The New Homes Group Privacy Notice

1. Who we are

This Privacy Notice applies to the use and processing of personal information collected by The New Homes Group, TORC24, New Homes Mortgage Helpline, IMH and New Homes Mortgage Scotland which are trading names of The New Homes Group Limited. The ICO Registration number of The New Homes Group Limited is Z5022084.

The phrases “us”, “we” or “our” will mean those businesses which are part of The New Homes Group Limited on behalf of and in respect of whom this Privacy Notice is made.

For information concerning the collection, use and processing of personal information by any of our third party business partners or suppliers, please contact our representative with whom you usually deal.

2. Information covered by this Privacy Notice

• Personal data.This is information, or any combination of separate pieces of information, that could be used to identify you
• Special categories of personal data.This is information which is classified as sensitive (for example details of your health)

Please read this Privacy Notice carefully. If you have any questions about this notice or our use of your personal data, please contact the Connells Group Data Protection Officer by email to DPO@tnhg.co.uk or in writing to Cumbria House, 16-20 Hockliffe Street, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, LU7 1GN.

Sequence (UK) Limited is part of the Connells Group, and all data protection matters are managed at Group level. Information concerning the make-up of the Connells Group can be found by visiting https://www.connellsgroup.co.uk/our-group

3. Where we get personal information from

When you enquire or register for products and services provided by The New Homes Group Limited we may collect personal information from a variety of sources.

The majority of the personal information which we collect will have been provided by you during the course of your relationship with us either through face to face contact, by telephone, email or electronic communications such as messaging or through the internet.

However we may also obtain your personal data from other sources including:

• information we collect when you visit or create an account on our websites
• other Connells Group companies
• companies which support advertising services that promote our services including online property portals (such as Rightmove and Zoopla), social media sites (such as Facebook and Twitter) and online advertising platforms (such as Google Adwords)
• information provided to us by other third parties
• other publically available sources such as the electoral roll and HM Land Registry

4. What information we collect

4.1 Information we collect directly from you

Depending on the type of service or product we are discussing, the following are examples of information we may collect directly from you:

Where you ask us to help you with your life, critical illness or income protection insurances, and we collect personal information from you which is of a sensitive nature, we treat this ‘special category’ information in accordance with the additional protection it is given under data protection laws.

We may, during the course of your relationship with us, request additional information from you which is relevant to the provision of specific services.

Any telephone calls either to or from our customer service teams may be recorded for training, monitoring, compliance and security.

4.2 Information we collect when you visit or create an account on our websites

We use cookies and other technologies to collect information when you visit our web sites, including when you make use of our on line chat 

We may collect personal information in connection with your use of our website, such as:

• your name, email address, telephone number and property address when you register for an account or use an online form to arrange a viewing, register for property alerts, request a valuation or lettings consultation, book a mortgage appointment or submit an enquiry
• details included on any enquiry form you submit in relation to property insurance, life, critical illness or income protection, conveyancing or mortgages
• data sent from your browser to our server which may include:
  • the time, date and duration of your visit
  • the site from which you have come (the referral URL)
  • the pages you have visited  and
  • your IP address

Details of how we use cookies are provided in Section 13 ‘Our Use of Cookies’ and in our Cookies Policy https://www.thenewhomesgroup.co.uk/cookies/.

4.3 Information we obtain from third parties  

Where we are required by law, or for business needs, we will obtain information about you from third parties, but only after we have your agreement to do so. For example (but not limited to) the third parties we may need to contact are credit reference agencies, banks, employers, accountants and solicitors in order to obtain references, undertake identity verification and basic criminal record checks, and validate your income level and financial history.

4.4 Circumstances under which criminal disclosures will be collected

The arrangement of certain types of insurance may involve disclosure by you to us of information relating to historic or current criminal convictions or offences. This is relevant to insurance related activities such as underwriting, claims and fraud management.

