Rent4Sure Data Deletion?

Tenant79

My partner and I have recently applied to rent a beautiful cottage near Oxford. Due to the rent amount and the fact that both of us are company directors, we've had to disclose an infinite amount of information to Rent4Sure.
The referencing process has been completed and we've both passed - however, we've found the whole experience extremely invasive and I'm now starting to lose sleep at night.
These people have our last 6 months' bank account statements, our wage slips, our savings account statements, statements from our accountant for our dividends, copy of all sorts of bills, national insurance numbers, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses - not to mention the information they can 'extract' from all of the above such as the party we support, the newspapers we read, where we shop, where we travel to overseas etc etc. Seriously, I cannot think of a single entity who knows as much about us as Rent4Sure - and that's including my own family, the accountant, the priest (if only lol) and HMRC!
What if these people get hacked?! It's making me so nervous that there's so much of our data in just one place.


Is there some sort of legal protection that would allow us to formally demand that all our data be deleted - especially now that the referencing process has concluded successfully?


Thanks a lot to anyone who's able to shed a light!

Pixie5740

Buy some tinfoil and fashion yourself a hat from it.

andrewjb3

I don't know what you can do, but I don't think it's unreasonable worry.. For example:
http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/103547

aneary

Why don't you email/write to them and ask if you data can now be deleted and if it can't why?

eddddy

If you haven't already, it's probably worth reading their terms/privacy policy (Perhaps you want to make sure you've opted out of letting them share your info with third parties.)

https://rent4sure.co.uk/legal#privacy

In general, rather than hacking, the bigger risk tends to come from rogue employees who sell customer data.

For example:
https://www.scmagazineuk.com/former-insurance-employees-appear-in-court-over-data-leak/article/532174/
http://www.computerweekly.com/news/2240237583/Morgan-Stanley-wealth-client-data-stolen-by-employee
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/thousands-of-barclays-customers-data-stolen-and-sold-to-on-rogue-traders-9117329.html

The 3rd article above claims:

....the whistleblower said customer files were sold on for £50 each to the City’s most manipulative rogue traders. “It was pure gold to brokers because it gave them a psychological edge over potential investors - their victims,” he said.

TBH, I think I would have thought very carefully about giving that much info to one company in the first place. If they had insisted, I might even have started looking for another house/LL/agent with less strict requirements.

Tenant79

Hi eddddy


We did think very carefully but concluded that we had no choice. Nowadays it seems that all lettings agents use these types of referencing companies - and from what I've read, they're just as bad as each other... So the choice is between sharing your life with a fourth-party company (the third-party is the lettings agency) or live under a bridge :-(


The last time we had to go through this process was 7 years ago and although we got scrutinised quite heavily back then too, it was nowhere near as intrusive as this one!

davidmcn

Standard DPA principles (which I'm sure you're both aware of, being company directors...) include that the data is only kept for as long as necessary. But they may reasonably argue that they need to keep the information on file in case there are any queries about what they did at the time.

Guest101

Having gone through references many many times, I've never had to supply all that. I presume it's because you are what some may call self employed. (perhaps you suggested this was the case?)

Guest101

Rent4sure wrote: »

Hi Tenant79 - You don't have permission to post on here.

I am pleased to hear your references have been completed and you have both passed. Hopefully, the references will support your application to rent the property and the Letting Agent / Landlord will offer you the tenancy. - Given that the sole purpose of your company is to collate information and provide a breakdown to the letting agent, there can be no pass / fail, unless that was the criteria set by the landlord. In essence the phrase ' hopefully your references will support your application' is redundant, that's your sole role.

I am sorry to hear you have found the experience extremely invasive; that is not our intention. - That's fine, if I could just have your name, dob, address and 6 months bank statements, we'll call it quits.

Our reference is just one of the tools used by Letting Agents and Landlords to assist them in making an assessment on a tenant – before deciding if they want to offer the tenancy. The main concern for Landlords is the tenant’s ability to pay the rent. - you call it a reference, but I suspect you mean report.

Unfortunately, Company Directors are quite often subject to requests for extra information over and above an employee. I would be happy to go into this a bit further with you off this thread if you wish. - A director is an employee..... I can see where there is a breakdown in basic knowledge now

All of the information we have requested is simply used to assess your ability to pay the rent. We do not use it for anything else. Be assured we do not extract anything from this information. - I'd suggest that a payslip would do the same

Rent4sure Ltd is ISO27001 Certified – and we are the only national Tenant Referencing Company with this level of security. - Please be assured your information is quite safe and will not be passed on to any third parties without your consent (as commented by other members on this thread). You do have legal protection under the Data Protection Act. - indeed, which includes misuse of personal data.

We would welcome the opportunity to discuss this further, off this thread, if you wish.

Kind regards

Lewis Forrest-Holden
Rent4sure Ltd

Get permission to post. If you cant follow a simple forum rule, there can be no wonder consumers are sceptical of your attention to detail

eddddy

Handbags at dawn?

theartfullodger

I wouldn't trust that lot to operate carefully & prudently so yes, you have a fair set of concerns:

However various others have shed loads of info on you, your dealings, what you look at online..( yes, even that you thought was hidden...) etc etc etc... Google, your broadband provider, GCHQ (who copy everything to that strong & stable Mr Trump"...), your bankers etc etc etc...

Better sort them out also..

We're all stuffed..