What personal information will Lewis & Dick hold about you?
We will collect personal information only insofar as we need to. The information we collect will typically be:
• Your full names and addresses; • telephone numbers; • email addresses; • dates of birth; • National Insurance Number(s); • details of your marital status; • former names; • details of your financial circumstances; • details of your mortgage lender. • gender
Special Category data
We will not routinely collect any special categories of personal data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, Trade Union membership, information about your health and genetic or biometric data). This information may occasionally be required in relation to litigation, family law advice and Wills, Trusts and Probate, in which case we will hold such data only insofar as we need it.
How is your personal information collected?
Typically the personal information that we collect about you will be information that you have provided via our website, in written forms or other communications in writing, by telephone or via email. We may also gather information from third parties, such as Lenders, credit reference agencies and electronic ID providers.
What is our lawful basis for processing your personal information?
Our primary basis for obtaining and retaining this information will be the performance of our contract with you. Some information is also required to comply with legal obligations and for our own legitimate interests. We will hold this information in a paper file and / or in electronic form on our case management system.
We do not generally rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal information other than in relation to marketing. We will also ask for your consent to make your file available for review by auditors in relation to our accreditations, which include Conveyancing Quality Scheme, ISO9001 and other such accreditation schemes.
What rights do you have in relation to your personal information?
You have a right to access your personal information and to the rectification of any personal information which is inaccurate.
You have the right to erasure of data if you request us to do so and there is no compelling reason for its continued processing.
You have the right to request the restriction blocking or otherwise suppression of the processing of personal information and
You have the right to have your personal information provided to you so that you can reuse it for your own purposes or across different services.
We will respect your rights to object to data processing based on legitimate interest or the performance of a public interest task.
You have a right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by emailing James.winfield@lewis-dick.com or writing to the firm’s Ewell office at 443 Kingston Road, Ewell, Surrey KT19 0DG.
Will your personal information be transferred to other countries?
Certain typing functions are outsourced to a trusted third party company. The company is based in the UK but outsources typing to typists based outside the UK They have access to our electronic case management system and therefore to the information above. We have in place with them contractual arrangements to protect your personal information. If you have any concerns about the outsourcing of typing please speak to the lawyer representing you.
Disclosure of your personal information
The personal information which clients have supplied to us will normally be covered by client confidentiality and will not be shared with other parties without a client’s prior consent. Occasionally we will be obliged by our professional obligations to supply information to government bodies, law enforcement agencies and regulatory bodies and to our own legal advisers.
Change of purpose
We will only use your personal information for the purposes for which we collected it unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If we need to use your personal information for an unrelated purpose we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.
What happens if you choose not to provide us with personal information?
If you are a client or prospective client we may not be able to perform our contract with you and may be prevented from complying with our legal obligations. In such circumstances we may not be able to act for you.
Security
We have procedures in place to protect the security of your personal information. We have put in place suitable physical electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure your personal information and will use our best efforts to ensure that no unauthorised parties have access to it.
How long will your personal information be held?
We will retain this information for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for. We will not use your data for marketing purposes unless we have your specific consent.
How can I obtain my personal information?
If you wish to obtain details of your personal information held by us or make a complaint about how your personal information is being processed please contact our Data Protection Supervisor, Samatha Woods sam.woods@lewis-dick.com or by writing to the firm’s Crawley office. You also have the right to complain about any data protection matters to the Information Commissioner’s Office, whose details may be found at www.ico.org.uk.