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Privacy Policy

 

(Click here to see our terms and conditions.)

When you provide personal information to SpareRoom, the data controller is Flatshare Limited ('we' , 'us', 'Our'). The United Kingdom Data Protection Act 1988 gives United Kingdom users the right to access information that is held about them.

Flatshare Limited take the privacy of our users seriously.

Personal Data

As part of the our services, advertisers and users will register and we may ask you personal information, including such things as:

  • First name or first and last names of the user
  • Gender, age, birthdates
  • Occupation,
  • Your email address and telephone number
  • Location

If users are asked to submit sensitive personal data under the Act such as their sexual orientation SpareRoom will require your explicit consent before processing such data by using an 'opt in' box.

We will never divulge information which does not constitute a part of the actual advert.

Except where you are expressly informed otherwise, we do not sell, rent, share, trade or give away any of your personal information, unless required by law or for the protection of your membership. However we may share profile information and aggregate usage information in a non-personally identifiable manner with advertisers and other third parties in order to present to members and other users of the our services more targeted advertising, products and services. In such situations we will never disclose information that would personally identify you.

Except as otherwise described in this privacy statement, we will not disclose personal information to any third party unless we believe that disclosure is necessary: (1) to comply with any laws, rules or regulations of duly constituted governmental authorities; (2) to respond to a subpoena, search warrant or other legal process received by us, whether or not a response is required by applicable law; (3) to enforce our Terms of Use Agreement or to otherwise protect the legal rights of Flatshare Limited; or (4) to protect the security or safety of members of the public and Users. We reserve the right to transfer personal information to a successor in interest that acquires rights to that information as a result of (a) the sale of Flatshare Limited or (b) a sale of substantially all of the assets of Flatshare Limited or (c) any member of any Flatshare Limited group of companies if applicable.

Cookies

SpareRoom uses a number of different cookies. A cookie is a small text file that we put on the computer or mobile device you are using to visit our site. These cookies allow us to distinguish you from other users of the website, which helps us to provide you with a better experience and also allows us to improve our site.

The cookies we use are 'analytical' and 'session' cookies. Analytical cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to SpareRoom and to see how people move around the site when they're using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example by making sure users are finding what they need easily. These cookies cannot be used to identify individuals, they are for statistical purposes only.

Some cookies, such as those created via Facebook Connect, only apply to users who choose to log in to SpareRoom through their Facebook account. SpareRoom has no access to the data stored by third parties such as Facebook in those cookies.

By using the site you are agreeing to the use of cookies as described.

You can choose to turn off cookies but this may limit your ability to navigate SpareRoom fully. Details of Google Analytics, Google AdWords and DoubleClick cookies are shown below:

Google Analytics
The Google Analytics cookie allows us to see information on user website activity including, but not limited to page views, referral and average time spent on the website. The information is de-personalised and is displayed as numbers, meaning it will not be tracked back to individuals, which helps to protect your privacy. Using Google Analytics we can see what content is popular on our website, and strive to ensure you have the best user experience possible. You can find details on Google Analytics Privacy Policy here and may choose to opt-out here.
Google AdWords
Using Google AdWords code, we are able to see which pages helped lead to registering and, where applicable, upgrading. This allows us to make better use of our paid search budget on Google. More details found can be found here. You can also choose to opt-out of AdWords remarketing here.
DoubleClick
We use Google Analytics remarketing codes to log when users view specific pages or take specific actions on the website. This allows us to provide targeted advertising in the future.

Email

We will only send you emails pertaining to your activities on the site. Including, but not limited to: confirmation of registration; notice of advert expiry; emails relating to services purchased from us; messages sent on behalf of other users in response to your advert(s); warnings of messages from malevolent users; advert upgrade offers and reminders of key related services on offer. The vast majority of these emails will cease when you remove any adverts and/or stop using the site. You can request for your account to be completely de-activated at any time by contacting us.

Optionally we may also send you email alerts of adverts suited to your requirements. Both "instant alerts" and "daily summaries" are available to you. You can opt in and out of these at any time by following instructions within the email or by going into "My Account" then "Change my details" on the website.

Optionally we may occasionally send you newsletters about SpareRoom if you give us your prior consent. These could contain: related topics in the news; important information about changes to the laws effecting flatsharing; interesting or humorous flatsharing stories; products or services from associated sites that may be of interest to you. You can opt out of this service at any time.

Passwords

The account of every member is protected by a member-created password. While we cannot guarantee the security of member account information, we take reasonable precautions to protect the information of our members, as well as information collected from other users. We use industry standard or better measures to protect all information that is stored on our servers and within our database. We limit the access to this information to those employees who need access to perform their job function such as our customer service personnel and technical staff. If you have any questions about the security at our website, please contact us at the address below.

Privacy policy changes

If we change our privacy policy, we will post those changes on our web site so members and other users of the SpareRoom are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it. If we are going to use members' or other Users' personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify those members and users via e-mail or by placing a prominent notice on our website

Payments

Payment for advertisements & Early Bird access is done so via a secure server provided by WorldPay. No actual credit card information is processed, nor stored on our server. We are a Safe Buy accredited website.

Advertisers can remove and update their advertisements whenever they wish.

We are registered and fully comply with the Data Protection Act 1988.

SpareRoom is operated by Flatshare Limited, company reg #04407847, registered office: Suite 2.06, Colony One Silk Street, Ancoats Urban Village, Manchester, M4 6AG.

(Click here to see our terms and conditions.)


Turning off cookies

All modern browsers allow you to change your cookie settings. These settings will typically be found in the 'options' or 'preferences' menu of your browser. In order to understand these settings, the following links may be helpful, otherwise you should use the 'Help' option in your browser for more details.

We recommend that you don't turn cookies off when using SpareRoom as this may prevent you from using many of the services on the site.