Privacy - W&JS Gordon

1. Introduction

1.1 We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors. By visiting this website you are accepting the policies and practices described on this page.

1.2 The information contained on this website is provided solely for the purposes of information and does not constitute legal or other professional advice. W&JS Gordon take no responsibility for loss or damage which may arise from errors in, or omissions of information contained on this website, nor do we accept any responsibility or liability for access to, or contents of any website, services or interactive forums linked to or from this website.

1.3 W&JS Gordon is the owner or licensee of all intellectual property rights in or contained within this website and its contents, and the material, trademarks (whether registered or unregistered) and other proprietary information published on it. These works are protected by various intellectual property laws, including copyright and trademark laws. All such rights are reserved.

1.4 You may not copy, modify, republish, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, create derivative works from, or in any way exploit, any of the content of this website, in whole or in part. You may however print or download and use the same strictly for private non-commercial use. Our status (and that of any identified contributors or licensees) as the authors of content on our website must always be acknowledged. If you print off, copy or download or otherwise use any part of this website in breach of these terms of use, your right to use this website will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return, delete or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.

1.5 Any videos or posts displayed on this website do not constitute legal advice and are relied upon at your own risk. No warranty is given as to the accuracy of the legal or other content of such videos or posts at any given time. You accept that such videos and posts may not reflect the current position or law and that we have no obligation to keep them updated.

1.6 Third party mapping detail may be used on, or linked to or from this site. Whilst W&JS Gordon endeavour to show location of properties as accurately as possible on any maps, this is for general identification purposes only, and no warranty is given as to the accuracy of any location or the mapping detail.

1.7 Our website may contain links to, and allow you to share content on, third party websites, services and interactive forums. The fact that we link to a website or service or forum, or allow you to share content on them is not an endorsement, authorisation or representation that we are affiliated with that third party, nor is it an endorsement of their privacy or information security policies or practices. Other websites and services may follow different rules regarding the use or disclosure of the personal information. We encourage you to read the privacy policies or statements of the other websites you visit, or services or forums you use.

1.8 This policy also applies where we are acting as a data controller with respect to the personal data of our website visitors; in other words, where we determine the purposes and means of the processing of that personal data.

1.9 By using our website and agreeing to this policy, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with the terms of this policy.

1.10 In this policy, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to Messrs. W.&J.S. Gordon. For more information about us, see Section 13.

2. Viruses

2.1 You must not misuse this website by knowingly introducing viruses, Trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to this website, the server on which this website is stored or any server, computer or database connected to this website. You must not attack this website via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack. By breaching this provision, you may commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use this website will cease immediately.

3. How we use your personal data

3.1 In this Section 3 we have set out:

(a) the general categories of personal data that we may process;

(b) in the case of personal data that we did not obtain directly from you, the source and specific categories of that data;

(d) the legal bases of the processing.

3.2 We may process data about your use of our website and services (“usage data“). The usage data may include your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths, as well as information about the timing, frequency and pattern of your service use. The source of the usage data is our analytics tracking system. This usage data may be processed for the purposes of analysing the use of the website and services. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely monitoring and improving our website and services.

3.3 We may process your personal data that are provided in the course of the use of our services (“service data“). The service data may include your name, address, telephone number, email address, gender, relationship status, employment details, property and financial details. The source of the enquiry data is you. The service data may be processed for the purposes of operating our website, providing our services, ensuring the security of our website and services, maintaining back-ups of our databases and communicating with you. The legal basis for this processing is the performance of a contract between you and us and/or taking steps to enter into such a contract.

3.4 We may process information contained in any enquiry you submit to us regarding services (“enquiry data“). The enquiry data may include your name, address, telephone number, email address, gender, relationship status, employment details, property and financial details. The source of the enquiry data is you. The enquiry data may be processed for the purposes of offering, marketing and selling relevant services to you. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business.

