02
Who we are and how to contact us
This privacy policy explains how Trent Estate Agents Limited, trading as Trent Estate Agents ("we", "us" and "our"), collects, uses, shares and protects personal data, and the rights you have in relation to it. We are an estate and letting agency serving Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, and we act for sellers, buyers, landlords, tenants and property investors, including landlords who live outside the United Kingdom.
We are the controller of the personal data described in this policy, which means that we decide why and how it is processed. We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office ("ICO") under registration number ZB590896.
Questions, requests and concerns about personal data should be addressed to our Data Protection Lead:
| Data Protection Lead | Trent Estate Agents Limited |
|---|
| Post | 16 The Triangle, NG2 Business Park, Nottingham, NG2 1AE |
| Email | info@trentestateagents.co.uk, marked "Data Protection" |
| Telephone | 0333 3444 035 |
We process personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation ("UK GDPR"), the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (together, "data protection law"). Where this policy refers to "personal data" it means any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual.
This policy was last reviewed on the date shown on the first page. We review it at least once a year and whenever our processing changes materially. The current version is always the one published at www.trentestateagents.co.uk.
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Who this policy covers
This policy applies to everyone whose personal data we handle in the course of our business, including:
01
sellers and prospective sellers who ask us for a valuation or instruct us to market a property;
02
buyers and prospective buyers who register with us, view a property or make an offer;
03
landlords and prospective landlords, whether resident in the United Kingdom or abroad, who instruct us to let or manage a property;
04
tenants, prospective tenants, permitted occupiers and guarantors;
05
property sourcing and investment clients;
06
visitors to our website and people who contact us by telephone, email, social media or through our website forms;
07
contractors, suppliers, referencing providers, professional advisers and other people we deal with in the course of our work; and
08
people who apply to work for us.
Where you give us personal data about another person (for example a joint owner, a co-tenant, a permitted occupier, a guarantor or a next of kin), you confirm that you are entitled to do so and that you have drawn this policy to their attention.
Our services are not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under the age of 18, save where a tenancy application lawfully requires details of children who will live at a property, in which case we collect only the minimum needed.
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The personal data we collect
The categories of personal data we collect depend on your relationship with us. They may include the following:
| Category | What it includes |
|---|
| Identity data | Title, full name, date of birth, nationality, photographs and copies of identity documents such as a passport or driving licence, and signature. |
| Contact data | Postal address, correspondence address, email address and telephone numbers, including an overseas address where you live abroad. |
| Property data | The address, tenure, description, condition, photographs, floor plans, Energy Performance Certificate and title information for a property you own, are selling, are letting or are interested in; keys and access arrangements; the asking price or rent. |
| Financial data | Bank account details for the payment of sale proceeds, rent, deposits or fees; proof and source of funds; mortgage and lending position; income, employment and affordability information; credit history obtained through referencing. |
| Transaction data | Details of offers made and received, viewings and feedback, agreed terms, fees charged and paid, rent collected, deposits held and returned, and the progress of a sale or letting. |
| Verification and compliance data | Information gathered to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, the Immigration Act 2014 right to rent checks, the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme and local authority licensing requirements, including the outcome of electronic identity and sanctions checks. |
| Referencing data | For tenants and guarantors: employment and landlord references, credit checks, adverse credit history and affordability assessments, usually obtained through a specialist referencing provider. |
| Communications data | Correspondence, emails, messages sent through our website or social media, notes of telephone calls and meetings, and recordings of telephone calls where we tell you that calls are recorded. |
| Technical and usage data | Your internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, device type, operating system, time zone, the pages you visit on our website, how you reached our site and how you move around it. Our Cookie Policy explains this further. |
| Marketing and preference data | Your preferences about receiving marketing from us, your property requirements and the areas and price ranges you are interested in. |
| Images | CCTV images where CCTV is in use at our office, and photographs or video of a property that may incidentally show occupiers or their belongings. |
| Recruitment data | Where you apply to work for us: your CV, qualifications, employment history, right to work documents and references. |
We do not generally ask for special category personal data (such as information about health, ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation or political opinions) or data about criminal convictions and offences. There are limited exceptions. We may need to know about a disability or health condition in order to make reasonable adjustments to our service, to assess a request for adaptations to a property, or where it is relevant to a tenancy. Anti money laundering and sanctions screening, and right to rent checks, may reveal information about nationality, immigration status or criminal matters. Where we process such data we do so only where data protection law permits it: with your explicit consent, where it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation, or where it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
If you do not provide personal data that we need in order to enter into or perform a contract with you, or that the law requires us to collect, we may be unable to act for you, to let a property to you or to continue with a transaction. We will tell you at the time if that is the case.
