Who are We?

AST Assistance Ltd (also referred to in this Notice as “we”, “us”, or “our” or “AST”) are Property Managing agents.

Our registered Company number and address are:

Company number – 11583463
AST Assistance Limited, Suite 2, 26a St James Street Business Centre, Bacup, OL13 9NJ

How Can You Contact Us?

For any questions or concerns relating to this Privacy Policy or our data protection practices and for General Enquiries, please contact us at:

AST Assistance Limited
Suite 2, 26a St James Street Business Centre
Bacup
Rossendale
OL13 9NJ

Email: info@ast-assistance.com
Tel: 07312 519103

Why we need your data

We will need your PII in order to provide you with information and services that you have requested. We will not collect any PII from you we do not need in order to provide and oversee our service to you. We may collect information from you about other people, for example, tenants that you may sublet your property to in order to provide our service to you.

What we do with your data

All PII we process is processed by our staff in the UK, however for the purposes of IT hosting and maintaining, this information may be located on servers within the European Union. We do not transfer, store or process any PII in Third Countries.
We have a strict Data Protection regime in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of your personal data.

What Information Do We Collect and How Do We Collect It?

The data that we collect from you is used to provide and enhance our service.
While using our Service, we may ask you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to:

• Email address
• First name and last name
• Phone number(s)
• Postal and correspondence address
• Cookies and Usage Data

If you make a payment on the phone your card information is not held by us. It is collected by our third party payment processors, who specialise in the secure online capture and processing of credit/debit card transactions. We do not record any this information.

Cheques sent to our offices are kept in a secure locked location and banked twice weekly.

Information from Other Sources

We may use legal public services such as HM Land Registry and other local government authorities to obtain information about you, for example to verify the ownership of a particular property.
Such information will only be obtained from reputable sources which operate in accordance with the GDPR.

Use of Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your machine to help the site provide a better user experience. In general, cookies are used to retain user preferences, store information for things like shopping carts, and provide anonymised tracking data to third party applications like Google Analytics. As a rule, cookies will make your browsing experience better. However, you may prefer to disable cookies on this site and on others. The most effective way to do this is to disable cookies in your browser. We suggest consulting the Help section of your browser or taking a look at the About Cookies website which offers guidance for all modern browsers

By agreeing to use cookies registered to our website, we may also collect data on how you interact with our service and your activity on our website.

This data is anonymised and may include, but is not limited to:

• Internet Protocol Address (IP Address)
• Data and time of your visit
• Browser Type and Version
• Pages on our website that you visit
• The time spent on each page

Please see our Cookie Policy for further details.

Who Has Access To Your Data?

• We will not sell or give your personal data to any third party in exchange for money.
• We will not share your personal data with any third party for marketing purposes.
• We may employ third party companies and individuals to help deliver our service on our behalf, to perform service-related services, or to assist us in analysing how our service is used. However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.

Third party providers that we may transfer personal data to include, but not limited to:

• Tenants and Leaseholders
• Building and other maintenance contractors
• Insurance companies, brokers and loss adjusters
• Software and IT providers
• Solicitors and estate agents
• Other managing agents
• Banks in order to process payments
• Local authorities
• Fire authorities

Lawful Basis for processing

To process any Personally Identifiable information (PII) on an individual an organisation must have a lawful basis for carrying this out. AST uses the following lawful bases for processing:

Contractual: the vast majority of our lawful processing is necessary for a contract with an individual or company, or because they have asked us to take specific steps before entering into a contract.

Consent: the individual has given clear consent for the process their data for a specific purpose. Where we use consent as the legal basis for processing your PII, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. If you wish to discuss or withdraw your consent, please contact us using the details below.

Legal obligation: we may be required to process PII to comply with our legal obligation, ie a court order.

How long with we keep your data?

We will retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use your personal data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies. With this in mind we will hold your data for a minimum of six years, unless you tell us otherwise.

Some of the retention periods are governed by statute. Others are guidelines following best practice. Every effort has been made to ensure that these retention periods are compliant with the requirements of the GDPR and the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We continually review this retention period to ensure we process your personal data within the statutory requirements contained within the General Data Protection Regulation.

What are your rights?

The GDPR provides the following rights for individuals:

1. The right to be informed:
   1. Data Subjects must be made clear about what, why and in what way their information will be used.
2. The right of access:
   1. Data Subjects have the right to know what information we hold on them, who holds this information and why.
3. The right to rectification:
   1. Data Subjects have the right to request corrections to the information that we hold on them.
4. The right to erasure:
   1. Data Subjects can request to be forgotten.
5. The right to restrict processing:
   1. Data Subjects can ask organisations to stop processing their information.
6. The right to data portability:
   1. Data Subjects can ask for their information in a machine-readable format or to have it sent to another organisation.
7. The right to object:
   1. Data Subjects have the right to object to organisations processing their information.
8. Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling:
   1. Data Subjects have protection against the use of profiling of their information or automated decision making.

