At Rutter and Rutter Solicitors we take your privacy seriously and this privacy statement explains what personal data or information we collect from you. We encourage you to read the information below and our website privacy policy which can be accessed by visiting www.rutterandrutter.com.
1. Important information and who we are
Rutter and Rutter is a Partnership and our address is: St Audreys, Wincanton, Somerset, BA9 9DR. Rutter and Rutter is a registered data controller (ICO reference number 25187090). We are the controller responsible for your personal data.
We have appointed a data protection manager. If you have any questions about this privacy notice or our data protection practices, please contact the data protection manager using the contact details below:
Data Protection Manager: Charles Rutter
Email address: charles@rutterandrutter.com
Postal address: St Audreys, Wincanton, Somerset, BA9 9DR
Telephone number: 01963 32224
2. The data we collect about you
Identity Data such as first name, maiden name, last name, marital status, title, date of birth, gender, National Insurance Number, Passport, Driving Licence, utility bills and national identity card.
Contact Data such as address, email address and telephone numbers.
Financial Data such as bank accounts and payment card details, your income, mortgage and loan accounts, credit history and records.
Employment Data such as your employer’s details.
Family Data such as the names and addresses of your family members.
Communications Data such as your communication preferences.
Sensitive Personal Data such as information about your physical or mental health or condition, sexual orientation, your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, political opinions, trade union membership, criminal convictions or offences, genetic or biometric data. Please note we do not generally collect sensitive personal data unless you have voluntarily provided it to us, or it is relevant to the legal service we are providing to you.
If you fail to provide personal data
Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of our retainer with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, we may not be able to perform our retainer. In this case, we may have to cancel the retainer we have with you, but we will notify you if this is the case at the time.
3. How is your personal data collected?
We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:
· Direct interactions. You may give us your personal data as part of an initial enquiry about our professional services or once you have become a client of ours by filling in forms or by corresponding with us by post, phone, e-mail, in person or otherwise.
· Third parties. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties, such as estate agents or commercial agents, mortgage brokers, accountants and independent financial advisors. Please note we would usually only expect to receive this personal data where you have given your explicit consent for the third party to provide this information to us.
· Publicly available sources such as Companies House and the Land Registry.
4. How we use your personal data
We use and process your information:
to meet our contractual obligations to you,
where we have a legitimate interest to do so,
where we are permitted by law or to comply with applicable laws and regulations such as for the prevention of financial crime and money laundering.
We may also, with your consent, use your personal data to keep you informed in the latest developments in legislation that may affect you, your family or your business.
5. How we share your personal data
We do not sell or rent your personal data or information to any third party or share your information with third parties for their marketing purposes.
We will disclose your data or information if required by law, for example by a court order or for the prevention of fraud or other crime.
We may pass information about your matter to other parties as required to provide legal services to you. For example, we will need to provide information to other law firms involved in the conveyancing process as part of the service we deliver to you.
We may pass your information on to third party service providers for the purposes of completing a task or providing services to you on our behalf. However, we disclose only the personal information necessary to deliver that service and have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for other purposes.
We may also be under a duty to disclose your personal data as part of our legal or regulatory obligations.
We may need to disclose data to third parties in order to comply with those requirements or to prevent fraud or money laundering,
We may also need to disclose data to our auditors and external assessment bodies to achieve and maintain any Regulatory or Quality Assurance Standards and accreditations which meet our legal obligations and enable us to provide quality legal services to you. These external organisations are required to maintain confidentiality in relation to your files. If you do not want your file to be part of this process, please contact our Data Protection Manager as soon as possible.
We store your information in our computer system which uses secure servers based in the UK. We also hold paper copies of your information in the client matter files, stored at our office. We currently use Opendium Limited to provide computing services. Further details about their privacy policy can be provided on request.
6. Transfers outside of the European Economic Area (EEA)
Your personal information in the European Economic Area (EEA) is protected by data protection laws, but other countries do not necessarily protect your personal information in the same way. The EEA covers all countries in the EU plus Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland. We do not transfer your personal data outside of the EEA.
7. How long we will retain your data
Your personal data may be held in paper format and/ or electronic form. We will only retain your personal data 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.
We will retain paper files for a period of at least 16 years, although for some property transactions, Wills, and Powers of Attorney the retention period will be longer. Specific details will be provided at the end of your matter. Further details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal data are available on request by contacting our Data Protection Manager.
8. Your legal rights
You have certain rights over the processing of your personal information by Rutter and Rutter Solicitors. These are:
· The right to be informed, which is what this privacy policy is for;
· The right to access the data we hold about you
· The right to object to direct marketing
· The right to object to processing carried out on the basis of legitimate interests
· The right to erasure (in some circumstances)
· The right to data portability
· The right to have your data rectified if it is inaccurate
· The right to have your data restricted or blocked from processing
We do not undertake direct marketing activities, so you will not receive such information from us.
9. How you can access your personal information
You have the right to ask for a copy of the personal information we hold relating to you. To do this (or to exercise any of the above rights) please contact Charles Rutter or by post at: Data Protection Manager, St Audreys, Wincanton, Somerset, BA9 9DR.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint about our processing of your personal data with the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office
You will not have to pay a fee to access your personal information (or to exercise any of the other rights). However, we may charge a reasonable fee if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive. Alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request in such circumstances.
10. What we may need from you
We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access the information (or to exercise any of your other rights). This is another appropriate security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it.
11. Your duty to inform us of changes
It is important that the personal information we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal information changes.
In the limited circumstances where you may have provided your consent to the collection, processing and transfer of your personal information for a specific purpose, you have the right to withdraw your consent for that specific processing at any time. To withdraw your consent, please contact our Data Protection Manager. Once we have received notification that you have withdrawn your consent, we will no longer process your information for the purpose or purposes you originally agreed to, unless we have another legitimate basis for doing so in law.
Data Protection Manager
If you have any questions about this privacy notice or our data protection practices, or if you have concerns regarding the Company’s information rights practices, you should contact our Data Protection Manager, who is the person responsible for overseeing compliance with this notice.
You also have a right to make a complaint at any time to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK supervisory authority for data protection issues, which can be contacted at Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF or by telephone 0303 123 1113.
Changes to this privacy notice
We reserve the right to update this privacy notice at any time, and we will provide you with a new privacy notice when we make any substantial updates. We may also notify you in other ways from time to time about the processing of your personal information.
May 2019
