Houghton Homes Estate Agents Limited ( we, our, us) respect the importance of protecting your privacy. We comply with our obligations we are registered under the Data Protection Act 1998 in the United Kingdom.

This Privacy Policy describes how Houghton Homes Estate Agents Limited collects, handles, uses and discloses your personal information. By providing us with your personal information, you consent to us using and disclosing it for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We may need to update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We may e-mail periodic reminders of our policies and conditions, unless you have instructed us not to, but you should check our website frequently to see recent changes. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Policy applies to all information that we have about you and your account.

Our functions and Activities
We collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information so that we can perform our functions and activities and provide best possible customer service. Our collection, use and disclosure of your personal information will depend on our relationship with you, the circumstances of collection and the type of products and service you request from us. We may collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for the following purposes:
• To provide and administer our products and services, including market properties for vendors and landlords, facilitate transactions for sales and letting, verify your identity, conduct credit checks and process payments if applicable;
• To respond to your submissions and enquiries about our products and services and property listings;
• To provide customer support, including conducting, investigating and responding to enquiries, feedback, comments and complaints;
• To assess the performance of our websites and improve the operation of the website
• To maintain records and comply with our legal obligations.

The Information we collect
Personal information is any information about you, from which you can be identified. We may collect your name, address, postcode, email address, date of birth, gender, employment, telephone number, property details, payment details and proof of identity such as your driver licence or passport. We may collect additional personal information from you from time to time.
Personal information we collect about you may also include credit-related personal information. Credit-related information is information used and disclosed to assess your creditworthiness, assess your application
The types of credit-related personal information that we collect about you may include your credit liability information, repayment history information, court proceedings, insolvency actions and credit worthiness.
You don’t have to give us all the information we request. However, if you do not provide us with some or all of the personal information required, we may not be able to provide you with the products and services or information you request, to the requested standard or at all.

How we collect information
Where we can, we will collect information directly from you. We collect personal information when you:
• Request us to provide our products and services or information about our products and services, including sales and letting.
• Contact us to make an enquiry about our listed properties or our products and services, including online, over the phone or in person;
• Subscribe to communications from us such as property details and appointment making
• Tell us about your preferences when making an enquiry or using our products and services;
• Interact or engage with us through our websites
• Attend property inspections or visit our offices
or
Third parties we collect information about you from may include:
• Credit reporting bodies and providers, law enforcement agencies and government agencies to verify your identity or assess your credit worthiness;
• Reputable data sources and publicly available sources of information;
• Your representatives (solicitor, mortgage broker, accountants and financial advisors);
• Your nominated referee or employer when you apply to rent a property

Website
We also collect general information about you when you use our websites. This might include your location, IP address, the pages accessed on our website.
We also use cookies, which are small data files placed on your computer that allows our website to “remember you” when you return to our website. We do this to monitor visitor traffic information and actions on our website, maintain, secure and improve our websites and enhance your experience when using our website. This information is aggregated and anonymous, and will not be used to personally identify you. If you want to prevent cookies being used, you can change your browser settings to disable cookies.

Disclosure of personal information
Houghton Homes Estate Agents Limited may disclose your personal information to our officers, employees, and contractors.
We may disclose your personal information to third parties in connection with our functions and activities, including:
• To the other parties in the transaction for sale and letting, including developers, vendors, landlords, purchasers and tenants, and their authorised representative;
• To guarantors, other mortgage intermediaries, lenders, financial institutions, insurers, valuers and credit reporting bodies and providers;
• To your authorised representatives (solicitors, mortgage brokers, accountants and financial advisors);
• To regulatory bodies, government agencies and law enforcement bodies
• To debt collectors and utility companies;
• When we may be required by law from time to time.
We may also disclose personal information to our suppliers and service providers that provide products and services to us in connection with our functions and activities.

How we hold information and keep it secure
Houghton Homes Estate Agents Limited holds your personal information both electronically, on our own servers, and in hard copy at our office.
Houghton Homes Estate Agents Limited takes the security of your personal information seriously and we implement a range of technical, administrative, personnel and physical measures to safeguard your personal information against loss, interference and unauthorised access, modification and disclosure, and misuse, including using electronic and physical access restrictions to files containing personal information and ensuring encryption of personal information sent and received.

Access and correction of information about you
It is important to us that the information we hold about you is up-to-date, accurate and complete, and we will try to confirm your details through our communications with you and promptly add updated or new personal information to existing records when we are advised. If any of your details change, please notify us as soon as you can. If you believe we are holding information about you that is inaccurate, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading, you can ask us to correct it, or delete it altogether.
If you would like to access your personal information, or ask us to update, correct or delete it, you can do so by contacting us in writing and verifying your identity
We will only refuse access in exceptional circumstances, and if this is the case, we will advise you of our reasons for doing so.
We may charge a fee for searching for, and providing access to, your information on a per request basis.

If you choose to visit our website or Our Office any dispute over privacy is subject to this Privacy Policy and any applicable terms of use. If you have any concern about privacy or have any questions or comments, please send them to:
Mrs. V. Houghton
Houghton Homes Estate Agents Limited
27 Church Street
Atherton
Manchester
M46 9DE

and we will try to resolve it.

Further Information on Data Protection can be found at http://www.gov.uk/data-protection