Share to Buy Privacy Policy

Share to Buy Ltd (“Share to Buy”, we or us) are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This policy (together with our terms of use and any other documents referred to in it) sets out the basis on which any personal information we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal information and how we will treat it. By visiting this website you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this policy.

We may amend this privacy policy at any time. Any changes we may make will be posted on this page, so please check back frequently. Your continued use of our website(s) will constitute your acceptance of, and agreement to, any changes to the privacy policy.

For the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act), the data controller is Share to Buy Ltd of Share to Buy, PO Box 11998, Sudbury, CO10 3BS.

Information we may collect from you

We may collect and process the following information about you:

• Information you provide to us. You may provide us with information by filling in forms on our website(s) or by corresponding with us by phone, e-mail or otherwise. This includes information you provide when you register for an account or subscribe, contact housing providers or selling agents via forms or phone numbers made available on our website, enter a competition, promotion or survey, provide feedback and/or when you report a problem with our website. The information you give us may include your name, e-mail address and phone number, as well as information that will help housing providers or selling agents process your enquiries and/or send you relevant marketing.
• Information we collect about you. When you visit our website(s) we may automatically collect information about your computer, including your IP address, information about your visit, your browsing history, and how you use our website(s). This information may be combined with other information you provide to us, as described above.
• Information we receive from other sources. We may receive information about you if you use the other services we provide, such as our mortgage brokerage. We are working closely with third parties (including, for example, business partners, service providers, advertising networks, analytics providers, and search information providers) and may receive information about you from them. This information may be combined with other information you provide to us, as described above.

How we use your personal information

We use personal information about you in connection with the following purposes:

Fulfilling your requests

• to provide you with the information, products and services that you request from;
• to administer any promotion or competition that you enter via our website(s); and
• to allow you to participate in interactive features of our service, when you choose to do so.

Marketing:

• to provide you or selected third parties to provide you (via us), with information about goods or services that may interest you; in the form of property alerts, newsletters and general housing provider or service provider promotions;
• to customise or enhance your experience on our website(s) and services, including via the display of adverts and direct communications you receive from us which may be based on your activity on our website or third parties’ websites; more detail about this is available in our cookie policy
• to measure or understand the effectiveness of advertising we serve to you and others, and to deliver relevant advertising to you, which may be based on your activity on our website or third parties’ websites; and
• to make suggestions and recommendations to you and other users of our website about goods or services that may interest you or them, which may be based on your activity on our website or third parties’ websites.

Service improvements and account management:

• to notify you about changes to our service and to send you service emails relating to your account;
• to administer our website(s) and for internal business administration and operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes;
• to provide information and services to estate agents that allow them to monitor and benchmark their own performance; and
• as part of our efforts to keep our website(s) safe and secure
• to inform you of Share to Buy events, i.e. the London Home Show

Sharing your personal information

We may share your personal information with third parties in the following circumstances:

• Selected housing providers, agents or other service providers, when you have asked us to do so. For example, when you enquire about a property of interest to you, we will pass your personal information to the housing provider or agent handling that property sale or rental. This is so they can communicate with you and provide you with a more personalised service; this may include contacting you about other relevant properties, adding you to their enquiry database for future contact and offering you their additional services. Upon receipt of your personal information, the relevant third party is the data controller and their use of your information will be governed by their own terms of use and privacy policy.
• Business partners, suppliers and sub-contractors for the performance of any contract we enter into with them or you.
• Advertisers and advertising networks and other third parties that require the data to select and serve relevant adverts to you and others.
• Analytics and search engine providers that assist us in the improvement and optimisation of our website(s). Your personal information is generally shared in a form that does not directly identify you.

We may also share your personal information with third parties:

• In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal information to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets, along with its professional advisers. If Share to Buy Ltd, is acquired by a third party, personal information held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.
• If required in order to obtain professional advice.
• If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal information in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms of use and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Share to Buy Ltd, our customers, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection.

Where we store your personal information

The information that we collect from you may be transferred to, and stored, in a country outside the European Economic Area (EEA). It may also be processed by staff operating outside the EEA who work for us or for one of our suppliers. The laws in some countries may not provide as much legal protection for your information as in the EEA. By submitting your information, you agree to this transfer, storing or processing. We will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy.
Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your information transmitted to our website; any transmission is at your own risk. Once we have received your information, we will use strict procedures and security features to try to prevent unauthorised access.

Only employees who need access to your information to perform a specific job are granted access to personally identifiable information. We may require you to co-operate with our security checks before we disclose information to you. If you are a registered user, you can update the personal information that you give us at any time by viewing your User Account.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our website and to provide interest-based advertising. You may adjust the settings on your browser to refuse cookies but some of the services on our website(s) may not work if you do so. For detailed information on the cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them see our Cookie Policy.

Your rights

You have the right to ask us not to process your personal information for marketing purposes. You can exercise your right to prevent such processing by checking or unchecking certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your data, unsubscribing via any marketing emails we send or amending your details in your Share to Buy User Account.
Our website may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks, advertisers, affiliates or other third parties. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal information to these websites.

Shared Ownership Week

Share to Buy is a partner of www.sharedownershipweek.co.uk. Registering with that website will add you to the Share to Buy database, and we will treat your data in accordance with this privacy policy. Share to Buy will be your data controller.

If you opt-in to the Shared Ownership Week mailing list, your details will be shared with the housing provider/sales agent partners of Shared Ownership Week. These are: Legal & General Affordable Homes, L&Q, Peabody Sales, Newlon Living, Hyde New Homes, Places For People, Network Homes, Southern Housing New Homes. This is so they can communicate with you and provide you with a more personalised service; this may include contacting you about other relevant properties, adding you to their enquiry database for future contact and offering you their additional services. Upon receipt of your personal information, the relevant third party is the data controller and their use of your information will be governed by their own terms of use and privacy policy.

Your data will be shared with the Shared Ownership Week partners when you opt-in to the Shared Ownership Week mailing list. Your details will also be shared with the relevant partner when you enquire about a property of interest to you; we will pass your personal information to the housing provider or agent handling that property sale or rental. This is so they can communicate with you and provide you with a more personalised service; this may include contacting you about other relevant properties, adding you to their enquiry database for future contact and offering you their additional services. Upon receipt of your personal information, the relevant third party is the data controller and their use of your information will be governed by their own terms of use and privacy policy.

Access to information

The Act gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act. To request your right of access, please Contact us or write to us at: Share to Buy, PO Box 11998, Sudbury, CO10 3BS

Updated August 2023