Privacy Policy

Bourne & Co Estates Ltd
Last updated: 10 May 2026

At Bourne & Co, trust matters. We handle personal information carefully, respectfully and only where we have a proper reason to do so.

This Privacy Policy explains how Bourne & Co Estates Ltd collects, uses, stores and shares personal information when you use our website, contact us, enquire about a property, use our Duck Yourself tool, arrange a valuation, sell, buy, let, rent or otherwise deal with us.

Who We Are

Company name: Bourne & Co Estates Ltd
Company number: 15811196
Trading names: Bourne & Co and Nested Derwent & Dales
Registered office and trading address: 11a Front Street, Lanchester, Durham, England, DH7 0LA
Email: info@bournenco.com
Telephone: 01207 529 900
Website: bournenco.com
Duck Yourself tool: duck-yourself.vercel.app
ICO registration number: ZB10917294

For all privacy or data protection matters, including subject access requests, deletion requests, complaints or marketing opt-outs, please contact Simon Bourne at info@bournenco.com.

Duck Yourself — Our AI Avatar Tool

This section explains specifically how we handle information collected through our Duck Yourself tool at duck-yourself.vercel.app. Please read this section carefully if you have used or are thinking of using the tool.

What Duck Yourself Is

Duck Yourself is a free, AI-powered community tool that transforms a photograph into a personalised duck avatar character. It is provided by Bourne & Co Estates Ltd as a fun, community-facing experience designed to help people engage with our brand. Adults who create a duck join our marketing community and may receive property updates and other communications from us. Junior users aged under 18 may participate in a separate, privacy-protective flow.

What Information We Collect Through Duck Yourself

If you are aged 18 or over, we collect:

  • Your first name and last name
  • Your email address
  • Your telephone number
  • Your home address, including postcode, town and county
  • Whether you own or rent your home
  • Whether you are interested in a free property valuation
  • Your marketing consent preferences
  • Whether you wish to join our WhatsApp community
  • Whether you consent to your duck avatar appearing in our public flock gallery
  • Your photograph, which is used only to generate your duck avatar (see below)

If you are under 18, we collect only:

  • Your first name, for the purpose of naming your duck in the gallery and in our internal records
  • Your photograph, which is used only to generate your duck avatar

We do not collect your email address, telephone number, home address or any other personal information if you are under 18.

How Your Photograph Is Handled

Your photograph is transmitted securely to OpenAI's systems, where it is processed by artificial intelligence to produce a written description of your appearance. That description is then used to generate your duck avatar image. Your original photograph is not stored after generation is complete. It is never used for any other purpose and is never shared with any party other than OpenAI for the sole purpose of avatar generation.

Your duck avatar image is temporarily hosted on imgbb.com to enable delivery to you and, where consented, display in the public gallery. imgbb is a third-party image hosting service. Where personal information is transferred outside the United Kingdom as part of this process, we expect appropriate safeguards to be in place.

AI-Generated Images

Your duck avatar is generated by artificial intelligence. It is a creative, stylised character based on your appearance and is not a photograph of you. It is produced by automated systems operated by OpenAI. No significant decisions about your eligibility for services, creditworthiness or any other matter of consequence are made on the basis of this automated processing.

The Public Flock Gallery

If you tick the optional gallery consent box, your first name and duck avatar image will appear publicly in the flock gallery at duck-yourself.vercel.app. Your surname, email address, telephone number and all other personal information remain private and are never displayed publicly. You may request removal of your duck from the gallery at any time by contacting us at info@bournenco.com.

Junior ducks appear in the gallery labelled with the child's first name only. No other information relating to junior users is displayed or stored in connection with the gallery.

The Flock Counter

We display a live counter on duck-yourself.vercel.app showing the total number of ducks (adults) and ducklings (juniors) who have created an avatar. This counter records numbers only and contains no personal information.

