Zoopla's Privacy Policy

Data we collect about you

When you use our online services, we collect data about your visit, including which webpages you visited. Sometimes you might give us data, such as your email address.

In this section, we outline what information we collect about you when you use our services, why we collect it and the legal basis on which we use it.

Information about you

Your contact details

E.g. Your address, email address or phone number.

Why we collect this data

We use this information to distinguish you from other users, and to contact you if we need to. To use our My Home service, we'll ask you about your relationship to the property address. Any data we collect from you will be used to provide products and services to help you make the most of your home, unless you ask us not to. If you sign up to receive property alerts or marketing emails, we'll send them to your given email address. If you send a message to an agent or new homes developer through Zoopla, we'll share your contact details with them so they can contact you.

How it benefits you

You can contact us about our services and get the property alerts and marketing emails that you want. You'll hear directly from agents or developers you've contacted via Zoopla. By using our My Home service and sharing your address with us, we'll be able to provide you with personalised products and services tailored to your home.

Legal basis under data protection law:

Legitimate interests, and consent (where you have opted-in to email marketing)

We're allowed to use your data if it's necessary for our (or someone else's) legitimate interests, provided those interests are not outweighed by your rights nor have any negative impact on you.

Our legitimate interests are:

• Providing and improving our services
• Enabling you to save property searches, claim your home and carry out other tasks using your Zoopla account
• Personalising your experience of our services
• Learning from the way you use our services
• Making sure our services are secure

'Consent' is when you give us your permission to use your data for a specific purpose. You can withdraw your consent at any time. Simply contact us, or amend your email preference settings in your MyZoopla account.

MyZoopla account information

E.g. Your login details, preferences and properties you save in our My Home service.

Why we collect this data

We use this information to maintain your account, save your preferences and manage the properties you save in our My Home service. We use this information in conjunction with other data we've collected from your site visits (such as when you last logged in to your account), to create audience segments. These segments help us make sure any content or ads we share with you via email or your mobile, or on our website, or elsewhere on the internet, are relevant to you. [See 'Audience building' for more details.]

How it benefits you

You get a much more personalised experience when it comes to services such as property alerts and saved searches, and recommendations we think are relevant to you.

Legal basis under data protection law:

Legitimate interests

We're allowed to use your data if it's necessary for our (or someone else's) legitimate interests, provided those interests are not outweighed by your rights nor have any negative impact on you.

• Providing and improving our services
• Enabling you to save property searches, claim your home and carry out other tasks using your Zoopla account
• Personalising your experience of our services
• Learning from the way you use our services
• Making sure our services are secure

Marketing preferences

E.g. Your marketing email subscription preferences.

Why we collect this data

We use this information so we can remind you of all the ways we can help and hopefully encourage you to use Zoopla more often. We also get paid by some trusted businesses, such as new homes developers, to send you marketing emails on their behalf. We do not share your contact details with anyone, except with those third parties who provide services to us, and subject to our contract terms which require them to keep your data safe and not to use it for any other purpose.

How it benefits you

You get information about the latest properties that match your search criteria, we can also send you marketing emails which are relevant to you. You'll only hear from us about products and services we think will interest you.

Legal basis under data protection law:

Legitimate interests, and consent (where you have opted-in to email marketing)

We're allowed to use your data if it's necessary for our (or someone else's) legitimate interests, provided those interests are not outweighed by your rights nor have any negative impact on you.

Information about how you use our products and services

Online behaviour

E.g. Information about how you got to, and use, our websites and apps.

We use Google Analytics and Segment Cookies, with your permission in accordance with our cookie policy, to collect browsing and 'clickthrough' data, including session, lead and site interaction data via cookies or IP addresses.

Why we collect this data

Understanding how you use our websites and apps helps us to improve our service. It helps us determine which trusted businesses can advertise with us, so we can keep providing a free service for you. We use this understanding to better target our advertising efforts. We use Google Adwords, which also measures how effective these targeted ads are. We also use cookies and other action tags to do this.

How it benefits you

It means Zoopla is free to use. Plus, you'll see the most relevant information and adverts to you.

Legal basis under data protection law:

Consent. You can withdraw your consent to cookies by updating your cookie settings.

'Consent' is when you give us your permission to use your data for a specific purpose. You can withdraw your consent at any time. Simply contact us, or amend your email preference settings in your MyZoopla account.

