Your Privacy
Your privacy is important to us. This privacy notice explains what personal data we collect from you and how we use it.
Please take time to read and understand this information.
Why do we need your personal information?
The information you provide on this form is held on the Devon Home Choice Housing Register. It will be used to assess and manage your housing application.
If you are housed by one of the Devon Home Choice partner landlords your information will passed to that landlord, so that they can manage your tenancy.
Provision of some of the information requested by us is part of a ‘contractual requirement’. Without this information, we will be unable to accept an application for services. For example, we cannot see if you are eligible for a tenancy or check that an application is not fraudulent without being able to verify your identity. Please contact your local authority if you have any concerns.
Where information relates to household members, it is our legitimate interests to know who is applying for housing. We will use this information to check that accommodation offered is adequate for your household’s needs, and to ensure that the local community will have quiet enjoyment of their homes.
If this form is completed on behalf of someone else, or personal details or contact data about a third party are provided, then it is your responsibility to make sure that you have informed that person of what you have told Devon Home Choice.
Will my personal information be secure?
The information will be held securely in the UK and will be used in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2016/679) and the Data Protection Act 2018. You are entitled to know how we will use the information you provide.
Who will manage your personal information?
If you live in Devon your application will be assessed and managed by the local authority where you live. If you live outside Devon your application will be assessed and managed by the local authority in Devon where you have said you would like to live.
Please see below contact details of the local authority data protection officers:
East Devon District Council: [email protected]
Exeter City Council: [email protected]
Mid Devon District Council: [email protected]
North Devon Council: [email protected]
Plymouth City Council: [email protected]
South Hams District Council: [email protected]
Teignbridge District Council: [email protected]
Torbay Council: [email protected]
Torridge District Council: [email protected]
West Devon Borough Council: [email protected]
How will your personal information be used?
The 10 local authority partners in Devon Home Choice will use your information for the following purposes:
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To decide if you are eligible to be join the Devon Home Choice register
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To assess your application and give you priority for housing, in line with the Devon Home Choice policy. This may include sharing information with medical and housing professionals as part of a Health and Wellbeing Assessment panel or to assess your housing needs.
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To provide you with advice and help about your housing options
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For administration and auditing purposes to ensure that everyone is treated equally
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To provide reports
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To plan for future housing needs. This may include sharing data with Devon Communities Together (on behalf of the Devon Rural Housing Partnership) and contacting you as part of a survey.
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To seek your views
Devon Home Choice partner landlords (see the Devon Home Choice Partners page for details) will use your information for the following purposes:
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To decide if you are eligible to be housed by them
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So they can decide if they will offer you a property
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If you are housed by one of the Devon Home Choice partner landlords your information will passed to that landlord, so that they can manage your tenancy
We may check any information you provide or information we have about you with other information held by the organisations which comprise Devon Home Choice.
Anonymous information may also be passed to other organisations to assist in the planning and monitoring of services, or to initiatives such as Data Plymouth, that aim to provide easy access to data on housing and other key topics. It will not be possible to identify you from this data.
In addition, the Devon Home Choice service must cooperate with the prevention and detection of crime and fraud, which may result in your information being passed to others in support of the National Fraud Initiative.
Your information will not be used for any other purpose, and will not be passed onto any other third party without your permission.
Will my priority be automatically awarded by a computer?
No. Whilst the IT system can tell from the information you have provided if you are overcrowded, living above the 3rd floor with a child under 8 or sharing facilities, your application will be reviewed by a member of staff. The only exception to this will be if you advise us that you do not meet any of our housing need criteria when you will be automatically placed in Band E.
How long will your personal information be kept?
The local authority managing your application will contact you each year to ask you if you want to remain on the Devon Home Choice register.
Your personal data will be deleted 7 years after you have been housed, or your application is cancelled or rejected.
What are your rights?
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You have the right to be informed about how we process your data. This Privacy Notice provides this information.
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You have the right of access to personal data we hold about you.
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You have the right to have your personal data corrected if it’s inaccurate
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You have the right to have your personal data removed
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You have the right to restrict processing of your data
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You have the right to obtain an electronic copy of your personal data (right to data portability)
If you need to ask any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
How do you make a complaint?
Please contact your local authority’s data protection officer (please see the contact details above).
For independent advice about data protection and privacy, or if you wish to make a complaint, contact the Information Commissioner’s Office
Use of IP addresses
Home Connections collects IP addresses only for the purposes of system administration and to audit the use of our site. We do not link IP addresses to anything personally identifiable, which means that while your user session will be logged, you will remain anonymous to us.
External Links
This site contains links to other sites. Neither Devon Home Choice or Home Connections is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of these sites and while we monitor and review the sites we are linked with we cannot fully endorse or be responsible for any losses resulting from any externally linked sites.
Use of any information you provide to any other site will be governed by their own privacy policy and is not in any way our responsibility.
Use of cookies by Home Connections
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your computer by websites that you visit. They are widely used in order to make websites work, or work more efficiently, as well as to provide information to the owners of the site.
When someone visits websites powered by Home Connections we collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. We collect this information in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting. We will not associate any data gathered from this site with any personally identifying information from any source. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be up front about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.