The Referral Programme

If you complete Duck Yourself as an adult, you are offered a unique personal referral link. If you share this link and others create their own duck using it, those referrals are recorded against your account. We store your first name, email address and referral count for the purpose of operating the programme and displaying the public leaderboard. Your first name and referral count may appear publicly on the leaderboard. Your email address is never displayed publicly.

How referral verification works. When a person creates their duck via your referral link, their email address is recorded and a single-use verification token is created. A confirmation email is sent to the referred person via Resend, our email delivery provider. The 25p charitable donation to the Give a Duck Foundation is made only when the referred person clicks the verification link in that email. Unverified referrals count toward your leaderboard score but do not generate a donation. Verification tokens expire automatically after 72 hours if unused.

Junior referrals. When a person under 18 creates a duck via a referral link, we generate a temporary anonymous session identifier for the sole purpose of preventing the same session from being counted more than once. This identifier is not linked to any personal information and is not retained beyond the session.

Anti-abuse measures. To protect the integrity of the referral programme and prevent fraudulent inflation of the donation counter, we apply the following technical measures: IP address-based rate limiting (a maximum of 10 adult referral submissions per IP address per hour, after which further submissions are rejected until the window resets); rejection of email addresses from known disposable or temporary email address providers; rejection of submissions completed in under 30 seconds, which are consistent with automated rather than human activity; a cap of 20 donation-eligible verified referrals per person; and prevention of self-referral. IP addresses processed for rate limiting purposes are held only for the duration of the one-hour rate limiting window and are not retained or used for any other purpose.

The Give a Duck Foundation. For each verified adult referral, Bourne & Co donates 25p to the Give a Duck Foundation, a UK charity supporting families facing childhood cancer. The donation is made by Bourne & Co and no financial information is collected from or attributed to the referred person in connection with it.

Under-18 Users and the UK Children's Code

We take our obligations under the UK Children's Code (Age Appropriate Design Code) seriously. Users under 18 are directed to a separate, simplified flow that collects only a first name and a photograph. No email address, home address, telephone number or other personal data is collected from users under 18. Photographs are not retained after avatar generation is complete. Parental or guardian consent is required by confirmation before any photograph is uploaded.

If you have any concern about a child's use of Duck Yourself, please contact us at info@bournenco.com.

Our Lawful Basis for Duck Yourself Data

We process personal data collected through Duck Yourself on the basis of your consent, which you give by completing the sign-up form and ticking the relevant consent boxes. You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at info@bournenco.com or using the unsubscribe option in any of our emails. Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Third-Party Services Used in Duck Yourself

ProviderPurposeLocationOpenAIAI processing of your photograph and generation of your duck avatarUnited Statesimgbb.comTemporary hosting of your duck avatar imageInternationalZapierAutomation of gallery uploads, email delivery and form data processingUnited StatesGoogle DriveStorage of duck avatar images for the public gallery, via ZapierUnited StatesVercelHosting of the Duck Yourself applicationUnited StatesUpstashDatabase storing the flock counter, referral data and verification tokensInternationalResendDelivery of referral verification emailsUnited StatesIdeal PostcodesAddress lookup during registrationUnited Kingdom

Where personal information is transferred outside the United Kingdom in connection with these services, we rely on appropriate safeguards including standard contractual clauses or equivalent mechanisms where required by law.

What Information We Collect Generally

Depending on how you interact with us more broadly, we may collect and process personal information including:

  • Your name, address, email address and telephone number
  • Date of birth
  • Identification documents
  • Proof of address
  • Financial information
  • Employment details
  • Bank details
  • Property details
  • Viewing notes
  • Offer information
  • References
  • Right to Rent documents
  • Anti Money Laundering documents and checks
  • Communication records, including emails, letters, WhatsApp messages, website enquiries and social media messages
  • Information captured through our website, cookies, enquiry forms, live chat, tracking tools and analytics systems

How We Collect Personal Information

We may collect personal information directly from you when you:

  • Visit our website or use the Duck Yourself tool
  • Complete an enquiry form or sign-up form
  • Contact us by phone, email, WhatsApp, social media, live chat or in person
  • Ask us to value, sell, let or manage a property
  • Register as a buyer, tenant, landlord, seller or applicant
  • Attend a viewing
  • Make or receive an offer
  • Enter into a tenancy, sale, purchase or property management arrangement
  • Provide identification, references, financial details or compliance documents

We may also receive information from third parties, such as solicitors, mortgage brokers, referencing providers, landlords, tenants, buyers, sellers, contractors, surveyors, utility companies, local authorities, property portals and other professional advisers.

Why We Use Your Personal Information

We may use your personal information to:

  • Respond to enquiries and arrange valuations
  • Market properties for sale or let
  • Register buyers and tenants and arrange viewings
  • Negotiate and record offers and progress property sales
  • Manage lettings and property management services
  • Onboard landlords, sellers, buyers and tenants
  • Carry out Anti Money Laundering and Right to Rent checks
  • Arrange tenant referencing
  • Manage repairs, maintenance and contractor instructions
  • Deal with accounts, payments, deposits, rent, fees and invoices
  • Communicate with you about your property, enquiry, transaction or tenancy
  • Comply with legal, regulatory, tax, accounting and professional obligations
  • Protect our business, clients, staff, visitors and property
  • Improve our website, systems, services and client experience
  • Send property alerts, valuation follow-ups, landlord updates, newsletters, market updates and other marketing communications where appropriate
  • Operate the Duck Yourself tool, deliver duck avatars, manage the referral programme and administer charitable donations

Our Lawful Basis for Using Your Information

Consent. We rely on consent where you have agreed to receive marketing communications, participate in the Duck Yourself tool, join the public gallery, or allow cookies and tracking where consent is required.

Contract. We use your information where it is necessary to provide services to you or take steps before entering into a contract, including in connection with valuation, sales, lettings, property management, tenancy or purchase services.

Legal obligation. We use your information where we need to comply with the law, including Anti Money Laundering checks, Right to Rent checks, tax, accounting, regulatory and legal record-keeping obligations.

Legitimate interests. We use your information where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. This may include managing enquiries, progressing sales, arranging viewings, keeping communication records, improving our services, protecting the integrity of the referral programme and sending relevant updates to existing clients or contacts.

Who We Share Your Information With

Where necessary, we may share personal information with trusted third parties. This may include:

  • OpenAI, imgbb.com, Zapier, Google Drive, Vercel, Upstash, Resend and Ideal Postcodes (in connection with Duck Yourself)
  • Nested
  • Street
  • Goodlord
  • Kotini
  • Juno
  • Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket
  • Solicitors and conveyancers
  • Mortgage brokers and financial advisers
  • Surveyors
  • Contractors and maintenance providers
  • Referencing providers
  • Utility companies and local authorities
  • Tenancy deposit schemes
  • Insurers and accountants
  • HMRC and banks
  • IT, website, cloud storage, email, analytics and software providers

We only share personal information where it is necessary, lawful and relevant to the service being provided, the enquiry being handled, or our legal and regulatory responsibilities. We do not sell personal information to third parties.

Marketing

We may use your personal information to send you relevant updates, including property alerts, valuation follow-ups, landlord updates, newsletters, market updates and promotional communications where you have consented or where we have a legitimate interest in doing so.

You can opt out of marketing at any time by contacting us at info@bournenco.com or by using any unsubscribe option in our communications.

Cookies and Website Tracking

Our website at bournenco.com and our Duck Yourself tool at duck-yourself.vercel.app may use cookies and similar tracking technologies to help the website function correctly, understand how people use it, improve our services and support marketing activity. Where required, we will ask for your consent before placing non-essential cookies.

You can usually control or disable cookies through your browser settings, although some parts of the website may not function correctly if you do so.