Ad platform remarketing and cookies

With your consent, and in accordance with our cookie policy, we use cookies to save and retrieve information about your visit to our websites.

We also allow some third parties, such as Facebook and Pinterest, to use cookies to collect information from our websites and apps. They use this to help us advertise Zoopla on other websites and social media, and also to help us find others who might be interested in Zoopla's services.

For example, Facebook uses a custom audience pixel, which is why you might see Zoopla ads on Facebook after you have been on our websites. We use the Facebook pixel to display our ads to Facebook users who've previously shown an interest in our website and the products and services advertised on it. We also display our ads to those who've shown an interest in certain locations or properties within a particular price range. Or those who've shown intent to purchase or rent a property.

Facebook 'lookalike' audiences allow us to show ads on Facebook to people who show similar characteristics to those who use our website. 'Lookalike' audiences are created using data collected by the Facebook pixel, or in some cases, email address matching, but only on an anonymised and aggregated basis. We do this to make sure we show ads to people who are likely to be interested in them.

By counting redirects to our websites, or estate agents' and new home developers' websites, we track how effective these ads are for statistical and market research purposes. You can change your cookie preferences at any time by visiting the cookie policy page.

When you enter your email address on our website we may share personal or other information that we collect from you, such as your email (in hashed, pseudonymous form), IP address, or information about your browser or operating system, with our partner LiveRamp, Inc. and its group companies. LiveRamp's privacy policy and opt-out is available here.

LiveRamp uses this information to create an online identification code for the purpose of recognising you on your devices. This code does not contain any of your identifiable personal data and will not be used by LiveRamp to re-identify you. We place this code in our cookie or use a LiveRamp cookie and allow it to be used for online and cross-channel advertising. It may be shared with our advertising partners and other third party advertising companies globally for the purpose of enabling interest-based content or targeted advertising throughout your online experience (e.g. web, email, connected devices, and in-app, etc). These third parties may in turn use this code to link demographic or interest-based information you have provided in your interactions with them. You have the right to express a choice regarding our use of LiveRamp cookies and our sharing of this data with LiveRamp for the above purposes.

Search information

E.g. Information about your property searches, clicks, likes and the pages you follow.

Why we collect this data

We use this information to understand what you're looking for and make informed suggestions. It also allows us to give Zoopla agents and developers a clearer idea of the kind of property we think would interest you. And it means we can show you ads or send you relevant, targeted emails based on your recent property searches and activity on our websites.

How it benefits you

Your property search results are more relevant and therefore more useful to you. You could discover properties you may not have otherwise seen because they're just outside your search criteria. And you'll get better service from Zoopla agents and developers.

Legal basis under data protection law:

Legitimate interests

We're allowed to use your data if it's necessary for our (or someone else's) legitimate interests, provided those interests are not outweighed by your rights nor have any negative impact on you.

Our legitimate interests are:

• Providing and improving our services
• Enabling you to save property searches, claim your home and carry out other tasks using your Zoopla account
• Personalising your experience of our services
• Learning from the way you use our services
• Making sure our services are secure

Audience building

We use data to create different audience categories for those who share interests relating to the property market. First-time buyer is one example of a category. We assign you an audience category based on your browsing behaviour on our site, and any data you give us during registration or when you send a lead to an agent. We include information about the areas and property features you're interested in.

Why we collect this data

It enables us to show you information online about properties we think you'll like. And we can better tailor advertising to your interests. This means we get paid more for our advertising slots. We can also send emails on other businesses' behalf so that we do not need to share it with third parties. We can show the effectiveness and relevance of our advertising campaigns by taking anonymised and aggregated statistical and demographic data.

How it benefits you

You have a more personalised online experience using our websites and apps.

Legal basis under data protection law:

Legitimate interests

We're allowed to use your data if it's necessary for our (or someone else's) legitimate interests, provided those interests are not outweighed by your rights nor have any negative impact on you.

Our legitimate interests are:

• Providing and improving our services
• Enabling you to save property searches, claim your home and carry out other tasks using your Zoopla account
• Personalising your experience of our services
• Learning from the way you use our services
• Making sure our services are secure

Our role in advertising technology (adtech)

Adtech is a complex set of technologies and practices which enables advertisers to compete for available digital advertising space in real time.

Zoopla's websites feature ads from third parties. We sometimes select these ads through a bidding process, which enables us to automatically analyse and manage information. We can then instantly sell the advertising space to advertisers during the time it takes for a web page to load on your browser.