PBM aim to take all reasonable steps to allow you to amend, delete, correct, or limit the use of your personal data. If at any point you believe the information we process on you is incorrect, you can request to see this information and have it corrected or deleted by contacting us using the details below.

Access to your Information/Subject access request

If you wish to submit a Subject Access Request to understand what personal information we hold for you please contact us at;

AST Assistance Limited
Suite 2, 26a St James Street Business Centre
Bacup
Rossendale
OL13 9NJ

Email: info@ast-assistance.com
Tel: 07312 519103

www.ast-assistance.com

AST are obliged to provide a response to your request within 1 month of receipt of the request. Where requests are complex or we are dealing with numerous requests we may extend this for a further two months, but you will be notified in these circumstances within one month of receipt of your request.

Privacy of Children

We do not knowingly process data of anyone under the age of 16. If you are the parent or guardian and you are aware that we hold personal data on your children please contact us. We will take necessary steps to stop processing this data once notified.

Special Category Data

We do not knowingly process any special category data, details of which are listed below. special category data is more sensitive, and so needs more protection. For example, information about an individual’s:
Race, ethnic origin, political or religious beliefs, trade union membership, genetics, biometrics (where used for ID purposes),health, sex life, or sexual orientation.

We will take necessary steps to stop processing this data once notified.

Complaints or queries

AST tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate.

This Privacy notice was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of the company’s collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed.

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data not in accordance with the law you can raise your concerns with the Information Commissioner’s Office:
The Information Commissioner 0303 123 1113 or if you are outside of the UK +44 1625 545 700.

Additional information about the Information Commissioners Office can be found by visiting their website at www.ico.gov.uk

PRIVACY POLICY

This Privacy Policy applies between you, the User of this Website, and AST Assistance Ltd, the owner and provider of this Website. AST Assistance Ltd takes the privacy of your information very seriously. This Privacy Policy applies to our use of any and all Data collected by us or provided by you in relation to your use of the Website.

 

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully.

Definitions and Interpretation

1.   In this Privacy Policy, the following definitions are used:

Data	collectively all information that you submit to AST Assistance Ltd via the Website. This definition incorporates, where applicable, the definitions provided in the Data Protection Laws;
Cookies	a small text file placed on your computer by this Website when you visit certain parts of the Website and/or when you use certain features of the Website. Details of the cookies used by this Website are set out in the clause below (Cookies);
Data Protection Laws	any applicable law relating to the processing of personal Data, including but not limited to the GDPR, and any national implementing and supplementary laws, regulations and secondary legislation;
GDPR	the UK General Data Protection Regulation;
AST Assistance Ltd,    we  or us	AST Assistance Ltd, a company incorporated in England and Wales with registered number 11583463 whose registered office is at Suite 2, 26a St James Street Business Centre, Bacup,   Lancashire,  OL13 9NJ;
UK and EU Cookie Law	the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 as amended by the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 & the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2018;
User or you	any third party that accesses the Website and is not either (i) employed by AST Assistance Ltd and acting in the course of their employment or (ii) engaged as a consultant or otherwise providing services to AST Assistance Ltd and accessing the Website in connection with the provision of such services; and
Website	the website that you are currently using, www.ast-assistance.com, and any sub-domains of this site unless expressly excluded by their own terms and conditions.

2.   In this Privacy Policy, unless the context requires a different interpretation:

a.   the singular includes the plural and vice versa;

b.   references to sub-clauses, clauses, schedules or appendices are to sub-clauses, clauses, schedules or appendices of this Privacy Policy;

c.   a reference to a person includes firms, companies, government entities, trusts and partnerships;

d.   "including" is understood to mean "including without limitation";

e.   reference to any statutory provision includes any modification or amendment of it;

f.    the headings and sub-headings do not form part of this Privacy Policy.

Scope of this Privacy Policy

3.   This Privacy Policy applies only to the actions of AST Assistance Ltd and Users with respect to this Website. It does not extend to any websites that can be accessed from this Website including, but not limited to, any links we may provide to social media websites.

4.   For purposes of the applicable Data Protection Laws, AST Assistance Ltd is the "data controller". This means that AST Assistance Ltd determines the purposes for which, and the manner in which, your Data is processed.

Data Collected

5.   We may collect the following Data, which includes personal Data, from you:

a.   name;

b.   date of birth;

c.   gender;

d.   job title;

e.   profession;

f.    contact Information such as email addresses and telephone numbers;

g.   demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests;

h.   financial information such as credit / debit card numbers;

i.    IP address (automatically collected);

j.    web browser type and version (automatically collected);

k.   operating system (automatically collected);

l.    a list of URLs starting with a referring site, your activity on this Website, and the site you exit to (automatically collected);

m.    case information including but not limited to: the property address and the tenancy documents.;

in each case, in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

How We Collect Data

6.   We collect Data in the following ways:

a.   data is given to us by you;

b.   data is received from other sources; and

c.   data is collected automatically.

