GDPR confusion and misinformation

GDPR confusion and misinformation

11:26 AM, 23rd April 2018, About 6 years ago 125

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I am told that ALL organisations, including private landlords (and their contractors), will have to be GDPR compliant by 25th May 2018. I have attending training on this and I’m getting contradictory advice from different GDPR professionals. About 4 weeks ago I was told that there is no need to register with the ICO, as everyone has to comply with GDPR so no need to register to do so, then earlier this week I was at an RLA event and was told that it would be necessary for everyone to register with the ICO, so these two GDPR speakers basically contradicted each other! The ICO website itself says that most data controllers (yes, that includes landlords) will need to register, unless they fall into an exemption (examples are on the ICO website).

At the RLA event earlier this week, I was told that we would need to provide all our tenants (and other people we hold data about) with a Privacy Notice. The RLA have one of these on their website that landlords can download, they said it is 30 pages long. I mentioned that there are probably a couple of hundred organisations that hold a persons data, so does that mean we can expect to receive 200 x 30 page documents arriving in the post in the next few weeks, and she said that most would be sent by email. I asked, what if the person does not have an email address, and she said then I could post them a hard copy, (so if you have any tenants who do not have an email address, they may be getting 6000 pages in the post very soon!!! (200 x 30 page documents). I asked if we could simply have the Privacy Notice on our website, and she was unsure whether this would be acceptable for not. She said that she only takes tenants if they have an email address, but clearly she deals with more affluent or well educated tenants, whereas I deal mainly with vulnerable tenants who very often don’t have an email address (or may not be computer literate, may have mental health issues, or learning difficulties, etc).

I asked if GDPR applies to all government, and local government departments, and she said yes, it applies to all companies and organisations. However, the bloke sat next to her from the Council was asked if the Council were compliant, he said that his Council “are currently looking into it”. If all organisations have to be GDPR compliant, then how will the politicians send us all their party political mailings asking us to vote for them!

Overall, it seems that nobody is quite sure how GDPR will affect individual situations, it is legislation designed for application to massive companies to stop them abusing the data they hold (using it for wrong purposes, or selling it on, etc), but it is applicable to everyone so even one landlord with just one tenant will have to comply with all the GDPR rules.

Are any other landlords having trouble understanding the GDPR compliance rules? Getting misinformation or contradictory advice? Are all landlords aware of how GDPR will affect them, and what they need to do?

Robert


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Comments

Chris Clare

13:55 PM, 11th May 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Mike at 11/05/2018 - 12:46
My understanding of the term "enrichment" would relate to something such as a club or association that is run for the sole benefit of its members.

By running a property business you are enriching yourself and therefore you are not running a not for profit.

Mike

14:09 PM, 11th May 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Chris Clare at 11/05/2018 - 13:55The message is very clear it says as long as you don't use the profit to enrich others.
So relax, you can enrich yourself. On the other hand you have spare cash by all means register, I will go and treat myself to a nice chinese meal today instead, £35 will get me and my wife a very pleasant evening.
Quote from their webiste
" Also answer Yes if your organisation makes profit, as long as it is not used to enrich others"

Whiteskifreak Surrey

14:17 PM, 11th May 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Mike at 11/05/2018 - 14:09
As usual everything is muddled up. On the other hand the Charities do have to register, as they are data controllers/processors, and they are not-for-profit...
NB we only enrich ourselves, but we swallowed hard and registered, issued privacy notice + active consent, contacted tenants to sign it, and are hoping for the best... In the current climate of landlords being a public enemy No 1 and responsible for everything including Millennials loneliness and depression, we opted to be slightly poorer but safer.

Mike

14:25 PM, 11th May 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Whiteskifreak Surrey at 11/05/2018 - 14:17
Well of course the web site says you can voluntarily register. For your own peace of mind it is only of course £35.00 but what if it was anything like a selective license and your local council wants to rip landlords off by as much as £1500 for 5 years license.

However, to me it is very very clear that I as a lone landlord I do not need to register because I am not running an estate agency or lettings company responsible for property sales, or renting, etc.

I deal as a sole trader with tenants directly, all profits (rental income and any profits from it are for my sole benefit and I do not use my profits to enrich others.

Chris Clare

14:44 PM, 11th May 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Mike at 11/05/2018 - 14:09
I have just spent 30 minutes on hold for the ICO and put your really worthy point to them, this is what they said.

"A not for profit organisation under the definition relates to a voluntary body or charitable organisation. Whilst you are running a property business with one or more properties that do not enrich anyone but yourself that is still enrichment and should be registered."

They appreciated the interpretation that you have made from the way it is written and they will be looking to update the wording so there is more clarity for the future.

Long and short of it is they said, if you do not have an agent doing 100% of the management with no details being passed to you at any point, you will be processing personal data and therefore need to be registered.

Sorry about this but at least we have clarity from the horses mouth at last.

Mike

15:00 PM, 11th May 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Chris Clare at 11/05/2018 - 14:44
Lovely, so they are going to move the goal posts now!
As it stands currently it clearly states quote from their site when coming to question No 6, and when answered Yes, it says you do NOT need to register.

Quoted from their site:

Answer ‘Yes’ if your organisation was established for not-for-profit making purposes and does not make a profit. Also answer ‘yes’ if your organisation makes a profit for its own purposes, as long as the profit is not used to enrich others. You must:

only process information necessary to establish or maintain membership or support;
only process information necessary to provide or administer activities for people who are members of the organisation or have regular contact with it;
only share the information with people and organisations necessary to carry out the organisation’s activities. Important - if individuals give you permission to share their information, this is OK (you can still answer ‘yes’); and
only keep the information while the individual is a member or supporter or as long as necessary for member/supporter administration.

Mike

15:24 PM, 11th May 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Mike at 11/05/2018 - 15:00
I wanted to clarify what does Enrich Others means, so I googled and got a very interesting answer, might benefit some stressed out landlords and I also recommend ICO bosses and staff to clear their confused heads as well.

Google Results:
http://nithyananda.org/Nithyananda-eNcyclopedia/Enriching.html

Mike

15:40 PM, 11th May 2018, About 6 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Mike at 11/05/2018 - 15:24Ok let us get more serious, the word Enrich really means to Improve, how can I use my rental income to improve others?
definition of Enrich
enrich
verb UK ​ /ɪnˈrɪtʃ/ US ​ /ɪnˈrɪtʃ/
enrich verb (IMPROVE)

C1 [ T ] to improve the quality of something by adding something else:
Fertilizer helps to enrich the soil.
My life was greatly enriched by knowing her.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Making things better.

I am still not convinced that I need to register.

Chris Clare

16:22 PM, 11th May 2018, About 6 years ago

ICO have accepted that the statement is probably worded badly and it is there understanding that a LL with one property processing tenants data should be registered.

That being said if you don't want to register don't, we are all responsible for our own place in the world and we may seek and take advice but we can also seek and ignore it, especially if the narrative does not suit us.

When all said and done my knowledge of GDPR is as a result of a lengthy 6 month project as part of my day job managing 10 million client records. Whether it is right or wrong will be determined in time.

Robert M

20:20 PM, 11th May 2018, About 6 years ago

I think there may be some confusion about the questionnaire, as when I read it I interpreted it as meaning that all private landlords (regardless of whether they have just one property, or lots of properties) would be classed as a data controller and as such would need to register with the ICO and comply with GDPR. However, what was much less clear (and I think this may be the confusion around the questionnaire) is whether you may be exempt from payment of the registration fee. But, as Chris says, it is your business so you can choose the level of risk you wish to take, so if you don't want to register, or don't want to pay the fee, or don't want to comply with the data protection rules, then that is up to you, as it is you that would be at risk of suffering the consequences.

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