Under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation, we need to explain to you why we are asking for information about you, how we intend to use the information that you provide and whether we will share it with anyone else.

1. Who are we?

We are Host Student Housing Management Limited (HSHML) and Host Student Housing Management (UK) Ltd (“HSHM(UK)L”). We are a specialist UK developer and operational manager of student accommodation. Our trading name is “Host”.

2. Contacting us

If you have any concerns or questions about our use of your personal data or wish to exercise any of the personal data protection rights set out in section 12 below you can contact us by emailing us at: privacy@host-students.com.

3. Why do we need your personal information?

The information that you provide us during the course of becoming a guarantor is required in order to enable us to satisfy ourselves that you meet our guarantor credentials and also to enable us to enter into a binding guarantor agreement with you.

4. What information do we collect?

We will collect and use your personal data (this means any information which identifies you, or which can be identified as relating to you personally, such as your name, address, phone number, email address or member number).

We only collect the personal data we need.

We collect information that you provide to us via a web portal, email or post. The information that we process includes:

• Name of prospective tenant
• Name, address and contact details for guarantor
• Proof of residency in the UK (2 of the following): utility bill, driving licence, passport or bank statement and length of time at that address
• Relationship to prospective tenant
• Name, address and contact details of your employer
• Proof of employment either a payslip or letter from your HR department OR if self-employed a letter from your accountant or end of year accounts showing the most recent year’s income OR if retired and bank statement showing pension payments or a letter from the pension fund confirming the you receive a private pension.
• Name and address of independent witness
• Signatures of both guarantor and independent witness

5. How we use your information

The information you provide to us will be used for the following purposes:

• your information will be stored and used by us in accordance with this privacy statement and also in accordance with your rights under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation.
• your information will be collected and used by us fairly and openly for the purpose of managing our guarantor agreement and for debt recovery in the event that those persons you are acting as a guarantor for default on their rent.

6. What is the legal basis for processing your information?

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where we need to perform the contract we are about to enter into or have entered into with you.
• Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.
• Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.

7. Sharing your information

We may share your personal data with the parties set out below:

• Emergency services in specific emergency circumstances
• debt collection agencies
• solicitors
• Court Services in the event that legal action is required
• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy policy

We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

8. International transfers

We do not transfer your personal data outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

9. Data security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.

We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

10. How long will we retain your personal information for?

We will retain the personal data which you provide to us for as long as the persons you are acting as a guarantor for continue to use our services. Once the persons you are acting as guarantor for cease using our services, we will review the information which we hold concerning you in order to determine whether there are any reasons why we need to continue holding it. If the person that you are acting as guarantor for is in arrears when they leave the property, it may be necessary to retain your information in order to assist with the recovery of those arrears. In any event the personal data that you provide us with will not normally be retained after six years’ following on from the year in which the relevant tenancy agreement terminated.

11. Your data protection rights

In relation to the information which we hold about you, you are entitled to:

• Ask us for access to the information;
• Ask us to rectify the information where it is inaccurate or is incomplete;
• Ask us to erase the information and take steps to ask others who we have shared your information with to also erase it;
• Ask us to limit what we do with your information; and
• Object to our use of your information and ask us to stop that use.

Our obligations to comply with the above rights are subject to certain exemptions.

Where we are using your information because you have provided your consent to that use, you are entitled to withdraw your consent at any time. The lawfulness of our use of your information before consent was withdrawn is not affected. Please note that at the time of issuing this privacy notice we do not anticipate relying on consent as the lawful basis for processing the personal data that you provide to us.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”) if you are not satisfied with the way we use your information. You can contact the ICO by writing to Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.