CCTV

We use CCTV at our office at 11a Front Street, Lanchester, Durham, England, DH7 0LA for security, crime prevention, staff safety and property protection. Footage is accessed only where necessary and retained for no longer than reasonably required, unless it is needed in connection with an incident, investigation, insurance matter, legal claim or regulatory requirement.

Children's Data

Our main website is not directed at children and we do not intentionally collect personal information from children through it.

Our Duck Yourself tool has a specific junior pathway for users under 18. In this pathway we collect only a first name and process a photograph to generate a duck avatar. We do not collect, store or retain email addresses, home addresses, telephone numbers or any other personal information from users under 18. Photographs are deleted after generation is complete. Parental or guardian consent is confirmed before any photograph is uploaded.

We may occasionally process children's details in the context of tenancy, occupancy, property, safeguarding, family or legal matters handled through our main estate agency services.

Sensitive Information

We do not routinely collect or process sensitive personal information through our website or Duck Yourself tool. If such information is provided voluntarily or becomes relevant to a matter we are handling, we will only use it where there is a lawful reason to do so and where it is necessary in the circumstances.

International Transfers

Some of the systems and providers we use may store or process personal information outside the United Kingdom. This includes OpenAI, Zapier, Vercel, Resend, imgbb.com and Upstash (all based in or operating systems in the United States or internationally), as well as providers such as Google, Meta and WhatsApp. Where personal information is transferred outside the UK, we expect appropriate safeguards to be in place in accordance with data protection law.

How Long We Keep Personal Information

We keep personal information only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, including for legal, regulatory, accounting, tax, professional, complaint handling and dispute resolution purposes.

  • Personal information collected through Duck Yourself for marketing purposes is kept until you unsubscribe, withdraw consent, object to marketing or ask us to remove you.
  • Duck avatar images displayed in the public gallery are kept until you ask us to remove them.
  • Referral programme data, including referral codes, verification tokens and leaderboard entries, is kept for the duration of the programme and for a reasonable period afterwards. Verification tokens expire automatically after 72 hours.
  • IP addresses processed for rate limiting purposes are held for one hour only and are automatically deleted.
  • Anti Money Laundering records are kept for at least five years from the end of the business relationship or completion of the transaction, as required by law.

How We Protect Your Information

We take appropriate steps to protect personal information against loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. Our Duck Yourself tool uses verified email confirmation, rate limiting, bot detection and other technical measures to protect the integrity of its systems. No method of electronic storage or transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Automated Decision Making

We use automated AI systems to generate duck avatar images through the Duck Yourself tool. This processing does not make any significant decisions about you. It generates a creative, stylised image for community engagement and entertainment purposes only. No decisions about your eligibility for services, creditworthiness or any other consequential matter are made by automated means.

Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have rights in relation to your personal information. These may include the right to:

  • Be informed about how your information is used
  • Access the personal information we hold about you
  • Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information
  • Ask us to delete personal information in certain circumstances
  • Ask us to restrict how we use your information in certain circumstances
  • Object to certain types of processing, including direct marketing
  • Ask for your information to be transferred to another organisation in certain circumstances
  • Withdraw consent where we rely on consent

These rights do not apply in every situation and may be subject to legal limits, particularly where we need to retain information to comply with legal, regulatory, accounting, tax, Anti Money Laundering or dispute-related obligations.

To exercise any of your rights, please contact Simon Bourne at info@bournenco.com.

Complaints

If you have any concern about how we handle your personal information, please contact us first and we will do our best to resolve it.

Bourne & Co Estates Ltd
11a Front Street, Lanchester, Durham, England, DH7 0LA
Email: info@bournenco.com
Telephone: 01207 529 900

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office, the UK regulator for data protection matters, at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our business, systems, services, tools or legal obligations. The latest version will always be published at bournenco.com and duck-yourself.vercel.app. Where changes are material, we will take reasonable steps to bring them to your attention.