Last reviewed: 21 August 2026. This privacy notice applies to the Paw Keys website and marketplace. The data controller is Incentively Limited trading as Paw Keys, company number 17121895. Contact us at customercare@pawkeys.co.uk or Incentively Limited · Registered in England and Wales · Registered office: 3rd Floor, 86–90 Paul Street, London, England, United Kingdom, EC2A 4NE.
Information we collect
Depending on how you use Paw Keys, we may process your name, email address and account information; property listings or renter-search posts; search alerts and saved homes; Pet CV information; messages and viewing enquiries; agency or development information; landlord-transparency information; reviews and former-tenant references; safety reports; verification status and evidence; and technical information needed to secure and operate the service. If you allow optional analytics, Google Analytics can also process information about how your browser uses Paw Keys, such as pages viewed, interactions, device/browser information and general traffic source information.
PawMail can send conversation notifications by email. If you reply to a private PawMail reply address, the text of your email is processed by our email-delivery systems and written back into the relevant Paw Keys conversation. Your personal email address is not shown to the other member through that feature.
Identity, ownership, authority, council-tax, tenancy or similar verification evidence is kept separately from public profile information, protected by access controls and encrypted by the Paw Keys application where that protected-evidence workflow is used. It is never deliberately displayed on a public profile.
Where information comes from
Most information comes directly from you. We may also receive information from another Paw Keys user who invites you to provide a reference, from a letting agency or property feed acting with authority to list a home, from public or licensed official business/property information used to verify a claim, from service providers involved in a check you request, and from security or usage logs generated when the service is used.
Why we use information and our lawful bases
- Provide Paw Keys and take steps you ask us to take: creating and administering accounts, publishing content, providing searches and alerts, handling messages/enquiries, saving homes and operating Pet CVs. We generally rely on performance of our agreement with you or steps taken at your request.
- Keep the marketplace safe and useful: fraud and abuse prevention, moderation, verification, duplicate detection, service security, service improvement and defending legal claims. We generally rely on our legitimate interests in running a safe, trustworthy marketplace, balanced against your rights.
- Meet legal duties: where processing or retention is necessary to comply with applicable law, regulatory duties or a valid legal request.
- Optional choices: Google Analytics is used only when you allow analytics in the cookie/privacy choice. We rely on consent for that optional measurement and you can withdraw it as easily as you gave it.
Where we rely on legitimate interests, those interests are operating, securing and improving Paw Keys, preventing fraud and harmful conduct, protecting users and the service, and establishing or defending legal rights.
What can be public
Published property listings, public wanted posts, public agency/development information, parts of a landlord profile deliberately made public, reviews/references that are approved for public display, and an enabled Pet CV share page can be visible to other people. Paw Keys does not deliberately publish your login email, private message contact details, verification documents or private evidence used to verify a reference.
Before publishing any user-generated content, do not include information you do not want to be public. Public pages can be copied, shared or indexed by third parties even after Paw Keys later removes them.
Who receives information
We use service providers where needed to operate Paw Keys, including hosting, transactional email and security/verification providers. If you allow analytics, Google receives analytics data through Google Analytics, configured through the official Site Kit plugin. For Great Britain place and postcode suggestions, Paw Keys can send the location text you type to Postcodes.io from Paw Keys systems rather than directly from your browser. Northern Ireland place-name suggestions can be served from Paw Keys’ copy of the OSNI Open Data gazetteer.
If automated identity verification is enabled, the selected identity provider receives the information needed for that check. Paw Keys can use OpenAI for specific text-based safety triage and editorial assistance when enabled; uploaded identity, ownership, council-tax, tenancy or financial evidence is not sent to the Paw Keys OpenAI integration.
For company-owned homes in England and Wales, Paw Keys may compare the private verification address and company details against a local copy of licensed HM Land Registry corporate ownership data. That comparison happens inside Paw Keys; the lister’s private verification address is not sent to HM Land Registry for each lookup.
We may disclose information where reasonably necessary to comply with law, protect somebody from serious harm, investigate suspected fraud or crime, establish or defend legal rights, or complete a corporate transaction subject to appropriate safeguards.
International transfers
Some service providers may process information outside the UK. Where UK data-protection law requires a transfer safeguard, Paw Keys expects the relevant adequacy regulation, UK International Data Transfer Agreement/Addendum or another lawful transfer mechanism to be used, together with any additional safeguards that are appropriate.
Automated tools and human review
Paw Keys uses automated rules and, when enabled, AI-assisted text analysis to detect risks such as scam language, discriminatory wording, duplicate content or moderation concerns. An automated signal may hold or prioritise content for review. Paw Keys does not use AI alone to make a final decision that has a legal or similarly significant effect on you; substantive verification, safety and appeal decisions remain subject to human review.
How long we keep information
- Verification files awaiting a decision: normally up to 90 days; evidence is deleted sooner when the workflow records that it is no longer needed.
- Unused former-tenant invitations and pending landlord evidence: normally up to 90 days.
- Paused search alerts: normally removed after 12 months of inactivity.
- Private Paw Keys conversations: normally removed after 24 months without activity.
- Resolved safety reports: normally kept for up to 36 months so repeat safety issues can be investigated.
- Viewing feedback no longer under active review: normally removed after 24 months.
- Account and live marketplace data: kept while the account/content is active and afterwards only for as long as reasonably needed for deletion processing, safety, dispute handling, fraud prevention, backups or legal obligations.
We may keep particular information longer while there is an active dispute, investigation, safeguarding issue or legal requirement. Backup copies may take a limited additional period to cycle out.
Your data-protection rights
Depending on the information and lawful basis, you may have rights to access, correct, erase, restrict or port your information and to object to particular processing. You can update common account details, change your password, download a copy of Paw Keys account data and request account deletion from your dashboard.
Your right to object: where Paw Keys relies on legitimate interests, you can object by emailing customercare@pawkeys.co.uk. Tell us what processing you object to and why. We will consider the objection against the applicable legal test.
If we rely on consent for a specific activity, you can withdraw that consent at any time using the same feature where available or by contacting us. Withdrawal does not make earlier processing unlawful.
Data-protection complaints
If you want to complain about how Paw Keys has used your personal information, email customercare@pawkeys.co.uk and put Data protection complaint in the subject line. Tell us what happened and what you would like us to look at; do not send extra identity documents unless we ask for information that is genuinely needed to verify you.
Paw Keys will acknowledge a data-protection complaint within 30 days of receiving it, take appropriate steps to investigate it without undue delay, keep you informed where an investigation takes time, and explain the outcome. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office. You can find the ICO’s complaint routes at ico.org.uk.
Children
Paw Keys accounts and interactive renting/review features are for people aged 18 or over. We do not intentionally invite children to create accounts. See the Online Safety page for the service’s reporting and children-access approach.
Cookies and similar technology
See Cookies & privacy choices to allow or decline optional Google Analytics and to manage the external-font preference.
Paw Keys reviews these policies when the service or applicable rules change.