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How we collect, use and protect your personal data — written in plain English. This policy explains your rights under the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who we are

MDM Homes ("we", "us", "our") is a licensed, NRLA-accredited landlord operating residential properties across England. We are the data controller for personal information collected through this website, our tenancy applications, our maintenance portal (Tenant Cloud), and any direct correspondence.

You can contact us at the address above, or by email at contact@mdmhomes.co.uk for general enquiries, or oncall@mdmhomes.co.uk for out-of-hours matters.

2. What personal data we collect

The data we collect depends on your relationship with us. The most common categories are:

If you enquire about renting

  • Name, contact details (email, phone)
  • The areas, property type and move-in date you're interested in
  • Anything else you tell us in the enquiry message — household composition, budget, pets, accessibility needs

If you become a tenant

  • Full identity information for Right to Rent and referencing — passport, biometric residence permit, share-code, or other immigration document
  • Date of birth, current and previous addresses, employment details
  • Bank account details for rent collection and deposit return
  • Guarantor details (where applicable)
  • Tenancy agreement, deposit protection certificate, gas safety certificate (CP12) and EICR copies
  • Photographs of the property at check-in / check-out (inventory)
  • Records of correspondence, maintenance requests, and any incidents

If you use our website or maintenance portal

  • Information you submit through forms (enquiry, maintenance, ASB report)
  • Technical data — IP address, browser type, the pages you view (collected via essential analytics, see cookies)
  • Any data Tenant Cloud holds about your account, governed by Tenant Cloud's own privacy policy

3. Why we collect it

We only collect personal data where there is a clear, lawful reason. The main purposes are:

  • To respond to your enquiry and arrange property viewings
  • To carry out tenant referencing and meet our legal Right to Rent obligation under the Immigration Act 2014
  • To set up and manage a tenancy — including deposit protection, rent collection, and the tenancy agreement itself
  • To meet our obligations as a landlord (gas safety, electrical, EPC, smoke and CO alarm checks, HMO licensing where applicable)
  • To investigate and respond to maintenance requests, complaints, and ASB reports
  • To comply with HMRC reporting requirements and any other statutory obligations
  • To pursue debts, if rent or other money owed to us is unpaid

Under UK GDPR we must have a lawful basis for using your personal data. The bases we rely on are:

BasisWhen we rely on it
Contract Setting up and running your tenancy — including referencing, rent collection, and routine landlord duties.
Legal obligation Right to Rent checks, gas/electrical compliance, deposit protection, HMRC reporting, and responding to lawful requests from authorities.
Legitimate interests Managing the property safely (e.g. inspections, contractor visits), preventing fraud, recovering arrears, and handling complaints. We balance our interests against your privacy rights.
Consent Where you've opted in — for example, sending you marketing or non-essential communications. You can withdraw consent at any time.

5. Who we share your data with

We don't sell your data. We share it only where necessary, and only with parties who have their own data-protection obligations:

  • Referencing agencies — for credit checks and right-to-rent verification at the start of a tenancy
  • Deposit protection schemes — Tenancy Deposit Scheme, MyDeposits, or DPS, as required by law
  • Contractors and tradespeople — engineers, plumbers, electricians, decorators, pest controllers, cleaners, where you've reported a maintenance issue or planned works are needed
  • Tenant Cloud — our maintenance and rent-collection software provider
  • Local authorities — where required, e.g. HMO licensing, environmental health, council tax notifications
  • Police and emergency services — where there's a legal obligation, court order, or genuine safety concern
  • HMRC — for tax purposes and reporting
  • Solicitors and debt-recovery agents — if there's a need to enforce the tenancy agreement, recover arrears, or seek possession
  • Insurers — where there's a claim affecting the property

We may also share anonymised, aggregated information for reporting and improvement purposes, but this can never be used to identify you.

6. How long we keep your data

We keep personal data only for as long as we need it. Indicative retention periods:

Type of dataRetention period
Unsuccessful enquiriesUp to 12 months from last contact
Tenancy records (active)For the duration of the tenancy
Tenancy records (after the tenancy ends)6 years (in line with the Limitation Act 1980)
Right to Rent documents1 year after the tenancy ends, then deleted (Home Office requirement)
Financial records (rent, deposits, accounts)7 years (HMRC requirement)
Maintenance and inspection records6 years
Compliance certificates (gas, EICR, EPC)As required by relevant regulations, typically 6 years
CCTV / property security footage (where applicable)30 days, unless retained for an active investigation
ASB reports and case files3 years from case closure, longer where there's ongoing risk

After these periods we delete or anonymise the data. Where we are required by law to keep certain records longer, we do so.

7. Your rights under UK GDPR

You have a number of rights over your personal data. We will respond to any request within one calendar month, free of charge:

  • Right of access — to a copy of the personal data we hold about you (a "subject access request")
  • Right to rectification — to have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected
  • Right to erasure — to ask us to delete your data, where there's no overriding reason for us to keep it
  • Right to restrict processing — to ask us to pause certain uses of your data
  • Right to data portability — to receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
  • Right to object — to certain types of processing, including marketing
  • Right to withdraw consent — at any time, where consent is the basis we're relying on
  • Right to complain to the ICO — see "Contact & complaints" below

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at contact@mdmhomes.co.uk with the subject line "Data request".

8. Cookies on this website

This website uses a small number of cookies. Cookies are small text files saved to your device that help websites work and provide information to the site owner.

CookiePurposeLifetime
Essential sessionKeeps your session active and secure as you navigate the siteSession
Cookie preferenceRemembers your cookie preferences once you've made a choice12 months
Analytics (optional)Anonymous, aggregated data on which pages are visited — only set if you opt inUp to 24 months

You can control cookies through your browser settings — most browsers let you block all cookies, allow only first-party cookies, or be alerted before a cookie is set. Disabling essential cookies may affect how the site works.

9. How we keep your data secure

We take security seriously. Our practical measures include:

  • Encrypted transmission of forms (HTTPS) and encrypted storage at rest where supported
  • Access to tenant records is limited to the people in our team who need it, on a need-to-know basis
  • Strong, unique passwords for every system, with multi-factor authentication where available
  • Reputable, GDPR-compliant third-party providers (such as Tenant Cloud) for the systems where data lives
  • Periodic reviews of our security practices and prompt action on any suspected incident

If a personal data breach occurs that's likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we'll notify you and the ICO within 72 hours of becoming aware, in line with UK GDPR.

10. Contact & complaints

If you have a question about this policy or about how we handle your data, please contact us first — we'd much rather resolve any concern directly:

  • Email: contact@mdmhomes.co.uk
  • Post: MDM Homes, Unit 3, Bradbury's Court, Lyon Road, London HA1 2BY
  • Out-of-hours email: oncall@mdmhomes.co.uk (we respond within 6 hours)

If you're not satisfied with our response, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office:

  • Website: ico.org.uk
  • Helpline: 0303 123 1113
  • Address: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time — when our practices change, when there's new guidance from the ICO, or simply where we can make it clearer. The "last updated" date at the top tells you when the current version was published. For material changes affecting current tenants, we'll notify you directly.

Your data exists to help us run a fair, lawful and well-managed tenancy. We will never use it for anything outside that purpose without telling you first.