Advertisers bid for a specific space on our website if they think a particular user is someone they'd like to reach. We share our audience segments with advertisers so they can target their ads more effectively. For example, new homes developers may want to display their ads to someone we've defined as a first-time buyer. To ensure that we display relevant content in the ads we display, we only allow certain companies to bid for ad space on our websites.

Your communications

Enquiries to agents and developers

E.g. Your contact details and messages you send to agents and developers through our websites and apps.

Why we collect this data

We use this information to send your messages to agents and developers via our portal. We analyse the enquiries sent, and also their outcomes, to help us and other ZPG Companies improve our current services and develop new ones, including those provided to agents and developers. We may use your contact details to send you details of property listings we think you may like, unless you ask us not to.

How it benefits you

You're quickly connected to agents and developers to discuss your enquiry.

Legal basis under data protection law:

Legitimate interests

We're allowed to use your data if it's necessary for our (or someone else's) legitimate interests, provided those interests are not outweighed by your rights nor have any negative impact on you.

• Providing and improving our services
• Enabling you to save property searches, claim your home and carry out other tasks using your Zoopla account
• Personalising your experience of our services
• Learning from the way you use our services
• Making sure our services are secure

Surveys and responses

E.g. Feedback tools on our websites, apps and emails.

Why we collect this data

We sometimes ask for your opinion about our services to measure how we're doing and make improvements.

How it benefits you

You can directly influence what changes and improvements we make to our websites and apps.

Legal basis under data protection law:

Legitimate interests

We're allowed to use your data if it's necessary for our (or someone else's) legitimate interests, provided those interests are not outweighed by your rights nor have any negative impact on you.

• Providing and improving our services
• Enabling you to save property searches, claim your home and carry out other tasks using your Zoopla account
• Personalising your experience of our services
• Learning from the way you use our services
• Making sure our services are secure

Telephone calls

E.g. Recordings of phone calls with you, agents and developers.

Why we collect this data

We listen back to call recordings to help train our team members improve and investigate when something's gone wrong. We can share your call recordings with the agent or developer you contacted to help them improve their service as well. We also use anonymised and aggregated data from transcripts of calls for research purposes.

How it benefits you

You get quality service from Zoopla and our members that's always getting better. And any complaints you may have can be resolved more quickly.

Legal basis under data protection law:

Legitimate interests

We're allowed to use your data if it's necessary for our (or someone else's) legitimate interests, provided those interests are not outweighed by your rights nor have any negative impact on you.

• Providing and improving our services
• Enabling you to save property searches, claim your home and carry out other tasks using your Zoopla account
• Personalising your experience of our services
• Learning from the way you use our services
• Making sure our services are secure

Legal basis: Consent

'Consent' is when you give us your permission to use your data for a specific purpose.

You can withdraw your consent at any time. Simply contact us, or amend your email preference settings in your MyZoopla account.

Legal basis: Legitimate interests

We're allowed to use your data if it's necessary for our (or someone else's) legitimate interests, provided those interests are not outweighed by your rights nor have any negative impact on you.

Our legitimate interests are:

• Providing and improving our services
• Enabling you to save property searches, claim your home and carry out other tasks using your Zoopla account
• Personalising your experience of our services
• Learning from the way you use our services
• Making sure our services are secure

Your rights

The law grants you rights with regards to your personal data. They fall into six categories:

1. Erasure

   You can ask us to delete your information in some circumstances. Find out more about erasure

2. Rectification

   You can ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information. Find out more about rectification

3. Access

   You can ask us for a copy of your information. This right always applies but there are some exceptions, so you might not get everything we process. Please note that we do not accept any access requests made through third party service providers. This is because we're unable to adequately check the identity of the person making the request, which could be phishing attempts.

4. Restrict processing

   You can ask us to restrict processing your information in some circumstances. Find out more about restriction

5. Data portability

   This applies to information you give us. You can ask us to transfer this information to another organisation or give it to you. This only applies to automated processing based on your consent or in relation to a contract.

6. Object to processing

   You can object to how we process your personal data even if we believe it's in our or someone else's legitimate interests.

Your data choices

1. You can choose not to give us your data.

   If you do this, you can still browse our websites and use our apps, but you will not be able to send enquiries, sign up to our emails or register with us.

