Subject access request guides and tools
Everything we know about handling requests in housing, free to use.
Practical guides for information governance leads, data protection officers and the housing staff who receive requests first. Each one cites its sources and shows when it was last reviewed.
Tools and templates
SAR deadline calculator
Due dates for SAR, FOI, EIR and STAIRs requests, with bank holidays for each UK nation. Add them to your calendar.
Open it Free toolSAR health check
Six questions, two minutes. See where your request process is exposed and what to fix first.
Open it Free toolSAR workload calculator
Put in your own request numbers and hours. See the staff time, and the cost, your requests take each year.
Open it TemplatesFree SAR templates and letters
Six letters to copy and a request register spreadsheet, updated for the 2025 Act.
Open itGuides
How to respond to a subject access request: a guide for housing associations
The full process, from spotting a request to sending the response, with the housing cases that trip teams up.
Read it GuideRedacting third-party information in a subject access request
Neighbours in ASB files, operatives on repairs, children in safeguarding notes: what to withhold and how to prove it.
Read it GuideSAR time limits, extensions and stopping the clock
When the month starts, when you can extend, and when asking a question stops the clock.
Read it GuideWhen can you refuse a subject access request as manifestly unfounded or excessive?
The only grounds for refusing or charging, where the line sits, and what to put in the refusal.
Read it GuideWhat the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 changed for subject access requests
Stop the clock, proportionate searches, and the new complaints duty. What changed and from when.
Read it GuideStaff subject access requests during grievances and tribunal claims
Where to search, what you can withhold, and how it sits alongside tribunal disclosure.
Read it ChecklistSTAIRs readiness checklist for housing associations
What English providers need in place for publication now and for tenant requests from April 2027.
Read it GuideSubject access requests from housing disrepair solicitors
Checking authority, handling volume, and keeping the SAR consistent with pre-action disclosure.
Read it For tenantsHow to make a subject access request to your housing association
For tenants and staff: how to ask your landlord for your information, with a letter to copy.
Read itOne email a month on what changed.
ICO decisions, new guidance, the 2025 Act and STAIRs, written for housing information governance teams. Short, and only when there is something worth knowing.