Avery Surveys. Limited, trading as Avery & Co Chartered Surveyors & Valuers, is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal information fairly, lawfully and transparently.

This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, store and share personal information when you contact us, use our services, visit our website or otherwise interact with us.

We process personal information in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) and other applicable data-protection legislation.

Who we are

The data controller responsible for your personal information is:

Avery Surveys Limited
Trading as Avery & Co Chartered Surveyors & Valuers
Miller House, 38 Mersey Road, Liverpool, L17 6AD

Company registration number: 05193308

Telephone: 0330 088 5040
Email: hello@averysurveys.co.uk

For data-protection enquiries, our Data Protection Contact is Kate Avery.

What personal information do we collect?

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect and process information including:

• Your name and contact details, including telephone number, email address and postal address.
• Information about the property you own, occupy or are considering purchasing.
• Information relating to your property transaction, mortgage or other property requirements.
• Details of your survey or valuation requirements.
• Information you provide to us about your concerns, requirements or circumstances.
• Correspondence and communications between you and Avery & Co.
• Information contained within documents you provide to us.
• Payment and invoicing information.
• Information relating to appointments and access arrangements.
• Information necessary to comply with our professional and legal obligations.
• Website usage information, including information collected through cookies where applicable.

We will only collect information that is reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it is being processed.

How do we collect your information?

We may collect personal information:

• Directly from you when you telephone, email, complete an online enquiry form or otherwise contact us.
• When you instruct us to provide a survey, valuation or other service.
• During discussions with you before you decide whether to instruct us.
• From other people or organisations involved in your property transaction where appropriate and lawful.
• From publicly available sources where necessary for the provision of our professional services.
• Through our website and associated technologies such as cookies.

Where we obtain personal information from a source other than you, we will handle it in accordance with applicable data-protection legislation and provide appropriate privacy information where required.

Why do we use your personal information?

We may use your personal information for the following purposes:

Providing our services

We use your information to:

• Respond to enquiries.
• Discuss your requirements and recommend an appropriate service.
• Prepare quotations and terms of engagement.
• Arrange and carry out surveys and valuations.
• Prepare and issue reports.
• Communicate with you about your instruction.
• Deal with payments and invoices.
• Deal with complaints or queries.
• Provide aftercare and respond to questions relating to our reports.

Managing our business

We may also use personal information to:

• Maintain our business records.
• Manage appointments and administration.
• Train and supervise employees and surveyors.
• Monitor and improve our services.
• Maintain the security of our systems and premises.
• Obtain professional or technical advice where necessary.
• Deal with legal claims, disputes or complaints.
• Meet our professional, regulatory and legal obligations.

Marketing

Where permitted by law, we may use your contact details to provide information about Avery & Co’s services, news or updates.

Where consent is required for electronic direct marketing, we will obtain it in accordance with applicable legislation.

You can opt out of marketing communications at any time.

Our lawful bases for processing your information

We will only process your personal information where we have a lawful basis to do so.

Depending on the circumstances, this may include:

Contract

We may process your information where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, including providing a survey or valuation.

Legal obligation

We may process your information where necessary for us to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation.

Legitimate interests

We may process your information where this is necessary for our legitimate interests, or those of a third party, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.

Examples may include managing our business, responding to enquiries, maintaining records, improving our services, preventing fraud and dealing with disputes.

Consent

In certain circumstances, we may rely on your consent to process your personal information.

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

Sharing your personal information

We will not sell your personal information.

We may share personal information where this is necessary and lawful for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice.

This may include sharing information with:

• Professional advisers.
• IT and software providers.
• Professional or regulatory bodies.
• Insurers.
• Legal advisers.
• Contractors or other service providers assisting us.
• Other organisations where this is necessary to provide a service you have requested.
• Authorities or organisations where we are legally required to do so.

We will only share information that is reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose and will take appropriate steps to ensure that your information is handled securely.

Recommendations and introductions to other businesses

There may be occasions where Avery & Co is unable to provide a service that you have requested but is able to recommend another business that may be able to assist you.

