A landlord has criticised his local council after it exposed the email addresses of hundreds of landlords in a mailing sent months after it promised to introduce safeguards following a data breach earlier this year.

Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council sent out a landlord forum invitation out on 5 November about the Renters' Rights Act to approximately 396 email addresses in the visible recipient list rather than using the blind carbon copy (BCC) function.

The disclosure follows a separate electoral data breach in July, when the authority exposed names, email addresses and household-specific codes through an emailed link. It apologised and announced a review to identify safeguards against a similar incident.

The landlord says the irony is excruciating. “This council invited private landlords to hear about their responsibilities while exposing hundreds of addresses in the invitation itself.”

Identify

He tells LandlordZONE that many emails clearly identify individuals and fears addresses could be used for unsolicited contact, harassment, phishing or other purposes. “We have no control over who retains or shares the information.”

He adds: “Its own record as a landlord makes that spectacle even more embarrassing. In September, the housing regulator found serious failings, including more than 1,600 overdue fire safety actions and more than 1,000 overdue water safety actions. It also identified systems that were not fit for purpose.”

Council

A council spokesperson tells LandlordZONE that it isn’t making any statements on the issue.

However, the landlord says it should explain what protections were in place, why they failed and what changed after July. “Blaming the person who pressed ‘send’ would be an evasion of the wider questions,” he says. “At the very least, I would expect the council to acknowledge the disclosure, contact everyone affected, explain what happened and set out what it is doing to prevent a recurrence.”

The housing findings were published by the Regulator of Social Housing on 30 September. The council accepted the findings and said improvement work was underway.

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