses your information, and how to get in touch if you have a query or complaint, please see the council’s main privacy notice.

We reserve the right to amend this privacy notice at any time. However, we take your privacy very seriously and will never change our policies or practices to make them less protective of your personal information. 

If we make any changes to this policy that significantly affect you, we will aim to notify you directly if we hold contact details for you. You will always be able to find the most up-to-date version of this policy on our website at this address: www.lancaster.gov.uk/HMO-Privacy.

 

This Version: v1.0, September 2019

Last updated: 27 September 2022