Privacy notice

Your business information

This notice explains how HOWAT LTD uses personal and business information submitted through buyer.howat.ltd. It was last updated on 14 September 2026.

Who controls your information

The controller is HOWAT LTD, company number 13647462, of 1 Pinckards, Chiddingfold, Godalming, England, GU8 4SE. For privacy questions and rights requests, contact Howat.

What we process and why

We process contact details, your relationship to the company, Companies House records, financial and operational information, offer activity, security records and files you choose to upload. We use this information to:

• assess a possible acquisition and produce, explain and deliver a non-binding indicative offer;
• communicate with you, improve or progress an offer and conduct due diligence if you choose to continue;
• protect the service from misuse and keep an audit trail; and
• meet legal, regulatory and accounting obligations.

Our usual lawful basis for the acquisition assessment, communications, security and record keeping is our legitimate interest in finding, evaluating and acquiring suitable companies and operating the service safely. Where processing is necessary to take steps at your request before a contract, or to perform a contract, we rely on that basis. Where the law requires processing, we rely on legal obligation. We do not rely on consent simply because you tick the acknowledgement in the form; that acknowledgement confirms you have read this notice.

AI-assisted review and automated output

A contracted AI service is used to extract relevant facts, identify gaps and risks and create a structured acquisition assessment. The request is made with application-state storage disabled. This reduces application-state retention by that provider, but it is not represented as a Zero Data Retention guarantee. You are shown important extracted facts and can correct them before the offer calculation is completed. The result is non-binding and does not create a contract or another legal effect by automated decision alone.

How long information is kept

• Raw uploaded documents: removed once extraction is complete and, in all cases, no later than 24 hours after upload.
• Saved incomplete submissions and their structured fields: 90 days from creation.
• Structured assessments, submitted fields, offer records and PDFs: 24 months from the offer, unless an active transaction, legal claim or legal, tax or accounting duty requires longer retention.
• Basic security and delivery logs: retained only for the operational period set by the relevant infrastructure provider.

Source documents are not stored inside Howat’s long-term offer archive. You may request earlier deletion where the law permits it.

Processors, recipients and international transfers

We use contracted providers for cloud hosting and databases, AI processing, transactional email and Companies House data access. They process information only to provide those services under their contractual terms. Information may also be shared with professional advisers, finance providers and transaction counterparties if you choose to progress, and with public authorities where the law requires it.

Some technology providers may process information outside the UK. Where personal information is transferred internationally, we use an applicable adequacy regulation or contractual safeguards such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum, together with supplementary measures where appropriate. Contact us for information about the safeguard relevant to your submission.

Information about other people

Do not upload personal information that is unnecessary for an initial offer. Staff names are not needed: role, start date, salary, employment status and material obligations are usually sufficient. If you provide information about employees, customers or other people, you must have a lawful basis to share it and should make this notice available to them where required.

Your rights and complaint route

Depending on the circumstances, UK data-protection law gives you the right to request access, correction or erasure, restrict or object to processing, and receive certain information in a portable form. You may also ask for human review of an automated assessment. Some rights are subject to legal exceptions.

Send your request through our contact page. We may need to verify your identity and authority. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, although we would welcome the opportunity to address the issue first.

Confidentiality and security

We use access controls, signed private return links, encryption in transit, restricted internal access and time-limited retention. No online service can promise absolute security. If you believe a submission link or document has been exposed, contact us promptly.