Our promise to you

The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH, we, us, or our) is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. By visiting www.cih.org or any site associated with events you are accepting and consenting to the practices described in this Policy.

This policy (with our terms and conditions and any other documents referred to in them) sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you or that you provide will be processed by us. For the Data Protection Act 1998 (the Act), the data controller is the Chartered Institute of Housing of Suites 5 and 6, First Floor, Rowan House, Westwood Way, Coventry, CV4 8LE, United Kingdom.

Questions, comments and requests regarding this policy are welcomed and should be addressed to governance@cih.org. If you believe any personal data we have about you is incorrect or incomplete, please get in touch with us via the email address provided above as soon as possible.

This site is owned and operated by, on behalf of CIH or regarding CIH events, incorporated by Royal Charter and its registered office at Suites 5 and 6, First Floor, Rowan House, Westwood Way, Coventry, CV4 8LE, United Kingdom. CIH processes personal data in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (Regulation (EU) 2016/679).

To ensure that the information we hold is accurate and up-to-date, please ensure that we are promptly informed of any relevant changes to your contact details. We share your data with your consent or as necessary to complete any transaction or provide any product you have requested or authorised. We also share data with CIH-controlled affiliates and subsidiaries, with vendors working on our behalf when required by law or to respond to legal processes; to protect our customers; to protect lives; to maintain the security of our products, and to protect the rights or property of CIH.

Information we may collect from you
Information you give us

You may give us information about you by completing forms on the site, attending an event, becoming a member, submitting any job application or by corresponding with us by phone, e-mail or otherwise. This includes information you provide when you register to use the site, search for a product, place an order on the site, enter a promotion or survey and when you report a problem with the site.

The information you give us may include your name, address, e-mail address, job function, job title, phone number, financial and credit card information and personal description. If you are delegate on one of our training courses, conferences or events, we will collect from you only those data that are necessary for the administration of the event, you may submit, at your option, further information that will help us to contact you by alternative methods.

You may from time to time receive information that informs you about products and services related to your field of interest. You can at any time let us know that you no longer wish to receive such information.

Information we collect about you

With regard to each of your visits to the site, we may automatically collect the following information:

  • technical information, including the internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the internet, your login information, browser type and version, time zone setting, geographical location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform; and
  • information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from the site (including date and time); products you viewed or searched for; page response times, download errors, length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs), and methods used to browse away from the page and any phone number used to call our customer service number.
Information we receive from other sources

We may receive information about you from partners, suppliers or affiliates if you use the services we provide.

How is your information used?
We use information held about you in the ways set out below
  • To carry out our obligations arising from any contracts entered into between you and us and to provide you with the information, products and services that you request from us. We may pass your information to partners, suppliers or affiliates within our group for this purpose. Our group refers to the charity, its associates and joint ventures.
  • To provide you with information about other goods and services we offer that are similar to those that you have already purchased or enquired about. To provide you with information about goods or services we feel may interest you, when you agree to receive that marketing.
  • If you provide us with the name of your organisation when registering, we may display your name to other members of your organisation to make our online booking process more effective. It is therefore important that you let us know if you leave your organisation so that we can ensure your name does not continue to be displayed in connection with it afterwards. If you do not want your name to be displayed, please do let us know. Whilst we may still hold historical data in accordance with our data management procedures, we will not display your name without your consent.
  • To process and acknowledge any job application that you make.
  • To notify you about changes to our service.
  • To administer the site and for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research, statistical and survey purposes.
  • To improve the site to ensure that content is presented in the most effective manner for you and for your computer.

We review our retention periods for personal information on a regular basis. We are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory obligations. We will hold your personal information on our systems for as long as is necessary for the relevant activity, or as long as is set out in any relevant contract you hold with us.

Disclosure of your information

We may share your personal information with any member, partners, suppliers or affiliates of our group. Our group refers to the charity, its associates and joint ventures.

All CIH employees understand the content of this privacy policy and are appropriately trained in data protection legal requirements. Appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken against any employee who violates this policy.

Should you wish to obtain a copy of the personal data that we hold on you, please send an email to us at governance@cih.org.

As soon as we are satisfied as to your identity, we will send to you a copy of all the personal data that we hold concerning you. Should you wish to let us know that you no longer wish to receive any marketing materials from us, please send us an email at marketing@cih.org or telephone 0247 685 1700.

