This page explains why we hold a passport style photograph of all tenants when they sign a tenancy.
Great Places is committed to tackling tenancy fraud and unlawful subletting. Subletting is where a tenant rents the whole of the property to someone else. This is a serious breach of the tenancy.
Housing is in short supply and unauthorised subletting deprives genuine applicants, many of who have a desperate need and may have been waiting a long time to secure a home.
Therefore, part of our strategy for tackling unlawful subletting is to have a photograph of each resident at the start of a new tenancy.
Whenever we visit you, for example for home visits or tenancy audits, we can take the photograph along so we know that the right person is in the right property. This is particularly helpful if there are any staff changes within your community.
It is important that we collect a photograph of all new tenants. If we made this optional then those tenants who intend to commit tenancy fraud by subletting their home could just refuse to have a photograph. This is clearly not acceptable, so it is something that we must insist upon if you’d like to become a Great Places tenant.
Staff will deal sensitively with any concerns and make arrangements where possible to ensure a photograph is gained and the tenancy can begin. But if an applicant still declines to provide a photograph or have one taken then the we may be forced to withdraw the offer of tenancy.
If an applicant usually wears clothing that covers part of the face as part of their culture or faith then we will discuss with them the most acceptable way to allow a member of our staff to verify their identity and for a photograph to be taken if none was provided. Staff will deal sensitively with this situation. If the applicant or tenant wishes then a private room will be sourced where possible and/or a female member of staff will help the applicant with taking or verifying the photograph.
Proving identity is not a frequent occurrence and we will always try to minimise any inconvenience.
We will treat the photograph in the same way we treat other personal data and ensure that we comply with Data Protection principles where they apply. We will not store a photograph of any children living at the property.
We will follow these guidelines when handling tenant’s personal information:
As with all personal data, we will not share your data with other third party organisations unless we have a legitimate interest in doing so to manage your tenancy or where we have a statutory obligation to do so – examples include, to assist in preventing a crime or to combat tenancy fraud.
If you would like any more information on this or any of our policies or services please contact our customer service centre on: 0300 123 1966.