3.5 We may process information that you provide to us for the purpose of subscribing to our email notifications (“notification data“). The notification data may be processed for the purposes of sending you the relevant notifications. The legal basis for this processing is consent.

3.6 We may process information contained in or relating to any communication that you send to us (“correspondence data“). The correspondence data may include the communication content and metadata associated with the communication. Our website will generate the metadata associated with communications made using the website contact forms. The correspondence data may be processed for the purposes of communicating with you and record-keeping. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper administration of our website and business and communications with users.

3.7 We may process any of your personal data identified in this policy where necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the protection and assertion of our legal rights, your legal rights and the legal rights of others.

3.8 We may process any of your personal data identified in this policy where necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, or obtaining professional advice. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interests, namely the proper protection of our business against risks.

3.9 In addition to the specific purposes for which we may process your personal data set out in this Section 3, we may also process any of your personal data where such processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

3.10 Please do not supply any other person’s personal data to us, unless we prompt you to do so.

4. Providing your personal data to others

4.1 We may disclose your personal data to our insurers and/or professional advisers insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes of obtaining or maintaining insurance coverage, managing risks, obtaining professional advice, or the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure.

4.2 We may disclose your enquiry data to Home Report suppliers where you have requested access to a Home Report for the purpose of them enabling such access for you. Each such third party will act as a data controller in relation to the enquiry data that we supply to it; each such third party’s own privacy policy will govern that third party’s use of your personal data.

4.3 In addition to the specific disclosures of personal data set out in this Section 4, we may disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person. We may also disclose your personal data where such disclosure is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims, whether in court proceedings or in an administrative or out-of-court procedure.

5. International transfers of your personal data

5.1 The hosting facilities for our website are situated in the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands and not outwith the European Economic Area (EAA).

6. Retaining and deleting personal data

6.1 This Section 6 sets out our data retention policies and procedure, which are designed to help ensure that we comply with our legal obligations in relation to the retention and deletion of personal data.

6.2 Personal data that we process for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.

6.3 We will retain your personal data for any minimum and maximum periods imposed by the Law Society of Scotland.

6.4 In some cases it is not possible for us to specify in advance the periods for which your personal data will be retained. In such cases, we will determine the period of retention based on our professional and legal requirements.

6.5 Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Section 6, we may retain your personal data where such retention is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person.

7. Amendments

7.1 We may update this policy from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.

7.2 You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes to this policy.

7.3 We may notify you of changes to this policy by email or by notification on our website.

8. Your rights

8.1 In this Section 8, we have summarised the rights that you have under data protection law. Some of the rights are complex, and not all of the details have been included in our summaries. Accordingly, you should read the relevant laws and guidance from the regulatory authorities for a full explanation of these rights.

8.2 Your principal rights under data protection law are:

(a) the right to access;

(b) the right to rectification;

(d) the right to restrict processing;

(e) the right to object to processing;

(f) the right to data portability;

(g) the right to complain to a supervisory authority; and

(h) the right to withdraw consent.

8.3 You have the right to confirmation as to whether or not we process your personal data and, where we do, access to the personal data, together with certain additional information. That additional information includes details of the purposes of the processing, the categories of personal data concerned and the recipients of the personal data. Providing the rights and freedoms of others are not affected and subject to satisfactory proof of identity, we will supply to you a copy of your personal data. The first copy will be provided free of charge, but additional copies may be subject to a reasonable fee.

8.4 You have the right to have any inaccurate personal data about you rectified and, taking into account the purposes of the processing, to have any incomplete personal data about you completed.

