Last updated: 19/06/2026 

This notice explains how we collect personal information about you, why we do this, how it is used and tells you about your privacy rights.  

Who we are 

Unipol was established in 1973, and we provide help and assistance to students renting in the private sector, provide direct housing to students in Leeds, Nottingham and Bradford, run a number of accreditation schemes as well as training and promoting best practice in student housing. 

We are a registered charity (no. 1063492) and company limited by guarantee (03401440) with our registered office at 15/157 Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 3ED. 

If you have any queries about this this notice or have any data protection related requests you can write to us, email us at: dataprotection@unipol.org.uk, or call us on 0113 243 0169. 

Why we collect your data 

We need personal information in order to provide different types of service and administer the charity: 

• Tenants of Unipol or those in properties managed by Unipol; 

• Landlord services (which includes membership of the Unipol Codes, Rental Standards and advertising, and reviews); 

• Event booking, research and briefings; 

• To provide house hunting assistance to students including the Rate Your Landlord service; 

• Contractors, suppliers, Trustees and others we interact with on a professional basis. 

We also collect it to help respond to enquiries, feedback and complaints submitted through forms on our websites, emails and web chat. Finally we use it to analyse and help improve our web services.    

When is personal information collected 

If you sign up for a Unipol service we will ask you to supply personal details necessary for providing that service. We then log information, such as IP address and browser being used) each time you access our services and may ask for additional information while you are using them. We record information given when you communicate with us through email, web chat or web forms.  

We are provided with information on students and landlords from educational institutions for allocated tenancies and the Homestay service. 

When you visit and interact with our websites we use Google Analytics and firewall logs to record information about your behaviour (what you click on) and demographic information such as gender, age and location. Although this may seem quite detailed there is no way for us to use this information to identify individuals. 

Unipol collects and stores information on third party tenancies supplied from landlords using our tenancy agreement generator service. 

What kind of data do we collect? 

• Personal information you give when signing up and using a Unipol service; 

• Personal information given to Unipol by an organisation where Unipol is providing a service in partnership with / for them; 

• Contact details of Trustees and others involved in governance; 

• Feedback through our websites; 

• Subscription information for news and service alerts; 

• Booking details from people attending Unipol organised training and events; 

• Payment transaction details – these do not include billing information such as card details which are processed for Unipol by a third party; 

• Student to Student Noticeboard Messages; 

• Information on people using our office wireless networks; 

• Website usage and demographic information through Google Analytics; 

• Firewall and server logs of users accessing web services; 

• Statistics on searches for accommodation which include filters used, results, viewing requests and personal clipboard lists or favourites 

How do we keep your data safe 

Our websites and services have numerous security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse and alteration of the information under our control. The measures include passwords, linkages to secure servers, encryption, data backup, and conventional locks and alarm systems.  

How long do we keep personal data for 

Type of data	Length of retention	From
Tenant (direct and allocated)	7 years	Contract ending
Landlord	7 years	Service last used
Non-tenant student accounts	26 months	From last logon
Enquiries / web form entries	Maximum 26 months	From submission
Complaints	7 years	From submission
Payment transactions	7 years	From submission
Agreement generator	3 months	From submission
Google Analytics tracking information	26 month	From submission
Firewall and server event logs	3 months	From submission

If you’d like more information on how long we’ll keep your personal details for please contact us: dataprotection@unipol.org.uk  

Who has access to your information? 

Within Unipol only staff who need to access your information to fulfil specific duties will be able to view and process. 

We use external service providers to support the efficient running of our operations. These   service providers handle your personal data on our behalf, and we have appropriate contractual arrangements in place covering these relationships. 

The majority of our service providers are located in the UK. Where a service provider is based outside the UK, we make sure appropriate safeguard measures are in place.  

Where necessary we may share your personal data with other external parties, but only with your permission, or where we believe we have a sound justification for doing so.  

If we have supplied an internet service as part of your tenancy this is done through a third party company and any personal information supplied during registration for this and during use of the service is subject to their privacy policies. 

Marketing communications  

You can change your mind about receiving marketing information from Unipol and opt out at any time. This can be done by clicking the unsubscribe button on the bottom of the emails we send you, responding STOP to any text messages or, if you have a user account, by logging on and changing your contact preferences. Your right to opt out only applies to marketing information. 

Your rights regarding your personal information 

You have a number of rights under UK data protection law. These are listed below, along with our contact details, should you wish to make a request. 

• The right to be informed about how we handle your personal data.  This privacy notice is one of the ways we do this. 

• The right to ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you and the purposes for which we are using it. ‘Personal data’ is any information which can directly, or indirectly, identify you. 

• The right to object about how we’re are handling your personal information  
• The right to ask us to erase your personal details. We’ll assess any erasure request on a case-by-case basis, as we may have a justification for keeping records.  

Your also have the right to ask us to change any details we hold which may be incorrect or need updating, ask us to restrict or suppress your personal information and the right to data portability.  

We don’t carry out any activities involving automated decisions being made about you.  

If you’d like to exercise any of the above rights or please use the following contact details: 

Email:  dataprotection@unipol.org.uk 
Address: Unipol data protection, 155 - 157 Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 3ED 

We may need to ask you for proof of identity to fulfil your request. We’ll respond to requests as soon as possible, at least within one calendar month. We may need to extend this timeframe for complex right of access requests.  

If you’re concerned about the way in which we have collected and used your personal information, please contact us and we’ll do our utmost to resolve this with you. 

How to raise a complaint 

If you believe the way in which we’ve handled your personal information may have infringed data protection law you can raise a formal complaint. You can do this by emailing us at: dataprotection@unipol.org.uk or by writing to us using the address above.  

Please provide as much information as possible about the nature of your complaint and the outcome you’re seeking. 

We’ll acknowledge we’ve received your complaint as soon as possible and aim in the majority of cases to provide a full response within 30 days. Should a complaint require a more detailed investigation, we’ll let you know within 30 days when you can expect a response from us. 

Raising a data protection complaint with the Information Commission Office (ICO) 

In most cases, the ICO is likely to expect you to go through our complaints process first. If you’re unhappy with our response, you can raise a complaint with the regulator using the following details: ICO data protection complaint form – or call the ICO helpline on 0303 123 1113. More information is available on the ICO website

What happens when I link to another site? 

Unipol may provide links to other websites; for example those of partner institutions, companies, government departments and other organisations. This privacy policy applies only to our sites, so you should always be aware when you are moving to another site and read the privacy statement of any site which collects personal information. 

Updates to this notice 

We review and update this notice to improve it and where necessary to make changes if our activities alter or there are regulatory changes. We encourage you to review it from time to time. If we make any significant changes, we’ll endeavour to contact you to let you know.