Privacy Policy

J Browne Surveys provides property surveys to private individuals.

We take our responsibility for complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) seriously at the highest management level.

Our Company is regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

How we collect information from you

This Privacy Policy governs the manner in which our Company (whether as a Data Controller or Data Processor) collects, uses, maintains and discloses information. This covers information collected on individuals (Data Subjects) from various sources including:

users (“User”) of the jbrownesurveys website (“Site”)
our clients, for whom we carry out survey services
other parties involved in the process of us carrying out our services, such as estate agents
our employees

This Privacy Policy applies to the Site and all products and services offered by J Browne Surveys.

How we use collected information

We may collect and use personal information for the following purposes:

to provide services relating to property surveys
to fulfil our obligations as an employer
to improve customer service: information you provide helps us respond to your customer service requests and support needs more efficiently
to resolve complaints
to send periodic emails: we may use your email address to respond to your enquiries, questions or other requests.

Retention Period

We will only store your personal information for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy and to comply with our regulatory and/or legal obligations.

Case Files: these are kept for 15 years to cover legal and operational requirements.

Personnel Records: these are kept for 6 years after an employee leaves the Company. We do not retain CVs for unsuccessful applicants after a vacancy has been filled.

Once the relevant retention period has expired, all records are destroyed as ‘Confidential Waste’.

Lawful Basis

We process the information we collect in line with the ‘Contract’ and ‘Legitimate Interest’ legal bases of GDPR. We only hold personal information that is necessary, fair and lawful for the purpose for which it was collected.

Contract: Our business receives instructions to survey properties for residential purposes from members of the general public. Where this is the case, the member of public is our direct customer.

Legitimate Interest: the personal information supplied to us by our clients in order that we can carry out our contract for them.

Personal identification information

We may collect personal identification information from you in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, when Users visit our Site, and in connection with other activities, services, features or resources we make available on our Site. Users may visit our Site anonymously. We will collect personal identification information from Users only if they voluntarily submit such information to us. Users can always refuse to supply personal identification information, except that it may prevent them from engaging in certain Site related activities.

Information is also received from you direct.

Web browser cookies

Our Site may use “cookies” to enhance User experience. A User’s web browser places cookies on their hard drive for record-keeping purposes and sometimes to track information about them. A User may choose to set their web browser to refuse cookies, or to alert you when cookies are being sent. If they do so, note that some parts of the Site may not function properly.

How we protect your information

We adopt appropriate data collection, storage and processing practices and security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure or destruction of your personal information, username, password, transaction information and data stored on our Site and inhouse databases and filing systems.

We require our suppliers of 3rd party systems (used to process instructions from our clients) to provide appropriate levels of security to protect the information we add to and store within their systems.

In the event of a data breach that is likely to result in a high risk of adversely affecting your rights and freedoms, we have procedures in place to rigorously investigate the cause. We will contact you if we have the slightest concern that your personal information has been compromised. We would also report the event to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) within 72 hours of becoming aware of the breach.

Sharing your personal information

We do not sell, trade, or rent your personal identification information to others.

We would share information with legal or regulatory authorities, such as assisting with crime and fraud prevention.

We do not share your personal information with organisations outside of the United Kingdom.

Your Individual Rights

Right to be informed: these matters are covered in this Privacy Policy

Right of access / data portability: you can request a copy of the personal information that we hold for you. If the details of where to send the information are different from those in our records, we may need proof of your identity before being able to respond to your request.

Right to rectification: to ensure your data is correct and complete

Right to erasure: you can request that your information is deleted, but we might be prevented from doing so in order to comply with other obligations upon us.

Right to restrict/object to processing: this is not an absolute right and only applies in certain circumstances, eg, to be removed from a mailing list.

Rights related to automated decision making including profiling: we do not carry out these activities.

We will respond to your request for information (a Subject Access Request) within 30 days of receipt.

Changes to this privacy policy

J Browne Surveys has the discretion to update this privacy policy at any time. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page. We encourage Users to frequently check this page for any changes to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal information we collect. You acknowledge that it is your responsibility to review this privacy policy periodically and become aware of modifications.

Your acceptance of these terms

By using this Site and our related products and services, you signify your acceptance of this policy. If you do not agree to this policy, please do not use our Site or supply us with your personal information in any format. Your continued use of the Site and our products and services following the posting of changes to this policy will be deemed your acceptance of those changes.

Complaints

If you wish to complain about any matters covered by this policy, the relevant supervisory authority is the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Tel: 0303 123 1113

You can also Report a Concern via their website.

Contacting us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, the practices of this Site, your dealings with our Company or if you wish to request your information, please contact us via our Get in Touch page.

This document was last updated in March 2020.