Privacy Policy
Who we are
This is the privacy statement of Wilkinson & Co (Surveyors) Ltd.
Wilkinson & Co (Surveyors) Ltd is a Limited Company registered in Scotland, registration number SC274311, having its registered office at 6 Swedish Houses, Strachur, Cairndow, Argyll, PA27 8DJ.
This privacy statement explains how we collect and use personal information about you.
What personal information we collect
We may collect the following information about you:
- name and job title,
- contact information including email address,
- demographic information such as your address, postcode, preferences and interests,
- financial data, including your financial position, status and history, including bank details and credit rating
- other information relevant to customer surveys and/or offers.
- ID information
- Information about how you use our website, products and services
- Details about payments to and from you and other details about services you purchase from us
- Information obtained by providing our services to you
- What we learn about you from letters, emails and conversations between us
Where we collect personal information from
- Directly from you
- Organisations or other businesses that introduce you to us, such as referrals from other professional advisors and financial institutions
- Credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies
- Publicly available resources, such as Companies House and Registers of Scotland
- The internet and social networking sites such as LinkedIn
- Title and search agents
- Intermediaries with whom you are also a client
- Solicitors, intermediaries, expert witnesses, courts, adjudicators, arbiters and others that we engage (or have engaged us) in connection with the products and services that we provide to you.
- Information we gathered via events
How we use your personal information
| What we use your information for | Our reasons | Our legitimate interests |
| Allow us to deliver the professional services that we have agreed to provide | Performance of a contractLegitimate interest | To meet our contractual obligations to our clients and other third parties with whom we contract/have a relationship |
| Check for conflict of interest in the provision of our service | Performance of a contractLegitimate interest | To ensure we avoid conflicts of interest when providing services to clients |
| Provide you with a quote for our services | Legitimate interest | To engage you as a client and allow us to provide you with our services |
| Maintain records | Legal obligation | |
| Communication by post, email or telephone | ConsentPerformance of a contractLegitimate interest | To communicate with you in the ordinary course of our business and to provide our services |
| Assist with queries you may have raised with one of our surveyors, staff members, partners or affiliates | Performance of a contract | |
| Manage claims or complaints relating the services we have provided | Performance of a contractLegitimate interest | To manage complaints and claims efficiently and to protect our business |
| Facilitate internal and external auditing purposes | Performance of a contractLegal obligationLegitimate interest | To assist with the management of our business and to ensure compliance with applicable regulations |
| Process financial transactions | Legal obligation | |
| Verify identity where this is required | Legal obligationLegitimate interest | To confirm the validity of any contract that is or will be drawn up between us |
| Understand your needs and how they may be met | ConsentLegitimate interest | To provide, or offer to provide, relevant services to you |
| Prevent and detect crime, fraud or corruption | Legal obligation | |
| Run our business in an efficient and proper way. This includes managing financial administration, business capability, planning, communications, corporate governance and audit | Performance of a contractLegal obligationLegitimate interest | To achieve operational efficiencies |
| For corporate activity, such as a sale, transfer, merger or re-organisation of our business | Performance of a contractLegitimate interest | To ensure that any corporate activity is appraised accuratelyTo manage our business efficiently in accordance with normal business practices and otherwise optimise and realise the value of our business for its owners |
| For public safety, including through the use of CCTV | Legitimate interest | To assist, where possible, in the promotion of public safety |
| For marketing and business development activities, including seeking new business, promoting our business and events management | ConsentLegitimate interest | To allow us to expand our business |
| Improve our services | Legitimate Interest | To retain or improve our business’s competitiveness |
| Analyse cookie and website usage data to keep improving our website and search functionality | ConsentLegitimate interest | To keep our website relevant and of interest to existing and potential customers |
| Allow us to customise the content of marketing material which is presented to you based on your likely interests | ConsentLegitimate interest | To market products and services to you that we believe will be of interest to you |
| Comply with applicable laws where we are obliged to retain and/or disclose certain information | Legal obligation | |
| Periodically send promotional emails about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided | ConsentSoft opt-in (ie where we have an existing relationship that allows us to send electronic marketing communications to you on an opt-out basis) | |
| Contact you for market research purposes. We may contact you by email, phone, fax or mail. We may use the information to customise our website according to your interests | ConsentLegitimate interest | To assess the potential to provide new products and services to you that we believe will be of interest to you |
Who we share your personal information with
At times it is necessary for us to share your information with third parties. We only share your information with third parties who we are satisfied will handle your data securely and appropriately.
