01
Who we are.
Sterling Investments (Bournemouth) Ltd (company number 08509712) is the sole data controller for personal information collected through this website and in connection with our student lettings.
Our registered address is 35 Seamoor Road, Bournemouth BH4 9AE.
02
What we collect.
The information we collect depends on how you interact with us.
From enquiries
- Your name, email address, and (if provided) phone number
- The content of your message and any attachments
- Details you choose to share, such as which apartment you are enquiring about, your university, or your preferred move-in date
From tenants and prospective tenants
- Tenancy details, including identification documents, references, and (where applicable) guarantor information
- Right-to-rent verification documents as required by UK law
- Payment information for rent and deposit
From correspondence
- Records of emails, letters, and phone conversations relating to your tenancy or enquiry
Automatically, when you visit this website
- Basic technical information such as device type and browser, used only to ensure the website works properly
03
How we use it.
We use the information we collect for the following purposes:
- To respond to enquiries about our apartments
- To assess and complete tenancy agreements, including identity and right-to-rent checks
- To manage active tenancies, including maintenance, repairs, rent collection, and end-of-tenancy procedures
- To comply with our legal obligations, including tax and right-to-rent requirements
- To maintain accurate business records
We do not use your information for marketing without your express consent. We do not run automated decision-making. We do not sell or rent your information to anyone.
04
Lawful basis.
We rely on the following lawful bases under UK GDPR:
- Contract: to provide services you have requested, such as managing a tenancy
- Legitimate interests: to respond to your enquiry and to maintain accurate business records
- Legal obligation: for things like right-to-rent checks and tax records
- Consent: where you have explicitly opted in (for example, agreeing to receive updates about availability)
Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time by contacting us.
05
Who we share it with.
We share personal information only when it is necessary to do our job, when we are required to by law, or when you have asked us to. The categories of recipients are:
- Deposit Protection Service (DPS): your tenancy deposit is held in a government-approved scheme
- HMRC: where required for tax reporting
- Professional advisers: solicitors and accountants, only as required by law or for tenancy matters
- Contractors and tradespeople: where access to your apartment is needed for repairs or maintenance
- Regulatory bodies: including ANUK and local authorities, where required by law or accreditation
We do not transfer personal data outside the UK except where the law expressly permits it.
06
How long we keep it.
We do not keep information for longer than we need to. Specifically:
- Enquiries that do not lead to a tenancy: kept for up to 12 months, then deleted
- Tenancy records: kept for the duration of your tenancy plus six years, in line with limitation periods for contractual claims
- Right-to-rent records: kept for the periods required by UK law
07
Your rights.
Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:
- Access a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- Have inaccurate data corrected
- Have your data erased (subject to our legal obligations to retain it)
- Restrict how we process your data
- Object to how we process your data
- Data portability: to receive your data in a portable format
- Withdraw consent at any time, where we relied on it
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details in section 9. We will respond within one month.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.
08
Cookies.
This website does not set cookies. To understand how visitors use the site we use Cloudflare Web Analytics, a privacy-first measurement service that does not use cookies and does not track individuals across the web, so no consent banner is needed.
We do not use advertising cookies, social media trackers, or third-party profiling tools.
10
Updates to this policy.
We review this policy from time to time and will update it where needed. The date at the top of this page shows when it was last updated. Significant changes will be communicated to active tenants directly.