Privacy Policy

Introduction

We are Purplebricks Property Limited of 650 The Crescent, Colchester Business Park, Colchester, CO4 9YQ (company number 14856837) (Purplebricks).

At Purplebricks we take data privacy very seriously and want to make sure your experience with us is the best it can be. This Privacy Policy gives you a clear view of who we are, how we collect, share and use the personal information you provide us, how we protect your data to the highest standard and the rights and choices you have to control your personal information and protect your privacy.

What information do we collect about you?

When you enquire or register for products or services provided by Purplebricks we may collect personal data about you from a variety of sources.
The majority of information we collect about you will be provided directly from yourself during the course of your relationship with us however we may obtain information from other sources such as other third parties e.g. Rightmove and Zoopla or publicly available sources such as HM Land registry.

When you use our products and services we will collect personal information such as:

• your name;
• your email addresses;
• your telephone numbers;
• your date of birth;
• your postal address;
• your payment details;
• copies of your ID e.g. passport, driving licence, birth certificate, utility bill;
• your IP addresses;
• proof of funds e.g. mortgage offers, banks statements etc.);
• records of your conversations with our live chat;
• recordings of your phone calls made to our head office.

If you don’t provide us with this information, we may not be able to provide you with access to our products or services.
We do not routinely collect special category data however if you choose to provide this information to us we will treat the data with the additional protection given under data protection laws.
During the course of our relationship with you we may ask for additional information from you which is required for us to fulfil the specified service.

Protecting your personal information

We are committed to protecting your personal information and implementing appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect it against any unauthorised or unlawful processing and against any accidental loss, destruction or damage.

We store all your personal data in highly secure software systems and when we share your personal data with third parties we do so in a safe and secure manner.

How will we use the information about you and why?

If you are a user of our website and app we will use your personal data:

1. To manage your account and allowing you to make searches of properties and to use the app. We do this in our legitimate interest of running our business. 
2. To market other services (see below). We do this either with your consent or in our legitimate interest to provide you with information about other services we offer that are similar or ancillary to those on our site. 
3. To monitor and analyse user behaviour. We use Hotjar Heat Maps & Recordings service to allow us to analyse web traffic and keep track of user behaviour. We do this in our legitimate interest to help improve our site to meet our customer’s’ needs. 

If we contract with you as a seller or a landlord we will use your personal data:

4. To carry out the services we have agreed to provide you and to notify you of the status of your transaction. This processing is necessary for the performance of our contract with you. This includes passing your information to third parties (see below).
5. To prevent money laundering by conducting an identification check. This processing is to comply with our legal obligation to carry out anti-money laundering checks. We will be unable to proceed with any work on behalf of our customers if we are unable to obtain and check the necessary information. To do this we will share your personal information with our anti-money laundering check providers.

If you are a buyer or potential tenant we will use your personal data

6. To check your ability to proceed with an offer on a property by checking your financial position (i.e. do you have a mortgage agreed in principle or are you a cash buyer and whether you have a property to sell to enable you to purchase another property) and to determine your ability to proceed with a purchase so that the seller or landlord has an informed choice should there be an offer. To do this we may ask for additional financial information from you. We do this in our legitimate interest of providing a quality service to our customers.
7. For auctions sales where you have registered to book a viewing on a property that is being sold by way of auction, we shall pass your contact details to the auction provider. We do this in our legitimate interest of providing a quality service to our customers

8. To prevent money laundering by conducting an identification and source of funds check. This processing is to comply with our legal obligation to carry out anti-money laundering checks. We will be unable to generate a memorandum of sale and facilitate an offer on behalf of a buyer if we are unable to obtain and check the necessary information.  To do this we will share your personal information with our anti-money laundering check providers.

