Privacy and Cookies Policy

Thank you for visiting www.desmondpropertylaw.co.uk (“the Website”). We are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy and your personal data. This policy will help you understand how we treat your personal data, and tells you about your privacy rights.

Our Privacy Policy applies to Desmond Property Law (“DPL”) and the Website. DPL is the trading name of Desmond Training Limited (company registration number 05446372) whose registered office is c/o Parkgates, Bury New Rd, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 0JW.. Our Privacy Policy does not apply to links on the Website to third party websites, to any third party website, or to content on these sites.

References in our Policy to “we”, “us” or “our” are intended to refer to “DPL” or “DPL’s” (as the context so permits). Conversely, references in our Policy to “you” or “your” are intended to refer to users of the Website (including any customer of DPL) and anyone else interacting with the Website (as the context so permits).

Our Privacy Policy also incorporates our Cookies Policy (which can be found later in this document).

Our Privacy Policy is to be read in conjunction with our Terms and Conditions which can be found at https://www.desmondpropertylaw.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/

1. Our Contact Details.

Desmond Training Limited (company number 5446372) and t/a DPL is the controller for the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (‘GDPR’) and responsible for your personal data. If you have any questions about our privacy policy, including any requests to exercise your legal rights, please contact us info@desmondpropertylaw.co.uk or via the Contact form on the Website.

2. Possible Changes to Our Privacy Policy

We keep this Policy under regular review and may amend it from time to time. We invite you to check back here to ensure that you are aware of the latest version of the Policy.

It is important to us that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes during your relationship with us.

This policy was last updated on 22 November 2023.

3. Our General Approach To Personal Data

Our use of your personal data is subject to the GDPR, and other relevant UK and EU legislation. 

Personal data means any information capable of identifying you as an individual. It does not include anonymised data. The Information Commissioner’s Office has provided guidance on what constitutes personal data: see https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/key-definitions/what-is-personal-data/

We only collect and use personal data when and for as long as we need to, such as—

  • When you ask us to send you information (e.g. by email);
  • When we respond to your queries or feedback;
  • To provide services which you request (including completing your purchase transactions);
  • To provide you with relevant information about our products and services;
  • Improving and customising our services for our clients; and
  • To identify your product and service preferences;
  • To calculate payments made through the Website (such as payments for a product or service provided to you by DPL);
  • To meet our legal obligations;
  • To carry out our contractual obligations, including providing you with information relevant to any bookings or purchases you make with us; and
  • Taking steps to manage the risks of unlawful activity, fraud, IP infringement, and security breaches.

We wish to assure you that whenever we have obtained your consent for certain processing of your personal data, you have the right to withdraw such consent at any time.

Please note that there may be instances where we are required by law to process your personal data without your knowledge or consent.

4. The Types of Data That We Process

The types of data that we process ultimately depend on the nature of our relationship with you.

We may process data about you that you have supplied to us (e.g. by filling in forms on the Website or when contacting us by phone or e-mail) or published generally on the Internet through social media or on other websites.

This data might include your name, email address, employer or business name, job title, contact address, and social media addresses.

If you are, or work for, a potential client or supplier, it can also include data necessary or desirable for building a business relationship with you.

If you are, or work for, a customer or supplier, the data we process might include keeping records of our interactions and transactions (such as products and services you have purchased from us or work we have instructed you to do on our behalf), financial data, profile data (such as your username and password), and marketing and communications data.

5. How is your personal data collected?

We use different methods to collect data from and about you including through:

• Direct interactions. You may give us data (e.g. pertaining to your identity, contact details and financial data) by filling in forms or when corresponding with us by post, phone, email or otherwise.

• Automated technologies or interactions. As you interact with the Website, we may automatically collect technical data, such as your internet protocol (IP) address, your login data, your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies and other similar technologies.

• Third parties or publicly available sources. We may receive personal data about you from various third parties and public sources.

  • Technical Data from analytics providers such as Google based outside the EU.
  • Contact data (e.g. address, email address and telephone numbers),  financial data (e.g. payment card details) and transaction data (e.g. details about payments to and from you and other details of products and services you have purchased from us) from providers of technical, payment and delivery services.

Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you choose not to provide us with the requested data, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with goods or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us, but we will notify you if this is the case at the time. In some cases, if you choose not to provide us with requested data, then you may find that you are not able to access all parts of the Website or fully participate in all of its features.

6. Who Might We Share Your Personal Data With?

We do not sell or exchange your personal data with organisations who may want to sell you something or use your data for research or other purposes.

We may nevertheless share your personal data with third parties, such as:

• External business partners, suppliers and sub-contractors that help us offer and make available to you products and services (such as IT specialists, Virtual Assistants);

• Analytics and search engine providers that assist us in improving the Website;

• Third parties to whom we may choose to sell, transfer or merge parts of our business or our business assets;

• Where sharing with a third party is required—

  • by a legal obligation (e.g. if there is a police investigation);
  • in order to enforce or apply the Terms and Conditions;
  • for the purposes of fraud protection;
  • to protect against misuse or unauthorised use of the Website;
  • to limit our legal liability; and
  • to protect our rights and property or those of users of the Website;

• Professional advisers including other lawyers, bankers, insurers, and accountants;

• HM Revenue & Customs and any other regulator or other authority that requires reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances; and

• All DPL departments and team members and contractors.

