The Creamery Ltd trading as Melville-Brown

Effective from: August 2026
 Last reviewed: August 2026

1. About this Privacy Notice

Melville-Brown respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This Privacy Notice explains how we collect, use, store and share personal information when providing our property preparation, staging and residential estate agency services.

Melville-Brown is the trading name of The Creamery Ltd, company number 13096461.

For the purposes of UK data protection law, The Creamery Ltd is the data controller responsible for your personal information.

ICO registration number: ZC225223 

Email: hello@melvillebrown.uk

2. The Personal Information We May Collect

The information we collect will depend upon your relationship with Melville-Brown.

It may include:

• your name;

• home and correspondence address;

• telephone number;

• email address;

• date of birth where required;

• information about properties you own, occupy, wish to sell or wish to purchase;

• identification documents;

• information required for identity verification;

• information about beneficial ownership;

• information concerning your relationship to a property;

• financial information relevant to a property transaction;

• information about your proposed source of funds or source of wealth where required;

• mortgage or funding position;

• information about your property chain;

• offers made or received;

• communications between you and Melville-Brown;

• viewing records and property preferences;

• information provided during negotiations and sales progression;

• invoices and payment records;

• photographs and video of properties;

• information required for anti-money laundering, sanctions and other regulatory checks; and

• other information you choose to provide to us in connection with our services.

We aim to collect only information that is reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it is being used.

3. How We Obtain Personal Information

We may obtain information directly from you when you:

• contact Melville-Brown;

• ask us to provide a service;

• instruct us to sell or prepare a property;

• enquire about or view a property;

• make or receive an offer;

• enter into an agreement with us;

• provide information for anti-money laundering or identity checks; or

• otherwise communicate with us.

We may also receive information from third parties where appropriate, including:

• solicitors and conveyancers;

• other estate agents;

• mortgage brokers and financial advisers;

• surveyors;

• contractors and property professionals;

• electronic identity and AML verification providers;

• publicly available registers and databases;

• Companies House;

• HM Land Registry; and

• other parties legitimately involved in a property transaction.

Where we obtain personal information from somewhere other than the individual concerned, UK GDPR transparency requirements can require additional information about the categories and source of that data.

4. How We Use Personal Information

We may use personal information to:

• provide property preparation, interiors and staging services;

• provide residential estate agency services;

• communicate with sellers and prospective purchasers;

• arrange and manage viewings;

• prepare property marketing;

• manage enquiries;

• record and communicate offers;

• negotiate property transactions;

• establish the position of prospective purchasers;

• progress agreed sales;

• communicate with solicitors, surveyors and other parties involved in a transaction;

• issue invoices and maintain financial records;

• manage our contractual relationship with clients;

• carry out customer due diligence;

• verify identity and beneficial ownership;

• undertake anti-money laundering, PEP and sanctions checks;

• consider source of funds and, where appropriate, source of wealth;

• comply with legal and regulatory requirements;

• prevent and detect fraud and other financial crime;

• deal with complaints;

• establish, exercise or defend legal claims;

• maintain appropriate business and regulatory records; and

• administer and improve the operation of Melville-Brown.

5. Our Lawful Bases for Using Personal Information

UK data protection law requires us to have a lawful basis for using personal information. The appropriate basis depends on why the information is being processed; there is not one basis that automatically applies to everything a business does.

Melville-Brown will principally rely upon the following:

Contract

We may process information where this is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you.

For example, where you instruct Melville-Brown to prepare, stage or sell your property.

This may also apply where you ask us to take steps before entering into a contract.

Legal obligation

We may process information where this is necessary to comply with a legal obligation.

This includes information we are required to obtain or retain in connection with anti-money laundering, estate agency, tax, accounting and other applicable legal or regulatory obligations.

The ICO confirms that this basis applies where processing is necessary to comply with an obligation imposed by UK law.

Legitimate interests

We may process information where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests or those of another person, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests.

Those interests may include:

• operating and administering Melville-Brown;

• communicating appropriately with people involved in property transactions;

• maintaining appropriate business records;

• protecting the security and integrity of our business;

• preventing fraud;

• dealing with disputes and legal claims; and

• providing and improving our services.

Where we rely on legitimate interests, we will consider whether the processing is necessary and proportionate and whether your interests or rights override our interests.

Consent

There may be limited circumstances where we ask for your consent to use personal information for a particular purpose.

Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent.

6. Anti-Money Laundering and Identity Verification

As an estate agency business, Melville-Brown is required to undertake appropriate customer due diligence and comply with applicable anti-money laundering and financial crime legislation.

