This policy explains how Zone uses your personal information.
Zone Management Leicester Limited ("Zone", "we", "us") is the data controller - a company registered in England and Wales, company number 08084994, registered office 2 Merus Court, Meridian Business Park, Leicester, LE19 1RJ. We manage each building for the landlord company named in your licence agreement, and share with that company only what it needs for your licence.
If you have a question about this policy, or want to use any of your rights, email bookings@thestudentzone.co.uk or write to Zone, 9 De Montfort Mews, Leicester, LE1 7FW.
What we collect
When you browse - the pages you visit, where you came from and your type of device and browser. We count visits without cookies and don't keep your IP address - see our cookies policy.
When you enquire (by email or the website chat), book a viewing or book a studio - your name, email, mobile number, date of birth, university, the studio and dates you choose, and any friends you ask to live near.
After you pay the £99 holding deposit - a photo of you, taken in the Zone app, so our team can recognise you and keep the building secure. If you lived with us before, we may use the photo you gave us then.
When you sign your licence - your signed agreement and the results of your Rightmove checks (ID, right to rent and referencing).
If you have a guarantor - their name, contact details, home address, their signed agreement, and the results of their Rightmove checks.
When you pay - your payment records. Payments are made through your bank or by bank transfer; we don't see or store your bank login.
While you live with us - repair requests (including photos), messages, complaints, and records of lock-outs and access to your studio.
Why we use it, and our lawful basis
- To take and manage your booking and licence agreement - including payments, reminders, keys, repairs and moving out, sent by email, text and phone notification (see below). Basis: contract.
- To confirm your identity, carry out right-to-rent checks where they apply, and reference you and your guarantor. Basis: contract, legal obligation, and our legitimate interests in preventing fraud and managing risk.
- To know who lives in each building and keep it secure - your photo, seen only by our team. Basis: legitimate interests.
- To meet legal obligations - for example right-to-rent, council tax, safety records, and responding to courts or the police. Basis: legal obligation.
- To recover money owed. Basis: legitimate interests.
- To remind you about a booking you started but didn't finish, and about viewings. Basis: legitimate interests - you can opt out at any time.
- To improve our website and service. Basis: legitimate interests.
- To send you marketing, such as rebooking offers. Basis: consent, or legitimate interests for existing residents. Every marketing message has an unsubscribe link.
Phone notifications
When you accept your booking terms, you also agree that we can send you notifications on your phone - and so can your guarantor when they sign. We use them only for your booking and your stay: payments due, things to sign, repairs, documents, your key and moving in and out. They come with our emails and texts, never instead of anything important. Marketing is never sent this way; it is a separate choice you make yourself.
Your phone asks you to allow notifications from Zone the first time - tap Allow so you don't miss anything. We keep a record of when you accepted these terms, the version of this policy and what your phone said.
If you don't want phone notifications, email us at bookings@thestudentzone.co.uk and we'll switch them off. Emails and texts about your booking and payments will still be sent.
Checking your identity
Rightmove checks your identity, right to rent and references - and your guarantor's - online, on our behalf. Their ID check, provided by Veriff, may ask you for a photo of your ID and a selfie or short video, which they compare to confirm it's you. We receive the result and Rightmove's report. Separately, the photo you add in the Zone app is only for our team to recognise you. The app checks that it shows a face, but we don't use it for facial recognition. When you collect a key fob, a member of our team checks you're the person in your ID.
Who we share it with
We only share what's needed, with:
- the landlord company that owns your building
- our service providers, who act on our instructions: Microsoft (hosting, email, automated reminder calls and document storage), Twilio (text messages), Atoa (pay-by-bank payments), Salto and ASSA ABLOY (digital keys), Apple and Google (app notifications), Ideal Postcodes (address search), Rightmove (ID, right-to-rent and referencing checks for residents and guarantors, with Veriff for the ID check), our maintenance contractors and our out-of-hours security provider
- your guarantor - about payments they have guaranteed
- professional advisers, debt recovery agents and courts, where needed
- councils, the police or other authorities where the law requires it
- a buyer of our business, if that ever happens
We don't sell your information, and we don't share it with others for their own marketing.
Where it's stored
Your information is stored in the UK. Some of our providers may process data outside the UK. Where that happens, we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place.
How long we keep it
- Licence agreement, account and payment records: 6 years after your agreement ends - the period in which legal claims can be brought, and what HMRC requires for financial records
- Guarantor agreements: 6 years after the licence ends (12 years if signed as a deed)
- Copies of photo ID and right-to-rent results: 1 year after your agreement ends, as the right-to-rent rules require. If no agreement goes ahead, they're deleted within 30 days.
- Your photo: 1 year after your licence ends. If your booking doesn't go ahead, it's deleted within 30 days.
- Referencing results: 6 months after your agreement ends, unless needed for a dispute
- CCTV: about 14 days - the recorders overwrite themselves - unless it's needed to investigate an incident
- Emails about your licence: with your licence records; other enquiries (including website chats) and unfinished bookings: 12 months
- Marketing: until you unsubscribe
Your rights
You can ask us to:
- give you a copy of your information
- correct anything that's wrong
- delete your information, where we no longer need it
- restrict or object to how we use it, including stopping marketing at any time
- move your information to another organisation, where that applies
Email bookings@thestudentzone.co.uk. We'll respond within one month.
Security
We protect your information with access controls, encryption and secure hosting. Staff only see what they need for their role. If you think your account has been compromised, or you get a suspicious message claiming to be from us, tell us straight away.
Complaints
If you're unhappy with how we've used your information, please tell us first. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office: https://ico.org.uk or 0303 123 1113.
Changes to this policy
We'll update this page if anything changes. Last updated: 2 November 2026.