privacy policy

At BuildStore, we’re committed to maintaining the trust and confidence of our customers.

This Privacy Notice explains when and why we collect our customer’s personal information.  It makes clear how we use it, when we may share it with others and how we keep it secure.  It also explains how you can get the information we hold about you and the choices you have about how we use your information.

Who we are:

We are BuildStore and we are made up of a number of companies who themselves are Data Controllers, all of whom collect information about you. We will let you know which you have a relationship with, when you take out a product or service with us.

This notice applies to the following BuildStore Group companies:

BuildStore Limited. Registered Office: NSBRC, Lydiard Fields, Great Western Way, Swindon, Wiltshire, England, SN5 8UB. Registered in England 08412572

BuildStore Mortgage Services Limited. Registered Office: 8 Houstoun Interchange Business Park, Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland, EH54 5DW. Registered in Scotland SC448916

BuildStore Insurance Services Limited. Registered Office: 8 Houstoun Interchange Business Park, Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland, EH54 5DW. Registered in Scotland SC464573

BuildLoan Limited. Registered Office, 8 Houstoun Interchange Business Park, Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland, EH54 5DW Registered in Scotland SC447145

The following are trading styles of the BuildStore Group:

BuildStore PlotSearch
BuildStore Land4Developers
BuildStore Project Support

The following are trading styles of BuildLoan Limited:

BuildStore Development Finance

The following are trading styles of BuildStore Mortgage Services

BuildStore Mortgage Options
Help to Build Mortgages

You can find out more about the BuildStore Group companies at:

www.buildstore.co.uk
www.buildloan.co.uk
www.buildstore.co.uk/findingland/

BuildStore Group companies comply with Data Protection laws in the United Kingdom and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This privacy policy details how BuildStore processes your personal data.

BuildStore is made up of a number of companies who themselves are Data Controllers, all of whom collect information about you. We will let you know which you have a relationship with, when you take out a product or service with us.

Our Privacy Promise

Our promises to you are:

• Keep your data safe and private in accordance with GDPR
• Not to sell your data
• Only collect information that is needed to provide our service to you
• We’ll make sure that we use and share your personal information fairly and in a way you’d expect
• We’ll tell you how we use your information whenever we collect it, so you can make an informed decision
• We’ll keep your information up to date when you tell us about changes
• We’ll make it easy for you to exercise your rights
• We won’t hold your information for any longer than we need
• We’ll give you ways to manage and review your marketing choices at any time
• To give you ways to manage and review your marketing choices at any time.

If you have any questions or want more details about how we use your personal information, you can ask us by emailing dataprotection@buildstore.co.uk

How the law protects you

This privacy notice explains your privacy rights and how the law protects you. This notice is to let you know how the companies within the BuildStore Group promise to look after your personal information. This information includes what you tell us about yourself, what we learn by having you as a customer, and the choices you give us about what marketing you want us to send you.

In accordance with GDPR and your ‘Right to be Informed’ our privacy policy covers the following aspects:

1. What data we collect
2. How we use your personal data
3. Where we collect personal information from
4. Who we share your personal information with

What data we collect

The information we collect about you is used solely for the purposes for which it was provided. We only use it for additional purposes (such as marketing) if we have received your prior consent to do so.

It is entirely up to you whether you provide us with any personal information. If you choose not to, we may not be able to assist you.

We may collect personal information about you

• When you apply for our products and services
• When you talk to us over the phone or in one of our offices
• When you use our websites, including online enquiry forms or web chat
• In emails and letters
• In financial product reviews
• In customer surveys
• If you take part in competitions and promotions

We will not sell your information to any third party.

Along with our business and internal computer systems, our websites use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) to protect the details you send us. This is a standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between our server and you the client. When you enter your personal details on any of BuildStore’s websites, you are entering these within a secure environment.

In most web browsers, a padlock symbol appears at the beginning of the website along with https at the beginning of the web address indicating you are in a secure environment.

Why we need your information

GDPR requires us to have one or more of the following “lawful” reasons for processing your information:

“Contract performance” – the information needed to process and deliver your application, products and services and manage your relationship with us in line with the terms of that arrangement and the rules of our regulators.

