Unite Students (registered as Unite Integrated Solutions) is a subsidiary of The UNITE Group Plc and is the data controller responsible for your data.
Here at Unite Students we take data protection seriously. This privacy notice explains the data we collect from you, our customers, guarantors, customer contacts, visitors, and how we process that data depending on the way in which you interact with us. For example, the information we collect if you book a room with us and how we use it will be different to if you only enquire about a room.
This notice covers:
Personal data processed by Unite Students that can identify you as an individual or is capable of doing so. This is called personal identifiable information (PII).
Personal data we have received and process as part of the Unite Group
This notice does not cover:
Statistical, aggregated or anonymous information where individuals cannot be identified.
Our use of cookies. See our Cookie Notice.
Personal data collected by third party organisations outside of our instruction, or individuals or other websites which the Unite Students website or the Unite Students app may link to. Where this is the case, we encourage you to read their privacy notice to understand how they are processing your data.
Personal data collected and processed by the Unite Students app or in connection with app services; see the App Privacy Notice
If you have applied for a Unite Foundation scholarship, see the Unite Foundation Privacy Notice
If you have applied to work with us, see our Careers Privacy Notice
If you contact or work with our Higher Education team, see the Unite Group Privacy Notice
If you are part of a Unite Group consumer panel or research group, see the Unite Group Privacy Notice
If you are a Hello Student consumer, please see the Hello Student Privacy Notice
We are committed to making our explanations as clear and transparent about the data we collect as possible and have broken this notice down into different sections relating to where you are in the customer journey. Each section details the personal data we collect and for what purpose, who we collect it from and who we share it with. Other sections explain how we are meeting our other obligations under data protection legislation.
If you have a question about something in this notice or want to contact our Data Protection team, please see section 15 for our contact information
When you visit our properties, website, create an account with us, call our Contact Centre (If calling from the UK 0800 121 7387 or 44 117 302 7497 if calling from abroad) or 24/7 Control Centre (0300 303 1611), or contact us via Unite Student’s social media platforms or our Live Chat feature, through email or in person, we will collect the following data, depending on the interaction:
First name
Last name
Preferred name
Age
Phone number
Email address
Year of study
Social media handles
Customer Number
Account login credentials
Marketing preferences and consent status
Electronic identifiers (Advertising ID, Device ID, Subscriber ID, Cookie ID, Mac Address)
Your chosen and historic Unite Students accommodation
Your activity on our website, behaviour, and interests including the pages you visit
Your name or handle as they appear publicly on social media platforms, public profile image and message history
Calls to our Contact Centres including the date, time, and duration of the call, and the audio record of the call. Calls to our property teams are not recorded
Your rooms search results and history
General geographical location
Nationality
Gender
Customer Status
University or prospective university
University Course
Your Live Chat ID, your preference to disable Live Chat and any information you give us through Live Chat.
Other data submitted via free text boxes, email, social media messages/posts or over the phone to support your booking and enquiries
When you make an enquiry with us through our WeChat mini programme from the People's Republic of China we collect the following data:
Name
Address
Telephone number
To provide you with the requested service(s) and support your booking process; including processing viewings, adding you to waitlists or availability notifications, facilitating competitions, support you rebooking and respond to queries etc
Calls to our Contact Centre are recorded for training and monitoring purposes. We pause our calls before we collect card information and resume once this has been collected
To communicate with you and respond to your enquiries, improve our service where we can and allow us to ask security questions to ensure we are speaking with the right person
To provide live customer service chat on our website and identify the device during visits
To monitor your status in the booking journey against a check list, remind you of critical tasks that need to be completed to secure your booking and expire your reservation where not completed in the allocated time
To enable your participation in any online surveys on our website and website user testing
To contact you through your chosen channels
We use your marketing preference to:
Send you discounts, offers and direct relevant adverts to from Unite Students and Unite Group Companies where you have opted in or registered interest
To provide you with tailored, personalised and relevant content or marketing based on the personal data you supplied when interacting with us
To track and promote generic and personalised marketing journeys, analyse engagement and improve our processes
When you opt in to email marketing, we will share your email address and work with third party advertising platforms (including Google Ads and Facebook Ads) to display our adverts on social media platforms and in your feeds.
