Privacy Policy

Introduction

Devonshire Homes Limited (“we” or “us” or “our”) respects the privacy of our users and customers (“you” or “your”). This notice explains why we collect your personal information and how we use it when you visit our website, or enquire about a property or purchase a property from us. We will only use your personal information to provide the products and services you have requested from us. We do not sell personal information to anyone and only share it with third parties that deliver some of our services in partnership with us.

From time to time we would like to contact you with details of other services and specific offers that we may be able to provide to you. We will ask for your specific consent before doing this, we will make it easy for you to unsubscribe from future notices and we will allow you to control how we use and process your data for marketing purposes.

Your rights

In accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and Data Protection Act 2018 (together, "the Data Protection Legislation"), you have the right to access the information we hold about you, to correct it, erase it, ask us to stop processing it, withdraw any consent previously given, or to restrict the information we process about you. You also have the right to request that your information is transferred to another data controller. Before we action any request by you to exercise the rights above, we will need a means of verifying your identity. To make a request please email marketing@devonshirehomes.co.uk or write to us at:

Data Controller
Devonshire Homes
Gotham House
Phoenix Lane
Tiverton
Devon EX16 6LT

You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information. However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly excessive or unfounded. In certain circumstances we may refuse to reply with the request.

The information we collect

When you make an enquiry, make an appointment or sign up via our website to receive notifications of new developments, offers or sales information, we will collect and retain information that may include:

• contact details (name, email, phone numbers, address).
• preferred means of communicating with us.
• the type and price of the Devonshire Homes property you are looking for
• your current home and its ownership status.
• why, when and where you want to move.
• how you found out about us or how you got in touch.

You do not have to provide any information in order to access and use our website, but please see the section below on Website tracking and cookies, as certain services provided by the website may not function as intended if you choose not to share any information with us.

If you enquire via a third party (e.g. Rightmove or a local estate agent), then that third party provider will pass your details to us so that we can handle your enquiry to the best of our ability.

As we follow up your enquiry we may process further information including:

• notes on conversations you have had with us.
• any correspondence we send to and/or receive from you.

If you consult an Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) for help with purchasing a new home, we will process any information you have agreed they can share with us that relate to your mortgage, such as funding your new home purchase via Government-backed scheme such as Help to Buy. The IFA will also confirm that they have verified your financial documents.

When you reserve a home with us we will process further information that could include:

• details of your new mortgage.
• details about the sale of your current house.
• contact details of your solicitor, and estate agent if used.
• information required for any equity loan scheme (such as Help to Buy). This could be information required as part of the Property Information Form (PIF), including your personal details and financial information on your income and existing commitments.
• any extras that you purchase or selections you make.
• key dates that relate to your home purchase.

Our conveyancer will send contract documents to your solicitor, respond to their queries and process any information they or you provide, including:

• contract terms and deposit payments.
• enquiries and responses.
• certified copies of your passport, driving licence and/or utility bill as required by the CML to support money laundering/fraud legislation.
• a marriage or death certificate in some circumstances to prove succession of title.
• a check on HM Treasury’s Financial Sanction list for evidence of criminal activity.

When you complete the purchase of a Devonshire Homes property we will also process personal information relating to:

• your utility companies and meter readings.
• issues with your home that you have reported to us and how they were followed up.
• responses to our customer satisfaction survey (unless you elected to respond anonymously).

If you fail to provide when requested, information we require in order to facilitate the purchase of a property, this may prevent us from entering into or performing our contract with you.

Website tracking and cookies

When you visit our website we may place a secure “cookie” in your browser history. A cookie is a small piece of information which is automatically created by our website on your computer. Cookies are harmless to your computer and are a useful way of remembering the choices you have previously made while visiting our website.

On occasion, where you have permitted us to, we will send emails to you. Certain automated emails contain tracking codes that allow us to determine whether or not the email was opened and if it was responded to.

If you don't want us to use cookies when you use our website, you can adjust your internet browser settings not to accept cookies. Your web browser's help function should tell you how to do this. Alternatively, you can find information about how to do this for all the commonly used internet browsers on the website: http://www.aboutcookies.org/default.aspx. This website will also explain how you can delete cookies which are already stored on your device.

Please note that if you set your computer to not accept cookies, certain services provided by the website may not function as intended.

How we use your information

We are required to have a proper legal basis for processing your personal information. This may be:

• to take steps to enter into a contract with you.
• to comply with a legal obligation.
• because we have your explicit consent, freely given.
• because it is necessary for our legitimate interests, that are not overridden by your rights.

