Privacy Policy — Westway Lettings Ltd

Last updated: January 2025

1. Who We Are

Westway Lettings Ltd is a property management company registered in England and Wales (Company Number 13135303). Our registered address is 18B Station Road, Billingham, TS23 1AQ.

We are the data controller for the personal information we hold about you. This privacy policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, and your rights under UK data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

If you have questions about this policy or your data, you can contact us at info@westwayltd.com.

2. What Information We Collect

We may collect the following categories of personal information depending on how you interact with us:

Contact information — your name, email address, phone number, and postal address, when provided through our website contact form, email, or by phone.
Enquiry details — information you provide about your property, your requirements, or any questions you submit to us.
Tenancy and property information — where relevant, details about a property or tenancy in connection with our management services.
Identity and referencing information — for tenants and landlords, we may collect identity documents, financial information, and references as required for lettings purposes.
Usage data — limited technical information about how you access our website, such as your IP address and browser type, collected automatically through standard web server logs.

3. How We Collect Your Information

We collect personal information in the following ways:

When you submit an enquiry through our website contact form
When you email or telephone us directly
During the tenancy application and referencing process
During the ongoing management of a tenancy or landlord relationship
Automatically through standard website server logs

4. Why We Use Your Information

We use your personal information for the following purposes and on the following legal bases under UK GDPR:

To respond to your enquiry — on the basis of our legitimate interest in responding to people who contact us.
To manage a tenancy or landlord relationship — on the basis of performing our contractual obligations to you, or taking steps prior to entering into a contract.
To comply with legal obligations — including right to rent checks, deposit registration, and statutory compliance requirements placed on letting agents.
To communicate with you about your property or tenancy — on the basis of our legitimate interests or the performance of a contract.

We do not use your personal information for marketing purposes without your explicit consent, and we do not sell your information to third parties.

5. Who We Share Your Information With

We may share your personal information with:

Contractors and tradespeople — where necessary to carry out maintenance or repair work at a property.
Referencing agencies — for the purpose of conducting tenant or landlord references.
Deposit protection schemes — as required by law for the protection of tenancy deposits.
Professional advisers — including accountants and legal advisers, where necessary.
Regulatory bodies — where we are legally required to disclose information, such as to HMRC or local authorities.

We require all third parties to treat your personal data with the same level of care that we apply, and we do not permit them to use it for their own purposes.

6. How Long We Keep Your Information

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this policy or as required by law:

Enquiry records — up to 12 months from the date of enquiry if no ongoing relationship results.
Landlord and tenancy records — for the duration of the management relationship and for up to 6 years thereafter, in line with standard legal and financial record-keeping requirements.
Identity and referencing documents — for the period required by law, including right to rent obligations.

7. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal information:

Right of access — you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification — you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Right to erasure — in certain circumstances, you may ask us to delete your personal data.
Right to restrict processing — you may ask us to limit how we use your data in certain circumstances.
Right to data portability — where applicable, you may request your data in a portable format.
Right to object — you may object to processing carried out on the basis of our legitimate interests.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at info@westwayltd.com. We will respond within one month. If you are not satisfied with how we handle your request, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

8. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure, or access. Access to personal data within our business is restricted to those with a legitimate need.

While we take reasonable steps to protect your information, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is completely secure. If you have concerns about the security of information you have shared with us, please contact us.

9. Cookies and Website Data

Our website uses standard server logging. We do not currently use tracking cookies or third-party analytics services that collect personally identifiable information. If this changes, this policy will be updated accordingly.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. The most current version will always be available on this page, with the date of last update shown at the top. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.