Falkirk Council is a Local Authority Social Housing Landlord. This notice provides details of what information we collect from you, what we do with it and who it might be shared with.
Identity and contact details of the controller and the data protection officer
Falkirk Council is the data controller. You can contact the data protection officer at:
Frequently asked questions
Why do we collect this information?
We need to process your data in order to ensure that the services we are providing meet our statutory and legal obligations, are fit for purpose, efficient and effective. The information is being collected for the following purposes:
- Provide social and other types of housing
- Mange property improvements, maintenance, repairs and adaptations services, including tenant request to alter and improve a council property
- Manage your housing, tenancy and rent account as your landlord
- Provide advice, information and assistance in relation to renting and living within private sector housing, including Landlord Registration services
- To provide additional services such as renting of garage sites and lockups, a garden aid service, and a Care and Repair Service to those that meet eligibility criteria
- To let you know about opportunities to participate in consultations so we can better plan, design and improve housing services.
- Provide advice to bring empty homes back into use to increase housing supply
- Equalities monitoring
The legal basis for each purpose is set out below:
| Legal basis |
Purpose |
| Consent |
|
| Performance of a contract |
3, 4 |
| Legal obligation |
1, 2, 4, 6, 8 |
| Vital interests |
|
| Task carried out in the public interest |
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
| Legitimate interests |
|
Some of the key pieces of legislation we use are detailed below.
- Anti Social Behaviour (Scotland) Act 2004
- Housing (Scotland) Acts 1987, 2001, 2006, 2010 and 2014 and related legislation
- Homelessness(Scotland) Act 2003 and related legislation
- Tenements (Scotland) Act 2004
What information do we collect about you?
For all of the purposes detailed above, we collect basic personal data. This can include your name, date of birth, national insurance number and contact details (including telephone number, email or address). In order to verify your details we may also ask for proof of identify such as photocopies of passport or driving licence.
To provide access to housing and to meet your housing needs we may also record details on other residents within your household including any dependent children and details of anyone who is authorised to act on your behalf, if applicable. We may also require details of your immigration status and your right to live and work in the UK.
In specific and restricted circumstances, we may also need to collect additional information including employment and income history, court orders or convictions, enforcement orders, bank details, previous housing circumstances and sensitive personal information such as nationality, medical/health information, support needs, racial or ethnic origin, gender, religious beliefs and relationship status.
We keep copies of your communications with us and our responses. This allows us to record our communications with you, make decisions, monitor our performance and improve the services that we deliver.
We will keep your information safe and secure and have systems, processes and training designed to achieve this.
Where do we collect information from?
We collect information from you using a variety of different methods, including when you apply for a property or service, complete one of our paper or online forms, when you call, write, email or meet with us. We may also obtain information about you from other Falkirk Council services, including our online services.
In order to provide housing services, we may collect information from other sources including other landlords, other Local Authorities, Government Departments, Falkirk Health and Social Care Partnership, contractors, credit check agencies. On occasion, we may receive information from neighbours or other members of the public.
We may take photographs at our events, at our properties and in our communities to use for general marketing and publicity. However, photographs of individuals will only be used for those purposes with your consent. We may also take photographs of our properties for the purposes of managing our tenancies and recovering the costs of rechargeable works.
Who might we share your information with?
We share limited personal data with our contractors who are carrying out services on our behalf. For example, to arrange access if you have requested a repair. We may share information with our community partners such as NHS Forth Valley and Police Scotland. As well as these partners we may share with government departments, other Local Authorities, with our regulators and auditors, with utility companies or with other organisations and agencies where we are legally allowed to do so. We may also need to share information with solicitors, estate and letting agents, landlords, Sheriff Officers, surveyors and valuers.
As a Local Authority landlord our performance is monitored by Audit Scotland and the Scottish Housing Regulator, to which we report our performance using anonymised statistical data. We provide equalities monitoring information to the Scottish Government on an anonymised basis.
The Council has a duty to protect public funds. We may check your information within the Council for verification purposes and/or for the prevention of fraud and for the exercise and defence of legal claims. We may share your information with other organisations where we are required to do so for the purposes of the prevention or detection of crime.
Will we send your information outwith the UK?
We do not transfer your information outwith the UK. Should it become necessary to do so, we would ensure appropriate safeguards are in place.
We may use third party event management sites, such as Eventbrite, to handle bookings for landlord and letting forums. Those sites may be based outwith the UK.
How long do we keep hold of your information?
We keep your information as long as required by law or by our business requirements. We have a Business Classification Scheme in place which sets out the types of records we hold, and how long we hold them - you can access the relevant part of the scheme below.
- Downloads
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Housing
PDF file, 607.6 KB
What are my rights in relation to the information held about me?
You have the following rights:
- To see any information held about you by making a subject access request.
- To withdraw consent at any time, where the legal basis for processing is consent.
- To data portability, where the legal basis for processing is (i) consent or (ii) performance of a contract.
- To request rectification or erasure of your information, where data protection legislation allows this.
Do I have a right to complain about the way information has been used?
If you have a concern about the way we are collecting or using your personal data, please let us know and we will try to resolve this. If you are still concerned, you can contact the Information Commissioner:
Do I have to provide my personal data to you?
Yes, as we are complying with statutory legislation, legal requirement or contract, we need this information to ensure that we are meeting these requirements and providing the best quality services.
If we did not collect this information, we would be unable to meet our obligations as your landlord, provide you with the services you are entitled to and to ensure adequate and appropriate housing within the Council area.
Do you use any automated processes to make decisions about me?
We do not use automated decision making processes
This notice was last updated in March 2021.