To install web application cookies necessary for the website to function, or to implement cookies which act on your cookie preference
To install optional targeted advertising cookies and optional performance cookies based on your preferences to optimise performance of our website, track and report conversions from Google, remarket a product, personalise our adverts on Facebook or target adverts through paid Google advertising
Personal data collected directly from you as you navigate, interact with, search and otherwise use our website. Your data may be used for the purposes of providing you with search functionality, tailoring and personalising your search results, informing us when you need support with a booking, or to conduct both identifiable and aggregate analytics or testing. This enables us to identify and improve our user and visitor experiences
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. For information about how we use cookies and which third parties we share your cookie data with, and to opt out of performance and advertising cookies, please read our Cookie Policy.
We use a third party to manage our received messages or mentions on social media platforms, so your messages will also be stored on one or both of their platforms depending on the social media channel. If you use our Live Chat service, the information is stored by Zendesk who provide the platform for that service, and if you take part in a survey linked to website user testing or actual website user testing, this data will also be processed by a third party.
During our peak periods of the year, we work with a third party outside of the EU to help deliver us a high level of customer service. The safeguards in place to protect this restricted transfer of personal information are data are the European Commission's standard contractual clauses with the UK's international data transfer addendum.
To support you and improve our services, we collect publicly available data and content that you share on social media where linked to Unite Students or through key word matches. This includes the content of posts where Unite Students or its properties are mentioned, any messages you send to us, and your associated social media handle or username. This information may be used to conduct sentiment analysis and reporting, helping us gain deeper insights into student needs and enhance our processes.
Where you have engaged with us and entered a competition, we collect your personal data to administer the competition, maintain a record of winners for compliance and auditing purposes and to provide the winner(s) with their prize. In order to facilitate the delivery of the prize, we may need to share your personal data to our approved third party suppliers such as but not limited to Lifestyle Voucher, Lothian Buses, UNIBUS, UniKitout and their chosen delivery partners, who help us facilitate the prize. The personal data we collect for entering competition, prize draw or giveaway is retained only for the duration necessary to run the promotion and is deleted within one month of its end date; This does not affect the retention of any other personal data we hold about you under a separate relationship, for example, if you hold an account with us or have opted into marketing. For our full list of promotions and their associated terms, please see here.
We use CCTV within and outside our properties to prevent and detect criminal activity, fraud and misuse of or damage to our property and investigate any allegations, misuse or damage. When you visit one of our properties we will collect the following information through CCTV:
Location, time, date,
Your image, video and activities, including the use of AI to detect loitering,
Where and when used, body-worn cameras will record video and audio. We use these when undertaking safety and security tasks to reduce the risk to our employees and customers facing aggressive or threatening behaviour.
We also use smart doorbells to your enable remote access to our properties when we are away from the front desk. The video and audio collection is facilitated by Amazon Ring, which will retain your data for 24 hours from the point of interaction.
