Protecting the Home: Laying the foundations for your private life
Entertainment & media
Comment | 15 March 2011
The recession has brought with it a change in the attitude of the press towards their reporting, and ‘Wealth’ is the new buzz word.
Your Grade II listed town house, stucco fronted period property or country retreat may well become news. Some information about the home and your home life is inherently private and therefore protected by law. That said, it wont just be your nosey neighbour who will want to know all about why you are moving, where you are moving to and how much your new home cost. The press will be peering over the garden fence too.
Attack
In moving to a house of significant value the press will use whatever means are available to them in order to expose what they will refer to as extravagance in times of economic crisis.
Every aspect of your new home may become public knowledge courtesy of the press; where it is, what it looks like, how many bedrooms it has, how much you paid for it, what its interior looks like and who your neighbours are. But there are steps that you can take in order to prevent an attack on your home and home life.
Protection
The bottom line is that information about the home and your home life is inherently private and therefore often protected by law. A misuse of private information, for example publication by the press without consent or legal justification, may constitute an infringement of your legal right to privacy.
It is extremely important to consider every aspect of your house move with regard to your privacy, as prevention is better than cure. It is true that you could be faced with a leak of private information to the press by a third party with inside information about your move. But then again, the publicly available nature of some types of information may be enough for the press without them having to resort to inside information.
Having said that, anyone who may have access to your home or home life should be subject to a non-disclosure / confidentiality agreement. This should include Estate Agents, removals firm, surveyors, builders and decorators. Will you be employing staff at your new home - cleaners or house keepers for example? Their employment should be strictly subject to them entering into a confidentiality agreement with you.
And it doesn’t stop there. It pays to continue to be guarded and to close off information streams wherever possible such as Companies House, the Electoral Register and at the Land Registry.
Notwithstanding the above, the latest technological advances mean that a potential source never has to step foot inside your home. What are your plans regarding your Wi-Fi connection? A hacker has the ability to access your private, sensitive and personal information far away from your home.
What about the glossy brochure for your new home issued by the Estate Agent containing pictures of its interior and layout? This will no doubt appear online too, and not just on your estate agents website but also on third party websites. What is to happen with stockpiles of the brochure once you have completed on your purchase and how does your Estate Agent and third party websites intend to deal with their online publications? Steps can be taken so as to prevent the information and, more importantly, the pictures from being used by the press and ending up in the wrong hands.
Additionally, social media creates a massive threat to your privacy. It is often the first place a journalist will look for information of a private and personal nature and their search will not be limited to you.. They will look to your family, children and friends. Simple steps taken in relation to social media user accounts can go a long way to closing the door on ‘snooping journalism’.
Your home is your sanctuary. Protect it.
For more information about the issues you ought to be thinking about when moving home, please contact us.
Read other articles for Protecting the Home:
Property, an old obsession best kept private - Paul Tabor – Partner, Turnbull Property Acquisition
Walls and gates are no match for hackers - Oliver Crofton, Vigilante Bespoke