NHOS Privacy Policy
The New Homes Ombudsman Service (NHOS, “the Scheme”) is operated by The Dispute Service Ltd (TDS) who is the Data Controller. All data is processed in accordance with The Data Protection Act 2018, the UK General Data Protection Regulations and all other relevant legislation.
The contact detail of The Dispute Service Ltd are set out below:
The Dispute Service Ltd
West Wing, The Maylands Building, Maylands Avenue
Hemel Hempstead
HP2 7TG
How we collect and process your data
Developers
Property developers who become subject to the jurisdiction of the New Homes Ombudsman Service through their registration with the New Homes Quality Board. The New Homes Quality Board will provide the NHOS with relevant details about the developer’s business and this will be held by the Scheme.
In the event of a complaint lodged by a homeowner, the developer will be invited to respond and upload any relevant evidence using our online portal. This documentary evidence will also be stored by the Scheme, and the developer agrees to this evidence being shared with the homeowner as part of the complaint process.
Other personal information about the developer, or employees, may be provided to NHOS by homeowners as part of their evidence submission when making a complaint through the Scheme.
Homeowners
We will collect the personal information of homeowners when they lodge a complaint with the New Homes Ombudsman Service. This data will be limited to the relevant data in processing the complaint.
Homeowners will also be given the opportunity to upload documentary evidence as part of their complaint and this will be stored by the Scheme. Homeowners agree that this evidence will be shared with the developer as part of the complaints process when agreeing to our NHOS privacy policy.
Analytics and website performance
We use third-party services, such as Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information to track usage of our website. The information collected is not used to identify individuals.
Cookie policy
Our site uses cookies in order to enhance your experience. The cookies we use do not store personally identifiable information.
You are able to block or restrict the use of cookies which are set as a result of visiting this website within your browser settings.
Restricting or blocking cookies may impact the functionality of this website.
Useful information about cookies and how to control them can be found at www.aboutcookies.org.
Legal basis of processing
We rely upon consent as our legal basis for processing. Homeowners can withdraw consent from us processing a complaint at any time by writing to us, or emailing us.
Developers will be signed up as members to the New Homes Quality Board. Processing of data will be required in order for us to provide our services.
We also rely upon our legitimate interest to use the data in order to satisfy our obligations to homeowners and developers.
We use the data we collect to operate the New Homes Ombudsman Service and process complaints lodged with the scheme.
Retention of information
All developer data will be held while they are subject to the jurisdiction of the NHOS. In the event that the developer is no longer registered with the New Homes Quality Board, their data will be held for a period of one year after they have ceased to be registered, with data for any complaints held for one year after the complaint has been concluded.
All customer data relating to complaints processed by NHOS will be held for 12 months after the complaint has been concluded.
Sharing your data
We do not share personal information with individuals or companies outside of Dispute Service Ltd except in the following circumstances:
Consent
Where you choose to engage in our independent complaint handling process which consists of submitting personal information and evidence to an online portal, this evidence will be viewable by employees dealing with the case at NHOS along with the parties to the complaint, including any persons acting on their behalf.
Legal reasons
We retain the right to share your information with organisations or individuals if we reasonably believe in good faith that disclosure of information is necessary to:
The Dispute Service reserves the right to share non-personal information publicly and with our partners for educational purposes, publication of annual reviews or publication of statistics.
Our Data Processors
Information is disclosed to third parties who The Dispute Service holds a contract with for data processing circumstances (for example, our website providers).
Your rights
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), you have a number of rights regarding the data we hold for you. TDS wants to ensure our customers are aware of their rights and how we ensure they are met:
Right to rectification – Your right without undue delay to rectification of inaccurate personal data. Our customers are able to update their personal details online under their account or alternatively, can contact TDS for help updating details.
Right to erasure – Your right to the deletion of your personal data. TDS will consider a request for data erasure on a case by case basis depending on whether TDS must retain the data for legislative purposes. Where it is not possible to erase your data we will write to you to tell you why.
Right to restrict data processing – Your right to obtain from us restriction of data processing. TDS will consider the GDPR circumstances that may be relevant around any request. Where processing restrictions are granted, such personal data will only be processed with consent or in relation to legal claims. Where it is not possible to restrict the processing of your data, we will write to you to tell you why.
Right to data portability – Your right to receive personal data in a structured, commonly used format. You are able to find your personal data under your account. Alternatively, TDS will provide all data held for you in a machine readable format.
Right to object – Your right to object at any time to processing of personal data. TDS will only proceed with processing if we have compelling legitimate grounds for processing after an objection to processing. If we believe this to be the case, we will write to you to tell you why.
Right to not be subject to automated-decision making – TDS will not subject any individual to automated-decision making.
Contact us
All individuals are entitled under the UK General Data Protection Regulations to request a copy of the information an organisation holds on them. You are entitled to ask us for:
We will not normally make a charge for providing this information, unless you make multiple requests within any 12 month period, or your request for information is clearly vexatious. Where we believe this is the case, we will write to you with the cost of providing the information before proceeding with your request.
TDS will deal with any subject access requests within 30 days in accordance with GDPR.
To make a subject access request please send your full name to the following email: customer.services@nhos.org.uk.
To make a complaint or for further information regarding personal information held by TDS on yourself, please email: customer.services@nhos.org.uk.
You have the right to make an enquiry or complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you are unhappy with our use of your data. Further details can be found on the ICO website.
© 2022 New Homes Ombudsman Service, All Rights Reserved.
New Homes Ombudsman Service is operated by The Dispute Service Ltd, which is a company registered in England and Wales with number 4851694. Registered Office Address: West Wing, First Floor, The Maylands Building, 200 Maylands Avenue, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 7TG.