When you book one of our rooms after creating an account, depending on the type of booking, we will collect the following information from you or a group booking if booking direct, or from your university, a booking agent or the Unite Foundation if they are making the booking on your behalf:
Title, first name, middle name*, last name, preferred name*
Mobile phone number
Date of birth
Gender
Nationality
Country of residence
University ID number*
ID documentation (passport, driving licence, identity card etc)
Passport number*
Landline number*
Phone contact preference
Current living status
Email address
Home address
Year of study
Tenancy length
Name of university attending course subject, course title
Alternative email address*, phone number* and address*
Photo and video footage
Disability or medical information (if disclosed)
Written communications between you and the agent**
Booking tasks and required activities
Pre-sessional start/end date**
Course dates (for short-term lets)
Arrival/departure dates (and times*)
Preference of city and property (for international bookings** and group bookings)
Invoice address (if booking via a third-party website)
Financial Data including bank account and payment card details
Direct marketing and personalisation preference(s)
Preference of tenancy length, room type, flatmate gender, flatmate nationality, flatmate language, flatmate courses
Budget per week**
Identity verification data (full name, sex, personal identification code or number, date of birth, legal capacity, nationality and citizenship, street, city, country, postcode, document type, issuing country, number, expiry date, MRZ, information embedded into document barcodes, security features, information regarding a person being a Politically Exposed Person (PEP) or included in sanctions lists, address, e-mail address, phone number, IP address, information regarding the date, time and activity in the Services; IP address and domain name; software and hardware attributes (camera name and type); general geographic location (e.g., city, country), unique identifier (Applicant ID) created only for the association you inside the Informational System)*
Biometric data (facial scans, liveness detection output, video identification, automated comparison with supplied documentation, identity detection, photos of a face (including selfie images) and photo or scan of a face on the identification document, videos, and sound recordings)*
* = optional
** = if booking via an agent
We use this information to:
To provide you with our services, optional services, administer your booking journey and tenancy
Facilitate your access to internet services during your tenancy
To manage your communication channels and consent preferences
Personalise the content you receive from us and contact you about other products or services we think may be of interest to you (only where you have given your consent)
Help you book a suitable room or ensure you have the necessary aides, equipment or PEEP (Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan) for your stay
Refer you to the services of Unite’s partner organisations to access perks, discounts and offers through a referral link or embedded web page (MyPerks). Unite Students will not share any personal data with our referral partners unless you have opted in. These organisations may also share personal information to Unite Students following a completed registration or sale.
Conduct surveys and studies to help us measure satisfaction and our performance (surveys only), improve our service where we can and better understand our customers year on year. An analysis of aggregated data of our customer base is carried out to help facilitate this. Third parties and third-party products are used to conduct sentiment and key word analysis of survey results to enable a greater understanding of student’s needs.
Provide evidence to local authorities for council tax exemption or the provision of electoral roll services
Register and protect your deposit, and send you your deposit protection certification (if applicable)
Keep a record of what has been agreed with the agent and track referred customers for debt collection and commission purposes (if applicable)
Provide a cashback reward on an eligible booking
Book a check in slot
To support system testing and service improvement
To monitor your booking status and required actions progress, remind you to complete critical booking activities and cancel bookings where required actions have not been completed inline within the reservation time limits
To keep our university partners up to date with the status of your booking
To verify your identity as described in section 11 and determine your student status
To support and inform your trusted contact where they are acting on your behalf
To inform and keep your guarantor up to date with contract or financial matters regarding your tenancy, debt and additional charges of which they may become liable
Enable Guarantors to validate their association with you and execute their agreement
Depending on why we are using your data, we will share it with our internet service provider, your university or third party security service looking after the property you will be staying at, the relevant local authority (council), our third party survey provider, third parties administering cashback rewards, any tenancy deposit protection scheme being used and the emergency services (in the event of an emergency evacuation).
Once you have moved into your new home, we will collect and use other information from or about you depending on how you use our services and what happens during your stay with us. This includes:
Carrying out our contractual obligations, providing you with the service, our digital web services and optional services you may have paid for in line with your booking terms.
Supporting you upholding your contractual commitments to us, including making payments, managing debt or reporting issues to us.
Support us in improving our operational and digital services
Your name and room number on a parcel, to notify you of a delivery and for our internal parcel management records. Where your property has partnered with Parcel SafePlace, we will share your name, email address and your address with them to facilitate the service.
To help you and other customers feel safe and confident in your future home, we display your room number, building, age, course and gender within our online booking flow and make it available as part of our in-person booking process. This information is shared in a way that doesn't reveal your identity and is used to help others understand who they might be living with. We aim to promote better relationships between flatmates, foster compatibility and help you understand who you may be living with, creating comfortable and inclusive living environment.
