ARK Privacy and Cookie Policy
Who should read this policy:
Everyone who accesses our services through our landlord platform, which can
be accessed via our websites at www.homes.ark.rent and
www.dashboard.ark.rent (Platform) including landlord’s staff and managing
agents.
Everyone who accesses our services through our residents’ mobile app (Ark
App).
Everyone who accesses and uses our website at www.ark.rent (Website),
Other business contacts, suppliers, and service providers to our business.
What is covered: This policy sets out what information we collect about you,
what we use it for and who we share it with. It also explains your rights and
what to do if you have any concerns about your personal data.
Who to contact about this notice: If you have any questions about this
privacy policy, how we handle your personal data or you are looking to
exercise one of your rights, please contact support@projectark.co.uk.
Latest updates: This policy was last updated on 31 May 2022. We may
sometimes need to update this policy to reflect changes to the way we
provide our services or to comply with updates to data protection law. Where
possible, we will notify you of any substantive changes but please check back
regularly to see whether any changes have occurred.
Who checks this policy is enforced: The Information Commissioner’s Office
ICO is the UK regulator and is responsible for checking that businesses
comply with UK Data Protection Law.
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About this policy
1. About us
We are Project Ark Limited, registered in England and Wales with company number 12236613
whose registered address is Pannone Corporate LLP, 378380 Deansgate, Manchester,
England M3 4LY we /us /our).
For the purposes of UK data protection law, we are the controller of your information (which
means we decide what information we collect and how it is used). We are registered with the
Information Commissioner’s Office ICO, the UK regulator for data protection matters, under
number ZA707197.
If you have any questions about this privacy notice or the way that we use information, please
get in touch using the following details:
Email address: support@projectark.co.uk
Postal address: Pannone Corporate LLP, 378380 Deansgate, Manchester, England M3 4LY (for
the attention of: Managing Director).
2. Information we collect about you and how we use it
Personal data means all information which does (or could be used to) identify a living person.
We have grouped together the types of personal data that we collect and where we receive it
from below:
Types of Personal Data
Received from
Identity Data – your first and last name and title.
For residents only, we also collect details of: gender,
date of birth and a copy of your passport.
●You
Staff of Landlords/
Managing agents only:
●Your employer
Residents only:
●Your Landlord
●Your Managing
agents
Contact Data – your email address, telephone
numbers,
For staff of Landlords/Managing Agents only, we also
collect details of your job title and employer.
For residents only, we also collect your home
address.
●You
Staff of Landlords/
Managing agents only:
●Your employer
Residents only:
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●Your Landlord
●Your Managing
agents
Feedback – information and responses you
provide when completing surveys and
questionnaires.
●You
Profile Data – email address, password, username,
viewing requests, tenancy applications and service
orders made by you, chat logs, audit trail of
documents.
●You (including via
cookies and other
technologies)
Marketing and Communication Data - includes your
preferences in receiving marketing from us and our
third parties and your communication preferences.
●You
Technical Data - internet protocol IP address, your
login data, browser type and version, time zone
setting and generic location, browser plug-in types
and versions, operating system and platform on the
devices you use to access our systems.
●You (via cookies
and other similar
technologies)
Usage Data – information about how you use our
systems.
●You (via cookies
and other similar
technologies)
3. How we use your information
Under UK data protection law, we need a legal reason (known as a lawful basis) for holding,
collecting and using your personal data. There are 6 main legal reasons which organisations
can rely on. The most relevant are:
●to enter into and perform our contract with you;
●pursue our legitimate interests (our justifiable business aims) but only if those interests are
not outweighed by your other rights and freedoms (e.g. your right to privacy);
●to comply with a legal obligation that we have;
●where you have consented to us using your personal data a certain way.
Where we need to collect your personal data (for example, in order to fulfil a contract, we have
with you), failure to provide us with your personal data may mean that we are not able to
provide you with the services. Where we do not have the information required about you to
provide our services, we may have to cancel the service requested.
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Users of the Landlord/Managing Agent Platform
Lawful Basis
Purpose for using your personal data
Legal Obligation
●Recording your preferences (e.g. marketing) to ensure that
we comply with data protection laws.
