The Hithe Residents' Association ("HRA", "we", "us") is a not-for-profit organisation run by and for residents of the Hithe, for the common good. This notice explains what personal information we hold, why, and what you can ask us to do about it. The Association is the data controller; for any question about this notice, contact webmaster@thehra.uk.
What we collect when you register
When you register for the residents' area we collect your name, your property name, your email address, and your contact preferences — how you would like to receive Association updates, whether your property wishes to be a member of Hithe Residents Ltd, and whether you would like to join the residents' WhatsApp group.
If you ask to join the WhatsApp group we also ask for your mobile number. This is sent to the group administrator so they can add you, and is not stored on the website.
Email addresses we hold for residents who have not registered
Separately from the above, the Association holds a list of email addresses believed to belong to residents of the Hithe, taken from our own membership and correspondence records. We use it for one purpose: to check whether a new registration has come from an address we recognise, so that we can make an additional identity check before granting access to residents' information.
This list is not published on the website in any form. It can be read only by the webmaster. When someone registers, the comparison is made on a secure server rather than in the visitor's browser, and the result is shown only to the webmaster — the person registering is never told whether their address was recognised, and no version of the list, readable or otherwise, is sent to anyone's browser.
If you would prefer we did not hold your email address for this purpose, contact us and we will remove it.
Why we collect it
We use this information to administer your membership and your Hithe Residents Ltd preferences, and to communicate with you about Association business — newsletters, AGM notices and events. We do this on the basis of our legitimate interests in running the Association for the benefit of residents.
Records kept when you open Association documents
Meeting minutes and similar documents in the residents' area are not stored on the website itself. When you open or download one, the request is checked against your registration and the document is then released to you.
Each of these requests is recorded. The record contains the date and time, the email address and property name used to sign in, the internet (IP) address the request came from, the type of browser used, and which document was opened. Unsuccessful attempts are recorded in the same way.
We keep these records so that we can tell how documents about residents are being used and notice unusual access, which is part of how we protect the information you have given us. We do this on the basis of our legitimate interests in keeping the residents' area secure. These records, like everything else in the website's log, are deleted automatically after twelve months.
Records of visits to the website
When anyone visits a page on this website, whether or not they are registered, our web server records the date and time, the internet (IP) address the visit came from, the page visited and the type of browser used. The record does not include your name or email address.
We keep these records so that we can spot and investigate misuse of the site, such as repeated attempts to break in or automated scanning. We do this on the basis of our legitimate interests in keeping the website secure. The records are held on our web hosting provider's server, can be read only by the webmaster, and are deleted automatically after one month.
Who else sees it
We do not sell your information, and we do not share it with anyone outside the Association for their own purposes.
The website relies on a small number of service providers who process information on our behalf and under our instructions: Google (which provides the database, document storage and sign-in service), our web hosting provider, and an email delivery service used to send registration and notification messages. If you join the WhatsApp group, your number is held by the group administrator and by WhatsApp in the ordinary course of that group operating.
Where your information is held
The database holding your registration, the storage holding Association documents, and the service that checks document requests are all located in London, so that information stays in the UK. Some of the other providers listed above operate outside the UK. Where that is the case, the transfer is covered by the standard contractual clauses that UK law provides for.
How we protect it
Access to the residents' area requires approval by the webmaster. The information is held in an encrypted database with access controls, and the site is served entirely over an encrypted connection. Documents about residents, such as meeting minutes, are held separately from the website and released only in response to a checked request, so they cannot be reached directly from the internet. Administrator access and document access are both logged and monitored.
How long we keep it
If you leave the Association, we delete your personal details when we are told, and in any event within six months.
We keep a log of actions taken on the website — for example registrations, approvals, changes to stored information, and the document requests described above — for security and audit purposes, which allows us to demonstrate that data has been handled properly. All entries in that log are deleted automatically twelve months after they are recorded. Records of visits to the website are kept separately and deleted after one month, as described above.
Entries recording a sign-in to the residents' area, a registration or a change to your preferences include the internet (IP) address the request came from and the type of browser used, in the same way as the document requests described above. We keep these for the same reason: so that we can notice someone attempting to use another resident's details.
Your rights
Under UK GDPR you have the right to ask us for a copy of the information we hold about you, to have it corrected, to ask us to delete it, and to object to how we use it. To exercise any of these, contact webmaster@thehra.uk.
If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Last updated: October 2026