Housing Standards Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice relates to Lancaster City Council’s Housing Standards Team who are responsible for reviewing and maintaining standards in private housing.

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 make a request for assistance or report a problem with a residential or commercial property, including caravans and mobile homes.

We may also collect personal information from you if you apply for a license, for example: Selective and or additional licensing of rented accommodation, Caran License or the Accredited property scheme.

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 or complaint, 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 collect your personal information for the following purposes:

• To investigate service requests in relation to housing conditions, statutory nuisances and other functions relating to housing standards
• Undertake Licensing Inspections
• Investigate potential breaches of legislation
• To undertake any enforcement action required
• Carry out statutory functions

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 in accordance with our retention policy.

Do we share your information with anyone?

If you contact us to make a complaint about the property in which you live, we may share your information with other departments within the council in order to assist with your case, we may have to share information with your landlord at the appropriate time.

If you are a Landlord or Caravan Site owner/manager we will share your data with;

• The public via the HMO register which the Council will publish online if you are a licence holder or manage a HMO
• The public via the Caravan Site Fit and Proper Person’s register.

We may 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 have additional information regarding how we use your data in relation to HMO licensing here

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

Last updated: 27 September 2023