●Where we send you information to comply with a legal
obligation (e.g. where we send you information about your
legal rights).
●Where we retain information to enable us to bring or defend
legal claims.
Legitimate Interests
Where using your information is necessary to pursue our legitimate
business interests to:
●provide our services to the business that employs or
engages you;
●improve and optimise our Platform;
●monitor and make improvements to our Platform to enhance
security and prevent fraud;
●to provide our services to you and ensure the proper
functioning of our Platform;
●to protect our business and defend ourselves against legal
claims;
●to personalise your use of our services via our Platform; and
●to inform you about our services, promotions or events
which may be of interest to you and to the extent that we
are permitted by law and clause 4 below.
Where we use your information for our legitimate interests, we have
assessed whether such use is necessary and that such use will
not infringe on your other rights and freedoms.
Consent
●Where you have provided your consent to providing us with
information or allowing us to use or share your information.
●Where you have consented to receive marketing material
from us.
Use of the Ark App by residents
Lawful Basis
Purpose for using your personal data
Contract
●To administrate or perform our contract with you and the
landlord / managing agents, and provide our services, we will
process your personal data for the following purposes:
●to identify you (specifically but not limited to you being
a resident of the landlord’s property);
●to respond to your enquiries;
●to allow you to register an account;
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●to provide our services to you in accordance with our
Ark App Terms, and ensure the proper functioning of
the Ark App;
●to carry out administrative activities;
●to carry out billing activities (such as
requesting/facilitating payment of rent and/or service
charges via third-party payment provider / processor).
Legal Obligation
●Recording your preferences (e.g. marketing) to ensure that
we comply with data protection laws.
●Where we send you information to comply with a legal
obligations (e.g. where we send you information about your
legal rights).
●Where we retain information to enable us to bring or defend
legal claims.
Legitimate Interests
Where using your information is necessary to pursue our legitimate
business interests to:
●improve and optimise the Ark App;
●monitor and make improvements to the Ark App to enhance
security and prevent fraud;
●to provide our services to you and ensure the proper
functioning of the Ark App;
●to protect our business and defend ourselves against legal
claims; and
●to personalize your use of our services via the Ark App; and
●to inform you about our services, promotions or events
which may be of interest to you and to the extent that we
are permitted by law and clause 4 below.
Where we use your information for our legitimate interests, we have
assessed whether such use is necessary and that such use will
not infringe on your other rights and freedoms.
Consent
●Where you have consented to receive marketing material
from us.
Website visitors and other Ark business contacts
Lawful Basis
Purpose for using your personal data
Legal Obligation
●Recording your preferences (e.g. marketing) to ensure that
we comply with data protection laws.
●Where we send you information to comply with a legal
obligation (e.g. where we send you information about your
legal rights).
●Where we retain information to enable us to bring or defend
legal claims.
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Legitimate Interests
Where using your information is necessary to pursue our legitimate
business interests to:
●ensure the proper functioning of, improve and optimise our
Website;
●monitor and make improvements to our Website to enhance
security and prevent fraud;
●to protect our business and defend ourselves against legal
claims; and
●to personalise your use of our services via our Website; and
●to inform you about our services, promotions or events
which may be of interest to you and to the extent that we
are permitted by law and clause 4 below.
Where we use your information for our legitimate interests, we have
assessed whether such use is necessary and that such use will
not infringe on your other rights and freedoms.
Consent
●Where you have provided your consent to providing us with
information or allowing us to use or share your information.
●Where you have consented to receive marketing material
from us.
4. When we send you marketing messages
If you have consented to receiving marketing messages from us, you can opt out of these at
any time. Just let us know at support@projectark.co.uk.
Where you have used services from us before, we may use your information to send you
marketing messages about a similar service that we think (based on the information you have
provided us) would be of interest to you. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you
can opt out at any time by clicking ‘unsubscribe’ in the message or by emailing
support@projectark.co.uk.
5. Who we share your information with
We may share your personal data with:
●Our personnel: our employees (or other types of workers) and/or subsidiaries who have
contracts containing confidentiality and data protection obligations in order to process
your order.
●Our supply chain: other organisations that help us provide our services. We ensure
these organisations only have access to the information required to provide the support
we use them for and have a contract with them that contains confidentiality and data
protection obligations.
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●Our Website, Ark App and Platform hosting provider: the company who provides
Website, Ark App and Platform hosting services to us may have access to some
information (e.g. information from cookies and tracking technologies) to ensure that the
Website, Ark App and Platform is working correctly.
●Our cloud service provider: which we use to store information about our users and
which enables us to deal with enquiries and provide our services.
●Regulatory authorities: such as HM Revenue & Customs.
●Our professional advisers: such as our accountants or legal advisors where we require
specialist advice to help us conduct our business.
●Third party marketing providers: such as SendGrid when you sign up to receive
marketing messages or newsletters from us.
●Any actual or potential buyer of our business.
●Where you are a resident, Landlords and/or Managing Agents of a property you have
applied to rent or are renting.
If we were asked to provide personal data in response to a court order or legal request (e.g.
from the police), we would seek legal advice before disclosing any information and carefully
consider the impact on your rights when providing a response.
6. Where your information is located or transferred to
We store company information (including your personal data) in servers located in the United
Kingdom.
We will only transfer information outside of the UK or the EU where we have a valid legal
mechanism in place (e.g. by using contracts approved by the European Commission or UK
Secretary of State).
7. How we keep your information safe
We have put in place appropriate security and safety measures to prevent your personal data
from being lost or illegally accessed by those who do not have permission. These measures
include:
●access controls and user authentication (e.g., passwords);
●staff policies and training;
●contractual safeguards with our third-party processors;
In the event that there is an event or incident affecting your personal data, we will keep you
informed. We may also need to notify the regulator (where required under data protection law)
and if we make decisions about personal data about your data jointly with another party (for
example, if a third-party marketing provider), we may need to notify them.
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8. How long we keep your information
Where we are responsible for making decisions about how to collect and use your personal
data, we will only keep your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we
collected it for or as long as required to fulfil our legal obligations.
When we consider how long to keep your personal data, we will consider whether it is still
necessary to keep it for the purpose which we collected it or whether the same purpose could
be achieved by holding less personal data. We will also consider the volume, nature, and
sensitivity of the personal data and the potential harm to you if there was an incident affecting
your personal data.
We may keep Identity Data, Contact Data and certain other data (specifically, any exchanges
between us by email or any other means) for up to seven years after the end of our contractual
relationship with you.
If you browse our Website, we keep personal data collected through our analytics tools for only
as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for (see our cookie policy for further
information).
If you have asked for information from us or you have subscribed to our mailing list, we keep
your details for a reasonable time or until you ask us to stop contacting you.
9. Your legal rights
You have specific legal rights in relation to your personal data.
We can decide not to take any action in relation to a request where we have been unable to
confirm your identity (this is one of our security processes to make sure we keep information
safe) or if we feel the request is unfounded or excessive. We may charge a fee where we
decide to proceed with a request that we believe is unfounded or excessive. If this happens we
will always inform you in writing.
Your legal rights are as follows:
Access: You must be told if your personal data is being used and you can ask for
a copy of your personal data as well as information about how we are using it to
make sure we are abiding by the law.
Correction: You can ask us to correct your personal data if it is inaccurate or
incomplete. We might need to verify the new information before we make any
changes.
Deletion: You can ask us to delete or remove your personal data if there is no
good reason for us to continue holding it or if you have asked us to stop using it.
If we think there is a good reason to keep the information you have asked us to
delete (e.g. to comply with regulatory requirements), we will let you know and
explain our decision.
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Restriction: You can ask us to restrict how we use your personal data and
temporarily limit the way we use it (e.g. whilst you check that the personal data
we hold for you is correct).
Objection: You can object to us using your personal data if you want us to stop
using it. We always comply with your request if you ask us to stop sending you
marketing communications but in other cases, we decide whether we will
continue. If we think there is a good reason for us to keep using the information,
we will let you know and explain our decision.
Portability: You can ask us to send you or another organisation an electronic
copy of your personal data.
