Privacy policy
Last updated: 21 May 2018
The UNITE Group Plc (Unite Students) is committed to protecting your privacy. We treat your privacy seriously and this Privacy Policy explains how we use and share your personal information and how you can exercise your rights in relation to your personal information.
We are registered with the Information Commissioner's Office.
Who We Are
UNITE Integrated Solutions plc is a subsidiary of The UNITE Group Plc known as Unite Students. Unite Students is the UK's leading provider of affordable, high quality accommodation for students and key workers. Please visit the 'Contact us' section for contact information on UNITE Group or alternatively visit www.unite-group.co.uk.
When this Privacy Policy applies
This Privacy Policy applies to personal information collected by Unite Students. The Privacy Policy does not apply to any collection of personal information by third party companies, individuals, organisations or via other websites which the Unite Students website or the Unite Students app may link to. Where third parties collect your personal information their own privacy policies will apply. We urge you to read these carefully.
What we mean by personal information
When we refer to personal information in this Privacy Policy, we mean information that can identify you as an individual or is capable of doing so. By personal information we don't mean general, statistical, aggregated or anonymous information.
How we collect information about you
You may provide personal information when communicating with us (for example, if you contact us).
We will collect information about your tastes and preferences both when you tell us what these are and by analysis of customer traffic, including by using cookies (as described below).
How we use your information
We use your information for the following purposes:
- to process your application for a tenancy;
- to administer your tenancy;
- to communicate with you and respond to your requests;
- to process payments
- to recover any unpaid sums due to us;
- to prevent and detect criminal activity, fraud and misuse of or damage to our property;
- to invite you to form part of our consumer panel or research groups;
- where we have your consent to do so, to contact you about other products and services that we think may be of interest to you;
- to personalise your visits to our website; and
- to help us develop the design and layout of our website to ensure it is as useful and enjoyable as possible.
Other information we may collect
We may collect traffic data related to your use of and access to our services. Such data would include time spent online. We may use this information to understand and keep you informed about what is the best internet access package for you according to your use of the services.
We may provide aggregated statistics about our traffic patterns and other site information to third parties, but these statistics will not include any information that could personally identify you. We use this information along with your preferences to tailor content, services and offers for you.
How long do we keep your information
The periods for which we keep your information will vary according to the purpose for which we use the information.
Unless there is a specific legal requirement to keep your information we will not keep it for longer than necessary for the purposes for which the data was collected or for which it is to be further processed. We have an internal data retention policy that details the duration for which we keep certain categories of data.
Disclosing your information to third parties
We may share your personal information with third parties in the following ways:
- where we have a legal or regulatory obligation to do so – this will include sharing your personal information with local councils for the provision of electoral roll services;
- where we use third party suppliers to provide services to us (for example, our IT providers) and they need access to your personal information in order to deliver that service;
- where it is necessary to do so to protect or defend our legal rights or the legal rights of others;
- we provide your name and email address to UCAS so that they can provide us with aggregated profile information about our tenants;
- if you are a tenant and you fail to pay your rent we may contact the guarantor and inform them of this failure when exercising our rights under the guarantee;
- if we sell our business or a property we will transfer information relating to tenants and guarantors to the new owner;
- if you have agreed that we may do so, we will share your personal information with identified third parties so that they can contact you with details of their products and services.
We may also provide aggregated statistics about our sales, customers, traffic patterns and other site information to third parties, but these statistics will not include any information that could personally identify you.
How we protect your information
When you review your account information or order services or products online, Unite Students offers the use of a secure server. The secure server software encrypts the information that you input before it is transmitted to us. In addition, we have strict security procedures covering the storage and disclosure of your information in order to prevent unauthorised access and to comply with statutory data protection requirements. This means that sometimes we may ask you for proof of identity before disclosing any personal information to you.
Cookies explained
A cookie is a piece of information that is stored on your computer's hard drive by your web browser, or stored as a temporary object in your web browser for the time of that connection.
When we use cookies
The type of cookie that we use is known as a 'session-based' cookie and is allocated to your computer only for the duration of your visit to our web site. The second type of cookie is known as a 'persistent' cookie. These cookies will remain on your computer for a period of time set for each cookie.
How you can refuse or opt out of cookies: Most browsers are set by default to accept cookies automatically, but usually you can alter the settings of your browser to prevent automatic acceptance and prompt you every time a cookie is sent to you or to allow you to choose not to receive cookies at all. For further information on cookies and how to manage them you can go to www.allaboutcookies.org.
For further information about the cookies we utilise please see our cookie policy.
Updates to this Privacy Policy
If we change the way in which we use or share your personal information we will update this Privacy Policy. We will notify you of any significant changes and where necessary we will obtain your consent before using your personal information for any new purpose.
Your rights in relation to your personal information
You may request access to your personal information.
You also have the right to request that inaccurate information is updated or erased.
If you have consented to us sending you marketing communications you can request that we stop using your personal information for this purpose at any time.
All requests to exercise your rights in relation to your personal information should be sent by email to dataprotection@unitestudents.com
If you are unhappy about the way in which we have used your personal information please let us know by contacting dataprotection@unitestudents.com and we will try to resolve your complaint. If we are unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction you may lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office.
Contact details
If you have any questions or complaints about how we use your personal information please contact our customer services team via dataprotection@unitestudents.com