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Where we obtain personal data
Most of the personal data we hold comes directly from you: when you ask for a valuation, register as an applicant, book a viewing, make an offer, instruct us, apply for a tenancy, pay rent, complete one of our forms, telephone or email us, or visit our website.
We also receive personal data from other sources, including:
01
property portals such as Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket, which pass to us the enquiries you make about our listings;
02
referencing and credit reference agencies, fraud prevention agencies and identity verification providers;
03
employers, current and former landlords and letting agents, when they supply references;
04
HM Land Registry, Companies House, the Valuation Office Agency, local authorities and other public registers;
05
solicitors, conveyancers, mortgage brokers, lenders, surveyors and other professionals involved in a transaction;
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our connected businesses, Trent Law Solicitors, Trent Finance and Trent Notary, where you have asked one of them to introduce you to us or have agreed to information being shared (see section 7);
07
tenancy deposit schemes, insurers and rent guarantee providers;
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social media platforms, where you contact us or interact with us through them; and
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publicly available sources, including the marketing material of other agents where a property has previously been marketed.
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How we use personal data and the lawful bases we rely on
Data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for every use we make of personal data. The lawful bases we rely on are:
01
performance of a contract
where processing is necessary to perform a contract with you, or to take steps at your request before entering into one;
02
legal obligation
where processing is necessary to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation to which we are subject;
03
legitimate interests
where processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, or those of a third party, provided that those interests are not overridden by your interests, rights and freedoms. Where we rely on this basis we have assessed the balance and you are entitled to ask us about that assessment; and
04
consent
where you have given clear consent to a particular use, which you may withdraw at any time.
The table below sets out the principal purposes for which we use personal data, the categories of data involved and the lawful basis for each. More than one basis may apply to a single purpose.
| Purpose | Data used | Lawful basis |
|---|
| Providing a market appraisal or valuation and advising on marketing | Identity, contact, property | Contract; legitimate interests |
| Marketing a property for sale or to let, including preparing particulars, photographs, floor plans and EPCs, and listing on portals and our website | Property, identity, contact | Contract |
| Registering applicants, matching them to property and arranging viewings | Identity, contact, marketing and preference, financial position | Contract; legitimate interests |
| Receiving, relaying and negotiating offers, and progressing a sale to exchange and completion | Identity, contact, transaction, financial | Contract; legal obligation (Estate Agents Act 1979) |
| Assessing tenancy applications, obtaining references and credit checks, and preparing tenancy agreements and guarantees | Identity, contact, financial, referencing | Contract; legitimate interests |
| Conducting right to rent checks | Identity, verification and compliance | Legal obligation (Immigration Act 2014) |
| Customer due diligence, source of funds enquiries, sanctions screening and reporting under anti money laundering law | Identity, financial, verification and compliance | Legal obligation (Money Laundering Regulations 2017; Proceeds of Crime Act 2002) |
| Collecting rent, holding and protecting deposits, paying landlords, accounting for client money and issuing statements | Financial, transaction | Contract; legal obligation (Housing Act 2004; client money protection rules) |
| Managing a property: arranging repairs, inspections, safety certificates and contractor access; dealing with notices, renewals and the end of a tenancy | Property, contact, transaction, communications | Contract; legal obligation; legitimate interests |
| Operating the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme, including deducting tax, making returns to HMRC and issuing annual certificates | Identity, contact, financial | Legal obligation (Income Tax Act 2007 and the Taxation of Income from Land (Non-residents) Regulations 1995) |
| Acting as named licence holder or dealing with selective, additional or HMO licensing with the local authority | Identity, contact, property | Contract; legal obligation (Housing Act 2004) |
| Complying with the Renters' Rights Act 2025, including registration on the private rented sector database where required | Identity, contact, property | Legal obligation |
| Communicating with you about your property, your application or your transaction | Contact, communications | Contract; legitimate interests |
| Sending you marketing about our services, new instructions, price changes and property that may suit you | Contact, marketing and preference | Consent; or legitimate interests where you are an existing customer and have not opted out (see section 6) |
| Introducing you, at your request, to Trent Law Solicitors, Trent Finance or Trent Notary | Identity, contact, transaction | Consent; contract |
| Recording telephone calls, where in use, for training, quality and the resolution of disputes | Communications | Legitimate interests |
| Operating CCTV at our office, where in use, for the security of staff, visitors and property | Images | Legitimate interests |
| Operating, securing and improving our website, and understanding how it is used | Technical and usage | Legitimate interests; consent for non essential cookies |
| Handling complaints, including referrals to The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme | All relevant categories | Legal obligation; legitimate interests |
| Keeping records, establishing, exercising or defending legal claims, and dealing with insurers and auditors | All relevant categories | Legitimate interests; legal obligation |
| Recruitment | Recruitment data | Contract (steps before employment); legal obligation; legitimate interests |
We will use your personal data only for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another purpose compatible with the original one. If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will tell you and explain the lawful basis.
