Privacy Policy

Maclaren Warner will ask you to provide certain information to enable it to complete the task which you have asked us to undertake on your behalf.

We will ask you to provide documentation to confirm that you are who you say you are. This will be in the form of photo ID, passport, driving licence etc together with correspondence from a particular authority, addressed to you at your home address, again confirming that you live where you say you live.

We are required to do this by law if money is involved in the transaction which we are undertaking on your behalf, e.g. buying or selling a house in order to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations.

In other matters we do this as good practise to ensure that we correctly identify you as our client.

The ID documentation which you provide is maintained only on our paper file which is maintained in our filing cabinets within the confines of our office.

CONVEYANCING

During the course of the conveyancing transaction, you will be asked to provide your bank details and your national insurance number. The bank details allow us to transfer money to you directly during the course or at the conclusion of a transaction.
The national insurance number is required by law as we need it to be able to pay the stamp duty at the conclusion of the purchase. We therefore share with HMRC your names, the address of the new and old property, the purchase price of the new property and your national insurance number.

FAMILY/LITIGATION

The information which you give to us is confidential between you and this firm.
There may be occasions when a third party will need to see that information; for example a barrister or an expert instructed to prepare a report. This will always be discussed with you first and your permission sought prior to any disclosure.

If court proceedings are issued, some information will have to be shared with the court and with the other party to the proceedings. That information will be discussed with you and will be only be shared with your consent. However, you should be aware that once in court proceedings, there are strict court rules which govern circumstances and require certain information to be disclosed. In these circumstances, we will advise you as to what is necessary in advance in order that you are aware of the implications of your actions.

Your file is maintained both in a paper version and the documents, letters etc which we produce are maintained in an electronic version. We have a software provider who is a specialist legal provider and through that organisation, the information is stored in the cloud within the European Economic area.

The paper file at the conclusion of the matter is stored by us for 12 years. The file is stored within our office or with a specialised secure off site storage organisation.

The file is sent away in a closed box and can be returned at our request. The storage company seals the box upon arrival and does not have access to the files stored in the box.

If you wish to see a file in respect of a matter which has concluded, you should contact the appropriate office, putting your request in writing.
A charge will be made to retrieve the file which will be £20 plus vat.

The file is destroyed by a specialised company which receives the file in a sealed bag. You will not be notified that your file is to be destroyed.
You have a right to see your file at any time to look at what is held there. You may keep your own file but if a mortgage is involved, the mortgagor is also our client and we would then provide you with a copy of the file. If you consider there is anything on the file which is incorrect, you should notify us in writing in order that we can consider it and if necessary, take steps to rectify that information.

Any complaints will be dealt with in accordance with our complaints procedure.

We do not share our information with any third parties, except as required by law and we do not sell or share our clients' names and addresses.

If there is any breach of confidentiality or data is lost or stolen, you will be notified immediately. We are also under a duty to inform the Information Commissioner’s office.