Housing association

[wales01man]

Good one this!
We are moving soon and the new tenant coming into our house has been told by the Housing association that they will take a photograph of her when she takes over the tenancy?
Has anyone ever heard of this and can it be legal

[Kati]

Re: Housing association

A photo of her?? not the house??
Have they given her a reason??

[buds68]

Re: Housing association

When i done a mutual exchange last year my housing association did ask the new tenants for passport sized photos of themselves an took copies of their passports ,But i was not asked for them by the new housing association ,so maybe its just some of them ,also thought that was a bit extreme .

[Kati]

Re: Housing association

A photo would be classed as ‘personal data’ under the Data Protection Act 1998 and as such you are under an obligation to ensure that it is processed ‘fairly and lawfully’. You are also obliged to gain the employee’s consent if you wish to use the photo for any reason and if you went on to use it without having gained consent, you would be breaching data protection legislation.
You may also be breaching the employee’s right to a private life under the Human Rights Act, unless you gain their specific permission. For these reasons then, it is advisable to obtain employee’s express consent by having them sign a document that explains what their photograph will be used for, that gives you permission to use it for those specific purposes and no other unless further consent is gained.

http://www.smallbusiness.co.uk/runni...to-taken.thtml - while this talks about STAFF instead of 'customers' I can see these arguments being used to the new renters advantage (if she wanted). I know I wouldn't allow my photo to be taken in these circumstances without a VERY good reason!!

[TalbotWoods]

Re: Housing association

One of our local HA's does this. It is to prevent subletting taking place (which is prevented under the terms of the agreements.)

If the genuine applications take the property over, and they have their mugshots taken, when the next day different folk move in, it is much easier to get an eviction. And I have seen this happen all to often!

Tends to be to new tenants on their initial starter tenancies in this neck of the woods, and I know they have checked it out with the ICO, plus the applicant has to agree before they are allowed a tenancy. Photos get attached to the property file, and should there be a query the Housing Manager can check easily.

Nothing sinister, just stops subletting, and often stops benefit fraud.

Tim

[Kati]

Re: Housing association

So if the tenant doesn't want their photo taken, they're told they can't have the house?? Surely it can't be that difficult to get them to sign something preventing subletting?!
I know I'd kick up a stink if I was told I had to have my photo taken to rent a house :/

[enaid]

Re: Housing association

I personally can see no harm as if you believe what you see and read sub letting is rife. If this helps prevent that then I am all for it.
Don't forget these folks subletting are making a small fortune and robbing genuine people who need social housing from getting a home.

[Kati]

Re: Housing association

I still don't agree with this personally, but after a bit of research I have come up with this:
TACKLING UNLAWFUL SUBLETTING AND OCCUPANCY

Use of photographs and information technology
4.3
Taking photographs of tenant/s (and potentially other household members) is
increasingly common practice. Using photographs:
Discourages tenancy misuse and unlawful subletting
•
Increases the likelihood of detection through recognition
•
Supports the completion of tenancy audits.
•
4.4
Sophisticated IT solutions enable photographs taken at sign-up to be electronically
linked to the tenancy agreement and all files associated with the customer. This
enables staff at any location to enter or recall information regarding the tenant, their
dependants and other household members and supports investigation teams in the
identification of individuals.