Privacy policy

Short version: we hold as little about you as we can get away with, and any occupant can have their address removed within 48 hours without explaining themselves.

Last updated 20 August 2026.

If you live at a property on this site

You can have the address removed. We do not ask for evidence, we do not ask why, and we do not contact you about it. It leaves search results immediately and is fully removed — including from area counts — within 48 hours, and re-importing the council’s register will not bring it back.

Remove an address →

Personal data we hold about you

Your email address, if you create an account, subscribe to alerts, request a council, or submit a report. Lawful basis: contract, or legitimate interest in operating the reporting route.
A hash of your email address when you vote for a council. We store the hash, not the address, so a vote count can never become a mailing list.
Session records so you can stay signed in. We store a hash of the session token, never the token itself. There are no passwords: sign-in is by emailed link.
Payment records if you buy a report or subscribe. Card details go to Stripe and never touch our systems.

We do not run third-party advertising or analytics trackers, and there is no consent banner because there is nothing to consent to.

Personal data we refuse to hold

We do not ingest, store or display the names or home addresses of licence holders, managers or agents where they are individuals — even where a council publishes them. These are stripped at the point of import and never reach our database. See Sources and attribution.

If you submit a report

We hold your email address so we can confirm the report is genuine and update you. The report itself is never published against an address. If we refer it to a council, we pass on what you told us about the property; councils may need to know who reported in order to act, and we will tell you before that happens.

Your rights

You can ask for a copy of what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Email privacy@hmowatch.co.uk. If you are unhappy with how we have handled it, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Retention

Sign-in links expire after 15 minutes; sessions after 30 days.
Account data is kept while the account exists, and deleted on request.
Reports are kept while they are open with a council, then for 12 months.
Suppression records are kept permanently, by design — deleting one would let the address reappear on the next import.