1. Who we are

Tenant Help Service helps renters understand and access support that may be available to them.

That can include help with housing disrepair, environmental problems, tenancy deposits, household energy and money-saving services, moving home and other issues affecting renters.

Sometimes we can help directly. In other cases, we'll understand what's happening and, where appropriate, connect you with a specialist organisation that can help.

The Tenant Help Service Ltd is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.

2. What information we collect

The information we need depends on why you've contacted us. We may collect:

• your name, address and postcode;
• telephone number and email address;
• details about your home, tenancy, landlord or housing provider;
• information about your rent, tenancy deposit or other tenancy-related matters where relevant;
• information about repairs, housing conditions, environmental problems or issues you've reported;
• details about your energy supply, supplier, tariff, meter or household energy consumption where relevant to the help you're looking for;
• information about household costs or circumstances where this is needed to check what support, savings or schemes may be available;
• information about moving home or another property-related service you've asked us about;
• photographs, videos, documents and assessment notes;
• proof of identity and proof of address where needed for a referral;
• copies of documents provided by a claims management company or legal provider that you complete or sign as part of a referral;
• appointment and communication records; and
• information you send us through our website, email, phone, WhatsApp or other communication channels.

You won't need to provide all of this. What we ask for will depend on the service you're interested in and what's relevant to your enquiry.

You also don't need to have every date, document or detail before contacting us. We simply ask that the information you give us is accurate to the best of your knowledge.

3. How we use your information

We use your information to understand why you've contacted us and provide or arrange the right support.

That can include:

• responding to your enquiry;
• checking what services, savings, schemes or other support may be available;
• understanding your housing, tenancy or household circumstances where relevant;
• carrying out home or remote assessments;
• arranging and managing appointments;
• keeping in touch about your enquiry;
• recording relevant issues with your home;
• reviewing relevant energy, tenancy or household information where you've asked us to help with those services;
• gathering information needed for an agreed referral;
• introducing you to an appropriate specialist provider;
• keeping appropriate records of our work with you;
• improving our services and website; and
• meeting our legal, regulatory and accounting responsibilities.

We do not sell your personal information.

4. Home and remote assessments

If we're assessing a problem with your home, we may take or ask you to send photographs and videos. We may also record basic measurements, readings and notes about what we find.

This helps us build a clear picture of what's happening without repeatedly asking you to explain the same thing.

For a remote assessment, we may ask you to send photographs, videos or other information electronically so we can understand what's happening without visiting your home.

Where appropriate and agreed, relevant information may also be provided to a specialist organisation helping with your enquiry.

We'll take reasonable care not to record personal possessions or information that isn't relevant.

5. ID and proof of address

If we think your enquiry may be suitable to pass on for further help, there can be a little bit of paperwork involved.

For legal referrals, the organisations involved need to carry out the appropriate checks before they can act for you. This can include confirming your identity and address.

To save you having to sort this out separately later, we may ask for suitable proof of ID and proof of address during your home assessment. This could be something like a driving licence or passport and a recent document showing your address.

If you decide to go ahead with a referral, we can pass these securely to the organisation dealing with your enquiry.

There may also be documents from the claims management company or legal provider for you to read and sign, including a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) where applicable.

These aren't agreements with Tenant Help Service. We're simply there to help make the process straightforward and get the right information and documents to the right people.

You stay in control of whether you want to proceed.

6. Referrals and sharing your information

Sometimes the best way we can help is by connecting you with an organisation that specialises in what you need.

For housing disrepair and other enquiries involving potential legal claims, we may introduce suitable enquiries to RD Marketing Ltd, our claims management partner.

If you choose to proceed, information we share may include your:

• contact and tenancy details;
• proof of identity and proof of address;
• landlord and repair history;
• assessment notes;
• photographs and videos;
• relevant documents; and
• information completed as part of the referral.

For other Tenant Help Service enquiries, we may introduce you to a different specialist provider where appropriate. The information needed will depend on the service. For example, an energy-related referral may require relevant information about your current supplier, tariff or energy consumption rather than information about repairs to your home.

We don't automatically pass every enquiry on. Information is shared where appropriate to the service or referral.

Once another organisation is providing a service to you, it may process your information under its own privacy policy and data protection responsibilities.

7. Sensitive information

Sometimes understanding what's happening means you may tell us about your health, disability or other sensitive circumstances.

For example, this might be relevant where the condition of your home is affecting someone in the household or where particular circumstances are relevant to support you may be looking for.

We only want this information where it's genuinely relevant to your enquiry.

Health information receives additional protection under data protection law. Where required, we'll ask for your explicit consent or use another lawful basis permitted by law.

There's no need to provide sensitive information that isn't relevant to your enquiry.

8. Other companies we use

Like most businesses, we use trusted services to help us run Tenant Help Service.

These can include website hosting, appointment booking, email and messaging, customer management systems, cloud storage, online forms, analytics, advertising and business automation.

These providers may process information on our behalf where that's necessary to provide their service.

We may also disclose information where we're legally required to do so or where reasonably necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal rights.

9. How and why we're allowed to use your information

Data protection law requires us to have a lawful reason for using personal information.

Depending on what we're doing, this may be because:

You've given us consent, for example where you've specifically agreed to particular processing.

It's needed to provide a service you've asked for, or to take steps before providing that service.

We have a legitimate business reason, such as responding to enquiries, maintaining records, protecting our business or improving our services, provided your rights don't override that interest.

We have a legal obligation to collect, use or retain particular information.

The appropriate basis depends on what information we're using and why.

10. Keeping your information safe

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access or disclosure.

Access is limited to people and service providers who reasonably need the information to do their job.

We also don't keep information forever. We'll retain it for as long as reasonably necessary to manage your enquiry, maintain appropriate records and meet legal, regulatory, tax or accounting requirements.

Different types of information may need to be kept for different lengths of time.

When information is no longer reasonably required, we'll take appropriate steps to delete, anonymise or securely dispose of it.

11. Your choices and rights

You have rights over your personal information.

Depending on the circumstances, you may be able to ask us to:

• show you the personal information we hold about you;
• correct information that's wrong or incomplete;
• delete information in certain circumstances;
• restrict how information is being used;
• stop certain uses of your information; or
• provide certain information in a portable format.

If we're relying on your consent, you can also withdraw that consent.

You can ask us to stop using your information for direct marketing at any time.

To exercise a data protection right, email support@tenanthelpservice.co.uk .

12. Website, cookies and contacting us

When you use our website, we may collect technical information such as your IP address, browser, device, pages visited and how you interact with the site.

We use cookies and similar technologies to keep the website working, understand how it's being used and, where applicable, measure our advertising.

Some cookies are necessary for the website to work. Where consent is required for analytics, advertising or other non-essential cookies, we'll ask for it.

You can find more information, including how to manage your choices, in our Cookie Policy.

Our website may also link to other organisations. Once you visit another organisation's website, its own privacy policy will apply.

We may update this Privacy Policy as our services, technology or legal requirements change. The latest version will always be published here with the updated date shown at the top.

If you have a question about your information or this policy, contact:

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your personal information, please contact us first so we can look into it.

You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator.