About this website

This website is operated by The Housing Inspector.

Website: thehousinginspector.com

What are cookies?

Cookies are small files placed on your computer, phone or tablet when you visit a website. They can help a website work properly, remember your choices and, where you agree, provide information about how the website is being used.

We also use some similar technologies, such as local browser storage. The same privacy principles apply to these technologies.

How we use cookies

We aim to keep the use of cookies and similar technologies proportionate and straightforward.

Essential and functional cookies

Some cookies are necessary for the website to work properly. These may be used for:

• website security and basic functionality;
• remembering your cookie choices;
• forms and spam protection;
• accessibility preferences; and
• WordPress administration and login functions where applicable.

These cookies do not require your consent where they are strictly necessary for a service you have requested. The ICO confirms that consent is generally required for cookies unless an applicable exception, such as strict necessity, applies.

The website currently uses Complianz to manage cookie preferences and consent. Complianz stores cookies beginning with cmplz_ so that the website can remember the choices you have made.

Website statistics

We use Google Analytics, through Google Site Kit, to help us understand how people use the website.

Where analytics requires consent, it will only be allowed after you have agreed to statistics cookies through our cookie banner.

Google Analytics may use cookies including:

Google confirms these are the standard first-party cookies used by Google Analytics 4.

We use analytics to understand things such as which pages are visited and how visitors move around the website. We do not need this information in order for the basic website to function.

Forms and spam protection

Some forms may use Google reCAPTCHA or similar security technology to help distinguish genuine enquiries from automated spam or abuse.

Where these services use non-essential storage or tracking technologies, they are subject to the cookie-consent controls on the website.

WhatsApp

The website may provide a link allowing you to contact The Housing Inspector through WhatsApp.

If you choose to use that link, you are moving to a service operated by WhatsApp/Meta. Cookies or similar technologies used once you access WhatsApp are controlled by that provider and are subject to its own privacy and cookie information.

Marketing and advertising cookies

We do not currently use advertising or remarketing cookies as part of our normal website analytics.

If this changes in the future, any non-essential marketing or advertising technology will be subject to the appropriate consent controls before it is activated.

Your cookie choices

When you first visit the website, you can choose whether to allow non-essential cookies.

You can:

Accept non-essential cookies;
Reject them; or
choose which categories you wish to allow.

You can change your mind at any time using the Cookie Settings option on the website.

You can also remove or block cookies through your browser settings. Blocking essential cookies may affect some website functions.

WordPress administration cookies

WordPress may set additional cookies for authorised users who log into the website administration area. These may remember login details, administration preferences and display settings.

These are primarily relevant to the people managing the website rather than ordinary visitors.

Keeping this policy up to date

The cookies and services used by the website may change as the website develops.

We use our cookie-management software to scan the site periodically and help keep our cookie information current.

This policy will also be reviewed when significant changes are made to the website or the services it uses.