What obligations do you have under Data Protection rules?

Although in most cases as a lodger landlord you will not be a business, you still need to keep your lodger’s data safe.  

For example, you should not post messages about them on social media complaining that they don’t pay their rent on time!

You will find an online guide on the government website here which has information about the data protection rules, plus you can find a huge amount of information on the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) website.

The Information Commissioner is responsible for enforcing the regulations and for providing help and guidance to the public.

Do you need to pay a feee to the ICO?

Depending on how you use and store personal information about your lodger, you may need to pay a data protection fee to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

There are exemptions, and whether you need to pay will depend on your own circumstances.

The ICO has an online self-assessment tool which you can use to check whether you need to pay the fee. We recommend that you use this rather than trying to work out the position yourself, as the rules can change.

You can find the ICO’s data protection fee self-assessment here.

Even if you do not need to pay the fee, you must still comply with the data protection rules and look after your lodger’s personal information properly.

Dealing with Data

Whether or not you need to pay the ICO data protection fee, you will still be expected to deal with your lodger’s data in a proper way.

This basically means keeping it safe and secure. 

You may also want to consider serving a data information notice on your lodger, just letting them know what data you hold and what you do with it. This is part of the transparency required by the regulations.

You will find a draft data information notice you can use along with detailed notes available for sale on Your Law Store.  As to whether you need to serve this:

• Data protection law requires you to be transparent about how you use people’s personal information. A data information notice is a useful way of giving your lodger this information.

• We therefore recommend giving a data information notice to your lodger, particularly if you hold significant personal information about them or regularly take in lodgers.

• You will find a draft data information notice you can use, along with detailed notes, available for sale on Your Law Store.

How long should you keep data?

The Data Protection rules say you should keep data no longer than is necessary.  However, this does not mean that you should be too quick to delete it, even if your lodger is agitating for you to do this.

There are two circumstances where you will need it:

• If you are investigated by the Revenue, who will need to have details of your lodger income, and/or
• If a legal claim is brought against you by your lodger.

For these reasons, we recommend that you should keep all data for not less than six years after your lodger has left.  If your lodger objects to this, you can say that you are required to keep financial information for this length of time by the revenue.