Last updated: 8 October 2024

Next review: 8 October 2025

Who we are and what we do?

Lettings Waltham Forest is Waltham Forest Council’s in-house lettings agency, which has been creating and sustaining tenancies since 2012. Being part of the local authority means that we are committed to offering a great choice of high-quality, decent homes at a reasonable cost, throughout the borough.

We are working with Homeflow to build a property website to assist us in helping landlords advertise their properties and residents find accommodation to live in. 

By submitting your enquiry, you consent for the London Borough of Waltham Forest to be the ‘Controller’ of your data and our third-party providers ‘Homeflow’ to be the ‘Processor’.

Waltham Forest Council determines the purposes and means of processing your personal data as stated below.

All third-party providers will only process and hold the information of tenants and landlords, they in no way have decision-making powers as to how and when the data is entered, updated, or removed. 

If you have questions regarding this service or our privacy practices, you can contact us by e-mail or in writing at the address below:

Lettings Waltham Forest

Waltham Forest Town Hall

Forest Road

Walthamstow E17 4JF

Email: lettingswalthamforest@walthamforest.gov.uk

Phone: 0208 496 4865

Information we hold about you

Lettings Waltham Forest will collect the following information from applicants:

  • Title
  • Full Name
  • Contact phone number
  • Email address

Lettings Waltham Forest will collect the following information from landlords:

  • Title
  • Full Name 
  • Contact phone number
  • Email address
  • Property address
  • How many bedrooms
  • Property type
  • Availability date

This is the minimum personal data required to assist you in finding suitable accommodation. 

Why we need your information and how we use it?

Data submitted to via Lettings Waltham Forest website will be used for the following purposes:

  • To assist our community in finding residency
  • To provide a letting platform for Landlords
  • To match potential tenants with appropriate properties based on the information provided and their requirements. 
  • To potential matches to arrange viewings, confirm information.
  • To inform Landlords of potential rental income 

The Lawful basis for the processing

The lawful basis for the processing of your data is consent.

By completing and submitting an enquiry on our website you are consenting to the processing of your data for the purposes of matching you with a relevant property. 

Consent may be withdrawn by you at any time by email or in writing, using the contact details provided above. 

For more details on the Lawful Basis see the ICO guidance.

Who your information will be shared with (if applicable)

The information you provide will remain confidential.

So that we can deliver an effective service, your information will be shared with other teams within the council. This includes:

Council tax team to ensure the Council’s records are current with who will be responsible for council tax at the address. 

Deposit protection provider to add the tenant to the deposit protection scheme.

Rightmove to conduct tenancy reference checks.

Your data may also be used for statistical, research, and fraud prevention purposes. Lettings Waltham Forest may use anonymised data for reporting purposes. 

How long we will keep your information

Data is collected for the purpose of contacting tenants that are seeking properties to rent. A deadline will be provided by the applicant as to when they need to move by, any data held after this period will be removed as it is no longer required. Normally the data will be held up to 3 months.

In other cases where a potential tenant might not have matched with one of our properties, we'll retain their contact details to advise them when a property that does match their needs is available - this data could be retained for up to 1 year.

Our Data Protection Officer

Our Data Protection Officer is Mark Hynes, you contact him by email at data.protectionofficer@walthamforest.gov.uk

Protecting your information

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Your information choice and rights

Please see the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Complaints and contact details

These are included in the relevant section of the Corporate Privacy Notice.

Information Commissioner’s Office

If we’re unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO)