In order to meet the obligations of the Landlord Registration and Licensing Scheme as set out in Part 1 of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014, the Licensing Authority is required to develop and maintain a system that allows for the collection of information.
The Types of personal data held and processed by Rent Smart Wales may include:
We will also process some special category data as part of a voluntary monitoring form to help us ensure that our service is accessible to everyone. This monitoring form is preceded by a statement highlighting that all questions are voluntary. The form contains additional questions that provide further special category data listed below. This information is only processed anonymously for statistical and reference purposes.
Personal data is usually provided by the account holder when the account is created or when a registration/licence application is made. Rent Smart Wales also receives intelligence from other sources such as members of the public, advocacy services or other partner organisations. Sometimes relevant information is discovered and/or collected as part of an investigation instigated when non-compliance is suspected, or other concerns are raised. This information usually comes from interested parties (landlords, tenants, agents), government organisations e.g. companies house and land registry, stakeholder groups and representative bodies.
Rent Smart Wales may process personal data to fulfil its obligations under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 and the Renting Homes (fees etc.) (Wales) Act 2019. This can include the processing of personal data for all or any of the following purposes:
Please be aware that Rent Smart Wales works in Partnership with the 22 Local Authorities in Wales to fulfil its functions under the Act, and therefore information held by Rent Smart Wales will be accessible by the Local Authorities. In addition, Local Authorities may share relevant information they hold with Rent Smart Wales to help determine whether an applicant is fit and proper to act as a licensed landlord or licensed agent.
Under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the lawful basis we rely on for processing this information will generally be one or more of the following:
Your information will only be used for the purposes of the Rent Smart Wales Scheme, however on occasions Rent Smart Wales may also share personal data with other organisations. A list of Organisations Rent Smart Wales shares data with is below.
From time to time, Rent Smart Wales receives requests from other services under data protection legislation. Such requests are considered in accordance with legal requirements, on a case by case basis.
Rent Smart Wales is working with Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water and Hafren Dyfrdwy to ensure landlords are aware that they can be liable to charges incurred at their rental properties in Wales. As such you are able to opt in through your account to have Rent Smart Wales share your details with Dwr Cymru Welsh Water and Hafren Dyfrdwy (depending on the location of your rental properties), reducing your risk of liability for water charges, as they will be able to contact you about your rental properties and charges incurred there. You can opt in/out at any time through your account or by contacting Rent Smart Wales directly.
You can view the Privacy Policy the printing service used by Rent Smart Wales and Cardiff Council, via the following link; Service Specific Privacy Notices (cardiff.gov.uk)
If you receive correspondence from Rent Smart Wales, your information may have been shared with Gov.Notify or a printing service in order to contact you. For further information on how Gov.Notify manage personal data, view the Privacy Policy via the following link; https://www.notifications.service.gov.uk/privacy
Information collected by Rent Smart Wales will not be kept for any longer than necessary. The Rent Smart Wales retention period is 6 + 1 years after licence and/or registration expires. Following the end of this period, the information collected will be securely destroyed.
Rent Smart Wales wishes to communicate with landlords and agents to help inform them of any information relevant to the wider industry or updates from within their local area (such as upcoming forum events, potential funding opportunities, additional licensing schemes etc.). However, this is optional and must be opted into by landlords and agents by selecting that they are willing to receive communications of this nature. Users can always withdraw consent to receive these communications and change this preference by accessing their account or by contacting Rent Smart Wales – Contact Us.
Rent Smart Wales does not sell or provide personal data to a third party for the purposes of marketing.
Rent Smart Wales is operated by Cardiff Council. Cardiff Council is therefore the Data Controller in respect of any personal data provided for these purposes. All information provided will be treated in confidence and processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 at all times. For further information on the Council’s data protection requirements please contact the Data Protection Officer, via the contact details below.
Rent Smart Wales is hosted by Cardiff Council and the Council’s full Privacy Notice is available here.
You have a right to access and obtain a copy of the personal data that the Council holds about you and to ask the Authority to correct your personal data if there are any errors or it is out of date. In some circumstances you may also have a right to ask the Council to restrict the processing of your personal data until any errors are corrected, to object to processing or to transfer or (in very limited circumstances) erase your personal data.
If you wish to exercise any of these rights or have any queries or concerns regarding the processing of your personal data, please contact the Data Protection Officer as indicated below. For more information on your rights, you can visit this website.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint in relation to this privacy notice or the Councils processing activities with the Information Commissioner’s Office which you can do through the website below or their telephone helpline.
Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF
Helpline number: 0303 123 1113 ICO website: https://www.ico.org.uk
Please contact the Data Protection Officer for further information.
Data Protection Officer Information Governance Team County Hall Atlantic Wharf Cardiff CF10 4UW dataprotection@cardiff.gov.uk
We may update this privacy policy periodically. If these changes affect how your personal data is processed, we will take reasonable steps to let you know. This Privacy Policy was last reviewed in January 2025.