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Marketing and your choices
We would like to keep you informed about property that matches your requirements, new instructions, changes to asking prices and rents, and our services. We will do so by email, telephone, text message or post, depending on the preferences you give us.
Where you have registered with us as an applicant or have used our services, we may send you marketing about similar property and services on the basis of our legitimate interests, having given you the opportunity to opt out when we collected your details. In every other case we will send electronic marketing only with your consent.
You may ask us to stop sending marketing at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in any email, by replying "STOP" to any text message, or by contacting our Data Protection Lead. We will act on your request promptly. Opting out of marketing will not prevent us from sending you communications that are necessary to deal with your property, application or transaction.
We do not sell personal data, and we do not share personal data with third parties for their own marketing purposes.
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Sharing within the Trent group
Trent Estate Agents is one of a group of connected businesses based in Nottingham. The others are Trent Law Solicitors (Trent Law Ltd, regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority), Trent Finance Ltd (an appointed representative of Dragon Brokers Limited trading as The Dragon Network, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority) and Trent Notary Ltd. Each company is a separate legal entity and a separate controller of the personal data it holds.
We will pass your personal data to a connected business only where you ask us to introduce you, where you have consented, or where it is necessary to perform a contract you have entered into with that business. For example, if you ask us to introduce you to Trent Law Solicitors for conveyancing, we will pass your name, contact details and the details of the transaction so that they can contact you. We do not receive a referral fee from any connected business, and you remain free to instruct any solicitor, mortgage adviser or notary you choose.
We may also share limited personal data with our connected businesses where necessary for the administration of the group, such as shared IT systems, accounting, compliance and the handling of complaints, on the basis of our legitimate interests in running the group efficiently and securely. Where we do so, the connected business is bound to protect your personal data to the same standard as we are.
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Other recipients of personal data
In the course of our work we share personal data with third parties where it is necessary to deliver our services, to comply with the law or to protect our legitimate interests. The principal categories of recipient are:
| Recipient | Why we share |
|---|
| Property portals and marketing platforms (including Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket) and our website provider | To advertise property and to receive and route enquiries. |
| The other party to a transaction and their advisers (buyers, sellers, landlords, tenants, solicitors, conveyancers, mortgage brokers, lenders and surveyors) | To negotiate, progress and complete a sale or letting. |
| Referencing, credit reference, identity verification and fraud prevention agencies | To assess tenancy applications and to carry out identity and anti money laundering checks. |
| Tenancy deposit protection schemes (including The Deposit Protection Service) | To protect deposits as the law requires. |
| Contractors, inventory clerks, energy assessors, photographers, cleaners and other suppliers | To market, prepare, maintain and repair property. |
| Utility companies, local authorities and council tax departments | To notify changes of occupier and to deal with licensing. |
| HM Revenue and Customs | To comply with the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme and other tax obligations. |
| Insurers, rent guarantee and legal expenses providers | To arrange cover and to deal with claims. |
| The Property Ombudsman, the Property Redress Scheme, UKALA, the ICO, the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team and other regulators | To comply with our regulatory obligations and to deal with complaints and investigations. |
| Our professional advisers, accountants, auditors and insurers | To obtain advice and to run our business. |
| IT, cloud hosting, email, customer relationship management, telephony, call recording and electronic signature providers | To operate our systems. These providers act as processors on our instructions. |
| The police, courts, enforcement agencies and government bodies | Where the law requires or permits disclosure, including under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002. |
| A prospective purchaser of our business or its assets | In the event of a sale, merger or reorganisation, subject to appropriate confidentiality. |
Where we engage a third party to process personal data on our behalf, we do so under a written contract that requires them to keep the data secure and confidential, to use it only on our instructions and to comply with data protection law.
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International transfers
We serve a significant number of landlords and investors who live outside the United Kingdom. Where you live abroad we will necessarily send your own personal data to you in the country where you live, and we may correspond with your overseas advisers and banks at your request.
Some of the IT and cloud providers we use store or access data outside the United Kingdom, including in the European Economic Area and the United States. Where personal data is transferred outside the United Kingdom we ensure that one of the safeguards recognised by data protection law applies: the destination country has been found by the United Kingdom to provide adequate protection; the transfer is covered by the International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the European Commission's standard contractual clauses; or, in the case of the United States, the recipient is certified under the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. You may ask our Data Protection Lead for details of the safeguard applied to any particular transfer.
