Privacy Policy
BACKGROUND:
Property118 Ltd understands that your privacy is important to you and that you care about how your personal data is used and shared online. We respect and value the privacy of everyone who visits this website,
www.property118.com (“Our Site”) and will only collect and use personal data in ways that are described here, and in a manner that is consistent with Our obligations and your rights under the law.
Please read this Privacy Policy carefully and ensure that you understand it. Your acceptance of Our Privacy Policy is deemed to occur upon your first use of Our Site
. If you do not accept and agree with this Privacy Policy, you must stop using Our Site immediately.
- Definitions and Interpretation
In this Policy the following terms shall have the following meanings:
“Account” |
means an account required to access and/or use certain areas and features of Our Site; |
“Cookie” |
means a small text file placed on your computer or device by Our Site when you visit certain parts of Our Site and/or when you use certain features of Our Site. Details of the Cookies used by Our Site are set out in section 13, below; |
“Cookie Law” |
means the relevant parts of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003; |
“personal data” |
means any and all data that relates to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified from that data. In this case, it means personal data that you give to Us via Our Site. This definition shall, where applicable, incorporate the definitions provided in the EU Regulation 2016/679 – the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”); and |
“We/Us/Our” |
Means Property118 Ltd , a limited company registered in England under company number 10295964, whose registered address is 1st Floor, Woburn House, 84 St Benedicts Street, Norwich, NR2 4AB. |
- Information About Us
- Our Site is owned and operated by Property118 Ltd, a limited company registered in England under company number 10295964, whose registered address is 1st Floor, Woburn House, 84 St Benedicts Street, Norwich, NR2 4AB.
- Our VAT number is 990 0332 34.
- Our Data Protection Officer is Neil Patterson, and can be contacted by email at npatterson@property118.com, by telephone on 01603 489118, or by post at 1st Floor, Woburn House, 84 St Benedicts Street, Norwich, NR2 4AB.
- What Does This Policy Cover?
This Privacy Policy applies only to your use of Our Site. Our Site may contain links to other websites. Please note that We have no control over how your data is collected, stored, or used by other websites and We advise you to check the privacy policies of any such websites before providing any data to them.
- Your Rights
- As a data subject, you have the following rights under the GDPR, which this Policy and Our use of personal data have been designed to uphold:
- The right to be informed about Our collection and use of personal data;
- The right of access to the personal data We hold about you (see section 12);
- The right to rectification if any personal data We hold about you is inaccurate or incomplete (please contact Us using the details in section 14);
- The right to be forgotten – i.e. the right to ask Us to delete any personal data We hold about you (We only hold your personal data for a limited time, as explained in section 6 but if you would like Us to delete it sooner, please contact Us using the details in section 14);
- The right to restrict (i.e. prevent) the processing of your personal data;
- The right to data portability (obtaining a copy of your personal data to re-use with another service or organisation);
- The right to object to Us using your personal data for particular purposes; and
- If you have any cause for complaint about Our use of your personal data, please contact Us using the details provided in section 14 and We will do Our best to solve the problem for you. If We are unable to help, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK’s supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner’s Office.
- For further information about your rights, please contact the Information Commissioner’s Office or your local Citizens Advice Bureau.
- What Data Do We Collect?
Depending upon your use of Our Site, We may collect some or all of the following personal data (please also see section 13 on Our use of Cookies and similar technologies):
- Name;
- Date of birth;
- Address and post code;
- Business/company name and trading status;
- Number of properties owned;
- Accountants details;
- Contact information such as email addresses and telephone numbers;
- Proof of residence and ID;
- Financial information such as income and tax status;
- Landlords insurance renewal dates;
- Property Portfolio details such as value and mortgage outstanding;
- How Do We Use Your Data?
- All personal data is processed and stored securely, for no longer than is necessary in light of the reason(s) for which it was first collected. We will comply with Our obligations and safeguard your rights under the GDPR at all times. For more details on security see section 7, below.
- Our use of your personal data will always have a lawful basis, either because it is necessary for our performance of a contract with you, because you have consented to our use of your personal data (e.g. by subscribing to emails), or because it is in our legitimate interests. Specifically, we may use your data for the following purposes:
- Providing and managing your access to Our Site;
- Supplying our products and or services to you (please note that We require your personal data in order to enter into a contract with you);
- Personalising and tailoring our products and or services for you;
- Replying to emails from you;
- Supplying you with emails that you have opted into (you may unsubscribe or opt-out at any time by the unsubscribe link at the bottom of all emails;
- Analysing your use of our site and gathering feedback to enable us to continually improve our site and your user experience;
- Provide information to our partner service and product suppliers at your request.