Relevant account information and details of any accident or incident you are involved in that is reported to us. We use this to carry out an investigation and may also be given information by any third party that was also involved.
Details about a concern regarding your health or wellbeing which you disclose to us. Where it is appropriate to ask for your consent and you choose to give it, we will share this data with an agreed individual or organisation so they can (continue to) support you. If your property has on-site Resident Tutors from the University, they will be present for welfare checks or welfare-related incidents and record data relevant to students at their university. We may also share your information on grounds of substantial public interest or vital interests with your university, health services or local authorities, depending on the situation. See section 12 for more information.
Images of you if you attend one of our events which is filmed or photographed or are involved in one of our video or photoshoots. These images could be used for internal presentations, our intranet and/or made public on our website and published promotional material.
Your account details, account balance, name, email address and tenancy address; these will be used if you fall into arrears. We will try to collect arrears internally or via your agent (if applicable), however, if unsuccessful and depending on where you are in the arrears process, we may share this data with: - your guarantor - an external law firm to initiate the eviction process or - Data relating to a complaint (this may come from you or from ANUK (Accreditation Network United Kingdom) via their complaints process. If we have received a complaint from you, if necessary, we will share details of this and your identity with ANUK.
Your name, customer number and email address to invite you to leave a review, which is administrated by a third parties including Trustpilot and Global Student Living.
Your name, age, university, property, nationality, booking type and year of study. We share a selection of data from these categories, as necessary, with third party data insight providers to enable them to send us with aggregated, non-identifiable information about our customers, which is used to help improve and inform our customer experience and business strategy.
Inviting you to redeem services or products included as a service offering as part of your booking with Unite Students. Partners may contact you direct on behalf of Unite Students.
Your fob and access key usage, including the time, date, and location of each access event throughout the building. We use this data to manage and maintain the security and safety of our customers, employees and to investigate incidents.
To support you booking a check out slot
Smart heating controls fitted within the room will monitor and record the environmental condition and utility consumption, including temperature, light, humidity, noise levels window status, ambient presence, carbon dioxide levels, and water use / leaks and electricity consumption. This data is processed at an identifiable and aggregated level to:
Improve building energy efficiency, support our sustainability goals, and promote sustainable living,
Report on our energy usage,
Support and carry out our legal obligations
Identify faults, leaks or damages
Automatically manage environmental conditions by monitoring the rooms conditions, including switching off heating when no presence is detected or open windows are identified
Identify unusual or excessive consumption patterns to determine potential breaches of your tenancy agreement. Further information can be found here.
Send you educational communications and reminders regarding your utility’s consumption and environmental impact
We do not collect or record audio using smart controls and no conversations or personal communications are monitored, captured or stored.
Profiling and Monitoring Notice: Environmental Monitoring is conducted at an individual room level, we will build a profile of your actives and will automatically compare your utilities consumption against expected, historical and typical usage, flagging unusual or excessive patterns to deliver tailored communication, educational material or determine tenancy breach.
We do not use this data to conduct solely automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects on you. Where our monitoring identifies a possible breach, a member of our team will communicate with you directly and investigate in person.
At some of our properties we offer a hotel accommodation service. If you stay with us under such a booking, we ask for your name, title, nationality, Passport/ID number, student id, place of issue and address of next destination when you check in. This information is stored for us to comply with the Immigration (Hotel Records) Order 1972. If requested by the police or any person authorised by the Secretary of State, we are obliged to share your data.
Where you book via an online travel agency such as Booking.com or Airbnb, they will share your data with us to enable the processing off the booking. In some instances, you may also be required to verify your identity via an online portal, for further information please see section 11.
Occasionally, we provide aggregated statistics about our sales, customers, traffic patterns and other site information to third parties, but these statistics do not include any information that could personally identify you.