For example, if you contact us regarding a specialist service that falls outside the services provided by Avery & Co, we may recommend a business that we consider to be appropriately experienced or suitable.

Where we intend to pass your personal information to another business for this purpose, we will normally ask for your agreement before doing so.

Any information shared will be limited to what is reasonably necessary to facilitate the introduction or assist with your enquiry.

Avery & Co does not sell customer information and will not share your information for the purpose of providing paid marketing leads unless this has been made clear to you and we have a lawful basis for doing so.

Where we recommend another business because we believe it is appropriate or helpful to you, this does not necessarily mean that Avery & Co has any financial relationship with that business.

Unless we specifically tell you otherwise, we do not receive a referral fee, commission or other financial benefit for making such recommendations.

The third-party business will be responsible for how it subsequently uses your personal information and should provide you with its own privacy information where required.

Third-party service providers

We use a number of third-party providers to operate our business.

These may include providers of:

• Email and communication systems.
• Website hosting and website services.
• IT and cloud-storage systems.
• Accounting and financial services.
• Customer relationship management systems.
• Document management and reporting systems.
• Professional services and software.

Where third parties process personal information on our behalf, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that suitable contractual and security arrangements are in place.

International transfers

Where possible, we use service providers that process personal information within the UK.

If your personal information is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that the transfer is lawful and that appropriate safeguards are in place in accordance with applicable data-protection legislation.

How long do we keep your information?

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to satisfy legal, accounting, professional and regulatory requirements.

The length of time we retain information will depend on its nature and purpose.

For example, information relating to completed surveying and valuation instructions may need to be retained for a number of years to comply with professional, legal and insurance requirements.

When information is no longer required, we will securely delete it or anonymise it where appropriate.

Keeping your information secure

We take reasonable and appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against:

• Unauthorised access.
• Accidental loss.
• Destruction.
• Damage.
• Unauthorised disclosure.
• Unauthorised alteration.

Access to personal information is restricted to those who need it for legitimate business or professional purposes.

However, no method of transmitting or storing information electronically can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Cookies and our website

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies.

Cookies are small files stored on your device that can be used to make websites function correctly, understand how visitors use a website and, where applicable, support marketing activities.

Where consent is required for non-essential cookies, we will seek your consent in accordance with applicable legislation.

You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings, although doing so may affect the functionality of the website.

Your data-protection rights

Depending on the circumstances and subject to applicable legal exemptions, you have rights in relation to your personal information.

These may include:

• The right to be informed about how your personal information is used.
• The right of access to the personal information we hold about you.
• The right to rectification of inaccurate or incomplete information.
• The right to erasure of your personal information in certain circumstances.
• The right to restrict processing in certain circumstances.
• The right to object to certain processing.
• The right to data portability where applicable.
• The right to withdraw consent where we rely on consent as our lawful basis.

These rights are not absolute and may not apply in every situation.

For example, we may need to retain certain information to comply with legal, professional or regulatory obligations.

How to exercise your rights

If you would like to exercise any of your rights, please contact us using the details below.

Email: hello@averysurveys.co.uk
Telephone: 0330 088 5040
Post: Avery & Co Chartered Surveyors & Valuers, Miller House, 38 Mersey Road, Liverpool, L17 6AD

We may need to ask you to provide information to verify your identity before responding to a request.

We will normally respond to a valid request within one month, although this may be extended where permitted by law if a request is particularly complex or if you have made a number of requests.

Complaints

If you have concerns about how we have handled your personal information, we would encourage you to contact us first so that we can investigate and try to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe that your personal information has not been handled appropriately.

The ICO’s contact details are available through its website.

Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect changes in our business, services, technology or applicable laws and regulations.

We recommend that you check this page periodically for the latest version.

Where required, we will notify individuals of material changes to how their personal information is used.

Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or how Avery & Co handles your personal information, please contact:

Avery Surveys. Limited
Trading as Avery & Co Chartered Surveyors & Valuers

Miller House, 38 Mersey Road, Liverpool, L17 6AD

Telephone: 0330 088 5040
Email: hello@averysurveys.co.uk

Data Protection Contact: Kate Avery