Empty homes

Our privacy notice explains what personal information is collected, what it is used for and who it is provided to. The notice also describes why we require your data, and the legal basis on which we do this.

This privacy notice specifically relates to the Empty Homes Service. It should be read together with our general privacy notice, which provides more detail on the questions below.

This service provides a range a functions relating to the empty homes within the borough. This includes, but is not limited to:

• The identification of empty properties and their owners
• The provision of advice and support to the owners of empty properties relating to bringing the property back into use.
• To build up a better understanding of the nature of empty homes in the borough through collation of data and information for monitoring, business intelligence, market, demographic and statistical research, and service improvement purposes.
• The administration of our investor register for empty homes.

In order to carry out activities and obligations as providers of services to you, we will process personal information such as:

• Name
• Title
• Address
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Marital status and civil partnerships
• Council tax details for a property
• How many, and the types of, properties held by an individual/organisation in the borough
• Names of the registered title holders, addressees, lease terms linked to you and any other personal information published by the Land Registry
• Copies of formal notices served in relation to enforcement action for an empty residential dwelling
• Property ownership details, grants of probate proof of title and any charges on property
• Tenancy details in respect of privately rented properties, such as occupier name/s, household composition, type and length of tenancy agreement and rent charged
• Tenancy rent account history and payment transactions
• Company information such as directors’ information and company registration numbers
• Photos
• Audio recordings
• Video recordings
• Electronic messages such as texts and emails
• Case files, incident reports, timeline of events, crime reference numbers

We may also collect, store and use special categories of more sensitive personal information. This may include, but is not limited to:

• Information about your health and wellbeing for the purposes of determining who has responsibility and capacity for decisions relating to an estate

The main purposes for processing personal information are:

• To authenticate and verify the identity of an individual
• To enable us to provide general advice and support, and ad hoc initiatives, to private sector residential owners and investors, and to enable research into the private housing sector to support this. This could include:

1. To provide empty home owners with updates that could potentially affect their property
2. To invite owners of empty properties to events that may be of interest relating to empty homes
3. To help property owners understand the support available to them from external sources or organisations
4. To build up a better understanding of the nature of empty homes in the borough through collation of data and information for monitoring, business intelligence, market, demographic and statistical research, and service improvement purposes.

• To maintain our records and accounts

We collect and use this information:

• In line with Schedule 2 to the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c.18) relating to vacant dwellings.
• We will only use your personal data where it is necessary in order to perform our public tasks and duties as a Local Authority under Article 6(1)(e) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (“UK GDPR”). In this case, the information is necessary to identify empty homes and the owners with the purpose of bringing the homes back into use for local residents.

We use special categories of personal data:

• where it is necessary to deliver empty homes and housing related services (Art 9(2)(h) of the UK GDPR), and where there is a substantial public interest (such as to carry out our statutory or legal duties as a Local Authority) (Art 9(2)(g) of the UK GDPR).
• for reasons of substantial public interest based on the council's functions to help assist vulnerable citizens maintain independence and to help address safety needs, and also to ensure equality of opportunity (Art 9(2)(g) of the UK GDPR).
• where it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims (Art 9(2)(f) of the UK GDPR).
• where it is necessary for archiving, research or statistical purposes (Art 9(2)(j) of the UK GDPR). This allows us to build a comprehensive picture of empty homes within Manchester, create statistics, extrapolate data trends or gain insight into the sector.

Some of the personal information we may hold will come directly from you when you contact us or use our services.

We may receive information from the following Council Teams or Departments:

• Legal Services
• Civil Enforcement/Anti-Social Behaviour/Community Resilience
• Housing Support
• Homelessness Solutions
• Environmental Enforcement
• Neighbourhood Compliance
• Financial Services
• Adult’s and Children’s Social Care.
• Council Tax

We may also receive information from other organisations and services, for example:

• HM Land Registry
• Other local authorities
• Appointed solicitors or legal representatives
• Genealogy services
• Greater Manchester Police
• Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue
• Both Greater Manchester and National Rogue Landlord Databases
• Members of the general public

In addition to the general reasons for information sharing described in our Primary Privacy Notice:

We may share information with and collect information from other teams within the Council where it is necessary to do so.

We may share information with or receive information from the following Council Teams or Departments:

• Legal Services
• Civil Enforcement/Anti-Social Behaviour/Community Resilience
• Housing Support
• Homelessness Solutions
• Environmental Enforcement
• Neighbourhood Compliance
• Financial Services
• Adult’s and Children’s Social Care.
• Council Tax

This is done in order to provide appropriate, timely and effective services or where it is necessary to:

• · Help prevent crime, anti-social behaviour or fraud
• · Because there are serious risks to the safety and security to the public, our staff or other people
• · Help protect children
• · Help protect adults at risk especially those who are most vulnerable

We may also share information with external organisations where necessary in order to fulfil the purposes for which the information was collected, or to fulfil a public task, or comply with legal obligations. Principally, but not solely, we may share information with the following:

• Voluntary sector organisations, such as Citizen’s Advice or Shelter
• The local provider of the Housing Possession Court Duty Scheme
• The local organisation awarded with the Legal Aid Agency contract for housing matters
• Both Greater Manchester and National Rogue Landlord Databases
• HM Land Registry
• Appointed solicitors or legal representatives.

We also collect or receive information from external parties such as:

• HM Land Registry
• Other individuals involved in or with knowledge pertaining to any dispute or case under question
• Voluntary sector organisations already involved in a given case, or where the desire for a referral has been expressly given
• Appointed solicitors or legal representatives

We will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any future legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Our retention schedule sets out how long we keep personal information for.

You can read about what rights you have regarding the personal information used for this service at our Data protection, personal information and your rights page.

If you have any questions or concerns about how we use your personal information, please contact our Data Protection Officer.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office if you're unhappy about how we process your information.