Privacy notice

This notice explains what personal data AgLand collects, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and what you can do about it. It also explains how we use anonymised information - data from which you cannot be identified. We've written it in plain English rather than legalese, because a privacy notice nobody reads protects nobody.

Who we are

AgLand is a trading name of Birkwood Ventures Ltd (company number 15107836), registered at 5th Floor, 167-169 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 5PF. We are the data controller for the personal data described here. Our ICO registration number is ZC107125.

For anything to do with your data, email milly@agland.co.uk or use the contact form. There's no ticketing system - it comes straight to Milly.

What we collect, and why

If you register a buying requirement

Your first name, last name, email address, phone number (optional), and the details of what you're looking for: property types, counties or UK-wide, budget, acreage range and any features you specified.

We use this to email you a confirmation link, to match you against properties advertised with us, and to email you those matches. Your requirement is also published on AgLand as an anonymous listing - property types, county, budget bracket, acreage. Your name, email and phone number are never published.

If you advertise a property

Your name, email address, phone number (optional), and the details and photographs of the property, including the material information required for property adverts. Payment is taken by Stripe - we receive a confirmation and the last four digits of the card, and never see or store your full card details. We also store the postcode of the land so we can match it to buyers searching within a distance of it. We only ever publish the first part of that postcode (e.g. “LN11”) - never the full postcode.

If you check buyer demand without advertising

Your first name, email address, postcode and county, plus the number of buyers matching at the time. We record the exact consent wording you were shown and when you agreed to it, so we can prove what you signed up for. You can opt out at any time using the unsubscribe link in any email we send.

If you subscribe as a land or estate agent

Your name, business name, email address, phone number, the counties you subscribe to, and an account password (stored hashed - we can't read it). Your subscription is billed through Stripe.

If you use the contact form

Your first name, last name, email address and your message. Nothing else.

Technical data

Our hosting provider and Supabase keep standard server logs (IP address, timestamp, pages requested) for security and to keep the service running. When you type a postcode into the demand checker, or give one as the area you're searching, that postcode is sent to postcodes.io - a free UK service - to convert it into a map location and a county. Nothing else about you goes with it.

If you tell us where you're looking

When you register a requirement you can give a postcode and a distance. We store that postcode, the map location it resolves to and the distance you chose, so we can tell you how far away a property is and only contact you about land you'd actually consider. Buyer requirements are shown publicly by county only - your postcode is never shown to sellers, agents or anyone else, and neither is your name or contact detail until you choose to connect.

The important bit: how contact details get shared

When a buyer asks to connect about a property, we email both sides the other's name, email address and phone number at the same time. That is the entire point of the service, and it only happens when someone actively clicks to connect. Registering a requirement or advertising a property does not, by itself, disclose your contact details to anyone.

Subscribing agents can see the buying requirements for their counties - the same anonymous detail published on the public site. They do not get buyers' contact details. Those are only ever exchanged through a connection.

We never share your contact details with anyone unless you ask us to. Beyond buyer-seller connections, there are two situations where you might ask: professional introductions and partner offers. Both are described below, both run on your explicit agreement, and neither ever happens silently.

Anonymised and aggregated data

We may create anonymised and aggregated data, statistics and insights from the requirements, adverts and other activity on AgLand, and may use, publish, license or sell them for research and commercial purposes. Here is exactly what that involves, and what it never involves:

• Before any information is used this way, we strip out your name, email address, phone number, full postcode and any free-text notes. What remains is combined with many other records into aggregate figures - counts, totals, averages and trends.
• We apply minimum group sizes: if a figure describes so few people that someone could plausibly be picked out of it - even by combining it with other publicly available information - we widen the grouping or leave the figure out.
• Once data has been anonymised this way it is no longer personal data, because it is no longer about an identifiable person. Nothing we produce this way ever contains anything that identifies you.
• The act of producing anonymised data from your records is itself a use of your personal data. Our lawful basis for it is legitimate interests: it lets us fund a platform that stays free for buyers, and it creates market transparency that benefits everyone in the sector. You have the right to object - see “Your rights” below.

Professional introductions - only if you ask

If you ask us to introduce you to a professional - a solicitor, surveyor, valuer, lender, insurer, accountant or similar - we'll pass them your name, contact details and the relevant context of your requirement or property, and nothing more. We only do this with your specific agreement, given at the time, for that introduction.