When you make an enquiry about our properties, we will usually use the personal information we hold about you to take steps to enter into a contract with you. This may be:

• to follow up on your enquiry and provide further information you have requested about the properties you have shown an interest in.
• to determine which of our properties may suit your needs.

As you progress to reserving a Devonshire Homes property we will use your personal information, including passing it to third parties, to take further steps such as:

• to assist you in the journey of choosing and purchasing a property from Devonshire Homes.
• to assist you with selling your own home (eg through Devonshire Move).
• to help you with any financial products (such as mortgages and loans) that you may need, including the valuation of the home you are purchasing.

We will also use your personal information to comply with our legal obligations, for example:

• to establish your identity.
• to comply with money laundering and fraud legislation.
• to prove succession of title.

And when you have purchased a home from us we will use your personal information:

• to provide after-sales support in performance of our contract with you.
• to obtain customer feedback on your home and the purchasing process based on our legitimate interests in improving the quality of the services we provide and our ability to meet your needs.

With your consent, we will use your information to contact you in relation to new sales releases, offers, events, and to provide you with marketing information about future Devonshire Homes developments and news. We may also use your information to tailor our marketing activity based on your interests and preferences. Where we need your consent, we will provide you with full details of why we are requesting it, so that you can carefully consider whether you wish to consent. You have the right to withdraw your consent and any time, by notifying us at: marketing@devonshirehomes.co.uk or writing to us at:

Data Controller
Devonshire Homes
Gotham House
Phoenix Lane
Tiverton
Devon EX16 6LT

Who we might share your information with

We will share your personal information with third parties where this is required by law, where it is necessary for us to enter into or performer contract with you, or where it is in our legitimate interests to do so, and these interests are not overridden by your rights. We will take reasonable steps to ensure that any third party we share your personal information with protects and respects that information and complies with the Data Protection Legislation.

We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes. We only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

With your prior consent, we may share your contact details and property requirements with a local marketing partner, such as an estate agent who may be working with us on a specific development. This will enable them to contact you and take care of your requirements.

We may pass your contact details and details of your desired property to an IFA so they can confirm you are able to purchase the home, and so they can arrange finance to enable you to purchase the home, but only when you are ready to do so and with your prior agreement.

Where necessary in order to enter into or perform our contract with you, we will:

• pass your details and the details of the home you are buying to our own conveyancers, and to your chosen solicitors.
• if you are purchasing using a government-backed scheme (eg Help to Buy) we will pass any necessary details about you to the government agency concerned.
• pass your details to the relevant warranty provider (eg NHBC or LABC) so they can issue a warranty certificate.
• pass your details to utility companies so they may provide you with their services. We will take meter readings on the day you complete the purchase and pass these to the relevant company.

After you have purchased a home from us we will pass your personal information to other parties as necessary to allow them to provide our after-sales support, including our out-of-hours customer service. This may include subcontractors to fix faults and provide emergency call-out services, and warranty providers for any equipment or fittings.

We may pass your contact details to third party customer satisfaction research partners to ask for feedback from you on your new home and the sales process for our legitimate interests in improving our services and industry-wide reporting, always making sure they give you the opportunity to refuse consent.

How we keep your information secure

We hold and process your personal information entirely within the UK. and we do not transfer that information outside the EU. Access to our website is encrypted. Our servers are housed in secure environments and we follow strict procedures on accessing personal and other information.

You will not be subject to decisions that will have a significant impact on you based solely on automated decision-making.

How long we retain your information for

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 legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

Sales enquiries - If you have enquired about purchasing a home, we will keep all the information you have provided for as long as we believe you may be interested in purchasing a Devonshire Homes property. We will generally base our assessment of this on when we last heard from you with an expression of interest, and will securely delete your personal information if we do not hear from you for a period of 12 months.

If you have previously consented to receiving marketing materials from us and subsequently choose to unsubscribe, we will stop sending you such materials and we will securely delete your personal information.

Home buyers - If you have purchased a home from us, we will retain your personal information relating to the purchase of your Devonshire Homes property for ten years from the date of purchase, or until your warranty expires. We will however retain limited information, including your name and the details of the home we sold you, indefinitely for our records.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we may use such information without further notice to you.

However, we will retain records of your name, postcode, the date of your first enquiry, the history of the consents you have given and our communications (including any email correspondence between you and Devonshire Homes concerning your enquiry) for a further period of seven years.

Contacting us

You may contact us if you have any concerns regarding how we use your personal information at marketing@devonshirehomes.co.uk or by writing to us at:

Data Controller
Devonshire Homes
Gotham House
Phoenix Lane
Tiverton
Devon EX16 6LT

If after contacting us you still have concerns about how we process your personal information, you have the right to report those concerns to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) – see https://ico.org.uk/concerns.