2. You can turn off cookies.

   If you've previously consented to advertising and personalisation cookies, you can change your settings via our cookie policy. You can also block all cookies by adjusting your browser settings or visiting our websites in "incognito" or "private" mode. You can delete cookies in your browser settings. If you do this, you might not be able to use all our services Find out more about cookies.

3. You can tell us not to use your data for marketing.

   You can say no to us using your data for direct marketing, or withdraw your consent at any time. Simply update your marketing preferences in your account, select 'Unsubscribe' in any email we send you, or contact us via help@zoopla.co.uk

How we store your data

Where do we store your data?

The personal data we collect is processed at our UK offices and in third party data processing facilities.

Some of these third parties are located outside the UK and the European Economic Area (EEA). If we ever transfer your personal data outside the UK and the EEA, we take steps to protect your privacy and make sure that the transfers comply with the law. These steps usually include 'Standard Contractual Clauses' to ensure the recipient protects the personal data fully and appropriately. Please contact us for more information about our data transfer safeguards.

How long do we store your data?

We only keep your data long enough to carry out the task we collected it for. After that time, we safely delete it. The exact amount of time varies depending on the type of data and how we use it.

Do any third parties process your data?

Yes. Like many technology businesses, we use trusted suppliers to host our services (including our websites and apps) and power our business systems. We only choose partners who have appropriate security measures in place to keep your data safe.

We only share your personal data with these suppliers when we absolutely need to. If these suppliers are located outside the UK and the EEA, we take further steps to protect your privacy and make sure that those transfers comply with the law.

Who we are

Zoopla is part of the ZPG Limited group of companies, comprising ZPG Limited and its subsidiaries (the "ZPG Companies"). We share IT infrastructure with other ZPG Companies, and so we may share your personal information with those ZPG Companies to help store your data efficiently and securely. Other ZPG Companies may use your personal information to help provide you with services that you request from those ZPG Companies (for example, to help you manage your home) and to provide you with relevant recommendations of other ZPG services and products. These recommendations may use inferences about your interests based on your activity on our websites and apps and on other websites and apps operated by other ZPG Companies. They may also use your data which we capture when you use the Zoopla website for other purposes which are described in this Privacy Policy.

The ZPG Companies include:

Zoopla Ltd, uSwitch Ltd, Confused.com Ltd, Calcasa B.V, Technicweb Ltd, Jupix Ltd, Hometrack Data Systems Ltd, Hometrack MLS Ltd, Vebra Solutions, Yourkeys Technology Ltd, Property Software Ltd, Dot Zinc Ltd, Mojo.

Cookies

Our websites and apps use cookies and other similar technologies. A cookie is a piece of information we automatically place on your device so we can remember something about it or you. When you first visit our website, we'll ask for your consent to set non-essential cookies for advertising and personalisation.

Cookies help us monitor and improve our services, and to personalise your experience. You can find out more in our cookie policy.

Links to third party websites

Our websites and apps contain links to other websites. This policy does not apply to those other websites. You should check the privacy policy of any other website before submitting your personal data there.

Vulnerability Disclosure Policy

When it comes to our products and marketing we don't compromise on security. If you've noticed something that doesn't seem quite right with any of our platforms please let us know. Drop us an email on security@zoopla.co.uk including your name, details of the vulnerability and how to reproduce it.

Although we welcome all reports of suspected vulnerabilities, we aren't able to respond to every email, and aren't offering rewards or bounties for any finding forwarded to us.

We expect professionalism from any security researchers and for them to avoid privacy or legal violations; these violations include (amongst others) not destroying or corrupting our data, not interrupting our operations, not targeting our staff, not performing any scans on our systems and not trying to access the account details of any other user.

If you have disclosed a valid unique bug we will of course pass this on to our teams internally to resolve, but will not be able to keep you updated on the progress of the report. Regardless of the outcome of your finding we would ask that disclosures are made directly to us, and that no public disclosure is made without our prior explicit consent.

Only reports that have been encrypted will be read, so in order to do that make sure you download the PGP key here.

How to contact us

We hope all of the above makes sense and you're happy with how we use your personal information. If not, please contact us at privacy@zoopla.co.uk.

Or you can contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@zoopla.co.uk or via post to The Cooperage, 5 Copper Row, London, SE1 2LH. Please mark the envelope ‘Data Protection Officer’.

If we're unable to deal with your request in a satisfactory way, you can contact the Information Commissioner's Office.