We are carrying out essential maintenance on the Find My Home system over the Easter weekend. Applicants will not be able to register a new application, update an existing application or place any bids between the morning of 29th March and the morning of 1st April 2024.

To minimise disruption to our applicants, we are not advertising any properties between Wednesday 27th March and Wednesday 3rd April.  Property adverts will resume at 12pm on Wednesday 3rd April.

We apologise for any inconvenience that this essential maintenance causes.

Privacy policy

How we use your personal information
 
Our Privacy Notice is designed to assist you in understanding how we collect and use the personal information you provide to us and to assist you in making informed decisions when using our site. Queens Cross Housing Association manages and operates the Find My Home choice based lettings platform at findmyhome.org.uk. For more information about Queens Cross Housing Association please visit qcha.org.uk.
 
When you submit a housing application on Find My Home, the personal information contained within your application is made available to us. We are the controllers of that personal information, which means that we are legally responsible for how we hold and use personal information about you.
 
It also means we are required to comply with data protection laws when holding and using your personal information. This includes providing you with the details contained within this statement of how we hold and use your personal information, who we may share it with and your rights in relation to your personal information.
 
We have a data protection officer (DPO) who can be contacted at [email protected] or by phoning 0808 143 2002.
 
What personal information do we hold and use about you and why?
 
We hold and use the personal information and special category information listed in the schedule to this statement for the following purposes:
 
to process and manage your housing application, to assess your housing need and to consider your housing requirements.
to consider your bids for our properties 
to verify the information provided by you as part of your housing application
to comply with legal requirements that apply to us as a registered social landlord in Scotland
to comply with our equal opportunity monitoring obligations
to compile anonymous statistical information on housing needs, including for internal committee and external regulatory reporting
to communicate with you and inform you of the outcome of your bids
to consider and respond to complaints about your bids
to allocate housing in accordance with our choice-based lettings system
to obtain references about you from your previous landlords (if applicable)
to prevent and detect fraud 
to protect and defend our legal rights in the case of a dispute between us
What is our legal basis for holding and using your personal information?
 
Data protection laws require us to have a legal reason for holding and using your personal information. Our legal reasons for holding and using your personal information are as follows:
 
Personal Information
 
Consent: You have given your consent to the processing of your personal data.
Contract: the holding and use of personal information is necessary for the purposes of taking steps to enter into a tenancy agreement with you if your bid is successful.
Legal obligation: the holding and use of personal information is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation which applies to us in terms of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987; Equality Act 2010; Human Rights Act 1998; and the Scottish Social Housing Charter
 
Special category information
 
Explicit Consent: You have given your explicit consent to the processing of your personal data. 
Substantial public interest: the holding and use of special category information is necessary for the purposes of the exercise of a function conferred on us by the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987; Equality Act 2010; Human Rights Act 1998; and the Scottish Social Housing Charter.
 
Who do we share your personal information with?
 
We may share your personal information with other organisations for the purposes described in section 1 of this statement, including:
 
Third parties from whom we may seek more information about you and to verify the information provided by you as part of your housing application, including your previous landlords
The Scottish Housing Regulator
Law enforcement and fraud prevention agencies
Our consultants, auditors, solicitors, advisers and IT service providers, including our website developer and hosting provider.
 
How long do we keep your personal information for?
 
We will only keep your personal information for as long as we need to for the purposes described in this statement, including to meet any legal, accounting, reporting or regulatory requirements. More information is contained in our data retention policy, which are available by contacting our DPO (contact details provided above).
 
What rights do you have in relation to the personal information that we hold for you?
 
It is important that the personal information that we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed of any changes. Under certain circumstances, the law gives you the right to request:
 
A copy of your personal information and to check that we are holding and using it in accordance with legal requirements.
Correction of any incomplete or inaccurate personal information that we hold about you.
Deletion of your personal information where there is no valid reason for us continuing to hold and use it. You also have the right to ask us to do this where you object to us holding and using your personal information (details below).
Temporarily suspend the use of your personal information, for example, if you want us to check that it is correct or the reason for processing it or to stop us from using your personal information altogether if we have committed a breach of data protection laws.
The transfer of your personal information to another organisation
 
You can also object to us holding and using your personal information where our legal reason is a legitimate interest (either our legitimate interests or those of a third party).
 
Please contact our DPO (contact details provided above) if you wish to make any of the above requests. When you make a request, we may ask you for specific information to help us confirm your identity for security reasons. You will not need to pay a fee when you make any of the above requests, but we may charge a reasonable fee or refuse to comply if your request for access is clearly unfounded or excessive.
 
Feedback and complaints
 
We welcome your feedback on how we hold and use your personal information, and this can be sent to our DPO (contact details provided above). You have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, the UK regulator for data protection, about how we hold and use your personal information. 
 
The ICO’s contact details are as follows:
 
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: https://ico.org.uk/concerns/ 
 
If you would like to receive this statement in alternative format, for example, audio, large print or braille, please contact us.
 
Updates to this statement
 
We may update our Privacy Notice from time to time. We would encourage you to visit Findmyhome.org.uk regularly to stay informed of the purposes for which we process your information and your rights to control how we process it.
 
Last updated: April 2021
 
SCHEDULE
PERSONAL INFORMATION AND SPECIAL CATEGORY INFORMATION
 
Information we may collect about you may include (but is not limited to):
 
Personal Information
 
• Name
• Address, address history for the last 3 years and correspondence address
• Current housing circumstances, type of property you currently live in and it's condition and / or your homeless status
• E-mail address
• Telephone number
• Date of birth
• National Insurance Number
• Gender
• Your accommodation preferences for housing allocation
• Household information, including details of who will be moving in with you, and particulars of children, comprising their gender, date of birth and whether they are under or over 16 years of age 
• Pet ownership
• Reasons for moving
• Your relationship to any of our employees or committee members
• Whether you are one of our employees or committee members
• Identification documents
 
Special Category Information
 
• Ethnic origin
• Sexual orientation
• Medical conditions
• Your and / or another household member’s disability status and type of disability
• Requirement for an adapted property and the type of adaptation required
• Your and / or another household member’s pregnancy status 
• Employment and financial circumstances, including any financial hardship and any support you require to sustain a tenancy
• Your and your household members’ property ownership status 
• Family and relationship circumstances
• Support you provide to a friend or relative or support you receive from a friend or relative
• Your and your household members’ right to reside in the UK
• Complaints made against you and / or any of your household members for anti-social behaviour 
• Outstanding arrears or any tenancy-related debt owed by you or any of your household members
• Your and / or another household member’s registration with the Police under the Sexual Offences Act 2003
• Your and / or another household member’s convictions for violent offences