RentalForce Privacy Policy

Last updated: 4 November 2026

1. Who we are

RentalForce is property management and Making Tax Digital (MTD) software for UK landlords. It is provided by RentalForce Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 17527562).

For any privacy question or request, email hello@rentalforce.co.uk or write to us at the address above.

2. Our role

We handle two kinds of personal data, and our legal role differs for each.

Whose data	Examples	Our role	Who decides how it is used
You, the account holder	Your name, email, login, National Insurance number, HMRC connection, device data	Controller	We do, as set out in this policy
People in your records	Your tenants, guarantors, co-owners, contractors	Processor	You do. We only process it to provide the service, under the Data Processing Schedule in our Terms

If you are a tenant, guarantor or contractor and your details are held in RentalForce, your landlord is responsible for that data. Please contact them first. If you contact us, we will pass your request to them and help them respond.

3. What we collect

We collect what you enter, what you upload, and a small amount of technical data from your device.

Category	What it includes	Where it comes from
Account details	Name, email address, password (stored only as a one-way encrypted hash), profile photo, notification and display preferences	You
Tax and HMRC details	National Insurance number, HMRC business ID, the secure tokens HMRC issues when you connect your account (stored encrypted), and a record of each submission: the figures sent, HMRC's response and reference	You and HMRC
Portfolio records	Properties (address, purchase and valuation figures, tenure, compliance dates, licence details, utility locations, photos, notes), mortgages (lender, rate, balance, account number), tasks and co-owner shares	You
Financial records	Bank account names and opening balances, bank statements you import (dates, amounts, descriptions and account identifiers in the file), transactions and their categories	You
Tenant and guarantor details	Names, phone numbers, email addresses, rent, tenancy dates, deposit details, guarantor name, email and address, notes	You (we act as your processor)
Contractor details	Name, company, phone, email, image, trades and areas covered, notes	You (we act as your processor)
AI Assistant key	Your own Anthropic API key, if you add one (stored encrypted)	You
Device and connection data	IP address and port, a device identifier, browser type, screen and window size, time zone, and the time of each request	Your browser, automatically
Service logs	Errors and events needed to run and secure the service	Our systems

Free-text notes are never sent to the AI Assistant, but please do not record health, criminal or other sensitive information about tenants in them unless you have a lawful reason to.

We do not knowingly collect data from children. RentalForce is for adults running a property business.

Emails and enquiries. If you email hello@rentalforce.co.uk, including through the buttons on our website, we receive your name, email address and whatever your message contains. We use it only to reply and to follow up on what you asked, on the basis of our legitimate interest in answering enquiries. Our website itself collects nothing: it has no forms and sets no cookies.

4. How we use your data and our lawful bases

We use your data only to run RentalForce for you, keep it secure and meet our legal duties. We do not sell it or use it for advertising.

Purpose	Lawful basis (UK GDPR)
Create and run your account; store and organise your portfolio; produce reports, exports and tax figures	Contract
Connect to HMRC and send MTD updates when you choose to submit	Contract
Send HMRC the device and connection data its rules require with every MTD call	Legal obligation (and contract)
Send your daily email digest of due tasks and reminders	Contract (you can switch it off)
Send service and security messages, such as changes to these terms	Legitimate interests: running a safe, reliable service
Prevent fraud and misuse, fix faults, keep logs	Legitimate interests: security and reliability
Keep records for tax, accounting and legal claims	Legal obligation and legitimate interests
Product news and marketing emails	Consent only — we will ask first, and you can withdraw at any time

We make no automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you. The app calculates tax figures from transactions you have reviewed, but you decide whether and when to submit them.

5. HMRC and Making Tax Digital

You connect RentalForce to HMRC through HMRC's own sign-in page. We never see or store your HMRC password.

What HMRC gives us: secure access tokens, stored encrypted. HMRC's authority lasts up to 18 months, then you sign in again. You can disconnect at any time in Settings.
What we send HMRC: your National Insurance number, business ID and the figures you choose to submit. Only transactions you have marked as reviewed are included.
Fraud-prevention data: HMRC requires all MTD software to send details of the device and connection used for each call. We send your IP address and port, a device identifier, browser type, screen and window size, time zone, a timestamp, and your RentalForce user ID and email address. HMRC uses this to protect taxpayers from fraud.
Our records: we keep a copy of each submission and HMRC's response, so you have a history and so we can investigate any problem.

If you file through other bridging software instead, RentalForce creates an export file of your figures. We store that file in your account; you choose where it goes next.

Once HMRC receives your data, HMRC is a separate controller. HMRC's own privacy notice explains how it uses it.

6. AI Assistant

The AI Assistant is optional. It only runs when you ask it a question, using your own Anthropic API key.