8.5 In some circumstances you have the right to the erasure of your personal data without undue delay. Those circumstances include: the personal data are no longer necessary in relation to the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed; you withdraw consent to consent-based processing; you object to the processing under certain rules of applicable data protection law; the processing is for direct marketing purposes; and the personal data have been unlawfully processed. However, there are exclusions of the right to erasure. The general exclusions include where processing is necessary: for compliance with a legal obligation; or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

8.6 In some circumstances you have the right to restrict the processing of your personal data. Those circumstances are: you contest the accuracy of the personal data; processing is unlawful but you oppose erasure; we no longer need the personal data for the purposes of our processing, but you require personal data for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; and you have objected to processing, pending the verification of that objection. Where processing has been restricted on this basis, we may continue to store your personal data. However, we will only otherwise process it: with your consent; for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person; or for reasons of important public interest.

8.7 You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data on grounds relating to your particular situation, but only to the extent that the legal basis for the processing is that the processing is necessary for: the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of any official authority vested in us; or the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or by a third party. If you make such an objection, we will cease to process the personal information unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

8.8 To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal data is:

(a) consent; or

(b) that the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you are party or in order to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract,

and such processing is carried out by automated means, you have the right to receive your personal data from us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. However, this right does not apply where it would adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others.

8.9 If you consider that our processing of your personal information infringes data protection laws, you have a legal right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority responsible for data protection. You may do so in the EU member state of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement. In the UK complaints can be made to the Information Commissioner’s Office: https://ico.org.uk/

8.10 To the extent that the legal basis for our processing of your personal information is consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing before the withdrawal.

8.11 You may exercise any of your rights in relation to your personal data by written notice to us in addition to the other methods specified in this Section 8.

9. About cookies

9.1 A cookie is a file containing an identifier (a string of letters and numbers) that is sent by a web server to a web browser and is stored by the browser. The identifier is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server.

9.2 Cookies may be either “persistent” cookies or “session” cookies: a persistent cookie will be stored by a web browser and will remain valid until its set expiry date, unless deleted by the user before the expiry date; a session cookie, on the other hand, will expire at the end of the user session, when the web browser is closed.

9.3 Cookies do not typically contain any information that personally identifies a user, but personal information that we store about you may be linked to the information stored in and obtained from cookies.

10. Cookies that we use

10.1 We may use cookies for the following purposes:

(a) authentication – to identify you when you visit our website and as you navigate our website;

(b) status – to help us to determine if you are logged into our website;

(d) security – as an element of the security measures used to protect user accounts, including preventing fraudulent use of login credentials, and to protect our website and services generally;

(e) analysis – to help us to analyse the use and performance of our website and services; and

(f) cookie consent – to store your preferences in relation to the use of cookies more generally.

11. Cookies used by our service providers

11.1 Our service providers use cookies and those cookies may be stored on your computer when you visit our website.

11.2 We may use Google Analytics to analyse the use of our website. Google Analytics gathers information about website use by means of cookies. The information gathered relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of our website. Google’s privacy policy is available at: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

11.3 Our “Find Us” page uses third party mapping services – Google Maps and Open StreetMap. These services may set cookies in your browser. We have no control over these types of cookies.

12. Managing cookies

12.1 Most browsers allow you to refuse to accept cookies and to delete cookies. The methods for doing so vary from browser to browser, and from version to version. You can however obtain up-to-date information about blocking and deleting cookies via these links:

(a) https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95647?hl=en (Chrome);

(b) https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences (Firefox);

(d) https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies (Internet Explorer);

(e) https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/safari/sfri11471/mac (Safari); and

(f) https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-10-microsoft-edge-and-privacy (Edge).

12.2 Blocking all cookies may have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites.

12.3 If you block cookies, you may not be able to use all the features on our website.

Cookiebot Declaration

13. Our details

13.1 This website is owned and operated by Messrs. W.&J.S. Gordon, the principal of which is Mr. William J.A. Hardie.

13.2 Our principal place of business is at Albion House, 52 East High Street, Forfar, DD8 2EG.

13.3 You can contact us:

(a) by post, to the postal address given above; or

(b) by telephone, on the contact number published on our website from time to time; or

14. Credit

14.1 This document was created using a template from SEQ Legal (https://seqlegal.com).