Data That is Given to Us by You

7.   AST Assistance Ltd will collect your Data in a number of ways, for example:

a.   when you contact us through the Website, by telephone, post, e-mail or through any other means;

b.   when you register with us and set up an account to receive our products/services;

c.   when you complete surveys that we use for research purposes (although you are not obliged to respond to them);

d.   when you enter a competition or promotion through a social media channel;

e.   when you make payments to us, through this Website or otherwise;

f.    when you elect to receive marketing communications from us;

g.   when you use our services;

h.   where provided to AST Assistance Ltd via email, post or other method of document/information transfer;

in each case, in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Data That is Received From Publicly Available Third Parties Sources

8.   We will receive Data about you from the following publicly available third party sources:

a.   The Police; 

b.   Social Media; 

c.   Traditional Media, including newspapers and television.

Data That is Collected Automatically

9.   To the extent that you access the Website, we will collect your Data automatically, for example:

a.   we automatically collect some information about your visit to the Website. This information helps us to make improvements to Website content and navigation, and includes your IP address, the date, times and frequency with which you access the Website and the way you use and interact with its content.

b.   we will collect your Data automatically via cookies, in line with the cookie settings on your browser. For more information about cookies, and how we use them on the Website, see the section below, headed "Cookies".

Our Use of Data

10.                        Any or all of the above Data may be required by us from time to time in order to provide you with the best possible service and experience when using our Website. Specifically, Data may be used by us for the following reasons:

a.   internal record keeping;

b.   improvement of our products / services;

in each case, in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

11.                        We may use your Data for the above purposes if we deem it necessary to do so for our legitimate interests. If you are not satisfied with this, you have the right to object in certain circumstances (see the section headed "Your rights" below).

12.                        When you register with us and set up an account to receive our services, the legal basis for this processing is the performance of a contract between you and us and/or taking steps, at your request, to enter into such a contract.

Who We Share Data With

13.                        We may share your Data with the following groups of people for the following reasons:

a.   any of our group companies or affiliates - to ensure proper administration of client cases and files;

b.   our employees, agents and/or professional advisors - to obtain advice from professional advisers and to enable any such employee, agent or professional advisor to carry out their duties to their full effect;

c.   third party service providers who provide services to us which require the processing of personal data - for the purposes of providing effective services to ensure they can be carried out smoothly. This includes, but is not limited to, maintenance contractors, third party debtor tracing and advocacy;

d.   third party payment providers who process payments made over the Website - to enable third party payment providers to process user payments and refunds;

e.   relevant authorities - to aid in the prevention money laundering, the collection of taxes and duties or to aid the detection of crime;

in each case, in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Keeping Data Secure

14.                        We will use technical and organisational measures to safeguard your Data, for example:

a.   access to your account is controlled by a password and a user name that is unique to you.

b.   we store your Data on secure servers.

c.   payment details are encrypted using SSL technology (typically you will see a lock icon or green address bar (or both) in your browser when we use this technology.

15.                        Technical and organisational measures include measures to deal with any suspected data breach. If you suspect any misuse or loss or unauthorised access to your Data, please let us know immediately by contacting us via this e-mail address: mark@ast-assistance.com.

16.                        If you want detailed information from Get Safe Online on how to protect your information and your computers and devices against fraud, identity theft, viruses and many other online problems, please visit www.getsafeonline.org. Get Safe Online is supported by HM Government and leading businesses.

Data Retention

17.                        Unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law, we will only hold your Data on our systems for the period necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy or until you request that the Data be deleted.

18.                        Even if we delete your Data, it may persist on backup or archival media for legal, tax or regulatory purposes.

Your Rights

19.                        You have the following rights in relation to your Data:

a.   Right to access - the right to request (i) copies of the information we hold about you at any time, or (ii) that we modify, update or delete such information. If we provide you with access to the information we hold about you, we will not charge you for this, unless your request is "manifestly unfounded or excessive." Where we are legally permitted to do so, we may refuse your request. If we refuse your request, we will tell you the reasons why.

b.   Right to correct - the right to have your Data rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete.

c.   Right to erase - the right to request that we delete or remove your Data from our systems.

d.   Right to restrict our use of your Data - the right to "block" us from using your Data or limit the way in which we can use it.

e.   Right to data portability - the right to request that we move, copy or transfer your Data.

f.    Right to object - the right to object to our use of your Data including where we use it for our legitimate interests.

20.                        To make enquiries, exercise any of your rights set out above, or withdraw your consent to the processing of your Data (where consent is our legal basis for processing your Data), please contact us via this e-mail address: mark@ast-assistance.com.

21.                        If you are not satisfied with the way a complaint you make in relation to your Data is handled by us, you may be able to refer your complaint to the relevant data protection authority. For the UK, this is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The ICO's contact details can be found on their website at https://ico.org.uk/.

22.                        It is important that the Data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your Data changes during the period for which we hold it.

Links to Other Websites

23.                        This Website may, from time to time, provide links to other websites. We have no control over such websites and are not responsible for the content of these websites. This Privacy Policy does not extend to your use of such websites. You are advised to read the Privacy Policy or statement of other websites prior to using them.

Changes of Business Ownership and Control

24.                        AST Assistance Ltd may, from time to time, expand or reduce our business and this may involve the sale and/or the transfer of control of all or part of AST Assistance Ltd. Data provided by Users will, where it is relevant to any part of our business so transferred, be transferred along with that part and the new owner or newly controlling party will, under the terms of this Privacy Policy, be permitted to use the Data for the purposes for which it was originally supplied to us.

25.                        We may also disclose Data to a prospective purchaser of our business or any part of it.

26.                        In the above instances, we will take steps with the aim of ensuring your privacy is protected.

Cookies

27.                        This Website may place and access certain Cookies on your computer.     AST Assistance Ltd uses Cookies to improve your experience of using the Website and to improve our range of services.  AST Assistance Ltd has carefully chosen these Cookies and has taken steps to ensure that your privacy is protected and respected at all times.

28.                        All Cookies used by this Website are used in accordance with current UK and EU Cookie Law.

29.                        Before the Website places Cookies on your computer, you will be presented with a message bar requesting your consent to set those Cookies. By giving your consent to the placing of Cookies, you are enabling AST Assistance Ltd to provide a better experience and service to you. You may, if you wish, deny consent to the placing of Cookies; however certain features of the Website may not function fully or as intended.

30.                        This Website may place the following Cookies:

 

Type of Cookie	Purpose
Strictly necessary cookies	These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.
Analytical/performance cookies	They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
Functionality cookies	These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region). By using the Website, you agree to our placement of functionality cookie.

31.                        You can find a list of Cookies that we use in the Cookies Schedule.

32.                        You can choose to enable or disable Cookies in your internet browser. By default, most internet browsers accept Cookies but this can be changed. For further details, please see the help menu in your internet browser. You can switch off  Cookies at any time, however, you may lose any information that enables you to access the Website more quickly and efficiently.

33.                        You can choose to delete Cookies at any time; however, you may lose any information that enables you to access the Website more quickly and efficiently including, but not limited to, personalisation settings.

34.                        It is recommended that you ensure that your internet browser is up-to-date and that you consult the help and guidance provided by the developer of your internet browser if you are unsure about adjusting your privacy settings.

35.                        For more information generally on cookies, including how to disable them, please refer to aboutcookies.org. You will also find details on how to delete cookies from your computer.

General

36.                        You may not transfer any of your rights under this Privacy Policy to any other person. We may transfer our rights under this Privacy Policy where we reasonably believe your rights will not be affected.

37.                        If any court or competent authority finds that any provision of this Privacy Policy (or part of any provision) is invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision or part-provision will, to the extent required, be deemed to be deleted, and the validity and enforceability of the other provisions of this Privacy Policy will not be affected.

38.                        Unless otherwise agreed, no delay, act or omission by a party in exercising any right or remedy will be deemed a waiver of that, or any other, right or remedy.

39.                        This Agreement will be governed by and interpreted according to the law of England and Wales. All disputes arising under the Agreement will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English and Welsh courts.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

40.                        AST Assistance Ltd reserves the right to change this Privacy Policy as we may deem necessary from time to time or as may be required by law. Any changes will be immediately posted on the Website and you are deemed to have accepted the terms of the Privacy Policy on your first use of the Website following the alterations.  
   
  You may contact AST Assistance Ltd by email at mark@ast-assistance.com.

Attribution

41.                        This Privacy Policy was created using a document from Rocket Lawyer (https://www.rocketlawyer.com/gb/en).

 

This Privacy Policy was created on 25 October 2023.

 

 

Cookies

Below is a list of the cookies that we use. We have tried to ensure this is complete and up to date, but if you think that we have missed a cookie or there is any discrepancy, please let us know.

 

Strictly necessary

 

We use the following strictly necessary cookies:

 

Description	Purpose
Session Cookie	We use this session cookie to remember you and maintain your session whilst you are using our website.

 

Functionality

 

We use the following functionality cookies:

 

Description	Purpose
Analytical Cookie	We use this cookie for the purposes of analysing the source of leads and traffic to the website

 

Analytical/Performance

 

We use the following analytical/performance cookies:

 

Description	Purpose
Analytical & Performance Cookie	We use this cookie for the purposes of analysing the source of leads and traffic to the website