Privacy Policy

This notice explains how personal information is handled when you use this website, submit an enquiry, refer a client to us, or instruct us to provide Independent Legal Advice.

Who is responsible for your information

Your ILA is the brand under which Independent Legal Advice is offered. The data controller is Green & Olive Legal Limited (trading as Green & Olive Solicitors), a law firm authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA number 621890, of Unit 4, Rowchester Court, Birmingham, B4 6DH.

You can contact us about privacy by email at contact@yourila.com or by telephone on 0330 0271320.

The firm's ICO registration number, and the name and contact details of the person responsible for data protection, need to be confirmed by the firm and added here.

Information we collect

Enquiry details: your name, email address, telephone number, the type of advice you need, who asked you to obtain it, the lender involved, any deadline, and anything you tell us in a message.
Referral details: where a broker, conveyancer, accountant or lender refers you, we receive their details and the client details they provide.
Documents: the lender or transaction documents you send us, such as a mortgage offer, guarantee, legal charge, consent form, instructions or certificate template. Where document upload is available on the website, the file names and files you submit.
Identity and compliance information: where we take you on as a client, information needed for identity verification, conflict checks and anti-money-laundering obligations.
Matter information: records of the advice given, appointment notes, correspondence and certificates.
Technical and usage information: the page you submitted an enquiry from, the referring web address, and any campaign tracking parameters (such as UTM values) present in the link you arrived through. Standard server and security log information is also processed by our hosting provider.
Website assistant: if you use the chat feature on this website, the messages you type are processed to generate a general-guidance response. Please do not include sensitive personal details in the chat.

We only use analytics or marketing technologies where you have given consent through our cookie banner. See our Cookie Policy.

Why we use your information and our lawful bases

To respond to your enquiry and tell you what is required — our legitimate interests in responding to people who contact us, and steps taken at your request before entering into a contract.
To provide legal services — performance of our contract with you, and our legitimate interests in running a legal practice.
To meet legal and regulatory obligations, including identity checks, anti-money-laundering requirements, SRA obligations and record keeping — compliance with a legal obligation.
To establish, exercise or defend legal claims and to handle complaints — legitimate interests and, for special category information, the legal claims condition.
Optional cookies and any marketing — your consent, which you can withdraw at any time.

Where we handle information about criminal offences or special category information (for example health information relevant to capacity or vulnerability), we rely on the legal-claims condition or the condition for legal services in the Data Protection Act 2018.

Who we share information with

The lender, broker, conveyancer or other transaction party, where that is necessary for the advice or the certificate, and with your authority.
Our regulators, insurers and professional advisers, where required.
Service providers who process information on our behalf, such as website hosting, secure database and email providers, and the provider of the website assistant.
Courts, law enforcement or other bodies where we are legally required to do so.

We do not sell your information and we do not share it for third-party advertising. A full list of our processors, including their identities and locations, is being confirmed and will be published here.

International transfers

Some of our service providers may process information outside the UK. Where that happens, we will only transfer information where an appropriate safeguard recognised by UK data protection law is in place. The specific transfers and safeguards that apply to this website are being confirmed and will be set out here.

How long we keep information

Enquiries that do not become matters are kept only for as long as needed to deal with the enquiry and any follow-up. Client files are retained for the period required by our professional, regulatory, insurance and legal obligations, which is longer. The exact retention periods applied by the firm need to be confirmed and will be added here rather than estimated.

Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information, including access controls, encryption in transit and restricted access to our systems. No online transmission can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Please do not send highly sensitive information by ordinary email if you would prefer another route — ask us and we will suggest one.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you may have the right to access your information, to have inaccurate information corrected, to have information erased, to restrict or object to processing, to data portability, and to withdraw consent where consent is the lawful basis. Some rights are limited where we must keep information to meet legal or regulatory duties.

To exercise a right, contact us at contact@yourila.com. We will respond within the time limits set by law.

Complaints to the ICO

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk, by calling 0303 123 1113, or by writing to Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Changes to this notice

We may update this notice to reflect changes to our services or legal requirements. This notice should be reviewed and approved by the firm before publication, and the items flagged above completed with verified information.