To enable us to deliver our services, we are required to hold data on our tenants. We must be clear about what information we collect from you, how we hold it, who we share it with and how we dispose of it. All tenants have the right to access their information, request any changes, and to have their data deleted in line with the Regulation.
Our Data Protection Officer is the Director of Finance & Corporate Services, John McVey.
If you would like request a Subject Access Request (SAR) please contact our Data Protection Officer:
- By email to corporateservices@arkhousing.co.uk; or
- Complete our contact form stating you would like to request a SAR; or
- By post to:
John McVey,
Data Protection Officer
Unit 1, Hawthorn Office Park
43 Stockmans Way
Belfast, BT9 7ET
Privacy Statement
We are the controller of the personal information that we collect from you on our website, which means that we are legally responsible for how we collect, hold and use your personal information. It also means that we are required to comply with data protection laws when collecting, holding and using your personal information.
1. What Personal Information Do We Collect About You and Why?
Our website is a place for you to find out more about us, your neighbourhood and the services available to you.
When you visit our website, we collect personal information about you when you pay your rent, report a repair, make a complaint, download and submit a housing application form, complete and submit the "contact us" form or write to:
What Do We Use This Information For?
- To provide you with the services that you have requested from us;
- To communicate with you, including in response to any of your enquiries;
- To help improve our services
- To process your rent payments;
- To carry out repairs to your property;
- To handle and resolve complaints made by / against you;
- To keep the personal information that we hold about you accurate and up-to-date (if you provide any new personal information to us via the website); and
- To signpost you to organisations that can offer advice and support.
We may not be able to provide the above services to you if you do not provide us with sufficient personal information to allow us to do so.
Cookies
This site may use cookies to store information on your computer.
Some of these cookies are essential to make our site work and others help us to improve by giving us some insight into how the site is being used.
We use analytics cookies that anonymously remember your computer or mobile device when you visit our website. They keep track of browsing patterns and build up a profile of how our visitors use the website. We might use that information to improve the website.
If you do not want to accept cookies, you can change your browser settings so that cookies are not accepted. If you do this, please be aware that you may lose some of the functionality of this website.
2. What Is Our Legal Basis for Holding and Using Your Personal Information?
Data Protection laws require us to have a legal reason for collecting, holding and using your personal information.
In some circumstances, we may rely on your consent as the legal reason. By providing us with your personal information and sensitive personal information (relating to your health, racial or ethnic origin, religious or other beliefs or sexual orientation) and the personal information and sensitive personal information of other members of your household via our website, you consent to it being used by us as described in section 1 and you confirm that you have informed the other members of your household over the age of 12 years old of the content of this statement and they have provided their consent to their personal information and sensitive personal information being used by us as described in Section 1.
You and the other members of your household have the right to withdraw your consent to us holding and using your and their personal information and sensitive personal information by contacting us. Once you / they have withdrawn your / their consent, we will no longer use your / their personal information and sensitive personal information for the purpose(s) set out in Section 1 of this statement, which you originally agreed to, unless we have another legal reason for doing so.
Our other legal reasons for holding and using your personal information are:
- performance and management of the tenancy agreement between us;
- legal and regulatory obligations which apply to us as a registered social landlord;
- protection of your vital interests;
3. Who Do We Share Your Personal Information With?
We may share your personal information with the following organisations for the purposes described in Section 1 of this statement:
- our contractors to undertake repairs, works and maintenance;
- organisations providing benefits advice and support; and
- PSNI and the local authority Anti-Social Behaviour Department in relation to complaints involving anti-social or other criminal behaviour.
4. How Long Do We Keep Your Personal Information?
We will only keep your personal information for as long as we need to for the purposes described in Section 1, including to meet any legal, accounting, reporting or regulatory requirements.
5. How Do We Keep Your Personal Information Secure?
The security of your personal information is of paramount importance to us and we use technical and organisational measures to safeguard your personal information.
However, while we will use reasonable efforts to safeguard your personal information, the use of the Internet is not entirely secure and, for this reason, we cannot guarantee the security of any personal information that is transferred by or to you via the Internet.
6. What If You Provide Us With Personal Information About Somebody Else?
We understand that there may be situations where you provide us with personal information about somebody else. In those situations, you confirm that:
- the other individual has consented to you acting for them and to your use of their personal information;
- you have informed the other individual of our identity and the contents of this statement, including the purposes for which we will use that individual’s personal information described in Section 1 and;
- the other individual has explicitly consented to our use of that individual’s personal information for the purposes described in Section 1
This statement will apply to our collection, handling and use of the other individual’s personal information in the same manner that it applies to your own personal information.
7. What Rights Do You Have In Relation To Your Personal Information That We Collect, Hold And Use?
It is important that the personal information that we collect, hold and use about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed of any changes by contacting the Association. Under certain circumstances, the law gives you the right to request:
- A copy of your personal information and to check that we are holding and using it in accordance with legal requirements.
- Correction of any incomplete or inaccurate personal information that we hold and use about you.
- Deletion of your personal information where there is no good reason for us continuing to hold and use it. You also have the right to ask us to do this where you object to us holding and using your personal information (details below).
- Temporarily suspend the use of your personal information, for example, if you want us to check that it is correct or the reason for processing it.
- The transfer of your personal information to another organisation.
Please contact the Association if you wish to make any of the above requests. When you make a request, we may ask you for specific information to help us confirm your identity for security reasons.
8. Complaints
You have the right to make a complaint to the The Information Commissioner who is the UK regulator for data protection, about how we hold and use your personal information.