7. How Long Do We Store Your Personal Data For?

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for. These purposes include (a) satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements and (b) providing products and services to you or because we believe you still wish to hear from us.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider matters such as the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data; the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data: the purposes for which we process your personal data, and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means; and the applicable legal requirements.

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata might be retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognise and approve any follow-up comments automatically.

In some circumstances you can ask us to delete your data: see “Your Rights In Relation To Your Personal Data” below for further information.

In some circumstances we may anonymise your personal data (so that it can no longer be associated with you) for research or statistical purposes, in which case we may use this information indefinitely without further notice to you.   

8. Where We Store Your Personal Data

Your data you provide to us via the Website for our use is processed and stored by our web host Siteground.

All information you provide to us is stored on the Website which is protected by Siteground in the manner explained in this article https://www.siteground.co.uk/kb/how_does_siteground_protect_my_website/

Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of the Website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the Internet is not completely secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to the Website; any transmission is at your own risk.

9. Security

Personal data provided on the Website and online credit card transactions are transmitted through a secure server (see above information on Siteground). We are committed to handling your personal data with high standards of information security.

We take appropriate steps to maintain the security and accuracy of personally identifiable data we collect, including limiting the number of people who have physical access to our database servers, as well as employing electronic security systems and password protections that guard against unauthorised access.

The Website uses encryption technology, like Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), to protect sensitive personal data during data transmission (e.g. when ordering a product from DPL, SSL encrypts information such as your name, address, and credit card number). Please note that email is not encrypted and is not considered to be a secure means of transmitting credit card information.

If you are using a public computer, we strongly encourage you to LOG OUT at the conclusion of your session when using the Website.

10. Unsubscribe Policy

You have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes. You can unsubscribe (i.e. opt-out) at any time by emailing info@desmondpropertylaw.co.uk, via the Contact form on the Website, or clicking the unsubscribe link in our promotional emails.

The Website may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks, advertisers and affiliates. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for the privacy policies, or content, of these websites.

Where you opt out of receiving any of our marketing messages, this will not apply to personal data provided to us as a result of services you may have purchased.

11. Your Rights In Relation To Your Personal Data

  • You have the right to be informed about the collection and use of your personal data.
  • You have the right to access and receive a copy of your personal data, and other supplementary information.
  • You have the right to have inaccurate personal data rectified, or completed if it is incomplete.
  • You have the right to have your personal data that we hold erased in certain circumstances.
  • You have the right to request the restriction or suppression of your personal data in certain circumstances.
  • You have the right to obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes across different services.
  • You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data in certain circumstances, e.g. to stop your data being used for direct marketing.
  • You have rights related to automated decision making including profiling

For more information about your legal rights, see the Information Commissioner’s website on https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/ 

Please note that your rights may be subject to applicable exemptions. For instance, on occasion, we might for legal reasons be prevented from complying with a request to erase personal data; in which case we will notify you of those reasons at the time of your request, unless we are prevented from notifying you by law.

We may for security purposes need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and/or to verify the accuracy of any new data you provide to us, for the purpose of ensuring that your rights in relation to your personal data are being properly exercised.

As a rule, you will not have to pay a fee to access your personal data (or to exercise any of the other rights in relation to such data). However, if a request is clearly unfounded, repetitive, or excessive, we may charge a reasonable fee or, alternatively, we may refuse to comply with the request.

When you exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal data, we will try to respond to all legitimate requests within a reasonable timescale, not exceeding within one month from the request. Occasionally it may take us longer than a month if your request is particularly complex or you have made a number of requests. In this case, we will notify you and keep you updated.

12. Contact and Complaints

Questions, comments, requests or any complaints regarding our privacy policy and use of your personal data should be sent to info@desmondpropertylaw.co.uk or via the Contact form on the Website

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office, though we would invite you to raise your concerns with us before taking such a step.

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Cookies Policy

1. What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are used to store small pieces of information. The cookies are stored on your device when the Website is loaded on your browser. These cookies help to make the Website function properly, make the Website more secure, provide a better user experience, as well as help us to understand how the Website performs and where it needs improvement.

2. How We Use Cookies

Cookies are used on the Website to collect information about your use of the Website, to measure the Website’s performance, and to tailor the Website to users’ likes and preferences. Cookies do not identify you personally but they can remember the device you are using.

Third-party cookies may be used on the Website for purposes such as enabling us to understand how the Website performs and how you interact with the Website, keep our services secure, provide advertisements that are relevant to you, and ultimately  provide you with a better and improved user experience when interacting with the Website.

Please note that we are not responsible for the content of external websites or for the privacy policies and procedures of owners and operators of external websites.

3. Your Right to Manage Your Cookie Preferences

When you first visit the Website using a new browser, or if you visit in private browsing mode, we will seek your consent to the use of cookies.

Whenever you visit the Website you can allow or disallow it to store cookies on your computer’s hard drive, by customising your cookie preferences using your web browser’s preferences/options/tools. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, please note that you will lose some features and functionality of the Website.

4. Possible Changes to Our Cookies Policy 

We keep this Policy under regular review and may amend it from time to time (e.g. in the light of advance in technology or changes in the law). We invite you to check back here to ensure that you are aware of the latest version of the Policy.

This policy was last updated on 22 November 2023.

5. Further Information

For more information about the use of cookies on computers, please refer to www.allaboutcookies.org. Moreover, the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on for websites may be found at http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

If you require any further information on our Privacy Policy (including our Cookies Policy) please email us at info@desmondpropertylaw.co.uk or via the Contact form on the Website.