“Legal obligation” – we are required by law to process your information, for example, to verify the identity of new customers and re-verify the identity of our existing customers from time to time.

“Legitimate interest” – we are allowed to use your information where on balance, the benefits of us doing so are legitimate and not outweighed by your interests or legal rights. Examples of this are:

• Administering your data to give you news alerts about plots and/or serviced plots for self build or custom build projects;
• Keeping an accurate history of your application to give you regular updates and respond to case enquires;
• To re-engage with you to review your existing mortgage and/or protection needs and to maintain and improve customer service standard

“Consent” – In some cases we may obtain your consent to use information in a particular way or where the law requires consent to be obtained. For example, if you consent to us sending you marketing information to find out more about related products or services. Whenever “consent” is the only reason for us using the information you have the right to change your mind and change or withdraw your consent. 

How we use your information

We use your information to send you the products you have requested from us online, over the phone or call recordings. We may use your data to verify your identity, preventing fraud and financial crime, complete any requests or manage any queries you have made. We use your information to enhance the servicing experience to meet your needs and if we need to fulfil any legal or regulatory obligations. We use your data in big data projects to help us understand trends in the marketplace. We use your information to send your marketing emails containing special offers and promotions from us and our approved business partners. We store our information on our servers in the UK. We use cookies to monitor your behaviour when you are on our websites, including details of how you clicked through to our sites, how long you spend on each page of our sites and whether you respond to any pop-up ads we may send to you on our sites (please see our section below on Cookies for more information).

We may also obtain information about you from our partner companies as well as credit reference agencies and fraud protection agencies.          

Change of purpose

We will only use your personal data for the purposes stated above unless we consider it necessary to use it for another reason and it is compatible with the original purpose.

If we need to use your data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and explain the legal basis which allows us to do so. We may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, where this is permitted and required by law.

Who we share your personal information with

We disclose personal information to third parties such as lenders, protection product suppliers, local councils, estate agents, property and land developers, but only what is necessary for the conclusion and ongoing servicing of a contract, for example, mortgage and/or protection contracts.

It may also be necessary to share your personal information with non-affiliated companies who perform support services on our behalf, including those that provide professional, legal or accounting advice to BuildStore Group companies.

These companies are required to ensure appropriate security measures are in place and maintain the confidentiality of your information and to use your personal information only in the course of providing such services as specified by BuildStore Group. We will not share your personal information with any of these third parties until we have carried out checks on those parties.

Finally, under limited circumstances, your personal information may be disclosed to third parties as permitted by, or to comply with applicable laws and regulations, for instance, to meet our obligations to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and when responding to such subject access requests, proceedings of a court of law or a similar legal process, to protect against fraud and to otherwise cooperate with law enforcement or regulatory authorities.

The personal information you provide will not be passed to any third-party organisations for marketing purposes.

How long is your personal information retained?

We will retain information for no longer than is necessary to manage your relationship with us and this will mean that we will continue to hold some information for a period of time after your relationship has ended. This is to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations to keep records of our relationship, to resolve disputes or where it may be needed for future legal proceedings:

Your Rights

You have legal rights relating to your personal information. We may ask you for proof of identity when you make a request to exercise a right. We do this to make sure we provide information only to the right person.

Right of Access

You have a right to access your personal data and supplementary information. Right of access allows you to be aware of and verify the lawfulness of how we process your data.

Under GDPR, you have a right to obtain:

• Confirmation that your data is being processed
• Access to your personal data; and
• Other supplementary information

To obtain a copy of the data and supplementary information we hold, please contact our Data Protection Officer. The contact details are shown in the “How to contact us” section.

There is no fee charged to access your personal data and supplementary information.

When you request access to your personal data, we will acknowledge receipt of your email or request by mail and will provide you with the information within one month of receipt of this request. In the case of complex or numerous requests, we have a right to extend this period. We will notify you if this is the case with your request and explain the reason why this extension is necessary.

Right to be Informed

You have the right to be informed about the information we provide you about what we do with your personal data. We must actively provide you with this information in a way that is easy to access, read and understand. We must also inform you of our retention periods of your data and who it will be shared with. You can send details of the information you require rectified to our Data Protection Officer. The contact details are shown in the “How to contact us” section.