Complaints: If you are unhappy with the way we collect and use your personal
data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner or another relevant
supervisory body, but we hope that we can respond to your concerns before it
reaches that stage. Please contact us at tech@projectark.co.uk
If you would like to exercise any of your legal rights, please contact: tech@projectark.co.uk
10. Our cookie policy
Our Website, Ark App and Platform use cookies and similar technologies.
Cookies are small text files that are downloaded to your device. Cookies contain uniquely
generated references which are used to distinguish you from other users. They allow
information gathered on one webpage to be stored until it is needed for use on another,
allowing our Website, Ark App and Platform to provide you with a personalised experience (like
remembering your favourites) and provide us with statistics about how you interact with our
Website, Ark App and Platform.
Cookies are not harmful to your devices (like a virus or malicious code), but some individuals
prefer not to share their information (for example, to avoid targeted advertising).
Different types of cookies
Session vs. persistent cookies: cookies have a limited lifespan. Cookies which only last a short
time or end when you close your browser are called session cookies. Cookies which remain on
your device for longer are called persistent cookies (these are the cookies which allow
websites to remember your details when you log back onto them).
First party vs third party cookies: cookies placed on your device by the website owner are
called first party cookies. When the website owner uses other businesses’ technology to help
them manage and monitor their website, the cookies added by the other business are called
third party cookies.
Categories of cookies: cookies can be grouped by what they help the website or website
owner do (the Purpose).
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●Necessary cookies are cookies which help the Website, Ark App and Platform to run
properly (when they are strictly necessary cookies it means their only function is to help
the website work).
●Performance cookies help a Website, Ark App and Platform owner understand and
analyse how Website, Ark App and Platform visitors use their website.
●Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the Website, Ark
App and Platform. These cookies help provide information on metrics, such as the
number of visitors, bounce rate, etc.
●Marketing cookies tailor online adverts to reflect the content you have previously
browse and help inform companies about your interests so they can show you relevant
adverts.
What do we use cookies for?
We use cookies:
●to track how visitors use our Website, Ark App and Platform
●to record whether you have seen specific messages we display on our Website,
Ark App and Platform
●to keep you signed into our Website, Ark App and Platform
●where we post content and links to content, we use cookies to capture and
analyse information such as number of views and shares
The cookies we use are:
Cookie
Purpose
What it does
How long it lasts
_ga
Analytical cookie
This cookie is installed by Google
Analytics. The cookie is used to
calculate visitor, session, campaign
data and keep track of site usage for
the site's analytics report. The cookies
store information anonymously and
assign a randomly generated number
to identify unique visitors
2 years
_hp2_id.***
User cookie (stores user_id, identity,
other ids)
13 months
_hp2_ses_props.*
**
intercom-id-***
This cookie is set by Intercom.io and
connects the visitor to the right
account on Intercom.io
9 months
intercom-session-
***
This cookie is set by Intercom.io to
enable our chat functionality and
refreshed on each successful
logged-in ping, extending it to 1 week
from the moment.
7 days
_gid
Registers a unique ID for a website
visitor it tracks how the visitor uses
the website. The data is used for
statistics.
1 day
_hjFirstSeen
This cookie is being set by Hotjar for
performance and analytics purposes.
30mins
10
_hjSessionUser_
***
Hotjar cookie that is set when a user
first lands on a page with the Hotjar
script. It is used to persist the Hotjar
User ID, unique to that site on the
browser. This ensures that behavior in
subsequent visits to the same site will
be attributed to the same user ID.
1 year
_hjSession_***
A cookie that holds the current session
data. This ensues that subsequent
requests within the session window
will be attributed to the same Hotjar
session.
30mins
_gat_***
Set by Google Analytics to control the
request rate.
1 minute
cf_ob_info
This cookie is set by Cloudflare.
Cloudflare helps to improve site speed
and protect the site from threats such
as hackers and spammers.
A few seconds
We can only use cookies with your permission (you will be prompted by a message when you
first visit our Website, Ark App and Platform, also known as a cookie banner, where you can
choose to accept or decline our cookies).
You can choose to decline cookies but if you turn off necessary cookies, some pages and
functions on our Website may not work properly. You can also manage cookies through your
browser settings or device settings (your user manual should contain additional information).
You can also delete cookies directly with the relevant third parties (for example, you can
disable Google Analytics on their website).
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