Privacy Policy

Last updated: [TO COMPLETE: date]

This Privacy Policy explains how EstateRate collects, uses, shares, stores and protects your personal data, and the rights you have under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who we are

EstateRate is a UK service that matches homeowners and landlords with independent local estate and letting agents.

For the purposes of data protection law, the data controller is [TO COMPLETE: registered company name], registered at [TO COMPLETE: registered company address]. Our registration with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is [TO COMPLETE: ICO registration number, once obtained].

If you have any questions about this policy or your data, contact us at hello@estaterate.co.uk.

2. The personal data we collect

Depending on how you use EstateRate, we may collect the following:

If you are a homeowner or landlord requesting agent matches

If you sign up for tools such as planning alerts or sold-price alerts

If you are an estate or letting agent listing with us

Automatically collected

3. How and why we use your data (lawful bases)

What we doWhyLawful basis
Match homeowners with local agents and share your enquiry details with up to three agents you have agreed toTo provide the service you requestedConsent and/or performance of a contract
Send service emails (confirmations, alerts, agent notifications)To deliver the service and updates you asked forConsent and/or legitimate interests
Validate postcodes and look up property dataTo make sure enquiries are genuine and usefulLegitimate interests
Manage agent accounts and billingTo run the agent side of the servicePerformance of a contract
Keep our service secure and prevent fraud or misuseTo protect users and our platformLegitimate interests

Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time by contacting us.

4. Who we share your data with

Estate and letting agents. If you request agent matches, we share your enquiry details with the independent agents you have agreed to be contacted by (a maximum of three). Those agents become independent controllers of your data and use it under their own privacy policies. We recommend reviewing the privacy policy of any agent who contacts you.

Service providers (processors). We use trusted third parties to operate our service. These currently include:

Some of these providers may process data outside the UK. Where that happens, appropriate safeguards (such as standard contractual clauses) are in place to protect your data, and we maintain data processing agreements with our providers.

We do not sell your personal data, and we do not show third-party advertising.

5. Payment data

Agent payments are processed securely by Stripe. EstateRate does not receive or store your full card number. Stripe processes this data as a controller in its own right; see Stripe's privacy policy for details.

6. How long we keep your data

We keep personal data only as long as necessary for the purposes set out above, or as required by law. [TO COMPLETE: confirm specific retention periods with your adviser — e.g. how long lead records and inactive accounts are kept before deletion.] When data is no longer needed, we securely delete or anonymise it.

7. How we protect your data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to keep your data secure, including restricting access, storing credentials only as secure hashes, transmitting data over encrypted connections, and keeping access keys out of public code. No system can be guaranteed perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information.

8. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

To exercise any of these rights, email hello@estaterate.co.uk. You also have the right to complain to the ICO at ico.org.uk if you are unhappy with how we have handled your data.

9. Cookies

[TO COMPLETE: describe any cookies or analytics you use. If you add analytics or tracking, you will likely need a cookie notice/consent banner — discuss with your adviser.]

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The "last updated" date at the top shows when it was last revised.

11. Contact

Questions about this policy or your data? Email hello@estaterate.co.uk.