What is sent: only the figures needed for the analysis, such as property type and size, postcode area (for example W3), council, tenure and lease term, purchase, valuation and mortgage figures, lender, compliance dates, EPC rating, rents, deposits and tenancy dates, number of tenants, and task dates, tags and costs.
What is never sent: tenant, guarantor or contractor names and contact details; full addresses or postcodes; notes and task descriptions; account, policy, title or licence numbers.
Codes, not names: each property, tenancy, mortgage and task is sent as a code (for example P1). We match the codes back to your records on our servers.
Custom questions are sent exactly as you type them, so keep personal details out of them. Short labels you create, such as task tags, are also sent as entered.
No storage: we do not store or log your questions or the answers.

Requests go directly to Anthropic under your own agreement with Anthropic, which acts as your provider for this feature. Anthropic's commercial terms say it does not train its models on this data.

7. Who we share it with

We share data only with the suppliers we need to run RentalForce, and with HMRC when you submit.

Recipient	What they do	Data involved	Location
Microsoft (Azure)	Hosting, database, file storage, and the scheduled job that sends the daily digest	All service data	UK
Google (Gmail)	Sends system emails and the daily digest; receives emails sent to hello@rentalforce.co.uk	Name, email address, and what the email contains	—
ImprovMX	Forwards emails sent to hello@rentalforce.co.uk to our inbox	Sender's name, email address and message	—
jsDelivr	Delivers parts of the app's interface code to your browser	Your IP address and browser details	Global network
HMRC	Receives MTD updates you submit	See section 5	UK (separate controller)
Anthropic	Answers AI Assistant questions, only if you add your own key	See section 6	Under your agreement with Anthropic

We may also share data:

with professional advisers, such as lawyers, accountants and insurers, under duties of confidentiality;
when the law requires it, for example a court order or a request from a regulator;
with a buyer or successor if our business is sold or restructured, under the same protections.

Other people only see your data if you give them access: a co-owner you add to a portfolio, or an accountant, bookkeeper or letting agent you invite. They can see the records of the portfolios you open to them. Your adviser handles your data under their own professional and data protection duties, and you can remove their access at any time.

8. Where we store data and how we protect it

Your data is stored on Microsoft Azure servers in the UK.

All traffic is encrypted in transit (HTTPS), and stored data, files and backups are encrypted at rest.
Passwords are stored only as one-way hashes. HMRC tokens and AI keys are stored encrypted.
Each portfolio's records are walled off: users only reach portfolios they have been added to.
Access to production systems is limited to the people who need it to run the service.

If data ever leaves the UK, for example with a supplier abroad, we use a UK adequacy decision or the ICO's approved transfer contracts to protect it.

If a breach puts your data at risk, we will tell the ICO within 72 hours where the law requires, and tell you without undue delay. Where the breach affects tenant or contractor data you hold, we will tell you promptly so you can meet your own duties.

9. How long we keep it

When you leave RentalForce, you can download all of your data and we then delete it permanently. Until then, we keep it while your account is open.

Data	How long
Your account, portfolio records, notes and uploaded files	While your account is open. When you leave, you can download everything, then we delete it permanently within 30 days of your request
Records you delete in the app	Hidden at once; permanently removed after 30 days
HMRC submission records and responses	Included in your download, then deleted with the rest of your account
Device and connection data sent to HMRC	Not stored beyond service logs
Emails and enquiries to hello@rentalforce.co.uk	12 months after our last exchange, unless you become a customer, when they are kept with your account
Service logs	90 days
Backups	Overwritten within 35 days, so deleted data drops out of backups by then
Billing records	6 years, as company and tax law require

Your download includes everything you have entered or uploaded, in standard formats such as spreadsheets and the original files. You remain responsible for keeping your own tax records for as long as HMRC requires, so keep your download safe before asking us to delete your account.

10. Cookies

RentalForce uses only cookies it needs to work. We use no advertising or analytics cookies.

Cookie	Purpose	How long
Sign-in cookie	Keeps you signed in	2 hours, or 30 days if you tick "Remember me"
Session cookie	Remembers choices such as list filters while you browse	Until you close your browser
Security cookie	Protects forms against cross-site request forgery	Until you close your browser
Device identifier (rf_device_id)	A random ID HMRC requires MTD software to send, so HMRC can spot fraud	10 years, as HMRC asks that it does not expire
Device signals cookie	Holds your browser type, screen size, window size and time zone for HMRC's fraud-prevention checks	Until you close your browser

Because these cookies are essential to the service, the law does not require your consent for them. If you block them, you will not be able to sign in or submit to HMRC. If we ever add optional cookies, we will ask first.

11. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you can ask us to:

give you a copy of your data;
correct data that is wrong or incomplete;
delete your data, where we have no legal reason to keep it;
restrict or object to how we use it;
send your data to you or another provider in a usable format;
withdraw consent where we rely on it, such as for marketing emails.

Email hello@rentalforce.co.uk. We will reply within one month and will not usually charge. We may need to confirm your identity first.

Complaints. Please tell us first so we can put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this policy. We will post any update here with a new date. If a change materially affects you, we will email you before it takes effect.