We may share your information with selected third parties within our group. Our group refers to the charity, its associates and joint ventures for the performance of any contract we enter into with them or you. We may disclose your personal information to third parties within our group:

  • in the event that we sell any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective buyer of such business or assets;
  • if we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms and conditions and other agreements; or to protect our rights or property, or the safety of our customers, or others; this includes exchanging information with other companies and organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction; and
  • any of our employees, officers, insurers, professional advisers, agents, suppliers or sub-contractors insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this policy.
Who has access to your information?
Third party service providers working on our behalf

We may pass your information to our third party service providers, agents sub-contractors and other associated organisations for the purposes of completing tasks and providing services to you on our behalf. However, when we use third party service providers, we disclose only the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service and we have a contract in place that requires them to keep your information secure and not to use it for their own direct marketing purposes. Please be reassured that we will not release your information to third parties beyond our network for them to use for their own direct marketing purposes, unless you have requested us to do so, or we are required to do so by law, for example, by a court order or for the purposes of prevention of fraud or other crime.

Third party product providers we work in association with

We work closely with various third party product providers to bring you a range of quality and reliable products and services designed to meet the needs of your membership. When you enquire about or purchase one or more of these products, the relevant third party product provider will use your details to provide you with information and carry out their obligations arising from any contracts you have entered into with them. In some cases, they will be acting as a data controller of your information and therefore we advise you to read their Privacy Policy. These third party product providers will share your information with us which we will use in accordance with this Privacy Policy

We may transfer your personal information to a third party as part of a sale of some or all of our business and assets to any third party or as part of any business restructuring or reorganisation, or if we’re under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation or to enforce or apply our terms of use or to protect the rights, property or safety of our supporters and customers. However, we will take steps with the aim of ensuring that your privacy rights continue to be protected.

Your choices

You have a choice about whether or not you wish to receive information from us. If you do not want to receive direct marketing communications from us about the work we do and our exciting products and services, then you can select your choices by ticking the relevant boxes situated on the form on which we collect your information.

We will not contact you for marketing purposes by email, phone or text message unless you have given your prior consent. We will not contact you for marketing purposes by post if you have indicated that you do not wish to be contacted. You can change your marketing preferences at any time by contacting us by email at marketing@cih.org or on 0247 685 1700.

Security precautions are in place to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of your information

When you give us personal information, we take steps to ensure that it’s treated securely. Any sensitive information (such as credit or debit card details) is encrypted and protected using 2048 bit encryption. A padlock icon on a secure page will appear on the left of your address bar (browser dependent). Non-sensitive details (your email address etc.) are transmitted normally over the Internet, which can never be guaranteed 100 per cent secure.

As a result, while we strive to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of any information you transmit to us, and you do so at your own risk. Once we receive your information, we will make our best effort to ensure its security on our systems. Where we have given (or where you have chosen) a password which enables you to access certain parts of our websites, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone, and you will never be asked to divulge this information by a CIH representative.

Cookies

Like many other websites, the Site uses cookies. 'Cookies' are small bits of information sent by an organisation to your computer and stored on your hard drive to allow that website to recognise you when you visit. They collect statistical data about your browsing actions and patterns and do not identify you as an individual. For example, we use cookies to store your country's preference. This helps us to improve our website and deliver a better, more personalised service. It is possible to switch off cookies by setting your browser preferences. For more information on how to switch off cookies on your computer, visit our full cookies policy. Turning cookies off may result in losing functionality when using our website. 

Other privacy information
Data transfer

Your personal data will not be transferred to countries or territories outside the European Economic Area (the EEA).

Links

The site may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of third parties. If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies or content hosted on these sites. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

Access to information

The Act gives you the right to access information held about you. Your right of access can be exercised in accordance with the Act. Any access request will be subject to a request to supply appropriate evidence of your identity.

Updating your information

In the event that there is a change to your personal information for example your contact details, please let us know of this by updating your details online or writing to us at the address provided above or by contacting us via email at marketing@cih.org so that we can keep your information up to date and accurate. We will need to contact you to ensure that the change is a legitimate request.

Changes to this notice

Any changes we may make to this notice in the future will be posted on this page. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to this notice.

Sell or renting data

We will not sell or rent your information to third parties.

Accessibility
We aim to make sure that everything we do is accessible to everyone. Web accessibility ensures people of all abilities and disabilities can use a website.
EDI privacy policy
Please find out how we store any EDI data we collect from you or that you provide, which we will process.
Terms and conditions
Please read these terms and conditions carefully as they govern your use of the CIH website at www.cih.org, including any contracts for supplying products or services you seek to enter with us through the site.