I am renting out a property and am trying to do everything by the book. I have recently seen on an FB page Im on for LLs and tenants, that I have to be registered as a LL with the Information Commisioners Office and pay £40 per year, because I hold electronic (email) information re my tenants electronically?? I dont really see what they do, except want me to give them all MY personal information and charge me £40 a year. Its law apparently so will be doing asap. But they dont appear to be a government organisation, they are independant, so im not sure how by registering with them I am helping keep electronic info safe???
Whether it’s “law” or not is often disputed on these forums. I’d argue that it’s best practice. But registering isn’t all you have to do. The ICO has explicit guidance, as do LL associations, at least one of which I’d recommend you be a member of. You should know and follow this guidance to ensure that you are compliant. Not doing so, you run a risk of being sued by an applicant or tenant.
Thank you. I believed that i was compliant with all the legalities re the law on renting, but wasnt aware of this requirement. I want to be a good landlord (think my tenant would agree i am) I asked this question as looking at it I was confused as to what it gained, and I didnt want to give out MY information to a non government organisation. My husband works closely with GDPR and couldnt see any useful benefit either I understand landlords need to follow strict data protection laws, but not sure why we need to pay £40 a year when ICO arent protecting you or your tenants? Im not sure why I have to pay £40 a year to be put on a register, and not helping data protection by giving my information.
Quite simply, your fee helps to fund the works of the ICO. In event of data breaches by you or others, you are paying for their investigation teams etc.
Registering with the ICO is just one part of the equation. You also have to construct a Privacy Notice that covers how you will hold their data, what security measures you have in place, how you will use it, who you may share it with, how you will share it and ultimately how and when you will delete it. You must give the notice to the tenant as soon as you start to collect their data, which usually means application stage.
You simply give your name and your address (use your LL address for service which doesn’t have to be your residential address) and these are two things which any tenant has a right to know in any case.
Its not just a case of letting them know how its stored. I suggest you google a landlords privacy notice template to understand the full extent of your obligations.
The ICO is the British version of the Spanish AEPD which has the equivalent role in Spain unless your are in Catalonia, the Basque country or Andalusia which have their own. The fact that regulation and enforcement might differ in Spain than the UK should come as no surprise. Nor should it have any bearing on what good LLs are expected to do in the UK.
GDPR was an EU policy that the UK was bound to sign up to by dint of the fact that it came in just prior to us leaving the EU. We actually enforced it as the UK Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK chose to actually make it more far-reaching than GDPR compliance requirements for EU member states. It’s telling that UK govts since then have not thought it worth tinkering with.