We may therefore obtain and process information including:

• proof of identity;

• proof of address;

• date of birth;

• property ownership information;

• beneficial ownership information;

• PEP and sanctions screening results;

• source-of-funds information;

• source-of-wealth information where appropriate; and

• other information reasonably required to satisfy our legal and regulatory obligations.

We may use a specialist electronic identity or AML verification provider to assist with these checks.

The fact that we use a third-party provider does not remove Melville-Brown's responsibility for complying with its own legal obligations.

There may be circumstances in which the law restricts the information we are able to give you about financial-crime checks or reporting.

7. Who We May Share Personal Information With

Where reasonably necessary and lawful, information may be shared with:

• sellers and prospective purchasers;

• solicitors and licensed conveyancers;

• surveyors;

• mortgage brokers or financial advisers where appropriate;

• photographers and floorplan providers;

• contractors and tradespeople involved in property preparation;

• property portals and marketing providers;

• electronic identity and AML verification providers;

• accountants and professional advisers;

• insurers;

• IT, email, document-signing and other business service providers;

• HMRC;

• law enforcement or regulatory bodies;

• the Property Redress Scheme;

• the Information Commissioner's Office; and

• other organisations where disclosure is legally required or reasonably necessary for a property transaction.

We will not sell your personal information to third parties.

8. Property Marketing

Where Melville-Brown is instructed to market a property, information about the property may be published through property portals, websites, social media, brochures and other appropriate marketing channels.

This may include photographs, video, floorplans, descriptions and other information concerning the property.

We will take reasonable care to avoid unnecessarily publishing personal information about the occupants of a property.

Separate permission may be sought where photographs or other project material are to be used subsequently for Melville-Brown's portfolio, publicity or marketing where required.

9. How Long We Keep Personal Information

We will not keep personal information for longer than is reasonably necessary.

The period for which information is retained will depend upon:

• the nature of the information;

• the reason it was collected;

• our contractual relationship with you;

• legal and regulatory retention requirements;

• anti-money laundering requirements;

• accounting and tax requirements;

• applicable limitation periods; and

• whether information may reasonably be required in connection with a complaint, dispute or legal claim.

Where legislation requires information to be retained for a particular period, Melville-Brown will comply with that requirement.

Information which is no longer required will be securely deleted or destroyed.

The ICO requires privacy information to state either retention periods or the criteria used to determine them.

10. Keeping Personal Information Secure

Melville-Brown takes reasonable organisational and technical measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.

Access to personal information will be limited to those who reasonably require it for legitimate business, professional or legal purposes.

Where third-party service providers process information on our behalf, we will take reasonable steps to use appropriate providers and arrangements.

11. International Transfers

Some technology or service providers used by Melville-Brown may process or store information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we will take appropriate steps to ensure that the transfer complies with applicable UK data protection requirements and that appropriate safeguards are used where required.

12. Your Data Protection Rights

Depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis on which information is processed, you may have rights including:

• the right to be informed about how your information is used;

• the right to request access to personal information held about you;

• the right to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;

• the right to request deletion of information in certain circumstances;

• the right to request restriction of processing in certain circumstances;

• the right to object to certain processing;

• the right to data portability in certain circumstances; and

• rights concerning certain automated decision-making.

These rights are not all absolute and some do not apply where information must be retained or processed to comply with a legal obligation. The rights available can also depend upon the lawful basis being relied upon.

Your right to object

You have the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests in certain circumstances. You also have an absolute right to object to the use of your personal information for direct marketing.

To exercise a data protection right, please contact Melville-Brown using the details at the beginning of this Notice.

We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request.

13. Direct Marketing

Melville-Brown may occasionally wish to contact people about relevant services or property opportunities.

Any direct marketing will be carried out in accordance with applicable data protection and electronic marketing requirements.

Where consent is required, it will be obtained.

You may ask us to stop sending direct marketing communications at any time.

14. Automated Decision-Making

Melville-Brown does not currently make decisions about individuals based solely on automated processing which produce legal or similarly significant effects.

Electronic systems may be used to assist with identity, AML, PEP, sanctions or other compliance checks, but appropriate decisions concerning Melville-Brown's business relationship will not simply be delegated to an automated system where human consideration is required.

15. Complaints About the Use of Personal Information

If you have concerns about how Melville-Brown has used your personal information, please contact us in the first instance so that we have an opportunity to address them.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection.

Information Commissioner's Office

16. Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice from time to time, including where our services, systems or legal obligations change.

The current version will be made available through Melville-Brown and, where appropriate, on our website.

Last reviewed: August 2026

Privacy Notice