If you are a customer or prospective customer and contact us via phone or live chat we will use your personal data:

9. To keep accurate records of phone conversations by recording calls made to our head office. We also collect Calling Line Identification (CLI) information. This is the phone number you are calling from (unless the number is withheld). We hold a log of the phone number, the date and time of the call, the duration of the phone call and a recording of the phone call. We may also use this number to call you back if you have asked us to so, if your call drops or if there is a problem with the line, we do this under our legitimate interest.
10. To keep accurate records of conversations made to our live chat . If you contact us on our live chat facility on the website, we will collect your first name, phone number, email address and a record of the conversation. We do this in our legitimate interest to ensure that we keep an accurate record of these chats.

Marketing our products and services

We will use your personal data to contact you with information about products and services which ensure all aspects of your house move are covered and ultimately make it easy for you, our customer, during what can be a challenging time. For example, this could be conveyancing services, utilities support for your home move etc. We do this either with your consent or where we believe we have a legitimate interest to provide you with products and services which may be of interest to you to ensure we are covering all aspects of your journey.

You have a right at any time to stop us from contacting you for marketing purposes.  If you wish to amend your marketing preferences, please click here.

Third parties to whom we provide your personal data

General Third Party Data Sharing 

Marketing Data

Details of third parties who we may share your data with for marketing purposes are set out below.  We share this data either with your consent or where we believe we have a legitimate interest to provide you with products and services which may be of interest to you. You can control who we share your data with for marketing purposes through your marketing preferences, please click here

Lifetime Legal

Our anti-money laundering check partner Lifetime Legal Limited is an independent controller of your personal data and may also market its other services to you.  For further information please refer to its privacy policy.

Business sales and reorganisations

We have a legitimate interest (to run and obtain value from the business) in processing your information in connection with any mergers, acquisitions or reorganisation of our business, in which case your information may be shared with a prospective buyer as part of the due diligence process and transferred to a buyer as part of the sale, where necessary for the purposes of such transaction and in accordance with applicable laws.

Legal disclosure

We may also share your information with third parties other than those listed above if we have a legal requirement to do so. These may include the police, local authorities and other law enforcement and regulatory agencies where we are satisfied that the relevant agency has demonstrated a proper legal basis for requesting the personal information, unless there is an overriding and urgent safeguarding concern where non-disclosure would harm the vital interest of any party when disclosure may take place without a request in writing.

International Transfers

We will only send personal data collected within the UK to foreign countries in limited circumstances such as to follow your instructions, to comply with a legal duty or to work with our suppliers, agents and advisers who we use to help run our business and services.

If we do transfer personal data outside of the UK, we will only do so to countries deemed by the UK to have adequate data protection laws or where we are satisfied that the personal data will be sufficiently protected in the destination country and through appropriate safeguards such as approved standard data protection contractual clauses. Once such instance is where we transfer your personal data to South Africa, to allow us to work with our contact centre outsourcing supplier in that country.

How long will we keep your personal information?

We retain your personal data only for as long as we need to comply with our obligations under The Property Ombudsman Code of Practice and rules set by HMRC. The retention periods are:

• Seven years for data related to a financial transaction with Purplebricks (such as an Instruction to market a property)
• Six years for data related to a property transaction (such as an Offer)
• Five years for data related to our obligations under Anti-Money Laundering regulations
• 18 months for other personal data not covered by one of the above.

Cookies

This policy explains what cookies are and how they are used on Purplebricks websites and applications. We encourage you to read the policy in full so that you understand what information we collect using cookies.

What is a Cookie?

A “cookie” is a simple ‘text file’ which typically contains two pieces of information: a site name and a unique user identifier using your Internet Protocol (IP) address. If you agree, we will store these cookies on your browser or hard drive when you visit our website. We use the following four types of cookie:

Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are essential to make our website work. Without these cookies, our website cannot operate effectively - Examples are; ‘Book a Valuation’, ‘Book a Viewing’ and ‘Make an Offer’.

Analytical and Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to measure and analyse how our customers use the site, to improve both its functionality and your website experience. These cookies do not collect information that identifies you, instead they aggregate masses of data to provide information about how our website is performing.

Functionality Cookies
When you are browsing these cookies remember your preferences and help improve your website experience. These include things like remembering your browsing and language preferences or your chosen image size, meaning we can serve you the best possible experience each time you visit our site.

Targeted Advertising Cookies
These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We use this information to deliver advertisements which are more relevant to you. For example; location information, buying or selling status. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose and you may see our advertisements while using other third-party websites.

By using our website, you agree to us placing these sorts of cookies on your device and accessing them when you visit our website in the future. You can delete any cookies that are already on your device through your browser and opt-out of targeted advertising cookies here.

Our Cookies

To make full use of your online experience, your computer or device will need to accept cookies. If cookies are not enabled on your computer or device you will be unable to log in, request a valuation, book viewings, or receive an experience personalised to you.

Controlling the Use of Cookies
You can enable, disable and delete cookies through your browser. If you choose to disable cookies, our website may not operate correctly, and you may not be able to access secure areas of our website, make bookings or accept viewings. If you choose to delete your cookies, you may have to update your preferences with us again and the experience you receive upon returning to our site for the first time may be slightly degraded until our cookies update with your preferences again.

Click the links below to learn how to manage your cookie preferences through your browser:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Safari

Advertising on Other Third Party Websites

We use Targeted Advertising Cookies to remember the services you are interested in when browsing our website. If you later view certain selected third-party websites or social media platforms, we are able to provide advertisements relating to those products and services that you have shown interest. The advertisement could appear in different formats, such as this example below:

Example:

You can opt out of targeted advertising shown on third party websites at any time on the Your Online Choices Website or clicking the double lines in the bottom corner of the advertisement. If you decide to remove all your browser information including cookies the adverts will appear again following your visit to our website as the information will have been lost.

Other websites

Our website contains links to other websites. This Privacy Policy only applies to this website so when you link to other websites you should read their own privacy policies.

Your rights

Under Data Protection Law, you have a number of rights relating to your personal data. The rights available to you depend on our reason for processing your information. You have the following rights:

• Right to be informed - You have a right to be told how Purplebricks use your personal information;
• Right of access - You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information, please email or write to us at the following address;
• Right of rectification - Under certain circumstances you have the right to rectification if you believe your data is incorrect
• Right to erasure (right to be forgotten) - Under certain circumstances you have the right to erase your personal data;
• Right to restrict processing - Under certain circumstances you have the right to object to our processing your personal data or to restrict our processing of it;
• Right of data portability – You have the right to have the personal data we hold on you transferred to another organisation
• Right to object - Where you have given consent to any processing (including marketing) you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time (but this doesn’t affect processing which we have done on that basis prior to you withdrawing consent). You can manage your consents here

To exercise any of these right please contact us at dpo@purplebricks.com

We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. You may visit your Privacy Dashboard to correct or remove information you think is inaccurate.

Automated Decision Making

We do not carry out any purely automated decision making.

Changes to our Privacy Policy

We keep our Privacy Policy under regular review and we will place any updates on this web page. This Privacy Policy was last updated on 17 June 2024. 

Complaints

We are committed to working with you to obtain a fair resolution of any complaint or concern about privacy and comply with The Property Ombudsman Codes of Practice. If you wish to make a complaint about how we have handled your personal data, in the first instance please contact the Data Protection Officer using the details set out in the How to contact us section below. If, however, you believe that we have not been able to assist with your complaint or concern, you have the right to make a complaint to your local data protection authority the Information Commissioners Office

How to contact us

Please contact us if you have any questions about our privacy policy or information we hold about you:

By email: DPO@purplebricks.com

or write to us at:

Data Protection Officer

Purplebricks Property Limited
650 The Crescent
Colchester Business Park
Colchester
CO4 9YQ

Access to your information and correction

You have the right to request a copy of the information that we hold about you. If you would like a copy of some or all of your personal information, please email or write to us at the following address.

We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate and up to date. You may visit your Privacy Dashboard to correct or remove information you think is inaccurate. We will keep your personal information for one year from your last interaction with us unless we have a legal obligation to retain that information for a longer or shorter period.