We will acknowledge receipt of your request to rectify your information and confirm that this has been done within one month.

Right to Rectification

You have the right to have personal data rectified if it is inaccurate or incomplete. You can send details of the information you require rectified our Data Protection Officer. The contact details are shown in the “How to contact us” section.

We will acknowledge receipt of your request to rectify your information and confirm that this has been done within one month.

Right to Erasure

Under GDPR, you have a right to erasure. This means you can request the deletion or removal of your personal information where there is no compelling reason for its continued processing.

You can request the right to erasure by contacting our Data Protection Officer. The contact details are shown in the “How to contact us” section.

We will acknowledge receipt of your request to remove your personal information and confirm action of this request within one month. Sometimes, we must keep it for legal or regulatory reasons, for example, if you have used one of BuildStore’s services that is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. If we cannot meet your request, we will contact you to explain why.

Right to Restrict Processing

You have a right to restrict the processing of your personal data. This allows us to suspend the processing of your personal data in the following circumstances:

• Where the accuracy of your personal data is in question, you have a right to restrict the processing until we have verified the accuracy of the personal data
• Where you have objected to the processing of your personal information, but we need to verify whether we have an overriding legitimate grounds to use it
• Where you require us to hold the data even if we no longer require it as you need to establish, exercise or defend legal claims

Right to Data Portability

The Right to Data Portability allows you to obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes across different services. It allows you to move, copy or transfer personal data easily from one IT environment to another in a safe and secure way, without hindrance to usability.

Please note that this information only applies to automated information where you have given us your consent to us to use or where we’ve used your information to enter a contract with you.

Right to Object

The Right to Object allows you to object to the processing of your personal data under the following circumstances:

• Where we are relying on a legitimate interest or the performance of a task in the public interest
• Where the processing of your personal data is used for direct marketing purposes (including profiling)
• Where the processing of your personal information is used for purposes of historical research and statistics

Withdraw Consent

You have a right to withdraw consent at any time when we need your consent to process your personal data. This will not affect the lawfulness of any processing which has taken place before you withdraw your consent. If you choose to withdraw your consent, we will not be able to inform you of products or services. We will advise you if this is the case at the time you withdraw your consent. If you wish to exercise your right to withdraw your consent, you can do so by calling our Mortgage Help Desk Team on 0345 223 4888 or by emailing dataprotection@buildstore.co.uk Please read the section “Your Rights” for more details.

Marketing Communications

You will have the choice to opt-in to receive other marketing-related information regarding our products and services. You can opt out of these emails at any time by clicking on the link at the bottom of your email or by emailing dataprotection@buildstore.co.uk

Your personal information will not be passed onto any third-party organisation for marketing purposes.

Data Security

We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent your personal data from becoming accidentally lost, used, and accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.

We also limit access to your personal data only to those BuildStore staff, appointed representatives, advisers, business partners and suppliers who have a business need to know. Your personal data will only be processed on our authority, and they are held to a duty of confidentiality.

Cookies      

When using our websites, you can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies. If you decide to disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of our website may become inaccessible or not function properly. More information about the cookies we use can be found in our cookie policy.

Website Third-party links

Our websites may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share your personal information. We do not control these third party websites and are not responsible for their own privacy statements. We would actively encourage you to read the privacy notices of every website you choose to visit.

How to Contact Us

If you have any further questions or complaints concerning how your personal data is used or if you wish to exert any of your rights as data subjects concerning your personal data, please contact our Data Protection Officer by emailing dataprotection@buildstore.co.uk or by writing to us at the following address:

Data Protection Officer
BuildStore Limited
8 Houstoun Interchange Business Park
Livingston
West Lothian
EH54 5DW

The length of time in responding will depend on the type and complexity of your request, but we will issue a response no later than one month from your initial request.

Still not Satisfied?

If you are still not satisfied with how BuildStore Group has responded to your enquiry, you have a right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is the regulator for data protection in the United Kingdom.

Changes to our Privacy Notice

We keep our Privacy Notice under regular review to keep it up to date or when necessary to meet legal requirements. If there are any significant changes to how we use your personal information, we’ll inform you by putting a notice on our website. This Privacy Notice was last updated on 14th December 2023.