Private Sector Service (Homes & Safer Communities)

1. The purpose for which we use your personal data

We use the information we collect about you for the following purposes:

• Deal with a grant or loan application
• Manage Complaints made about Empty Properties, Housing Standards and/or Energy Efficiency
• To help us deal your enquiries

The lawful basis for the processing this information is that we need to do so to comply with our legal obligations.

The service has statutory obligations in relation to:

• Enforcement of Housing Standards
• Licensing duties
• Assisting Private Rented Sector Landlords in meeting legislative requirements 
• Enforcement work in addressing Empty Properties within Carmarthenshire

This legislation includes, but is not limited to:

• Housing Act 2004
• Housing (Wales) Act 2014
• Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016
• Protection from Eviction Act 1977
• Mobile Homes (Wales) Act 2013

We also have a non-statutory role in the administration of Energy Efficiency schemes to help reduce carbon emissions and tackle fuel poverty.

We collect and use information about your health, other special category (sensitive) personal data and information about criminal convictions, for reasons of substantial public interest, on the basis of the legislation referred to above. 

2. What type of information do we use?

We collect the following types of personal data to deliver this service:

• Name 
• Address
• Date of birth
• Gender or gender identification
• Unique reference number
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Bank/payment details
• Family composition
• Your social circumstances
• Your financial circumstances
• Employment and education details
• Your Housing needs
• Images/photographs

Where relevant, we use the following types of sensitive personal data (known as special category data):

• Information about your Health or the Health of your household members
• Race or ethnic origin
• Political opinions
• Religious or philosophical beliefs
• Trade union membership
• Information about your sexual life or your sexual orientation
• Genetic data
• Biometric data
• Convictions and criminal offences

3. Do we use information received from other sources?

To provide this service, we collect personal data directly from you but we also obtain information about you from the following sources: 

• The Council’s Public/Environmental Health teams
• The Council’s Social Services teams
• Other Council Services, including Place & Sustainability (Planning) and Council Tax  
• Housing Hwb
• Trading Standards
• Private landlords

We also receive Information from other Local Authorities and other Public Services such as:

• Mid and West Wales Fire & Rescue Service
• Dyfed Powys Police Service, where applicable 
• Other relevant external agencies, where we are working in partnership to either deliver a scheme, or where there is a concern for health and safety

4. Transferring your information abroad

We use Microsoft Office 365 to process all of our electronic documents under the terms of a strict agreement, which safeguards your information. This personal data is hosted on servers outside of the UK, but only in EU countries which are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation.

5. Who has access to your information?

We share your personal data only when there is a need for us to do so. When we do this, we provide the minimum amount of information that is necessary in each case to the following recipients:

There are also other specific situations where we may be required to disclose information about you, such as:

• Where we are required to provide the information by law
• Where disclosing the information is required to prevent or detect a crime
• Where disclosure is in the vital interests of the person concerned.

6. How long we will keep your information

We will keep your information for a minimum of 6 years.

7. Your Data Protection rights

You have the right to:

• Obtain access to the personal data that Carmarthenshire Council is processing about you
• Have any inaccurate or incomplete information rectified (corrected)
• Withdraw your consent to processing, where this is the only basis for the processing
• Make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the independent body in the UK which protects information rights

In some circumstances, you may have the right to:

• Object to the processing of your personal information
• The erasure of your personal data
• Restrict the processing of your personal information
• Data portability

8. Contact details

For more information regarding this privacy notice and your rights, please contact:

Data Protection Officer
Carmarthenshire County Council
County Hall
Carmarthen
SA31 1JP

Email: dataprotection@carmarthenshire.gov.uk

Contact details for the Information Commissioner’s Office along with further guidance on Data Protection legislation can be found on the ICO website.