Terms, Privacy and Cookies

This site is owned and operated by Les Blancs Bois, part of Cognatum Estates Limited whose registered address is Pipe House, Lupton Road, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OX10 9BS. You can use this website without having to summit personal details. However if you contact Les Blancs Bois direct, personal information such as name and address is automatically asked for and we will process this information as indicated in our Privacy Policy.

The content on this site including text, images, photographs and copyright in all material, trademarks and other intellectual property rights is jointly owned by the aforementioned companies. Searchers, viewers, users may only view and print hard copies for personal, non-commercial use and all other copying whether in electronic, hard copy or other format, is not allowed and all other rights are reserved.

Whilst reasonable care has been taken in the preparation of this website to ensure that the information contained is accurate and helpful to users, no representation or warranty is given expressly or implied that such information is of a satisfactory quality, or that the information is accurate, complete or up to date. This cannot be guaranteed and we urge all users to make extremely careful assessments of any of the information contained in this site, and if any reliance is placed on it, it is entirely at the users risk.

It is our intention that the standard of this site remains high and to the best of our ability we will endeavour to make sure that this is so, and to ensure that the best principles of internet use are maintained but no guarantee of uninterrupted or error free access can be given. We cannot be held liable for any failure in processing details due to software or internet errors or hosting difficulties or unavailability or any circumstances beyond our reasonable control. We cannot ensure that any software of any nature downloaded, or otherwise obtained, is free from defects, viruses or any other inherent problems, which maybe incompatible with a user’s equipment.

As far as other websites are concerned, such links from lesblancsbois.com are provided for the convenience of the user and Cognatum Estates cannot be responsible for, and accepts no liability for the content of any sites thereby linked. Specifically we can make no warranties as to the suitability of such sites and cannot be responsible for the content and accuracy of the information contained. Users therefore must link to any other sites at their own risk. Also links to Cognatum Estates are expressly refused without our prior written consent and signed by a director of the company.

The General Data Protection Regulation came into effect on 25th May 2018 and we have updated our Privacy Policy which gives you some important information on how we hold and process your personal information.

Information we collect for on residents at our estates comes from three sources:

  • Directly – personal data
  • From a third party acting on your behalf eg. Estate Manager, family member or solicitor
  • From the website – Cookies see below

Personal information includes name, address, email address, telephone number, IP address, nationality, gender, marital status, next of kin, family members, General Practitioners, medical conditions, religious beliefs, special requirements, and bank details. Data from our website such as details of visits, pages viewed and resources accessed. Such information includes traffic data, location data and other communication data.

We use such information to:

  • Allow us to raise service charge demands, car parking charges, garage rents, facilities usage, mooring fees, fishing permits or any other demands we are entitled to raise under your lease.
  • We hold the personal data you have provided within our ‘Security Details Forms’ for when dealing with an emergency and also at Head Office. We also pass on the personal data provided to the appointed 24-hour emergency alarm service provider (if applicable)
  • If we have collected your data from our website we will hold it to provide information that you have requested from us relating to our retirement properties or services.
  • Provide you with services in compliance with our obligations under your lease.

We use a system of classifying the different types of cookies which we use on the website, or which may be used by third parties through our websites. The classification was developed by the International Chamber of Commerce UK and explains more about which cookies we use, why we use them, and the functionality you will lose if you decide you don’t want to have them on your device.

Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your personal computer, mobile or other device when you visit a website. Cookies are then sent back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognises that cookie. Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user’s device. Persistent cookies remain on a user’s device for the period of time specified in the cookie and are activated each time that the user visits the website that created that particular cookie.

Session cookies allow website operators to link the actions of a user during a browser session and are created temporarily. A browser session starts when a user opens the browser window and finishes when they close the browser window and all session cookies are then deleted. Cookies do lots of different jobs like letting you navigate between pages efficiently and remember your preferences. Performance cookies remember the choices you make to improve your experience. By using this website, you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device. These cookies collect information about how visitors use the website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often and if they get error messages from web pages. These cookies don’t collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how the website works.

Functionality cookies remember choices you make to improve your experience and by using the website you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device. These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced more personal features. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other parts of web pages that you can customise. They also may be used to provide services you have asked for such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. All information these cookies collect is anonymous and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.

Third party cookies allow third parties to track the success of their application or customise the application for you. Because of how cookies work we cannot access these cookies nor can the third parties access the data in cookies on our site. For example if you choose to ‘share’ content through Twitter or other social networks you might be sent cookies from these websites. We don’t control the setting of these cookies so please check those websites for more information about their cookies and how to manage them.

The table below explains the cookies we use and why.

Cookie Name Purpose More Information
Google Analytics __utma
__utmb
__utmc
__utmz
__utmt
These cookies are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We use the information to compile reports and to help us improve the site. The cookies collect information in an anonymous form, including the number of visitors to the site, where visitors have come to the site from and the pages they visited. Click here for an overview of privacy at Google

Most web browsers allow some control of most cookies through the browser settings. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

More generally we may use your information to process job applications, contact you to obtain feedback on our services, comply with any contractual obligations we may have to you, communicate with you where you have requested us to do so, understand how you have used our website and process applications to join our services directories and communicate with you on these matters where it is necessary to do so.

The legal basis for Cognatum Estates collecting, storing and using this data is for compliance with our legal obligations to you. We have made sure that your information, and your rights in relation to that information, are protected. We only use this information to carry out our duties as managing agent within the retirement housing industry. We will share any personal data (not bank details) within the Security Details Forms with the appointed 24-hour careline provider (if applicable) and not with any other companies. We will also use your bank details to collect direct debit payments. We will keep your information for operational and legal considerations and are legally required to hold some types of information to fulfil our statutory and regulatory obligations eg. health and tax/accountancy purposes.  We will hold such information for no longer than is necessary as long as you have a relationship with us and after it ends where we might need it for our legitimate purposes eg. to help us to respond to queries or complaints.

We will not sell or rent your personal data or information to third parties. We will not share your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes. We may pass your information including personal data on to trusted third-party organisations where you have given us your permission to do so and where this is done we will only give these third-parties the personal information that is necessary to deliver the service we have agreed with you.

Where we are operating a joint agency arrangement for the purposes of selling properties, we may pass your information to the other agents.  This will only be used for contacting you regarding a property, estate or region in which you have expressed an interest.

We will not contact you for marketing purposes but may contact you for feedback about our services. You have a choice about whether or not you wish to be contacted. If you give us permission but later decide you do not wish to hear from us please contact Cognatum Estates to inform them of your wishes.

No method of transmitting or storing data is completely secure. We use a combination of technical, administrative and physical control to maintain the security of your data and if you have any concerns please contact Blue Cedar Property. If you require further information on your rights then please contact Cognatum Estates at Head Office who will provide you with the relevant section of our privacy policy.

We will review this policy on a regular basis and should you wish to discuss this Privacy Policy or to invoke any of your rights then please telephone 01491 821150, write to or email Head Office at Cognatum Estates, Pipe House, Lupton Road, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, OXIO 9BS. Email mail@cognatum.co.uk