CHANDLER RAY PRIVACY NOTICE
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) effective from 25th May 2018.
Your privacy is important to us. This Privacy Notice sets out how Chandler Ray Limited (CR) collects and uses the information that we have about you (your personal data) in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In this Notice references to ‘we’ ‘our’ and ‘us’ are references to CR. We are the controller of the data under the GPDR. As Controller we determine why and how we will collect and use your personal data. Please read this through carefully. We may change this Privacy Notice from time to time and any updated Privacy Notice will be available on our website.
Purpose and Activities of the Privacy Notice
During the course of our provision of legal services to you CR will collect and hold certain personal information about you for the purpose of undertaking the work or transaction for which you have instructed us. This notice explains how we collect, use, store and protect that data.
Personal Data Collected
The data we collect about you will vary depending upon the nature of the matter in which you have instructed us but can include your full name and title, your contact details including email and postal addresses, telephone numbers, your date of birth, identification through documents such as passport, driving licence, utility or financial bills. In connection with conveyancing transactions we may also include mortgage accounts information, bank details and other financial details. In connection with Private Client services (Wills, Lasting Power of Attorney, Deputyship and Grants of Representation that is Grants of Probate and Letter of Administration) this may also include next of kin information and more detailed financial information in order to be able to give you advise on matters such as inheritance tax.
We will only collect information concerning Special Categories of Personal Data about you (including details about race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership or information about your health, or genetic and biometric data) if this is relevant to your instructions to us for example in connection with Wills or Lasting Powers of Attorney.
How We Collect Your Personal Data
- Directly from you. You will usually provide the personal information that we collect from you from the information forms that we ask you to complete at the commencement of work or a transaction, through correspondence and email, by telephone and in conversations and appointments and by your providing your personal data to us in response to our Anti Money Laundering requests.
- From third parties. Sometimes, depending upon the nature of your work or transaction with us we may also gather personal information from your mortgage lender, your financial adviser, your accountant, other law firms, or other members of your family.
How We Will Use Your Personal Data
We will only use your personal information where the law allows us to. The legal basis for our collecting and using that personal data will include:
- Your contract with us, for example the contract to act on your behalf in respect of a house sale or purchase, or your contract with us to draft a Will for you.
- To comply with our legal obligations, for example those set out in Anti Money Laundering regulations.
- Legitimate business interests for example to ensure information security and to prevent fraud, and for the running of our business, and to recover debts due to us.
- Your consent. We do not generally rely on this as a legal basis for processing your personal data but would do so for example when you have agreed to it for a specific purpose such as for the provision of information to your mortgage lender.
- The vital interests of you as the data subject. We are unlikely to need to use this basis but could do so if it was essential for your life or the life of an individual for example in connection with Lasting Powers of Attorney for Health and Welfare matters.
Sharing of Data
There may be occasions when we share your personal data for example with your mortgage lender or other institutions connected with the work or transaction in which you have instructed us.
We may also disclose your personal data to government agencies, for example,HMRC and other regulatory authorities either where we are obliged to do so or where it is a necessary part of the work or transaction in which you have instructed us (for example the completion of a Stamp Duty Land Tax form).
Protection of Data
We have systems and measures in place to protect the security of your personal information.
What Happens If You Do Not Provide Us With The Requested Personal Data
If we ask you to provide us with personal data in order to comply with a legal requirement or to enable us to perform the contract you have with us and you do not do so, we may delay the continuation of the transaction in which you have instructed us or may be unable to fulfil our contract with you.
How Long We Will Hold Your Personal Data
We will only hold your personal information for as long as we consider necessary in order to fulfil our contractual obligations to you and our legal and regulatory obligations. This will mean that we are likely to hold much of your personal data for a minimum of six complete tax years. We will also consider the nature and sensitivity of the personal information we are holding and therefore in some circumstances and for some information we will hold it for a shorter period of time for example your bank details will usually only be held until the file is archived at which point it will be destroyed.
Your Rights Relating To The Personal Data
Under the GDPR you have some rights relating to the personal data we hold. You have the right:
- Of access, to a copy of the information that we hold about you.
- To correct information about you if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
- To be forgotten in certain circumstances (but please see the retention of data period referred to above).
- To restrict the processing of the data (but this may have an impact on our ability to provide services to you).
- Of transfer. You have the right to have the personal information we hold about you transferred to another organisation upon your request. We will require your request in writing in order to transfer the data.
- To object to certain types of processing such as for marketing. (We will only ever use your contact information for marketing where you have given us express consent.)
- To withdraw consent if you have provided your consent to the provision of your data for a specific purpose.
- To lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioners Office.
Responsibility For Compliance With The Relevant Laws And Regulations
Under the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) we do not have a statutory requirement to have a Data Protection Officer. The person who is responsible for ensuring CR discharges its obligations under the GDPR is Diana Davis a Director of CR.
Checking What Data We Hold About You
You can contact us with a “Subject Access Request” if you want to ask us to provide you with the information we hold about you. We are required to provide this to you within one month. There is not usually a fee for this, though we can charge a reasonable fee based on the administrative cost of providing the information if a request is “manifestly unfounded or excessive”.
How We Use Cookies
Cookies are used on the CR website. A cookie is a small file that is stored on your computer when you visit a website. If you visit our website again it is recognised as repeat visit by means of the cookie. It cannot be used to identify you on the websites of third parties. A cookie helps analyse web traffic. We may use traffic log cookies to identify which pages on our website are being used and that helps us to analyse data and improve our website to tailor it to your needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis. It does not give us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you have chosen to share with us. You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer.
How You Can Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or concerns about our use of your personal data, please contact us in writing to Chandler Ray Solicitors, 22 West Street, Buckingham, MK18 1HG for the attention of Diana Davis or by email to reception@ChandlerRay.co.uk, again marked for the attention of Diana Davis