For the provision of professional services we will share data with:
- Regulators and statutory bodies (such as The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Her Majesties Revenue and Customs, The Financial Conduct Authority and The information Commissioner’s Office),
- Software providers who facilitate the operation of our systems (such as Landmark Information Group Ltd),
- Organisations in relation to claims (Professional Negligence Insurance brokers and insurers, lawyers, Ombudsman),
- Debt recovery service providers (Lawyers, Sheriff’s officers, Debt recovery agencies, Tracing agents),
- Anti-money laundering service providers
- The police and other law enforcement agencies
- Public information resources, such as Companies House and Registers of Scotland
- Credit reference agencies and fraud prevention agencies
- Counterparties to any transaction
- Other professional advisors and agents engaged by you
How long we retain your personal information
We will retain client files (and your personal information within them) for as long as required by law and for legal claims purposes. For professional services we retain client files in accordance with the requirements of our insurer which is currently 15 years after completion of the service contract except in relation to contracts relating to commercial properties where those files may be retained indefinitely. The rules that apply to determine how long it is appropriate to hold records for particular matters can be complex and varied. If you wish to know how long we may hold your particular personal information as a record of a particular matter then please e-mail support@wilkiandco.com
Using our website
When you use our website we may collect the following information about you:
- name and job title,
- contact information including email address,
- demographic information such as your address, postcode, preferences and interests,
- other information relevant to customer surveys and/or offers
- information about how you use our website, products and services
We use the information we collect from you for the following purposes:
| What we use your information for | Our reasons | Our legitimate interests |
| To provide you with information you may ask for | Consent | |
| To publish any comments or any user generated content that you may post to our website | Consent | |
| To allow you to register for updates or for notifications of blog posts on our website | Consent | |
| To manage our relationship with you which will include notifying you about changes to our privacy policy and our website terms and conditions | ConsentLegitimate interest | To assist with the management of our business |
| To use data analytics to improve our website, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences | ConsentLegitimate interest | To keep our website relevant and of interest to existing and potential customersTo assess the potential to provide new products and services to you that we believe will be of interest to you |
Automated decisions
We do not envisage taking any decisions about you based solely on automated processing (i.e. without human involvement), which have a legal or similarly significant effect on you.
International transfers
We hold all personal information concerning our clients and their affairs within the United Kingdom.
We will only send your personal information outside the European Economic Area:
- where you ask us to
- where we are being instructed on your behalf by someone outside the European Economic Area (for example, another professional firm)
- where that is required to provide the services that you have instructed us to provide – for example, in instructing/dealing with foreign advisors on your behalf
- where we need to do so in order to comply with a legal duty incumbent on us or you
- where the transfer is necessary for important reasons of public interest
- the transfer is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims
If your information is to be processed outside the EEA, then we will ensure that it is protected to the same standards as if it were being processed within the EEA by using appropriate safeguards, which may include:
- ensuring that your information is only transferred to countries that have been recognised by the EU as adequate protecting personal information to the same standards as the EU
- putting in place a contract with the recipient of your information which requires them to protect that information to the same standards as if the information were being processed within the EEA
The safeguards we use will depend on the location of the recipient, the function they are performing and the personal information being transferred.
If you choose not to give your personal information
Where we need to collect personal information from you to meet our legal obligations – for example to carry out anti-money laundering checks – or under the terms of a contract we have with you and you fail to provide that data when requested, it may delay or prevent us from being able to perform the contract we have entered into with you and/or comply with our own legal obligations. In some cases, we may be unable to act for you or may have to withdraw from acting.
Your rights:
Access to your information – You have the right to request a copy of the personal information about you that we hold.
Correcting your information – We want to make sure that your personal information is accurate, complete and up to date and you may ask us to correct any personal information about you that you believe does not meet these standards.
Deletion of your information – You have the right to ask us to delete personal information about you where:
- You consider that we no longer require the information for the purposes for which it was obtained.
- We are using that information with your consent and you have withdrawn your consent – see Withdrawing consent to using your information below.
- You have validly objected to our use of your personal information – see Objecting to how we may use your information below.
- Our use of your personal information is contrary to law or our other legal obligations.
Objecting to how we may use your information – You have the right at any time to require us to stop using your personal information for direct marketing purposes. In addition, where we use your personal information to perform tasks carried out in the public interest then, if you ask us to, we will stop using that personal information unless there are overriding legitimate grounds to continue.
Restricting how we may use your information – In some cases, you may ask us to restrict how we use your personal information. This right might apply, for example, where we are checking the accuracy of personal information about you that we hold or assessing the validity of any objection you have made to our use of your information. The right might also apply where this is no longer a basis for using your personal information but you don’t want us to delete the data. Where this right to validly exercised, we may only use the relevant personal information with your consent, for legal claims or where there are other public interest grounds to do so.
Transfer – if we process personal information that you provide to us on the basis of consent or because it is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party, and in either case that processing is carried out by automated means, then you have the right to have that personal information transmitted to you in a machine readable format. Where technically feasible, you also have the right to have that personal information transmitted directly to another controller.
Withdrawing consent using your information – Where we use your personal information with your consent you may withdraw that consent at any time and we will stop using your personal information for the purpose(s) for which consent was given.
Please contact us in any of the ways set out in the Contact information and further advice section if you wish to exercise any of these rights.
Changes to our privacy statement
We keep this privacy statement under regular review and will place any updates on this website. Paper copies of the privacy statement may also be obtained from Wilkinson & Co, 6 Swedish Houses, Strachur, Cairndow, Argyll, PA27 8DJ.
This privacy statement was last updated on 28th January 2024.
Contact information and further advice
If you have any questions that are not covered in this Privacy Notice please contact us at:
support@wilkiandco.com or by writing to Mr P Wilkinson, Wilkinson & Co, 6 Swedish Houses, Strachur, Cairndow, Argyll, PA27 8DJ.
Complaints
We seek to resolve directly all complaints about how we handle personal information but you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office, whose contact details are as follows:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone – 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745
Website – https://ico.org.uk/concerns