If you need us to provide a reference after you move out, we will provide information relating to your tenancy as requested by the landlord or letting agent, with your consent. The information shared will vary depending on the reference request and may include tenancy start/end dates, tenancy address, weekly/monthly rent price, confirmation that your payments are up to date, and confirmation of any damage charges you have incurred.
If you are eligible for a refund, we will share your name, email address, phone number, customer ID number and amount to be refunded with NatWest PayIt services to enable them to facilitate your refund.
If you are in arrears after you have moved out, we may share your account details, account balance, name, email address, phone number, home address, and your guarantor’s contact details with a third-party debt collection company.
If you have an ongoing complaint, we will use information relevant to the complaint as part of the complaint’s resolution process.
We offer various volunteering and work experience opportunities to our customers and also have a Resident Ambassador programme. Depending on what you apply for/take part in, we will ask you to provide:
Applying to be a Content Creator Programme: Your name, contact details, nationality, property, university and course details, link(s) to your personal blog, website or social media accounts and any images from content produced for you. This is information used to assess your eligibility for the programme and enrol you with our third-party workforce solutions consultancy, who will track your working hours and facilitate payroll. Content you produce may be uploaded to our website and social media accounts, including but not limited to Facebook, X (formally Twitter), TikTok, YouTube, WeChat and Instagram.
Applying to be a Student Content Creator for The Common Room: Your name, contact, property and university details and your international student status (if applicable). If you provide an author bio, this will be displayed alongside articles and on author pages on the Unite Students website along with your first name and university.
Applying to be a Positive Impact Consultant or Auditor: Your name, contact details, any property access requirements and the reason for your application. This data would be used to support the Positive Impact audit process and increase student-staff collaboration within Positive Impact. It would be shared with the National Union of Students (NUS) so they can send you a letter of recommendation at the end of your post.
Applying to become a Resident Ambassador: Your name, contact details and your video interview. This data will be stored by a third party until your application is accepted/rejected.
If you have agreed to be a guarantor for a customer, we will collect the following information from you, the person booking our services or the customer holding the account:
Title, first name, last name
Email address
Contact phone number
Relationship to customer
Gender
Date of birth
Nationality
Home address
Financial Data including bank account and payment card details
ID documentation (passport, driving licence, identity card etc)
Optional: Identity verification data (full name, sex, personal identification code or number, date of birth, legal capacity, nationality and citizenship, street, city, country, postcode, document type, issuing country, number, expiry date, MRZ, information embedded into document barcodes, security features, information regarding a person being a Politically Exposed Person (PEP) or included in sanctions lists, address, e-mail address, phone number, IP address, information regarding the date, time and activity in the Services; IP address and domain name; software and hardware attributes (camera name and type); general geographic location (e.g., city, country), unique identifier (Applicant ID) created only for the association you and its PITT inside the Informational System). See section 11 for further information
Optional: Biometric data (facial scans, liveness detection output, video identification, automated comparison with supplied documentation, identity detection, photos of a face (including selfie images) and photo or scan of a face on the identification document, videos, and sound recordings). See section 11 for further information
This data will be used to:
Prove you are 25 years or older, interested in the customer’s wellbeing and have an existing relationship with them
Confirm your identity and respond to account related queries
Take payments from you or set up direct debits,
Provide receipts upon payments or direct debits
Contact you to provide notification of and arrange payment in the event the customer has failed to make a payment.
Inform you of account activities that may result in late payments or extra charges
If referred after the tenancy has ended, we may share your data with a third-party credit collection company (guarantor)
Notify you if the customer has breached their tenancy agreement and provide subsequent updates
Notify you of any unforeseen changes to the tenancy
Send you requests to participate in surveys/panels to help us improve our services and operations.
