Privacy notice

When you apply for one of our homes, we need to collect and use some personal information so we can manage your application, check eligibility, and decide whether we can offer you a home.

Most of the information we use at this stage is provided directly by you. In some cases, information may also come from other organisations involved in the housing process, such as local authorities, previous landlords, health professionals, or the Manchester Move system.

We use this information to:

• assess your housing application fairly
• make sure any home offered is suitable for your household
• prevent fraud and keep people safe
• meet our legal and regulatory responsibilities

Some of the information used at this stage may be more sensitive, for example information about health or support needs. Where this applies, we apply additional safeguards and only use this information where it is necessary and lawful to do so.

We will explain why we need information when we ask for it. Where providing information is optional, we will make this clear and explain any consequences of choosing not to provide it.

Once you’ve moved into your home, we continue to use your personal information so we can manage your tenancy or lease, provide services, and respond to issues that affect your home or neighbourhood.

This includes using your contact details to communicate with you, manage rent or service charge payments, arrange repairs and maintenance, carry out inspections or surveys, and deal with housing management issues such as anti-social behaviour.

We also keep records of our contact with you and any changes in your circumstances, for example if your contact details change or if you tell us about a medical or support need that affects your housing.

In some situations, we may need to collect or use more sensitive information, such as health or vulnerability information, so we can keep people safe or provide appropriate support. Where this applies, we apply additional safeguards and only use this information where it is necessary and lawful.

When you move out of your home or apply to be rehoused, we use personal information to manage the end of your tenancy, assess rehousing applications, recover debts where necessary, and meet legal and regulatory obligations.

This may include sharing limited information with other organisations, such as local authorities or national housing systems, where required by law. We only use the minimum amount of information needed for these purposes.

If you apply to buy your home or access another home ownership option, we use personal information to manage the legal and financial processes involved.

This may include verifying your identity, assessing eligibility, managing applications, and meeting legal or contractual requirements linked to home ownership schemes. In some cases, we may also need to recover debts or share information with other organisations involved in the process.

We only use information where it is necessary to manage these processes and meet our legal responsibilities.

We use personal information when you look for, take part in and sign up to services in our community centres.

This may include sending you information about support services, events or opportunities. When needed by law, we’ll ask for your consent before sending electronic communications. You can change your preferences at any time.

We also use information about accessibility or communication needs. This helps make sure our services meet your needs.

We may need to use more detailed personal information if you use support services. For example:

• money advice
• employment support
• health-related support
• youth services
• safeguarding support.

This can include information about your circumstances, household, finances, health or support needs. We use this information to:

• provide the support you need
• meet our legal duties
• work with partner organisations.

Some of the information used may be sensitive. We’ll usually ask for your consent or rely on another lawful basis allowed by law. We apply safeguards to protect your information.

We use personal information to check how we’re doing. It’s also used to make sure we meet our legal and regulatory responsibilities. This can include:

• recording calls for training and quality
• managing complaints
• doing customer satisfaction surveys
• using CCTV
• reporting information to regulators or other agencies when needed.

Where possible, we anonymise or de-identified information for reporting and analysis.

We use personal information for hiring and selection processes. This is when you apply for a job, apprenticeship or placement with us.

Hiring and selection processes include:

• assessing applications
• doing background checks where required by law
• managing employment or apprenticeship agreements.

Third-party providers support some recruitment processes. They act on our behalf and must follow data protection rules.

We only keep hiring information for as long as as it’s needed. This is in line with the law.