Privacy Policy

Aim – This privacy notice aims to explain the types of personal data Solicitor Direct may collect about clients when you instruct us, whether you visit our offices, use your mobile device or go on line. It also aims to explain how we will process, share and keep client data. Maintaining the security of our client data is a priority for Solicitor Direct Limited (“Solicitor Direct”).

We are committed to full respect for our clients’ privacy rights. We undertake to handle data in accordance with relevant regulations and we are dedicated to being transparent about what data we collect and how we may use this data.

Please note: We may need to update this notice from time to time and therefore will update this policy if there are any significant changes. Please return to this page from time to time to check this notice as needed.

Who is Solicitor Direct

Solicitor Direct Limited is a limited company registered in England and Wales. We are members of the Law Society and we are also regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

We provided independent legal advice services as well as being independent Estate Agents.

We are often referred to as Solicitor Direct so “we” or “us” or “our” all includes references to us. We gather and process personal information in accordance with this privacy notice and in compliance with the relevant data protection regulation and law. This notice provides you with the necessary information regarding your rights and obligations, and explains how, why and when we collect and process personal data.

Solicitor Direct is registered on the information Commissioner’s Register of Data Controllers.

Why do we collect personal data?

We may collect and process personal data for several reasons.

These reasons include:

• To enable us to handle and process instructions.
• To help us to comply with any legal obligation we have;
• To assist with our duties and exercising our rights under our terms and conditions of service;
• The pursuit of our legitimate interests (as set out below);

This includes, but is not limited to, information provided to us when you and others contact us in person, on our website, over the telephone, by e-mail or by post: –

• To sell or purchase property or to deal with mortgage instructions
• To deal with a transfer of equity in your property
• To process your instructions in regard to your Will
• To deal with the Probate of any person for whom you wish to instruct us
• To deal with Civil Litigation and our related obligations under the Civil Procedure rules
• To pass data to statutory bodies on your behalf such at HMRC or HM Land Registry.
• When you apply for a job vacancy with us.
• To transact business with us as suppliers, consultants, trustees and agents.

Our legitimate interests

The normal legal basis for processing data, is that it is necessary for the legitimate interests of Solicitor Direct, including:

• The Conveyancing process involved in selling and buying homes and related services;
• Protecting clients, employees and other individuals and maintaining their health, safety and welfare;
• Complying with our legal and regulatory obligations;
• Promoting, marketing and advertising our products and services;
• Sending promotional communications which are relevant and tailored to individual clients;
• Developing existing products and services;
• Preventing, investigating and detecting crime, fraud or anti-social behaviour and assisting with the prosecution of offenders, including working with law enforcement agencies;
• Handling customer contacts, queries or disputes;
• Protecting Solicitor Direct, its employees and clients, by taking appropriate legal action against third-parties who have committed criminal acts or are in breach of legal obligations to Solicitor Direct.

The purposes and reasons for processing your personal data

We take data privacy very seriously and will never disclose or share personal data without your knowledge, unless we are required to do so by law. We only retain data for as long as is necessary and for the purposes specified in this notice. Unless we notify you, we will not process your personal data outside of the European Economic Area (EEA), as it is currently defined.

Detailed below are examples of when we would collect, process and in some cases share, personal data:

• To verify your identity;
• To process and manage your instructions for the sale, purchase and mortgage of a property and to provide further services where applicable;
• To provide details where needed to HMRC in regard to property tax;
• To provide details and data to HM Courts and Tribunal service including the Probate Registry and where needed the Court of Protection;
• To discharge our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between us;
• To monitor client satisfaction including processing customer feedback;
• To notify mortgage lenders and mortgage brokers about your new or existing property;
• To provide you with information, products or services that you request from us;
• To notify you about changes to our services;
• To comply with our regulators requirements;
• To process job applications;

Where you have consented to us providing you with promotional offers and marketing, you are free to withdraw consent at any time.

How long will we keep your data?

We only ever retain personal information for as long as is necessary and we have retention policies in place to meet these obligations. We are required under some laws and / or regulations to retain your personal data for a set period of time for example, the maximum legally obliged retention period for certain matters is 12 years. Where there is no legal obligation, for example around direct marketing information, we will hold your data for 2 years, unless you opt out within this time.

Some specific areas include, but are not limited to:

• Wills will be retained permanently unless a client requests its destruction or until the Will is required to be admitted to Probate.
• Trusts, Probates and related matters – up to 21 years
• Property purchases and related matters – up to 12 years
• Direct marketing – up to 2 years

Other data will be held for up to 7 years in line with the statute of limitations

How we will share your data

We do not share or disclosure any personal information without your consent, other than for the purposes specified in this notice or where there is a legal requirement.

