Privacy Notice - Housing Options and Homelessness

When you contact us about your housing options, homelessness and or threatened homelessness we will ask you for your personal details and the personal details for your household.

This means that we need to ask that you to read the Council's Privacy Notice below which explains what happens to your information. You are also asked to read the Privacy Notice from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) about their research project on homelessness.

Privacy Notice

Data Controller

Mid Devon District Council (MDDC) is registered as a data controller with the Information Commissioner’s Office (registration number Z5826451).

Contact details for the Council’s data controller are:

Data Protection Officer - Mid Devon District Council, Phoenix House, Phoenix Lane, Tiverton, EX16 6PP

Email: dpo@middevon.gov.uk

The legal basis for and the purposes of the processing

MDDC has statutory duties on homelessness set out in the Housing Act 1996 Part 7, Homelessness Act 2002, Homelessness Reduction Act 2017, Local Government Act 1972 and the Localism Act 2011

Should you contact MDDC about your housing options, homelessness or threatened homelessness the personal data provided by you will be used:

• to assess your situation;
• to contact you about your situation and the information you have provided;
• to request you to provide documents to prove your homelessness or threatened homelessness and your situation;
• to contact third parties with your personal information to request further personal information about you; and
• refer you to third parties and / or other agencies that may be able to help you

The third parties and / or other agencies which we may refer you to will depend on your personal situation, but may include:

• Social services and related agencies
• NHS medical professionals
• Your Doctor or associated Doctor's surgery staff
• Housing Associations
• Other departments within Mid Devon District Council
• Citizens' Advice Bureau
• CHAT

This list is not exhaustive, and we may need to use your data to refer you to other third parties and / or other agencies.

We will always ask your consent to share your personal information unless we have a legal duty or power to provide it without your consent, for example as part of the National Fraud Initiative. Sometimes third parties may request information on your behalf about your housing application and they must provide your consent and show they are compliant with the Data Protection Act 2018 (implemented from 25 May 2018) for us to do this. The processing of your personal data is necessary for MDDC to comply with its legal obligations under the law on housing and homelessness.

Where you have criminal convictions or offences, MDDC is able to process relevant personal information for the purposes of complying with the law on housing and homelessness. This is because:

• the processing is necessary for the purposes of performing or exercising obligations or rights of either MDDC or for you under housing and homelessness law; and
• MDDC has a policy document in place (which sets out how MDDC will comply with the data protection principles and which clarifies MDDC's policies regarding the retention and erasure of relevant personal data) 

The source of the personal data

For the purposes of homelessness applications and approaches for advice on homelessness and housing options you are the applicant and are the source of the personal data about you and the members of your household. Personal information about you relating to you and your household may also be gathered from other sources such as private sector landlords, housing associations, lettings agents, mortgage lending companies, friends and relatives you and your household may have been living with, health services, children, family and adult services, education services, Department of Work and Pensions, Housing Benefit and Council Tax services, Job Centre Plus, Ministry of Defence, the Police, prisons, probation and youth offending services, secure training units, employers, Citizens Advice and voluntary sector organisations.

Recipients and categories of recipients of the personal data

MDDC staff involved in the administration and management of the housing register, homelessness and housing advice and options.

Information about you relating to your housing options, homelessness or threatened homelessness may be shared with third parties such as private sector landlords, housing associations, lettings agents, health services, children, family and adult services, education services, Department of Work and Pensions, Housing Benefit and Council Tax services, the Police, prisons, probation and youth offending services, Citizens Advice and voluntary sector organisations.

MHCLG for the purpose of evaluating and researching homelessness nationally, see the MHCLG Privacy Notice for more information and an explanation for further details.

Further information on onward transfers

MDDC will not transfer the personal data you have provided outside of the UK or European Union unless this is permitted in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018.

How long the personal data will be kept for

The personal data you have supplied will be destroyed in accordance with MDDC's Data Retention Policy, seven years after you have been housed or have not renewed your housing application.

Statutory Obligations to provide the personal data

There is no statutory obligation on you to provide any personal data about you, however, if you do not your application cannot be considered further.

Automated Decision Making

The personal data provided by you will not be used for any automated decisions.

Data Subject Rights

From 25 May 2018, you will have some specific rights in respect of your personal data. These may include some or all of the following rights to:

• see what personal data about you MDDC holds at any time (subject to certain caveats, for example where third parties are identified);
• have MDDC correct any errors (if any) in the personal data it holds about you;
• request your personal data is erased (though this right will not apply where MDDC is processing your personal data because it is necessary to comply with a legal obligation);
• request processing of your personal data is restricted (this will only apply in certain situations, for example where its accuracy is contested, where the processing is unlawful and the you oppose its proposed erasure by MDDC, or where MDDC no longer needs to process the personal data, but it is required by you in connection with legal claims);
• object to the processing where the processing is necessary for a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the data controller (though MDDC will still be able to continue with the processing in certain circumstances, such as if there are compelling grounds for the processing which over ride your interests)

Will the personal data be processed for a different purpose?

No. If MDDC needs to inform recipients about any action it has taken under the Data Protection Act then it will do so by placing a Notice on MDDC's website informing the public of any relevant changes.

If you are dissatisfied with how your personal data is processed by MDDC, then you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner.