To undertake the function of providing effective housing, we have to obtain, process and store personal information about our applicants and tenants. This policy details our obligations on how we treat your personal details.
To allow us to use your personal information we require you to give consent. Please read this carefully and sign the consent below.
What is personal information?
Personal information is information that relates to a living individual and allows that individual to be identified. Certain types of personal information is categorised as *sensitive personal data (see below).
How do we collect information?
You may provide personal information to us when you make or respond to a housing application, when dealing with your tenancy, when requesting repairs on a property, when making other contact in relation to you, your application, your tenancy or when a member of our staff has initiated a contact with you in relation to you, your application, your tenancy or any other reason.
Whenever you communicate with us we may need to obtain personal information about you to enable us to perform any actions that may be required as a result of the contact.
We will only request personal information that is appropriate for our business functions, and you may refuse to provide information if you deem any requests to be inappropriate. Please note that we may not be able to carry out EPIC’s work for you if you refuse to provide information that stops us doing so.
We may also obtain your personal details from organisations you have dealt with, such as past landlords, councils and other agencies.
How do we use your information?
The purposes for which we process your personal information are:
- To allow us to assess your housing application.
- To manage your tenancy and to provide services to you such as repairs, garden maintenance etc.
- To conduct surveys and statistics on tenant profiles in order to improve services and report on our performance.
- To provide you with information about EPIC or other services that may be of interest to you.
- To enable us to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations.
- To assist you in accessing help, advice and support that we or our partners offer.
Who may we disclose your personal details to?
- We may need to provide your personal details such as name, address and contact details to our contractors and suppliers of services to ensure that you receive services such as repairs, planned maintenance, garden maintenance and other services you are entitled to.
- We may be required by law to disclose your personal details in order to comply with applicable laws and lawful requests, this could include disclosing personal details to Stoke on Trent City Council or the Department of Work and Pensions.
- We may be required to provide information to our Regulators.
Storing your personal information:
We are committed to protecting your personal details and so keep your information locked in a secure place at all times.
Ensuring the accuracy of your personal information:
We are committed to keeping your personal details accurate. Please inform staff of any changes in your personal details. You may have access to your personal details upon request.
Your consent—We require you to sign to give your consent before we can proceed with your housing application.
I/we give consent to EPIC to hold and process personal information (including sensitive personal data as set out) that I have provided or will provide in the future to perform the functions of EPIC as set out in the Privacy Policy above.
I/we agree to provide a photograph of myself / ourselves and any other member of the household and that you can keep the photographs for as long as the tenancy lasts or that person remains a member of the household.’
*Sensitive personal data means personal data consisting of information as to (a) the racial or ethnic origin of the data subject, (b) his/her political opinions, (c ) his/her religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature, (d) whether he/she is a member of a trade union (within the meaning of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992), (e) his/her physical or mental health or condition, (f) his/her sexual life, (g) the commission or alleged commission by him/her of any offence, or (h) any proceedings for any offence committed or alleged to have been committed by him/her, the disposal of such proceedings or the sentence of any court in such proceedings.