Privacy Policy - London House Cleaning

This Privacy Policy explains how London House Cleaning collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data relating to customers, prospective customers, and service users. It applies to all London House Cleaning customers in area, including anyone who requests, receives, or enquires about our cleaning services within the relevant service area. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, transparent, and secure manner in line with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

London House Cleaning provides domestic cleaning services for homes, flats, and related residential properties. In order to deliver those services, we may collect and process personal data about clients, household members, booking contacts, and where necessary, authorised representatives. We act as the data controller for the personal data described in this policy, which means we decide how and why such data is processed.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We only collect personal data that is relevant and necessary for providing our services, managing customer relationships, and meeting legal obligations. The categories of data we may collect include:

Identity details such as name, title, and, where applicable, business or household contact details.
Contact information such as address, email address, and telephone number.
Service and booking information such as service preferences, booking history, cleaning instructions, appointment dates, access arrangements, and notes relevant to the requested service.
Payment information such as billing records, payment status, and transaction references. We do not knowingly store unnecessary payment card details unless required for processing by a payment provider.
Communication records such as emails, messages, complaints, feedback, and correspondence relating to customer support or service delivery.
Technical data where applicable, such as basic website usage information, device data, or cookie-based analytics, if you interact with digital services used to manage bookings or enquiries.
Special category data only where strictly necessary and provided voluntarily, for example information about allergies, access needs, or health-related instructions that affect service delivery. We process such data only with appropriate safeguards and where lawful to do so.

We generally collect data directly from you when you make an enquiry, book a service, complete a form, communicate with us, or provide instructions for your home. In some cases, we may receive information from someone acting on your behalf, such as a family member, property manager, or landlord, where they are authorised to do so.

3. How We Use Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to respond to enquiries and provide quotations;
to arrange, manage, and deliver cleaning services;
to allocate staff and plan appointments;
to maintain service records and customer preferences;
to process payments and maintain financial records;
to deal with complaints, refunds, or service issues;
to comply with legal, tax, accounting, and regulatory obligations;
to improve our services, internal operations, and customer experience;
to protect against fraud, misuse, or security incidents.

We do not use personal data for purposes that are incompatible with the reasons for which it was collected unless we have a lawful basis to do so and, where required, we inform you first.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis for each processing activity. London House Cleaning relies on one or more of the following lawful bases:

Contract - processing is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract and to perform the contract for cleaning services.
Legitimate interests - processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, such as service administration, customer support, quality assurance, security, and business recordkeeping, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.
Legal obligation - processing is necessary to comply with legal requirements, including tax, accounting, and recordkeeping laws.
Consent - in limited cases, we rely on your consent, for example where it is needed for optional communications or the processing of special category data in circumstances permitted by law. You may withdraw consent at any time where consent is the basis relied upon.

Where we process special category data, we will only do so where an additional condition under data protection law applies, such as explicit consent or where processing is necessary for establishing, exercising, or defending legal claims, or another lawful condition recognised by law.

5. Sharing Your Data and Processors

We may share personal data only where necessary and with appropriate safeguards. We may disclose data to:

Service providers and processors who help us operate our business, such as booking systems, secure storage providers, payment processors, communication tools, IT support providers, and accounting software suppliers.
Staff and contractors who need access to the information to carry out cleaning services or administrative tasks.
Professional advisers such as lawyers, accountants, insurers, or auditors where required for business, legal, or compliance purposes.
Authorities or regulators where we are legally required to disclose information or where disclosure is necessary to protect rights, safety, or property.

When we use processors, they process personal data only on our instructions and are required to protect it using appropriate technical and organisational measures. We remain responsible for ensuring that any processor handling data on our behalf meets GDPR requirements.

We do not sell your personal data. We do not share it for unrelated marketing by third parties without a lawful basis.

6. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet legal, accounting, insurance, and reporting requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the reason it is held.

Booking and service records are retained for as long as needed to manage the customer relationship and resolve disputes.
Financial and tax-related records are retained for the period required by law.
Communication records may be retained for a reasonable period to handle complaints, service issues, or follow-up matters.
Where data is no longer required, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

We review retention regularly to ensure that data is not kept longer than necessary. Retention is based on purpose, legal obligations, and the need to demonstrate compliance.

7. Your Rights

As a data subject under UK GDPR, you have a number of rights regarding your personal data. Subject to legal limits and exemptions, you may have the right to:

Access your personal data and receive a copy of it;
Rectification of inaccurate or incomplete data;
Erasure of your data in certain circumstances;
Restriction of processing in certain situations;
Data portability for data you have provided to us where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means;
Object to processing based on legitimate interests, and to direct marketing where applicable;
Withdraw consent at any time where we rely on consent.

You also have the right to raise a concern with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your data has been processed unlawfully or if you are dissatisfied with how we have handled your rights. We encourage you to raise any concerns with us first so we can try to resolve them promptly.

8. Data Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to help protect personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff training, and limiting access to data on a need-to-know basis. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to maintain a level of security appropriate to the nature of the data we process.

9. International Transfers

If any processor or service provider stores or accesses data outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as adequacy regulations, approved contractual protections, or other lawful transfer mechanisms recognised under data protection law.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are directed to adults who arrange domestic cleaning. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children except where it is unavoidably included in service-related records, and then only where necessary and lawful. If we become aware that we have collected data inappropriately, we will take steps to delete it or handle it in accordance with legal requirements.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, our operations, or our data-handling practices. Any revised policy will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how personal data is handled.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

London House Cleaning is committed to treating your personal data with respect and care. We collect only what we need, use it for clear and lawful purposes, retain it for appropriate periods, and share it only with trusted processors or where required by law. This policy applies to all London House Cleaning customers in area and is intended to ensure transparency, accountability, and compliance with applicable data protection law.