How we use your information
The tenancy agreement is a legal contract which sets out the rights and responsibilities both of the Council as landlord and you as the tenant of the Council house you have been allocated. We will use the contact information you provide to maintain our records to make sure we are using up-to-date and accurate names, addresses and contact details across the Council’s services.
We will use the data you provide to ensure that we offer any support you may need to allow you to stay in your home. We will also provide you with any relevant information on our services, and consult with you on any changes we make to the service we offer. We will therefore use your information to allow us to communicate directly with you. This includes communication by our newsletter, which is distributed via a third party printer. We will share your contact details with the printers to enable them to do so. We will share your contact details with the printers to enable them to do so. You can also choose to receive additional news and updates by email. These updates are managed in the same way we manage our website news subscriptions using the Granicus Communications Cloud. For further information please see our website news subscribers privacy notice. Receiving updates by email is your choice. You can opt out of receiving them at any time by clicking unsubscribe at the bottom of the emails.
Should you request a rent payment card, we will share your contact details with the third party responsible for providing this service. When you begin the tenancy we will complete a change of responsibility form which will include your name, address, date of tenancy change, and meter readings for utilities. We will pass this information to the current energy suppliers.
The Council may share information you provide with Revenues and Benefits, Social Work Services or Legal Services within the Council, or with Sheriff Officers, NHS Grampian, Police Scotland or Fire Scotland for the purpose of helping you to stay in your home and protecting the safety and wellbeing of you and your neighbours. We only share information on your health with Social Work or the NHS in order to identify any additional advice or support you may need to help you stay in your home or any additional measures needed to protect you or your neighbours.
Where necessary to verify your current housing situation we may share your relevant personal information with the Department of Work and Pensions, regarding any ongoing benefit claim relating to you or your household.
Where you provide us with next of kin name and contact details it is your responsibility to make sure that the person whose details we are collecting is aware that we are holding this information as part of our records. Next of kin information will only be used in emergencies and where we are unable to make contact with you directly, as we cannot reach you using the contact details we hold on file. We will not disclose any information relating to your tenancy to your next of kin, unless you have given us the authority to do this. If you fall behind on paying rent we will use the contact details you have provided for the purposes of contacting you to recover this debt. Where we contact your next of kin for this purpose, we will not disclose the reason we need to contact you.
On behalf of the Auditor General for Scotland, Audit Scotland appoints the auditor to audit the accounts of Aberdeen City Council. Audit Scotland currently requires us to participate in a data matching exercise to assist in the prevention and detection of fraud. We provide sets of data to Audit Scotland for matching for each exercise. These are set out in Audit Scotland's instructions, which you can find on the Audit Scotland website.
The use of data by Audit Scotland in a data matching exercise is carried out with statutory authority, normally under its powers in Part 2A of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000. It does not require the consent of the individuals concerned under the Data Protection law.
Data matching by Audit Scotland is subject to a Code of Practice. You can also find this on the Audit Scotland website.
Audit Scotland are also responsible for carrying out data matching exercises. Data matching involves comparing computer records held by one body against other computer records held by the same or another body to see how far they match. This is usually personal information.
Computerised data matching allows potentially fraudulent claims and payments to be identified but the inclusion of personal data within a data matching exercise does not mean that any specific individual is under suspicion. Where a match is found it indicates that there may be an inconsistency that requires further investigation. No assumption can be made as to whether there is fraud, error or other explanation until an investigation is carried out. The exercise can also help bodies to ensure that their records are up to date.
For further information on Audit Scotland's legal powers and the reasons why it matches particular information, please see the full text privacy notice on the Audit Scotland website.
How long we’ll keep your information for
We will keep the information you have provided for as long as you stay in your Council house as a tenant and for 7 years from the end of your tenancy or the last acknowledgement of debt, or the most recent contact with housing services, whichever is later. We will also keep the information updated as required.
If you request a rent payment card using an online form we will keep this information in our online customer service platform for 12 months from the date of the request. The company which produces the cards on behalf of the Council will retain your personal information for a period of three months following a request.
Your rights
You have rights in relation to your data, including the right to ask for a copy of it. See the Your data page for more information about all the rights you have, as well as the contact details for the Council’s Data Protection Officer. You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office if you think we haven’t handled your data properly.
Our legal basis
Wherever the Council processes personal data, we need to make sure we have a legal basis for doing so in data protection law. The Council understands our legal basis for processing personal data in relation to your lease agreement as part of our legal contract with you as a tenant of the Council house you have been allocated. Your tenancy is a contract with the Council and we have obligations to you under this contract which include providing you with information. We also have duties under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2010 and the Scottish Social Housing Charter, to provide you with relevant information on our services, and to consult with you on any changes we may make to the service we offer. We also have a public task under the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 to manage our housing stock. We need to collect rent to fulfil this task.
We use contact information to maintain our records so we can make sure we are using up-to-date and accurate names, addresses and contact details across the Council. This is important because fulfilling all of our public tasks effectively depends on having accurate and up to date key information about the people we serve; complying with data protection law, and doing so in a way which is compatible with our best value duty under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 2003.
In delivering our service, the Council may process special category personal data. This is in the substantial public interest to fulfil our obligations that we have considered all relevant information when making decisions relating to your housing situation, we do this under the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987.