- With your permission and/or where permitted by law, We may also use your data for marketing purposes which may include contacting you by email and or telephone with information, news and offers on our products and or We will not, however, send you any unsolicited marketing or spam and will take all reasonable steps to ensure that We fully protect your rights and comply with Our obligations under the GDPR and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003.
- You have the right to withdraw your consent to us using your personal data at any time, and to request that we delete it.
- We do not keep your personal data for any longer than is necessary in light of the reason(s) for which it was first collected. Data will therefore be retained for the following periods (or its retention will be determined on the following bases):
- Member profile information is collected with your consent and can be amended or deleted at any time by you;
- Anti-Money Laundering information and tax consultancy records are to be kept as required by law for up to seven years.
- How and Where Do We Store Your Data?
- We only keep your personal data for as long as We need to in order to use it as described above in section 6, and/or for as long as We have your permission to keep it.
- Some or all of your data may be stored outside of the European Economic Area (“the EEA”) (The EEA consists of all EU member states, plus Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein). You are deemed to accept and agree to this by using our site and submitting information to Us. If we do store data outside the EEA, we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data is treated as safely and securely as it would be within the UK and under the GDPR
- Data security is very important to Us, and to protect your data We have taken suitable measures to safeguard and secure data collected through Our Site.
- Do We Share Your Data?
- We may share your data with other partner companies in for the purpose of supplying products or services you have requested.
- We may sometimes contract with third parties to supply products and services to you on Our behalf. Where any of your data is required for such a purpose, We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data will be handled safely, securely, and in accordance with your rights, Our obligations, and the obligations of the third party under the law.
- We may compile statistics about the use of Our Site including data on traffic, usage patterns, user numbers, sales, and other information. All such data will be anonymised and will not include any personally identifying data, or any anonymised data that can be combined with other data and used to identify you. We may from time to time share such data with third parties such as prospective investors, affiliates, partners, and advertisers. Data will only be shared and used within the bounds of the law.
- In certain circumstances, We may be legally required to share certain data held by Us, which may include your personal data, for example, where We are involved in legal proceedings, where We are complying with legal requirements, a court order, or a governmental authority.
- What Happens If Our Business Changes Hands?
- We may, from time to time, expand or reduce Our business and this may involve the sale and/or the transfer of control of all or part of Our business. Any personal data that you have provided will, where it is relevant to any part of Our business that is being transferred, be transferred along with that part and the new owner or newly controlling party will, under the terms of this Privacy Policy, be permitted to use that data only for the same purposes for which it was originally collected by Us.
- How Can You Control Your Data?
- In addition to your rights under the GDPR, set out in section 4, we aim to give you strong controls on Our use of your data for direct marketing purposes including the ability to opt-out of receiving emails from Us which you may do by unsubscribing using the links provided in Our emails.
- Your Right to Withhold Information
- You may access certain areas of Our Site without providing any data at all. However, to use all features and functions available on Our Site you may be required to submit or allow for the collection of certain data.
- You may restrict Our use of Cookies. For more information, see section 13.
- How Can You Access Your Data?
You have the right to ask for a copy of any of your personal data held by Us (where such data is held). Under the GDPR, no fee is payable and We will provide any and all information in response to your request free of charge. Please contact Us for more details at info@property118.com, or using the contact details below in section 14.
- Our Use of Cookies
- Our Site may place and access certain first party Cookies on your computer or device. First party Cookies are those placed directly by Us and are used only by Us. We use Cookies to facilitate and improve your experience of Our Site and to provide and improve Our products AND/OR We have carefully chosen these Cookies and have taken steps to ensure that your privacy and personal data is protected and respected at all times.
- All Cookies used by and on Our Site are used in accordance with current Cookie Law.
- Before Cookies are placed on your computer or device, you will be shown a cookie prompt requesting your consent to set those Cookies. By giving your consent to the placing of Cookies you are enabling Us to provide the best possible experience and service to you. You may, if you wish, deny consent to the placing of Cookies; however certain features of Our Site may not function fully or as intended. You will be given the opportunity to allow only first party Cookies and block third party Cookies.
- Certain features of Our Site depend on Cookies to function. Cookie Law deems these Cookies to be “strictly necessary”. These Cookies are shown below in section 13.5. Your consent will not be sought to place these Cookies, but it is still important that you are aware of them. You may still block these Cookies by changing your internet browser’s settings as detailed below in section 13.9, but please be aware that Our Site may not work properly if you do so. We have taken great care to ensure that your privacy is not at risk by allowing them.
- The following first party Cookies may be placed on your computer or device:
Name of Cookie |
Purpose |
Strictly Necessary |
JSESSIONID |
Used only to collect performance data, with any identifiable data obfuscated |
No |
__cfduid |
This cookie is strictly necessary for Cloudflare's security features and cannot be turned off. |
Yes |
- Our Site uses analytics services provided by Google Analytics and Facebook. Website analytics refers to a set of tools used to collect and analyse anonymous usage information, enabling Us to better understand how Our Site is used. This, in turn, enables Us to improve Our Site and the products AND/OR services offered through it. You do not have to allow Us to use these Cookies, however whilst Our use of them does not pose any risk to your privacy or your safe use of Our Site, it does enable Us to continually improve Our Site, making it a better and more useful experience for you.
- The analytics service(s) used by Our Site use(s) Cookies to gather the required information.
- The analytics service(s) used by Our Site use(s) the following Cookies:
Name of Cookie |
First / Third Party |
Provider |
Purpose |
__utma, __utmb, __utmc, __utmt, __utmz |
First |
Google |
Helps to understand how their visitors engage with our website |
_fbp |
First |
Facebook |
Helps to understand how their visitors engage with our website |
- In addition to the controls that We provide, you can choose to enable or disable Cookies in your internet browser. Most internet browsers also enable you to choose whether you wish to disable all cookies or only third party cookies. By default, most internet browsers accept Cookies but this can be changed. For further details, please consult the help menu in your internet browser or the documentation that came with your device.
- You can choose to delete Cookies on your computer or device at any time, however you may lose any information that enables you to access Our Site more quickly and efficiently including, but not limited to, login and personalisation settings.
- It is recommended that you keep your internet browser and operating system up-to-date and that you consult the help and guidance provided by the developer of your internet browser and manufacturer of your computer or device if you are unsure about adjusting your privacy settings.
- Contacting Us
If you have any questions about Our Site or this Privacy Policy, please contact Us by email at info@property118.com, by telephone on 01603 489118, or by post at 1st Floor, Woburn House, 84 St Benedicts Street, Norwich, NR2 4AB. Please ensure that your query is clear, particularly if it is a request for information about the data We hold about you (as under section 12, above).
- Changes to Our Privacy Policy
We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time (for example, if the law changes). Any changes will be immediately posted on Our Site and you will be deemed to have accepted the terms of the Privacy Policy on your first use of Our Site following the alterations. We recommend that you check this page regularly to keep up-to-date.
Mark Alexander - Founder of Property118
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Sign Up11:06 AM, 3rd March 2013, About 12 years ago
@Richard Kent - I've only heard of the Manchester BS saga as a result of this one. Can you point me to any links please as those affected may care to join this battle if the terms are indeed the same.
Richard Kent
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Sign Up11:07 AM, 3rd March 2013, About 12 years ago
You may wish to read the report in this link:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/mortgages/2012/04/building-society-breaks-mortgage-tracker-guarantee-to-quadruple-rates
It states "The society has invoked contract clauses — which it says allow both moves — that many borrowers may have been blissfully unaware of."
You will see from this that Manchester Building Society did the same thing last year
Richard Kent
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Sign Up11:13 AM, 3rd March 2013, About 12 years ago
@Mark Alexander
I think what I have stated a right but please confirm if i am not.
You appreciate that the information on the net can itself be limited and unreliable.
Richard Kent
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Sign Up11:21 AM, 3rd March 2013, About 12 years ago
@Mark Alexander
This raises some important questions....
If Manchester BS did do the same thing....
1. Is it now the industry benchmark against which other lenders will decide their actions?
2. Is it that by way of the actions of Manchester BS, it is found to be legally and financially viable or cost effective from the point of view of the BOI to do this?
Darrell G
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Sign Up11:57 AM, 3rd March 2013, About 12 years ago
Just pouring over one of my Mortgage offers & BoI do seem to contradict themselves quite a bit. Here's a few points to consider. it states......
1, Unless otherwise provided in the promotional rate special condition below, the interest rate we charge will track base rate for the whole mortgage term ("the rate tracker")
Sounds clear to me & what i thought my deal was!
