LegalPrivacy Policy
Last updated: 7 October 2026
This policy explains how Lansdown Associates collects, uses and protects personal information, and the rights you have. It covers people who use our website or contact us, our clients, and other people whose information we handle in the course of our work, such as the occupiers of properties we inspect. Our use of cookies is explained separately in our Cookie Policy.
1. Who we are
Lansdown Associates is a RICS regulated building consultancy. In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” mean Lansdown Associates Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 11582066). Our registered office is 1a Cranford Road, Liverpool, L19 9AY. Our head office is at Rodney Chambers, 40 Rodney Street, Liverpool, L1 9AA, and we have offices at Unit 4, Hurricane Drive, Estuary Business Park, Liverpool, L24 8RL; Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5AN; and 85 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 7LT.
We are the controller of the personal information described in this policy, which means we decide how and why it is used. We are not required to appoint a data protection officer. Our director is responsible for data protection. You can contact us about this policy or your information at:
- Email: office@lansdownassociates.co.uk
- Phone: 0151 374 0905 (Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:00)
- Post: Data Protection, Lansdown Associates, Rodney Chambers, 40 Rodney Street, Liverpool, L1 9AA
2. The information we collect
When you contact us
If you use the enquiry form on our website, email or phone us, we collect your name, email address and phone number, the subject of your enquiry and anything else you choose to tell us, such as a property address or the problem you need help with.
When you instruct us
To provide our services we collect contact and billing details, the address and details of the property, access arrangements, our terms of engagement, correspondence, and payment records.
When we inspect a property and write a report
Our surveys and reports record the condition of a property. They can include:
- photographs, measurements and readings (photographs may incidentally show people or personal belongings, although we try to avoid this)
- the names and contact details of occupiers, to arrange access
- information about how a property is used, such as heating and ventilation habits and the number of people living there, where it is relevant to the cause of a problem such as damp and mould
Expert witness and dispute work
When we act as an expert witness or advise on a dispute, we receive case documents from solicitors, landlords, tenants and other parties. These can include claim details, witness statements and correspondence.
When you use our website
Our website records technical information such as your IP address, browser and device type, and the pages you visit. This is used to keep the site secure and working. Our website also loads its fonts from Google Fonts, so when a page loads your browser connects to Google’s servers, which receive your IP address. If you agree to statistics cookies, Google Analytics also collects information about how you use the site. See our Cookie Policy.
Where the information comes from
Most information comes directly from you. We also receive information from:
- clients who instruct us, such as landlords, housing providers, letting and managing agents, solicitors, lenders and buyers, who may give us details of occupiers or other parties
- solicitors, experts and other parties in a dispute or court case
- public sources such as HM Land Registry, planning records and Companies House
3. How we use your information and our lawful basis
Data protection law says we must have a lawful basis for each way we use personal information. We use it as follows:
| What we use it for | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Replying to enquiries and preparing quotations | Our legitimate interests in responding to people who contact us, or taking steps at your request before entering into a contract |
| Providing our services to clients, including inspections, reports and advice | Performance of our contract with the client |
| Recording information about occupiers and other people involved in a property or case | Our legitimate interests, and those of our client, in carrying out the work we have been instructed to do |
| Expert witness work and dispute resolution | Our legitimate interests and those of the parties and the court; for sensitive information, see section 6 |
| Invoicing, accounting and tax records | Performance of a contract and compliance with our legal obligations |
| Meeting professional and regulatory duties, including RICS rules, professional indemnity insurance and complaints handling | Compliance with legal obligations and our legitimate interests in running a regulated practice |
| Keeping our website and systems secure, and preventing fraud and misuse | Our legitimate interests |
| Displaying our website correctly, including loading fonts from Google Fonts | Our legitimate interests in providing a website that works and displays properly |
| Understanding how our website is used (Google Analytics) | Your consent, which you can withdraw at any time using the Cookie settings link at the bottom of every page |
| Sending you news or marketing, if you have asked to receive it | Your consent. We do not send marketing unless you have agreed to it, and you can opt out at any time |
Where we rely on legitimate interests, we have considered your interests and rights and concluded that they do not override ours. You can ask us for more information about this.
You do not have to give us your information, but if you do not, we may not be able to reply to your enquiry or carry out the work.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not make decisions about you based solely on automated processing.
4. Who we share your information with
We only share personal information where it is necessary. This may include:
- our client, and the parties and professionals involved in the matter, when a report is prepared for them
- courts, tribunals, solicitors and other experts, when we give expert evidence
- other professionals and contractors we work with on a job, such as structural engineers or specialist testing companies
- service providers who support our business, such as our website host and developer, email and IT providers, cloud storage (Microsoft OneDrive and SharePoint) and accounting software. They act on our instructions and must keep the information secure
- Google, which provides the analytics, maps and fonts used on our website
- our professional indemnity insurers, brokers and professional advisers
- RICS and other regulators, where we are required to
- the police, HMRC or other authorities, where the law requires it
- a buyer or successor, if our business is sold or restructured
When we work for a landlord or housing provider under its own legal duties, for example an Awaab’s Law investigation, that organisation may also be a controller of the information and its own privacy notice will apply.
5. Transfers outside the UK
Some of our service providers, including Google and Microsoft, may process personal information outside the UK, for example in the United States. Where this happens, we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as UK adequacy regulations (including the UK Extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework) or the ICO’s International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum.
6. Special category information
Some personal information is more sensitive, such as health information. We do not normally record this kind of information in our reports or files. If we receive it, for example in documents for a legal claim, we only use it where the law allows, usually because it is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
7. How long we keep your information
We keep personal information only for as long as we need it:
| Information | How long we keep it |
|---|---|
| Enquiries that do not lead to an instruction | 12 months from our last contact |
| Client files, reports, photographs and working papers | 15 years after the work is completed, because claims about professional work can be brought up to 15 years later |
| Expert witness and dispute files | 15 years after the matter ends |
| Accounting and tax records | 6 years from the end of the financial year they relate to |
| Website analytics (Google Analytics) | 14 months |
| Website security logs | Up to 90 days |
After these periods, we securely delete or destroy the information, or anonymise it.
8. How we protect your information
We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information, including access controls, password protection, encrypted connections to our website, and confidentiality duties for everyone who works with us. We only allow access to people who need it.
9. Your rights
You have the right to:
- access your personal information and receive a copy
- rectification, if information we hold is inaccurate or incomplete
- erasure of your information in some circumstances
- restrict how we use your information in some circumstances
- object to our use of your information where we rely on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing at any time
- data portability, to receive information you gave us in a portable format, in some circumstances
- withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent
Some rights do not apply in every situation, for example where we need to keep information for a legal claim or to meet a legal obligation. To use your rights, contact us using the details in section 1. We may ask you to confirm your identity. We will normally respond within one month, and there is usually no charge.
10. Complaints
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please contact us first so we can try to put it right. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and let you know the outcome without undue delay.
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection. Visit ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or call 0303 123 1113.
11. Other websites
Our website links to other websites, such as Google Maps and government guidance. We are not responsible for how those websites handle your information, so please read their privacy policies.
12. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy from time to time. The latest version will always be on this page, with the date it was last updated.