If you’re reading this blog post, you’re probably in the property industry and have heard lots of talk about GDPR but not quite sure how it’ll affect you. We’ve stripped back the huge documents and pulled out key information for you to read over ...

What is GDPR?

Measures are being introduced on May 25th 2018 by the European Union to protect the privacy of EU residents with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

Which essentially means that people will have more say over how their personal data is used and businesses that handle data have an obligation to protect it and use it correctly.

There are many considerations for businesses and a data audit is recommended for all businesses - tracking how current data is stored, used and how long it should be stored for as well as what messaging needs to be added for any new data collected.

How will GDPR affect Ultra Lets?

Here are Ultra Lets, we’ve always been mindful of using any data appropriately.

We’ve never passed information on to third parties and our team is trained to keep data in a safe and secure environment. All data collected has been authentic and not purchased to ensure the people we’re speaking to have already opted into receiving communication from us.

Even though for a business our size it isn’t a legal requirement, we’ve designated a team member to become our Data Protection Officer, taking responsibility for data protection compliance. They’ll review how we seek, record and manage consent and whether we need to make any changes and refresh existing consents.

How will GDPR affect the property industry?

GDPR is unlikely to have a massive impact on the property industry as long as all data previously collected has been gathered in an authentic way. We recommend reading all the guides and information that can be found online to ensure your currently handling data in the correct way.

Most businesses in the property industry will have a website so it’s important to make sure you update your privacy policies to comply with GDPR.

If data has previously been gathered in a way where your customers haven’t opted in to receive marketing messages, then you’ll have to get back in touch with the customers before 25th May  and get permission to contact them. If this permission isn’t received, this could impact your business as you won’t be able to push out any more marketing messages to them.

Any time you collect data from a customer, a paragraph will need including at the point of collection that highlights what their data will be used for, how it will be stored and for how long along with a check box to give permission - this includes all documents like application forms.

If you have any GDPR questions or want to find out more you can do so here.