When we process any Criminal Disclosures we do so on the basis that it is in the substantial public interest to be able to provide vital insurance products as permitted by UK data protection related laws and regulations from time to time. Information on Criminal Disclosures must be capable of being exchanged freely between insurance intermediaries such as us and insurance providers, to enable customers to secure the important insurance protection that they require. 

5. How we use your information

We will process the information you provide or we obtain from other sources to provide you with products and services and answer any questions you may have.

The following are examples of how we use the information we collect:

• To process your registration and confirm your identity
• To provide advice on financial products and services, such as mortgages, insurance and protection products
• To keep you informed of any developments in relation to any mortgage product, protection product or insurance product which we help you to take out;
• To create and manage your on line account
• To process payment for our services
• To protect against and prevent fraud, unauthorised transactions, money laundering, tax evasion, claims, other liabilities and manage risk exposure and agent or franchise quality, integrity, compliance and security of business processes
• To provide, administer and communicate with you about Connells Group products, services, offers, programs and promotions, their issuers, acquirers, retailers and partners
• To compile business directories, including business contact information and maintain up to date client records
• To operate, monitor, evaluate and improve our products, services and websites
• To evaluate your interest in and suitability for employment

5.1 Customer Surveys

From time to time we may provide your information to our customer service agencies for research, survey and analysis purposes so that we can monitor and improve the services we provide. We or our agents and sub-contractors may occasionally contact you including by post, email or telephone to ask you for your feedback and comments on our services.

5.2 Information about our products and services

We may also use your personal data to contact you by post, e mail, telephone or other electronic means to provide you with information about products and services from the Connells Group and carefully selected third parties which we feel may be of interest or relevant to your needs.

Please see Section 12 for information about how you can exercise your rights.

5.3 Credit scoring 

Some of the services provided by third parties may involve an automated decision and/or credit scoring to determine whether we are able to provide a service or product.

Using third parties to undertake searches and collate information on our behalf helps make fair and responsible decisions. When coming to these decisions we and third parties will consider:

• the information provided on the application form
• information about previous account conduct , including any payment arrears and
• official public records information such as fraud record information and insolvency records

Any credit scoring methods used by third parties are regularly tested to ensure they remain fair, effective and unbiased.

For further information about automated decisions or credit scoring, please contact the Connells Group Data Protection Officer by e mail at DPO@tnhg.co.uk

6. Who we share your information with

We may share your information both within the Connells Group of companies and also relevant third party business partners, both for the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice, or for other purposes approved by you.

6.1 Connells Group

We may share information within the Connells Group of companies for the following purposes:

• where services are provided by one Connells Group Company to another pursuant to an intra-company
• for the purpose of administering our business
• to provide you with information about products and services
• for any other purpose agreed by you

6.2 Third Party service providers

Where we engage third party service providers to provide products (such as mortgages, house and contents and family protection insurances and utility services) or other business services and operations, we provide them with only the personal information they need to perform the service or provide the product we request. We contractually require them to securely protect information, and not to use it for any other purpose.

Indicatively – but not limited to – we may disclose your information to the third parties listed below for the purposes listed:

We also provided a link from our website to Google Maps, to show the location of a branch or a property, and to allow you to input your postcode to get directions. If you use or access Google Maps you are bound by the Google Maps/Google Earth Additional Terms of Service https://maps.google.com/help/terms_maps.html including the Google Privacy Policy https://www.google.com/intl/ALL/policies/privacy/index.html

7. Lawful basis of processing

The New Homes Group Ltd processes your information under any of the following lawful conditions:

• Performance of a contract – this is where the collection and processing of your data is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are a party, or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract

• Legal obligation – this is where the collection and processing of your data is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation, for example verification of identity and fraud prevention

• Consent– where we process information under consent we will seek your clear and unambiguous consent before processing your data, for example to send and/or receive marketing information from other Connells Group companies

• Legitimate interests – some information is processed by The New Homes Group Ltd. as part of its legitimate interests which include network and information security, direct marketing, web analytics, updating customer details, lettings, sales, and other core services provided

8. Other situations

We may transfer or otherwise process your personal information:

• As part of the sale of a Connells Group business to another company, or in relation to the purchase of another business
• When we have received your instruction to pass the sale of your property to another agent
• To enforce our terms and conditions
• When required by law and/or government authorities
  • Where, following a member of our staff displaying Covid-19 symptoms, we, including via the staff member, are obliged to provide names and contact details to the NHS Test and Trace Contact Tracing Team of any people that a member of our staff was in close contact within the 48 hours before Covid-19 symptoms started.
• When requested by the Property Ombudsman Service or any other consumer ombudsman or trade association

9. How long we keep your information for

We will keep your information for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, and to fulfil our legal and regulatory obligations.

For further information about how long we will keep your information, please contact the Connells Group Data Protection Officer by email at DPO@tnhg.co.uk.

10. When we communicate with you

10.1 Service related

We will send you service related communications and respond to any questions which you may ask.

10.2 Marketing our services to you

Where you contact us through our website, or make an enquiry on the phone, we will use the details you have supplied to us to provide you with our general property marketing list by email.

If you choose to ‘opt-out’ then we will not email you any further information relating to our general property marketing list.

We may also carry out targeted advertising to you on social media websites such as Facebook where you have already shown an interest in our services. This is done through analysing information we collect about your interactions on our websites and making this available to social media networks.

11. How we communicate with you

For service related communications, we will contact you either by e mail or through the post. We may also telephone you or send you SMS messages, which may include automated SMS reminders for viewings.

We give you choices about how we communicate promotions and offers to you.

11.1 By e mail

We only send you promotional emails if you explicitly select to receive these (you opt in). You can stop receiving promotional email messages from The New Homes Group Limited by following the opt-out or unsubscribe instructions provided in any email you receive.

11.2 By post

We only send you promotional postal mail if you explicitly select to receive these (you opt in). You can stop receiving promotional postal mail from The New Homes Group Limited by following the opt-out or unsubscribe instructions included in those communications.

11.3 Mobile Text Messages 

We will only send you promotional text messages if you explicitly select to receive these (you opt in). You can stop receiving promotional text messages from The New Homes Group Limited by following the opt-out instructions provided in the text message.

11.4 Telephone

We will only send you promotional calls if you explicitly select to receive these (you opt in). You can stop receiving promotional calls from The New Homes Group Limited by following the opt-out instructions provided in the text message.

12. Your statutory rights

You have a number of rights concerning the personal information we use. These include the right to:

• ask us for access to a copyof your personal information we hold about you
• ask us to correctyour personal information
• ask us to deleteyour personal information
• withdraw your consentto use your personal information

Where you have provided consent for our processing of your personal data, you may withdraw that consent at any time. If you withdraw your consent, your previous consent will remain valid in respect of our use of your data in relation to good or service we are still contracted to provide

We will act to respond to your request to stop receiving promotional email, phone, text or postal messages from Connells Group as quickly as is practicable (around 10 working days, as systems take time to replicate). We will keep information for record keeping purposes, to ensure we fulfil your request not to send particular types of messages.

• ask us to restrict the useof your personal data, including direct marketing
• object toour use of your personal data
• object to an automated decision, including profiling (for example, in terms of credit risk)
• lodge a complaintwith the Information Commissioner’s Office, if you object to the way we use your personal information. For more information please go to org.uk

If you wish to make a request for access to a copy of your personal data, please write to the Connells Group at Group Legal Services, Bridgegate House, 5 Bridge Place, Lower Bridge Street, Chester CH1 1SA or email DSAR@connells.co.uk

If you wish to exercise any of your other rights, please write to the Connells Group Data Protection Officer at Connells Group, Cumbria House, 16-20 Hockliffe Street, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, LU7 1GN or e mail DPO@tnhg.co.uk.

We will acknowledge your request and let you know what we will need from you to carry out your request. Every effort will be made to respond to or comply with your request as quickly as possible, and we will ensure our systems are updated as soon as is practicable in response to your request.

13. Our use of cookies

A cookie is a small file placed on your device when you visit a website that can be understood by the site that issued the cookie. We use the information collected by cookies to remember who you are to log you in and to store your preferences when using a particular site. It may contain a unique identifier to ensure that you are not shown the same information and/or are only shown information you have stated that you are interested in.

Our security software may use your IP address and browser version to help protect our systems and provide diagnostic information in the case of an issue.

Further information about our use of cookies is provided in our Cookies Policy.

14. How we protect your information

We store your personal information on our computer systems and in our paper records.

We have implemented strict security procedures to ensure that personal information is not damaged, destroyed or misused, and to prevent unauthorised access to your information.

The information that we collect is stored in a secure facility with restricted physical access.

We also use a number of security measures to prevent electronic access.

Where – in line with this Privacy Notice – information is shared with third parties, similar security measures are used to protect your information. 

15. Data Transfers

If we need to transfer data outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and the country it’s transferred to is not on an approved list for having adequate security controls in place, we will limit when we do this and the amount of personal data we send. We will also ensure that there is adequate protection in place before sending anything to other countries outside the EEA by imposing contractual obligations on the recipients to ensure the security and confidentiality of your data.

16. Children’s privacy

We do not offer any products or services to children. In certain circumstances (for example a mortgage application) we may need to collect the name and date of birth of children from mortgage applicants, and share this with the selected mortgage provider.

17. Links to other websites

Our websites, other electronic portals and documentation may provide links to other websites for your convenience and information. These may operate independently from us and have their own privacy notices or policies, which we strongly suggest you review.

Where linked websites are not owned or controlled by us, we are not responsible for their content or data privacy practices.

18. Our Promise to you

When you provide us with this information, you agree to the collection, use and sharing of your information in accordance with this data privacy notice. Our promise to you is that

• We’ll work with other businesses to put together offers we think you might like
• You are in control of your data
• You can change your privacy settings at any time
• If you don’t think the data is correct tell us and well put it right
• We will keep your data secure
• We also promise to collect, process store and share your data safely and securely and to make sure the businesses we work with do the same 

19. Updates to our Privacy Notice

We will occasionally update our Privacy Notice, so we suggest that you review this Notice from time to time. If we make substantial changes to our Privacy Notice, we will endeavor to inform you directly about these changes.

Third Parties and Links

We may pass your details to any other member of our group. We may also pass your details to our agents and subcontractors to help with any use of your data set out in our privacy policy. For example, we may use third parties to assist with newsletters, and we may also pass your details to our web developers and the hosts of the Site may also see your data.

We or any member of our group may transfer its databases containing your personal information if it sells its business or part of it.

Other than as set out in this privacy policy, we shall NOT sell or disclose your personal data to third parties without obtaining your prior consent unless this is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy or unless we are required to do so by law.

The Site may contain advertising of third parties or links to other sites or frames of other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those third parties or other sites (except if we operate those sites), nor for any third party to whom we transfer your data in accordance with our privacy policy.

THIRD PARTIES AND LINKS

We may pass your details to any other member of our group. We may also pass your details to our agents and subcontractors to help with any use of your data set out in our privacy policy. For example, we may use third parties to assist with newsletters, and we may also pass your details to our web developers and the hosts of the Site may also see your data.

We or any member of our group may transfer its databases containing your personal information if it sells its business or part of it.

Other than as set out in this privacy policy, we shall NOT sell or disclose your personal data to third parties without obtaining your prior consent unless this is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy or unless we are required to do so by law.

The Site may contain advertising of third parties or links to other sites or frames of other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those third parties or other sites (except if we operate those sites), nor for any third party to whom we transfer your data in accordance with our privacy policy.

Cookies

WHAT IS A COOKIE?

Most websites you visit will use cookies in order to improve your user experience by enabling that website to ‘remember’ you, either for the duration of your visit (using a ‘session cookie’) or for repeat visits (using a ‘persistent cookie’).

Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently, storing your preferences, and generally improving your experience of a website. Cookies make the interaction between you and the website faster and easier. If a website doesn’t use cookies, it will think you are a new visitor every time you move to a new page on the site – for example, when you enter your login details and move to another page it won’t recognise you and it won’t be able to keep you logged in.

Some websites will also use cookies to enable them to target their advertising or marketing messages based for example, on your location and/or browsing habits.

Cookies may be set by the website you are visiting (‘first party cookies’) or they may be set by other websites that run content on the page you are viewing (‘third party cookies’).

WHAT IS IN A COOKIE?

A cookie is a simple text file that is stored on your computer or mobile device by a website’s server and only that server will be able to retrieve or read the contents of that cookie. Each cookie is unique to your web browser. It will contain some anonymous information such as a unique identifier and the site name and some digits and numbers. It allows a website to remember things like your preferences or what’s in your shopping basket.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON’T WANT COOKIES TO BE SET

Some people find the idea of a website storing information on their computer or mobile device a bit intrusive, particularly when this information is stored and used by a third party without them knowing. Although this is generally quite harmless you may not, for example, want to see advertising that has been targeted to your interests. If you prefer, it is possible to block some or all cookies, or even to delete cookies that have already been set; but you need to be aware that you might lose some functions of that website.

COOKIE SETTINGS

If you don’t want to receive certain categories of cookies on this website, you can change your cookie settings via your browser; your browser help function will tell you how. Alternatively, you may wish to visit www.aboutcookies.org, which contains comprehensive information on how to do this on a wide variety of desktop browsers.

Note: This website does work without cookies, but you will lose some features and functionality if you choose to disable cookies. By continuing to use this site you are agreeing to the terms of this policy and our use of cookies.

1. Strictly Necessary Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to enable you to move about the site or to provide certain features you have requested. Without these cookies, we will not be able to provide certain features, such as login to member areas.

2. Performance Cookies

These cookies help to improve the performance of the website, providing a better user experience and helping you find the information you are looking for faster.

FURTHER READING

BBC cookie Information – Our thanks and credit to the BBC for providing a significant amount of this information about cookies

Aboutcookies.org

Wikipedia

Changes

Any material changes to the way in which we use your data will be described in future versions of this privacy policy. Each time you enter the Site or submit data to the Site, you agree that the privacy policy current at that time shall apply to all information which we hold about you.

Consent

By using the Site, you consent to our use of your information as set out in this Privacy Policy and agree to be bound by the terms of this privacy policy (as amended). You also agree to the Site Terms of Use currently in force from time to time.

Copyright

Unless otherwise stated, the copyright, database rights and any other rights in all information, data, text, drawings, artwork, pictures, photographs, images, graphics and materials (together “Materials”) on the www.thenewhomesgroup.co.uk (the “Site”) and the design, layout, look and appearance of the Site is owned by The New Homes Group Ltd (“we” or “us”) or licensed to us by our suppliers. You are permitted to use and download such Materials or extracts from the Site to a local hard disk and print copies, subject to all of the following:

1. a) Your use of the Site and any Materials on the Site is for your internal, personal, private use only.
2. b) Except to the extent provided by law, you must not use, copy, reproduce, republish, post, broadcast or transmit any part of the Site or such Materials for any other purpose without our express prior written consent. This includes (but without limitation) not reproducing or storing any part of the Site or such Materials in any other web site or in any public or private electronic retrieval system or service.
3. c) Our copyright notice (ie. © The New Homes Group 2009) or, where indicated, the notice of our licensors must appear in all electronic or hard copies of any such Materials or extracts from the Site.
4. d) When you lawfully or with our consent copy, reproduce, republish, post, broadcast, transmit, print or quote from any of the Site or such Materials, you must do so fairly and give due accreditation to us, our suppliers and the Site. You shall also do so in accordance with any restrictions which we stipulate on the Site.
5. e) Except as we expressly permit, you must not in any way modify any Materials on the Site.
6. f) Any rights not expressly granted in these terms or otherwise by us are reserved.

Last updated 22/10/2020