Then below it refers to changing the 'differential' under other paragraphs saying 'Viability of our business' & 'Adverse Market Conditions'
This is the confusing loophole.
A point I'm going to put out there is that Interest Rates have been at a historic low since 5th March 2009 when it was set at 0.5% & remains to this day. Now being in business myself im sure 6 years on BoI cant be adverse now & must be irresponsible & bad business practice to only look at this clause 6 years on? Its got to be unfair & misleading, breach of contract?
This might be our loophole, Thoughts anyone?
Fed Up Landlord
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Sign Up12:23 PM, 3rd March 2013, About 12 years ago
Mark I and a lot of others will be grateful for your approach to the law firms, and you are right in relation to the power of a class action fighting fund. We are starting to see the beginnings of an organised and concerted action against BOI. If and when the "fighting fund" starts we should get an opinion from a barrister or
QC to see where we stand. We might even get a firm to take on a class action for us. However we have to start at the beginning and that is the initial letter to BOI and it's inevitable standard letter saying we cannot claim. Having been involved in legal battles with freeholders over service charges and Right To Manage at LVTs one of the things I have learned in battle with their barristers ( and I am not a qualified solicitor I hasten to add) is that they unpick and question every word, every phrase in contracts and legislation to argue their case. We may need that level of expertise althoughI would be pleasantly surprised if we get it thrown out at the Ombudsman stage without having to go to Court to challenge it.
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Sign Up12:30 PM, 3rd March 2013, About 12 years ago
Dear David Steinman (advocate for the banks)
I ve have never received any financial offer from BOI to move mortgages, I have a main residential mortgage with them. Taken out in may 2004.
They told me in the space of 5 months they will double the interest rate with the BOE rate increasing due to some ambiguous differential clause.
What stopping them making it 10% in less than 12 months if we all don't do something about it????
Darrell G
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Sign Up12:33 PM, 3rd March 2013, About 12 years ago
Gary/Mark, My daughter works for the Crown Prosecution Service & im sending in with her tomorrow one on my mortgage contracts for a Brief to look at in the first instance as a favour. At least its a free impartial view to start with off a barrister.
i will post here what an initial reaction is tomorrow night.
Fed Up Landlord
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Sign Up12:56 PM, 3rd March 2013, About 12 years ago
Darrel here's and excerpt from the Telegraph which might make you feel a bit better
By Rosie Murray-West7:00AM BST 22 Apr 201245 Comments
Home owners should be carefully scrutinising their original mortgage offers for nasty surprises that could push up monthly payments. Experts have warned that lenders are going through previous mortgage contracts with a fine-tooth comb, looking for any legal ways to push up interest rates for those on cheap tracker mortgages or standard variable rates.
Manchester Building Society is the latest to invoke little-known contract clauses to push up mortgage rates for customers. It is raising tracker rates for some from between 1pc and 1.5pc to 3.99pc and then 4.74pc, despite the fact that its mortgages track Bank Rate, which is still at a record low of 0.5pc.
The mutual said it was able to do this because of a clause in contracts that customers signed, allowing it to give 12 months' notice of new mortgage rates unlinked to Bank Rate after five years.
"This was clearly set out in the terms," a spokesman said. "We have a duty to all of our borrowing and savings members and need to appropriately balance their competing interests. For every borrowing member we typically have seven savings members and there is a fine balancing act in managing the interest rates that we apply to the products that they have."
The building society is also forcing some borrowers away from interest-only mortgages onto repayment products that will cost them thousands of pounds a year more.
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Although Manchester's spokesman said the move to decouple its tracker mortgages from Bank Rate affected only a small number of its 5,000-strong mortgage book, experts warned that it was part of an increasing trend among mortgage companies to try to squeeze more profit from their existing customers by raising rates.
"Now that it looks like interest rates are going to remain low for some time, lenders have a new incentive to try to mitigate long-term loss-makers like these mortgages," said Ray Boulger of John Charcol, the mortgage broker. He added that customers should be checking their mortgage offer documents very carefully to make sure that there were no contract clauses that could be invoked to raise rates that appeared to be pegged to low Bank Rate.
Stuart Gregory, a broker from Lentune Mortgages, agreed that lenders were reaching a point where they felt they could no longer absorb the costs of low interest rates. "If there is a chance for them to increase them then they will do it," he said. "They have all reached the point where they have to increase revenue."