Verify your identity and identity documentation; For further information please see section 11
If you have been nominated as a Trusted Contact or Emergency Contact, we will collect the following information from you, the person booking our services or the customer holding the account:
First Name,
Last Name,
Email Address,
Phone Number
This data will be used to:
Contact you in the event of an emergency,
Share your contact information with the medical or emergency; enabling them to reach and update you about an incident affecting the customer
Enable you to act on behalf of the customer where explicitly authorised
If you make a payment to us on behalf of a customer and have no contractual relation with us, we will process your personal data and engage with you as an associated payee. We will collect the following information:
First Name,
Last Name,
Email Address,
Phone Number
Financial Data including bank account and payment card details
This data will be used to:
Take payments from you or set up direct debits,
Provide receipts
Inform you of changes to payment status or where payments fail
Maintain audit records of financial activities as required by law
As well as sharing your information within the Unite Group of companies we will also share your information with third parties who will process your information either as a data controller or as our data processor depending on the purpose it was disclosed. We will only share your personal data in compliance with applicable data protection laws, regulatory compliance and only for the purposes set out in this notice.
We require all third parties, with whom we share your personal data, to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. Where we work with suppliers and third parties outside of the UK and EEA we ensure that appropriate legal, organisational and technical safeguards are in place to protect your personal data. Organisations with which we may share your information include:
We may share your personal information with partner companies with whom we have contracts for certain products and/or services. The reasons we may share your information in this way include to:
Provide customer service, marketing and information technology services
Carry out room bookings and associated services
Personalise our service
Process payment transactions
Cary out fraud and reference checks and collect debts
Analyse and improve the information we hold, including your interactions with our service
Run customer satisfaction surveys
To collect debt on our behalf
Specific examples of third parties with whom we share data as at the date this notice was published include:
Stripe to process your card payments. For comprehensive information regarding the processing of your personal data and your data protection rights, including the right to object, please refer to the privacy policy of Stripe, available at https://stripe.com/gb/privacy.policy.
Where you make a booking through an agent, rather than directly with us they will share your personal data so we can complete and manage the booking process. We will also share personal data with them during and at the end of your stay. We rely on the performance of contract (including the steps prior to entering into a contract) to enable them to act as an intermediary in your booking, to provide to provide updates about your booking and facilitate our agreements with them.
Where you book with an online travel agency (OTA), such as Booking.com or Airbnb; these platforms will share your booking details with us so that we can confirm and provide your accommodation, verify your identity where needed and meet our legal and safety obligations. Each OTA platform independently responsible for how it collects and uses your data before sharing it with us. We encourage that you to review the relevant platform's privacy notice for further information on how they share your data with us. Both parties rely on the performance of contract (including the steps prior to entering into a contract) to share your data as required.
We will share your personal data with University Partners to facilitate our agreements with them, manage your stay or in the event that we identify a welfare, conduct, or safeguarding concern keep them appraised of the situation and provide necessary support.
We may share your personal information with the following;
Professional advisers including lawyers, bankers, auditors and insurers
Third parties to whom we may choose to sell transfer or merge parts of our business or our assets. Alternatively, we may seek to acquire other businesses or merge with them. If a change happens to our business, then the new owners may use your personal data in the same way as set out in this privacy notice
We do not sell your personal data; however, we may share it with third party organisations who may undertake direct marketing for their own purposes where you have provided us with explicit consent to do so.
We speak to many customers a day and some of those people may be experiencing difficult circumstances. Occasionally, people will share information which indicates that they or another student is in imminent danger or at serious risk to themselves and others. In line with guidance from the Information Commissioners Office, in such circumstances we may refer the situation to relevant authorities or sources of assistance. In such cases we will consider first and foremost the interests of the person at risk or in distress.
We use AI technologies, including Microsoft Copilot within tools like Word, Outlook, and Teams, to help our teams work more efficiently and improve the services we provide to you. Copilot may use limited personal information, such as your name or booking details from emails or documents, to summarise, suggest, or organise content. All data is stored securely on Microsoft’s trusted platform and is never used to train or develop AI.
More broadly, we use AI to:
Automate and support business functions, such as data classification and identity verification.