Some partners pay us a fee for introductions; where that's the case, we tell you before you agree. Once introduced, the partner handles your data as its own data controller under its own privacy notice, which we'll link to when you're deciding. You can withdraw consent for future introductions at any time; an introduction already made can't be unmade, but we'll tell the partner if you'd like them to delete your details.

Commercial partners

Sometimes a partner organisation may want to hear from buyers or owners with requirements like yours. We only pass your personal details to such a partner with your explicit consent, given at the time, naming the partner and explaining what will be shared and why. We keep a record of every consent. If you say no - or say nothing - nothing is shared, and your use of AgLand is unaffected.

Our lawful bases

Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time and we'll stop. Withdrawing consent doesn't affect anything we did while it was in place.

Who we share it with

We use a small number of suppliers (processors) to run the service. None of them may use your data for their own purposes:

Our database - where your details actually live - is hosted in London. Where a supplier processes data outside the UK, that transfer is covered by the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum, or an adequacy decision.

We may also disclose data if we're legally required to, or to our professional advisors where necessary.

How long we keep it

Every period below is enforced automatically by a job that runs every day - not by somebody remembering.

• Buyers: we ask you to re-confirm you're still looking every 180 days. Ignore two reminders over about three weeks and your requirement is marked lapsed and drops out of the live database and all counts. Two years after that we strip your name, email address, phone number and search postcode from the record. What we keep is the shape of the requirement - land type, acreage, county, budget - which is no longer about you, and lets our published figures for past years stay true.
• Unconfirmed registrations: if you never click the confirmation link, we delete the record after 30 days. No confirmation means no consent, so we don't keep it.
• Adverts: live for the 6 months you paid for, then marked expired. If you started an advert but never paid for it, we delete it after 12 months.
• Demand-check leads: kept while your consent stands. Unsubscribe and we keep a minimal suppression record for 2 years so we don't email you again by accident, then delete it.
• Messages you send us: 2 years, then deleted.
• Advert view counts: 25 months. These are a property reference and a timestamp - no IP address, no device, nothing that identifies a person.
• Payment and consent records: 7 years, because tax law and provable consent both require it.

Ask us to delete you sooner and we will, subject to those record-keeping duties. Once a record has been stripped of everything identifying, it is no longer personal data, and the anonymous statistics it contributed to may be kept indefinitely.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you can ask us to:

• give you a copy of the data we hold about you
• correct anything that's wrong
• delete your data
• restrict or object to how we use it - including objecting to your records being used to create anonymised statistics
• transfer it to another service
• stop sending you marketing - always, no questions asked

Email milly@agland.co.uk. We'll respond within one month, and it's free. Buyers can also see, update and delete everything themselves using the link in any email we've sent them - no request needed.

There's no automated decision-making that has a legal effect on you. Matching is a filter on the criteria you gave us, and every submission is reviewed by a human before it goes live.

Cookies and analytics

Three things, and only three.

Essential. One session cookie that keeps subscribing agents logged in, and a note in your browser's local storage recording your answer to the analytics question below so we don't keep asking. Neither needs your consent and neither tracks you.

Analytics, only if you agree. We use Google Analytics to see which pages are useful and where people give up. We ask before loading it: if you decline, or simply ignore the banner, no Google script is loaded at all and no analytics cookies are set. If you accept, Google sets cookies to count visits, and your IP address is anonymised. To change your mind, clear this site's data in your browser and the question will be asked again.

Ahrefs Web Analytics, with no cookies. It counts page views so we can see which guides people actually read. It sets no cookies and stores nothing on your device, and it doesn't build a profile of you or follow you to other sites, so there is nothing for us to ask permission for. Data is processed in the EU. Because it runs for everyone and Google Analytics only runs for those who accept the banner, the two will never show the same number - that is expected.

We run no advertising cookies, nothing that follows you around the web, and we never share your data with advertisers.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Access to the database is limited to Milly and the application itself. Agent passwords are hashed, and card details never touch our servers.

Complaints

If we've got something wrong, tell us first - we'd rather fix it. We'll acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and respond properly without undue delay. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes

If we change how we use your data we'll update this page and change the date at the top. For anything significant, we'll email you. This version is a significant change - it introduces the anonymised data, professional introductions and commercial partner sections.