An estate agent has been fined under data protection laws for failing to register with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
PDQ Property Sales, of Liverpool, failed to declare that it processes personal data. The agency was fined £250 and ordered to pay £265 in court costs plus a £15 victim’s surcharge under the Data Protection Act (DPA).
The case comes after the ICO announced a crackdown specifically on estate agents and letting agents and the fine on PDQ sets an example.
Mick Gorrill, head of enforcement at the ICO, said the fines should be a wake-up call to all businesses to ensure that they should follow the DPA closely or risk a similar fate.
He said: “This case should serve as a warning to all organisations that process personal data. Failure to notify is a criminal offence that could land you in court.
“This requirement is written into data protection legislation for a number of very valid reasons, not least because it gives people an added assurance that businesses and other organisations understand the need to keep their personal details secure.”
As a result of the incident, the ICO is currently writing to all estate and letting agents in the UK telling them to check their requirements under the Act.
The ICO is underlining the fact that PDQ Property Sales may have got off lightly. Potential fines for failing to inform the ICO are £5,000 in a magistrates’ court or unlimited in a crown court.
EAT has warned before about agents breaking the Data Protection Act and who could face prosecution as a result of a targeted clampdown by the ICO.
Last autumn, the ICO said that a large number of agents are failing to notify it that they are handling people’s personal information. This is a legal requirement under the Data Protection Act.
At that point, just 3,734 estate agents and 1,416 lettings agents appeared on the ICO’s public register, making up a tiny proportion of the industry.
Advice and guidance on how organisations can register with the ICO can be found here:
www.ico.gov.uk/what_we_cover/data_protection/notification.aspx
The public register of data controllers can be accessed here:
www.ico.gov.uk/tools_and_resources/register_of_datacontrollers.aspx
Comments
Why not have a revolution and get rid of all the public sector parasites?
Why not fine them the £5K??
Why write to the offenders, why not just fine those not registered?- its the law, why allow idiots an unfair advantage, fine them, close them down if they continue.
I registered with them immediately but with great resentment. It strikes me as bloody ridiculous ... ICO know that we are Sales and/or Lettings agents and so they know that we handle private data. Therefore there is no need to register in order to tell them what they already know.
It is yet another stealth tax, which will probably cost nearly as much to administer as it does to raise.
I just LOVE paying taxes. But at least we don't live next to a nuclear plant built on a fault line with a mad Libyan dictator setting fire to us when we refuse to fly his planes.