1. PRINCIPLES
a) Data held by this firm relates to clients or Building Owners and Adjoining Owners and defined in Section 20 of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 (hereinafter referred to as”the Act”) and also Surveyors and Designers/Architects.
b) Our duties are defined by the Act and our relationship with clients and Appointing Owners and other owners is otherwise defined by our Terms & Conditions. These permit us to retain the personal information described below.
c) Watson Woods Partnership is committed to safeguarding your personal data and privacy and being compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
d) This policy applies where we are acting as a data controller with respect to your personal data; in other words, where we determine the purposes and means of the processing of that personal data.
2. THE INFORMATION WE HOLD
a) Client’s/Owner’s Name(s), Address, E-mail, Telephone Numbers (work, mobile or private).
b) Copies of drawings depicting proposed building works to owner’s properties which may contain other information).
c) Record Photographs and written descriptions of the internal and external parts of owner’s properties.
d) Correspondence you send to us by e-mail, telephone letter, post, fax, through our website or any other means.
e) Party Wall Awards
Information is retained to accord with our Statutory obligations under the Act and any applicable contract obligations.
This information is stored electronically on the server in our premises. All computers linked to this server (and the server itself) are password and virus protected.
3. STORAGE OF DOCUMENTS
a) We do not retain hard copies of any documents all documents are retained in electronic format. (ie. PDF/DOC /DXF /JPEG etc)
4. WHO HAS ACCESS TO THE INFORMATION?
a) When a project is active our technical and administrative staff have access to the information listed above stored on our server. When a project is complete the information (items (b) to (e) in para 3 above) are moved to an Archive drive which is accessible only by a partner of the firm.
b) We retain the information on our server for at least 7 years, which includes the limited personal information described above.
c) Information is retained to accord with our Statutory obligations under the Act and any applicable contact obligations.
5. YOUR RIGHT TO ACCESS DATA
a) You have a right to access your personal data held by us and you can exercise that right by contacting us below. Our aim is to respond to a request promptly and within the legally required limit of 1 month and to delete or update details as required.
6. COMMUNICATIONS WITH CLIENTS, APPOINTING OWNERS AND OTHER AFFECTED ADJOINING/BUILDING OWNER(S) AS DEFINED BY THE ACT.
a) We will communicate with you only for the services you have requested or as required to do so under the terms of our appointment and as required by the Act and also to provide you with relevant updates to work in progress etc.
b) You can opt out/ withdraw consent for us to communicate with you at any time by writing to us at our postal address on the letterhead, or e-mailing surveyor@partywall.info stating clearly that you wish to do so. However, the ‘opt out’ will not affect communications that we are obliged to send you under the provision of the Act or under the terms of our appointment or contract of engagement.
Our Privacy Policy (GDPR):
7. INFORMATION SHARED WITH THIRD PARTIES.
a) When we are appointed as a Party Wall Surveyor by an owner in accordance with the provisions of the Act our role is to prepare or agree a Party Wall Award. Very often the other affected owner will also appoint a Party Wall Surveyor. We would share with that other Party Wall Surveyor the information listed in Para 2 above with the strict proviso that record photographs of an owners property are not circulated to any Third Party without that owners written consent. Technical information may only be circulated to a Third Party if this is necessary for the appointed Surveyor to fulfil his or her duties as defined by the Act
b) Party Wall Award or Party Wall Agreement documents that we prepare or agree and issue contain owner’s names and addresses, details of proposed works and Schedules of Condition (written descriptions of the condition) of affected owners’ properties. These schedules refer to photographs and ‘thumb-nail’ contact sheets of these photographs are included. Full resolution photographs are NOT included.
c) Awards and Agreements are shared with affected owners, their surveyors, contractors and design consultants.
d) Links to full resolution record photographs are shared only with the owners of the property that has been surveyed (if they have agreed to receive communication by e-mail) and any other appointed Party Wall Surveyor (as noted above) and will not be otherwise shared with any Third Party (other than to comply with a Court Order).
e) Documents and photographs would only otherwise be shared with the written consent of the affected owner.
8. STATUTORY OBLIGATIONS:
a) In specific situations, we require your data to comply with our statutory obligations in a way which might reasonably be expected as part of running our business and which does not materially impact your rights, freedoms or interests. For example, we will use your information to send you notices under the Party Wall Act and to provide you with information that we are obliged to make you aware of or that we consider to form part of our professional obligations.
9. LEGAL GROUNDS FOR PROCESSING YOUR DATA
a) Consent: you have authorised and consented for your personal data to be processed for specific purposes in our service to you as Party Wall Surveyors.
b) Contract: processing is necessary for execution of a contract with you, for the purpose of providing services to you or because specific steps are required to be taken before entering into a contract, such as providing a fee quote or advice.
c) Legal obligations: processing is necessary to comply with statutory obligations.
d) Legitimate interests: Processing of your personal data is sometimes necessary for the legitimate purpose of our business to fulfill our duties and/or provide statutory services.
10. COMPLAINTS OR CONCERNS
a) If you feel that your data has not been handled correctly, or you are unhappy with our response to any requests you have made to us regarding the use of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
b) You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office on 0303 123 1113 or online at www.ico.org.uk/concerns
Watson Woods SURVEYORS