Chestertons has apologised after a letter sent out by one of its branches to a member of the public included a copy of much of its database containing hundreds of names.
At least one of the names is a famous one.
The firm said it should never have happened, but it was an isolated incident.
The letter was sent to a vendor who had withdrawn their instruction.
The letter, from the branch in Chiswick, west London, warned the sellers of the possibility of being liable for dual agency fees should “one of these applicants have purchased your property or subsequently purchase your property within six months”.
Attached to the letter was a list of names running to over eight pages, together with the dates that each had been sent information about the property. No contact details were included.
The agent now marketing the property said he had been shocked to have been shown the letter by the clients.
He said: “Effectively, what they had done was email the property to a large section of their database, that this counted as an introduction, and they wanted a fee if one of those named went on to buy the property.
“I was shocked when I saw the letter coming from such a reputable agent.”
He said the letter also raised concerns about data protection.
However, Robert Sturges, Chestertons’ area director, said: “This was an isolated incident and the result of human error.
“We are very sorry and hope to have the opportunity to apologise to our former clients.”
Comments (6)
LOL “effective introduction” with a mass email out? yeah that’ll stand up in court! – The agent may have just gone about this the wrong way but they do have a right to inform a previous client of names of people who have viewed a property through them
Does the letter have any issues with Data Protection if there is no contact information only the names? – I shouldn’t think it would?
I’m fairly certain that there is a DPA implication here. Personal Data is defined as data which identifies a natural person, and a name falls squarely in this category.
Under GDPR there may be a defence of legitimate interest of the data controller, but that is tenuous I would suspect.
I think you will find this is not the first time this agency and other ‘leading’ agents have done this. They seem to pick their targets and think sending someone an email counts as a introduction. Lazy agency beyond contempt.
Wonder if they have trained this member of staff on GDPR…..
well most of agents contracts do say ‘indirectly’… (which i cant quite understand)
I also wonder if they have reported it to the DPO – I would guess a fine is in order?!
(working on implementing GDPR at my own agency)