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How long we keep personal data
We keep personal data for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including the purpose of satisfying any legal, accounting, regulatory or reporting requirement. In deciding retention periods we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of the data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure, the purposes of processing and whether those purposes can be achieved by other means. Our standard periods are:
| Category | Retention period |
|---|
| Agency, lettings and management contracts, tenancy files, transaction records, client money records and related correspondence | Six years from the end of the contract or tenancy, reflecting the limitation period under the Limitation Act 1980, and longer where a claim or complaint is open. |
| Anti money laundering customer due diligence records | Five years from the end of the business relationship or the completion of the transaction, as required by the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, and up to ten years where a regulator requires. |
| Right to rent check records | For the duration of the tenancy and one year after it ends. |
| Non-Resident Landlord Scheme records | Six years after the end of the tax year to which they relate. |
| Tenancy deposit records | Six years after the deposit is repaid or the dispute is resolved. |
| Applicant registrations, viewing records and valuation enquiries that do not lead to an instruction or transaction | Twelve months from our last contact with you, unless you ask us to remove you sooner or ask to stay registered. |
| Marketing preferences and opt outs | For as long as needed to honour your preference. We keep a record of an opt out so that we do not contact you again. |
| Call recordings, where in use | Twelve months, unless needed for a complaint, dispute or investigation. |
| CCTV images, where in use | Thirty days, unless needed for an incident or investigation. |
| Website technical and analytics data | As set out in our Cookie Policy. |
| Recruitment records for unsuccessful applicants | Six months from the end of the recruitment process. |
When personal data is no longer needed we delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use the anonymised information without further notice.
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Security
We have put in place appropriate technical and organisational measures to prevent personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. These include access controls, password and multi factor authentication on our systems, encryption of data in transit, secure storage of identity documents, staff training and confidentiality obligations, and contractual security requirements on our processors.
We limit access to personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know it. They process personal data only on our instructions and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We have procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach. We will notify you and the ICO of a breach where the law requires us to do so.
No transmission of information over the internet is completely secure. Although we take care to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of data you send to us over the internet, and any such transmission is at your own risk.
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Your rights
Under data protection law you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
| Right | What it means |
|---|
| Access | To ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you, together with information about how we use it (a "subject access request"). |
| Rectification | To ask us to correct personal data that is inaccurate or to complete data that is incomplete. |
| Erasure | To ask us to delete your personal data where there is no good reason for us to continue holding it. This right does not apply where we must keep the data to comply with a legal obligation or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims. |
| Restriction | To ask us to suspend the use of your personal data, for example while its accuracy is being checked or where you have objected to our use of it. |
| Objection | To object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests, and to object at any time to direct marketing. Where you object to direct marketing we will stop. |
| Portability | To receive the personal data you have provided to us, where we process it by automated means on the basis of consent or contract, in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format, and to have it transmitted to another controller where technically feasible. |
| Withdrawal of consent | To withdraw consent at any time where consent is the basis for our processing. Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before it. |
| Automated decisions | Not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing which produces legal or similarly significant effects on you. |
To exercise any of these rights, please contact our Data Protection Lead using the details in section 1. There is no fee for exercising your rights, although we may charge a reasonable fee, or refuse to act, if a request is manifestly unfounded, excessive or repetitive.
We may need to ask you for specific information to confirm your identity before we respond, which is a security measure to ensure that personal data is not disclosed to someone who has no right to receive it. We may also ask you to clarify your request so that we can respond more quickly.
We will respond to a valid request within one month of receiving it. Where a request is complex or you have made several requests, we may extend that period by up to two further months, in which case we will tell you within the first month and explain why.
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Automated decisions and profiling
We do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing which have a legal or similarly significant effect on you. Where a referencing provider uses automated scoring as part of a tenancy application, the outcome is reviewed by a member of our staff, or by the landlord, before any decision is taken, and you are entitled to ask for an explanation and to put your case.
We may use the property requirements you give us to match you with suitable property. This is profiling in a limited sense, but it has no legal or similarly significant effect and you may ask us to stop at any time.
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Cookies and links to other websites
Our website uses cookies and similar technologies. Our Cookie Policy, published at www.trentestateagents.co.uk, explains what they are, which ones we use and how you can control them.
Our website contains links to other websites, including property portals, our connected businesses, regulators and social media platforms, and property listings may be displayed through feeds provided by third parties. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of other websites, and this policy does not apply to them. We encourage you to read the privacy policy of every website you visit.
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Complaints
If you have a concern about the way we handle your personal data, please raise it first with our Data Protection Lead, who will investigate and respond. Our complaints procedure, published on our website, also applies.
You have the right to complain at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office, the United Kingdom supervisory authority for data protection:
| Information Commissioner's Office | Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF |
|---|
| Telephone | 0303 123 1113 |
| Website | www.ico.org.uk |
We would, however, welcome the opportunity to address your concern before you approach the ICO.
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Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law, in our business or in the way we use personal data. We will publish the revised policy on our website with a new review date and, where a change is significant, we will tell you by email or by notice on our website. Please check this page periodically.
It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your details change during your relationship with us.