We use trusted third-parties to provide services and business functions, however all processors acting on our behalf only process data in accordance with instructions from us and comply fully with this privacy notice, the data protection laws and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

We may disclose your information to third parties if:

We are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to:

• Comply with any regulations and legal obligation; or
• Apply or enforce our contracts with you; or
• Protect our rights, property, or the interests of our clients, or others.

We may also disclose personal information to our suppliers and contractors to provide information to you on our behalf and/or in order to fulfil our contracts with you.

We will share your personal information with suppliers of services in respect of:

• Any property you deal with through us;
• The proper administration of personal Estates in accordance with the requirements of probate rules.
• The drafting and completion of Wills and associated documents such as Lasting Powers of Attorney.
• The conduct and care of proceedings arising from disputes and litigation.
• Any dealings we have with our regulators.

These third parties may include:

• Financial and legal advisors,
• Estate and managing agents,
• Any relevant mortgage providers;
• Government or statutory agents such as HMRC or HM Land Registry
• Professional Regulators
• Utility and service providers, and / or
• Local authorities.

We will also share your information with relevant government agencies to assist you to participate in any government schemes in which you have indicated you wish to take part.

Social media and marketing

We try to ensure that our communications are as effective and relevant as possible so that we make the best use of the money we spend on them.

On occasion, we will use information you have given us directly, to tailor our communications with you about our future activities, in your preferred communications method or via social media. We will also use information about how you use our website or interact with our emails so we can make them more effective.

We will also, on occasion, use the information you provide us to target our digital and social media advertising effectively. This could include securely providing contact details such as your name and email address to digital advertising networks or social media companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter. For example, we may use your information to enable us to display adverts to you, or to prospective clients who have similar characteristics to you. Any information we share with social media companies will be shared in an encrypted format and will not be used for their own purposes

If you would prefer we didn’t use your information to provide you with marketing materials in any of the ways listed above, then you have the right to tell us to stop and can do so by getting in touch with us using the details in the “Further details” section.

What are your rights over your personal data

You have the right to access any personal information that we process about you and to request information about:

• What personal data we hold about you.
• The purposes of the processing.
• The categories of personal data concerned.
• The recipients to whom the personal data has/will be disclosed to.
• How long we intend to store your personal data for.
• If we did not collect the data directly from you, information about the source.

If you believe that we hold any incomplete or inaccurate data about you, you have the right to ask us to correct and/or complete the information and we will strive to update/correct it as quickly as possible; unless there is a valid reason for not doing so, at which point you will be notified.

If you would like your personal data to be removed or the use to be amended, you have the right to request:

• your personal data to be deleted from our records;
• the use / processing of your personal data to be restricted in accordance with data protection laws;
• to opt out of any direct marketing from us;
• to be informed about any automated decision-making that we use.

If we receive a request from you to exercise any of the above rights, we may ask you to verify your identity before acting on the relevant request; this is to ensure that your data is protected and kept secure.

We will inform you if your request is possible under current regulations and inform you to what extent your request has been processed.

Where we are under legal obligation to retain your information, we will clarify the requirements around the extent of data as well as the duration we will continue to hold your personal data.

If you would like to make a request around the processing of your personal data, please contact us at info@solicitordirect.com

If you wish us to work with you:

• You are not required to provide your personal information to us however, as this information is required for us to provide you with our services, we will not be able to offer our services without it.
• As a client or potential client, your personal data is required as part of the instruction process and to complete various documents.
• As a new employee, whether permanent or contract, your personal data is required to process your application and complete the contract of employment.

Further details, questions, or complaints

We trust we have provided you with plenty of information around the processing of your personal data that we undertake and the rights you have over it, however if you have any additional questions or would like more details around any of the points listed above, please contact:

The Practice Manager
Solicitor Direct Limited
71 Hough Lane,
Leyland
PR25 2SA
Email: info@solicitordirect.com

Lodging A Complaint

If you are not happy with this notice, believe we have processed your data in an unfair or unjust way or are non-compliant with the relevant data protection laws and you wish to raise a complaint, please contact us and we will carefully consider your complaint and respond to you. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority (the Information Commissioners Office) whose contact details are: –

Information Commissioners Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745

Should you wish to raise a complaint about our services or our conduct please contact our Practice Manager for a copy of our complaints policy and our declared complaints procedure.