Assist with research, analytics, and insights.
Generate and review written content, including summaries, newsletters, and meeting transcripts.
We minimise personal data wherever possible and regularly review AI systems to reduce bias and ensure ethical use. All AI outputs are subject to meaningful human review before being applied. Our approach prioritises safety, transparency, and data security, and we operate under the lawful basis of legitimate interests.
Biometric data refers to information about a person’s physical or behavioural traits such as their face, movement or voice which is processed using technology to uniquely identify them. As part of our identity verification process Unite Students has engaged with a third party, Sumsub, who will undertake this activity on our behalf and will process your biometric data. We will only process this data where we have your explicit consent to do so.
Why we process your biometric data and identity documentation:
To confirm your identity and determine the legitimacy of the identity documentation you supplied, including establishing that you are the legitimate owner
To support our legal obligations including anti-money laundering (AML), counter-terrorist financing (CFT), know your customer (KYC), sanctions checks and fraud prevention
To promote the safety of our customers and employees
How your biometric data is processed:
Your biometric data will be processed using automated activities and AI technologies to:
Read and verify documentation authenticity
Conduct facial scanning, including liveness, video-selfie and video identification processing, biometric authorisation, automatically comparing the facial photo featured in an identity document and the facial image supplied by you, searching of multiple identity creation.
Work and develop a fraud control network to detect and prevent fraud and criminal activity in the interest of Unite Students and Sumsub.
Unite Students use Sumsub, a third-party identity verification provider to perform this activity on our behalf. Your biometric data will also be shared with Sumsub’s sub-processors to fulfil the verification process. Your biometric data will be stored for 7 days, before it is automatically deleted. For further information regarding Sumsub, their sub-processors and how they support us please review their privacy notice here.
Where a University Partner has booked and arranged accommodation on your behalf, identity verification through Sumsub may not be required as equivalent identity checks have be carried by your university as part of your enrolment with them and/or where a room has been sublet.
Unite Students use Lavanda to support with our short term lets. As part of your booking process biometric data will collected by Lavanda’s processor Autohost to fulfil the verification process. For further information regarding Lavanda please see here and for Auto host, please see here.
Data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for using your personal data. At least one of the following must apply: consent, contract, legal obligation, legitimate interest, public interest or vital interests. In this section we explain which one we rely on when we use your data in a certain way, as detailed in the previous sections.
When you create an account, or when you or a third party acting on your behalf signs a tenancy agreement with us or registers a group booking
When you are in are arrears
When you apply to become a Resident Ambassador or are paid to take part in a video or photoshoot
To notify you of a parcel delivery or other service-related message
When you visit our website or log in to your account
When you contact us with an enquiry, a complaint, or provide other feedback to us on any Unite Students channel
When we provide you with internet connection
To conduct customer satisfaction surveys
To use CCTV and body-worn cameras in and outside of our buildings
To share your data with a debt collection company if you are in arrears
When you volunteer with us (for the Positive Impact scheme or in a photoshoot)
To process data on your energy consumption of the room
To obtain aggregated, statistical information about our customers
To share your data with an outsourced contact centre to respond to your queries and booking requirements
To share any medical, disability, health or wellbeing information we hold on you (if disclosed) in circumstances where consent is the appropriate lawful basis. This is determined on a case-by-case basis.
When you volunteer with us (as a Student Content Creator, Vlogger or Influencer)
To use images of you have taken at one our events
To provide a reference to a potential landlord or agency
If you are from the People’s Republic of China, to transfer your data into the UK.
To undertake biometric processing as part of our verification process
As evidence to local authorities for council tax exemption or the provision of electoral roll services.
To register and protect your deposit (if applicable)
To ensure your room is safe for you and to assist you with a Personal Emergency Evacuation Plan (PEEP) (if applicable)
As part of any accident or incident investigation and records involving you
When you check in for a hotel booking
To confirm your identity as required by Right to Rent legislation
Where we must report medical, health or wellbeing information especially where we may suspect a notifiable infection to the Public Health Agency we would use the lawful basis of public interest. This may include sharing your information with your university.
To use or share your information in situations where it is essential for protecting your life.
The periods for which we keep your information will vary according to the purpose for which we use the information. To work out how long we keep each data record for, we consider why we hold it, how sensitive it is, how long the law says we need to keep it, and what the risks are.
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 it was collected or for which it is to be further processed. We have an internal data retention schedule that details how long we keep each data record, and we will securely delete your information in line with this.
We have the correct technical and security measures in place to protect your information. Your personal data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Where you have a password, which enables you to access your account and certain parts of our website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password(s) with anyone.
We store your personal data in secure systems and within restricted access areas depending on the type of data being stored. We have strict security procedures covering the storage and disclosure of this information in order to prevent unauthorised access. Our employees can only access data that is appropriate and necessary for their role and we carry out identity verification checks before disclosing any personal information.
Where we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information necessary for them to deliver the required services. We carry out security due diligence to ensure they have satisfactory security and confidentiality measures in place, and contracts are in place to ensure they only use it for the purpose for which it was intended.
You have various rights relating to your personal data, which we have summarised below.
We process and respond to all requests regarding personal data within one calendar month, but if the request is going to take longer to process, we will advise you of this.
We may ask for additional information to verify your identity to ensure we are sharing personal data with the correct person or that we believe is necessary to comply with a request. Please note that whilst we will carefully assess every request we receive, we may not always have to comply. When this happens, we will explain why.
You have the right to be provided with clear, transparent and easily understandable information about how we use your personal data and your rights. Therefore, we are providing you with the information in this privacy notice.
You have the right to access the personal data we hold about you.
You have the right to correct, amend or update your personal data if it becomes inaccurate or incomplete.
You have the right to ask us to erase your personal data although, for legal reasons, we might not always be able to do it.
You have the right to restrict, ‘block’ or suppress further use of your information if:
the accuracy of your personal data is contested;
your personal data has been processed unlawfully by us, but you do not want to request erasure; or
we no longer need your personal data for our original purpose, but it is required to establish, exercise or defend legal rights.
When processing is restricted, we can still store your information but may not use it further. We keep records of people who have asked for further use of their information to be ‘blocked’ to make sure the restriction is respected in the future.
If you have given your consent to allow us to process your personal data, you also have the right to withdraw your consent at any time
Automated decision making is a decision made by automated means, without any human involvement, which has legal consequences or something to a similar effect (e.g. credit checking). We don’t typically carry out automated decision making, but if we were to, we would make it clear where decisions are being made.
You have rights to obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes in a commonly used machine-readable format, and to have your personal data transferred to another data controller on your request.
You have the right to object, on grounds relating to your situation at any time, to the processing of your personal data that is based on us exercising our legitimate interests. If we can show compelling legitimate grounds for processing your personal data which we consider override your interests, rights and freedoms, or we need your personal data to establish, exercise or defend legal claims, we can continue to process it. Otherwise, we must stop using the relevant information.
You have the absolute right to object at any time to the use of your personal data for direct marketing purposes.
If you are unhappy about the way in which we have used your personal data, please let us know and we will try to resolve your complaint. If we are unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you have the right to lodge a complaint about the way we handle or process your personal data with the Information Commissioner’s Office on their website using the following link - Make a Complaint | ICO. To exercise any of your rights please:
Write to us at: The Unite Group plc, 1st Floor, Welcome Building, Avon Street, Bristol, BS2 0PS
Call us at: 0300 303 8642
Email us at dataprotection@unitestudents.com
This notice was last updated on: 03/08/2026
Historic versions can be obtained by contacting us. Please see the top of this notice on how to contact us.
If we change the way in which we use or share your personal information we will send you a just-in-time notice or update this Privacy Notice. We will notify you of any significant changes and where necessary, will obtain your consent before using your personal information for any new purpose.