More than a million people have already been affected by banks and building societies choosing to raise their standard variable rates (SVRs) in recent weeks. Halifax and the Co-op have increased SVRs for some customers, citing the increased cost of funding mortgages. Royal Bank of Scotland has increased rates by 0.25 of a percentage point on two mortgage deals, affecting 200,000 customers.
Mr Boulger said most lenders had assumed that mortgage rates would be higher by now, but the crisis in the eurozone meant that the current low-rate environment would drag on for many years. "Lenders are going to do everything they can to push up rates," he said. "They never cease to surprise in the ways they find to treat customers unfairly."
Mr Gregory said many home owners on SVRs or tracker mortgages had a "false sense of security" and might "sleepwalk into problems" if their lender chose to raise rates or change criteria. According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, more than 2 million people had come off their initial mortgage deals and onto SVRs by summer 2010, and many more will have done the same since then, while mortgage rates have remained at record lows.
Even those with guarantees on their SVRs and trackers stating that they are priced at a certain level above the Bank of England's base rate have fallen foul of small print and seen their interest rates rise. Skipton Building Society had a ceiling on its SVR stating that borrowers would not pay more than 3 percentage points above Bank Rate, but removed this, blaming "exceptional circumstances". The society had a clause written into its mortgage contracts stating that it could remove the ceiling in such circumstances. Customers were given the option to transfer to another lender.
Brokers said other companies might have similar clauses written into their contracts. However, Mr Boulger said customers should check their mortgage offer documents very carefully, especially if they were advised about changes to their SVR or tracker. He said that if your mortgage company wanted to invoke a clause in your contract it should be in the "key facts illustration" (KFI), not in the general small print of the mortgage contract.
If it is not in the KFI, Mr Boulger said, there is precedent that the change will not be allowed. Halifax had a "collar" on its mortgages that meant it could stop its tracker mortgages falling in line with Bank Rate once it hit 2.75pc. However, mention of the collar had been dropped from the key facts document for Halifax mortgages in 2004. The Financial Services Authority (FSA) said that although collars and floors could be legitimate, they needed to be "clear and unambiguous".
Jon Pain, the FSA's then director of retail markets, said in 2008: "While tracker interest rate floors can be a legitimate term of a mortgage, it can only be if it is clear and unambiguous to the consumer and is consistently and prominently spelt out in the initial key facts document and offer document throughout the sales process."
Mr Boulger said anyone who felt this was not the case with any changes to their mortgage rate could take it up with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) if they were not happy with the response from their lender.
He added that even SVR changes where there were no guarantees to the customer that any rises would be pegged to Bank Rate still had to be proportionate. He cited a recent case from the Cheshire Mortgage Corporation (CMC), where the FSA found that a contract term was unfair and asked the lender to change it. The term had allowed CMC to change the interest rate at any time for any reason.
"We thought the term was too wide and was unfair because the firm's power was unrestricted," the FSA said. CMC has changed its term to say: "Where the interest rate on your mortgage is variable, we may vary the interest rate at any time. However, we will only vary the interest rate to respond proportionately to changes in our funding costs."
If customers are not happy with the changes that could be made to their terms and conditions, Mr Gregory said they should consider their options now, and check what other mortgages they were eligible for. Many lenders have tightened their criteria for borrowers, meaning that some may remain "mortgage prisoners" stuck on rising rates because they have insufficient equity in their homes or do not meet stricter earnings criteria for other mortgages.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders said recently that it was concerned that new rules from the FSA designed to prevent people from taking out unsustainable mortgages "do not give firms enough flexibility to help borrowers". "This is likely to result in a more limited range of options for a group of consumers whose choices are already restricted because of changing market conditions," it warned.
It also reiterated that there were some rules in place to prevent SVR rises, and added that there were "competitive pressures" helping to keep rates low as well, because creditworthy customers would otherwise remortgage elsewhere.
"Under existing mortgage conduct of business rules overseen by the FSA, lenders are required to give borrowers a month's notice of any increase in rates," the body said.
"A lender's SVR is also subject to the terms and conditions of the mortgage, and to regulations governing unfair terms in consumer contracts. In the past, the FSA has taken action against a number of firms to stop what it has seen as the use of unfair terms and to compensate borrowers affected."
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Sign Up12:57 PM, 3rd March 2013, About 12 years ago
The simple solution is to change banks if you don't like the change.
4.99% is still a very low rate and if you can't make a healthy return you should consider getting out of buy to let as your situation is reckless.