I've been searching for a flat recently. A friend and I have found a place through a letting agency. Whilst doing credit checks they disclosed the details of my fathers salary to my future flatmate (of no relation to me). My flatmate phone me and told me what they said, naturally I was furious and phoned the agency to complain. What relation does this have to the Data Protection Act and is there any penalty system involved / anyone I can contact to complain?
|||It's an offence under the Data Protection Act 1998. The enforcement is done via the Information Commissioner and all details are available on the website (link below).
I must point out, though, that this is low level stuff as far as the ICO is concerned and there is unlikely to be the swingeing prosecution that such action deserves. They will, however, still follow up any complaint.|||I think your first port of call should be the Citizens Advice Bureau who will be able to advise what steps you can take. What the letting agent did is highly illegal and does indeed break the Data Protection code.
Make sure you didn't tick any boxes that would have allowed them to pass on details but even so they should not have done that.|||There is always an ombudsmen for complaints. i can't remember the name off hand but i will have a look and add it.
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