House Clearance Hackney Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how House Clearance Hackney collects, uses, stores and shares personal data relating to our customers and prospective customers in Hackney and the surrounding area. It also sets out your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. This Privacy Policy applies to all customers and users of House Clearance Hackney services in our service area, whether you contact us by phone, email, contact form, or any other method.

Who We Are And How To Contact Us

House Clearance Hackney is a house clearance service provider operating in the Hackney area. For the purposes of data protection laws, we are the data controller for the personal data we collect and process about you in connection with providing our services. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, you can contact us using the contact details provided on our website or in our service communications.

Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you:

Identification and contact details such as your name, address, email address, telephone number and any alternative contact details you provide.

Service information such as property address for the clearance, type and size of the job, access instructions, photos you choose to send to help us assess the work, preferred dates and times, and details of any special requirements.

Communication records such as emails, text messages, call notes, quotes, invoices, and any other correspondence relating to your enquiry or booking.

Payment and billing data such as billing address and information about payments made and amounts due. Card payment processing is handled by external payment processors, so we do not normally store full card details ourselves.

Technical data where applicable such as your IP address, device information, and basic usage information when you visit our website, to help us administer and improve our site.

Feedback and reviews such as comments you send us about our service or testimonials that you agree we may use for marketing.

How We Collect Your Data

We collect personal data directly from you when you request a quote, book a service, contact us with a query, or communicate with us by phone, email, message or via a contact form. We may also receive your personal data indirectly where someone else arranges a clearance on your behalf, for example a relative, landlord, letting agent, solicitor or executor, who provides your details so that the service can be carried out.

Purposes And Lawful Basis For Processing

We only process your personal data when we have a lawful basis to do so. The lawful bases we rely on are:

Performance of a contract: we process your data to provide quotes, manage bookings, carry out clearances, issue invoices, take payment, and provide customer support. This is necessary in order to enter into and perform our contract with you.

Legitimate interests: we use your data for our legitimate business interests, for example to respond to enquiries, manage our relationship with you, improve our services, keep appropriate records, protect against fraud, and pursue or defend legal claims. We always balance our interests against your rights and freedoms.

Legal obligation: we may process and retain certain data to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, such as tax and accounting rules and waste disposal regulations.

Consent: where required by law, we will ask for your consent before sending certain types of marketing communications. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us using the details in this Privacy Policy or using any unsubscribe option provided.

How We Use Your Personal Data

We use the personal data we collect to:

Provide quotes and estimates for house clearance services.

Confirm and manage bookings, including arranging dates, times, and access to the property.

Carry out the clearance and any related services you have requested.

Issue invoices, process payments and manage accounts and refunds.

Respond to your questions, complaints and feedback and provide aftercare support.

Maintain internal records, including job histories, accounting and tax records, and evidence of lawful waste disposal.

Improve our services, for example by reviewing feedback or analysing patterns in bookings.

Send you service-related messages and, where permitted, limited marketing information about similar services.

Data Sharing And Processors

We do not sell your personal data. We only share your data where necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, where we have a lawful basis, and where appropriate safeguards are in place.

We may share personal data with:

Service providers and data processors who act on our instructions, such as IT and hosting providers, email and communication platforms, customer management tools, payment processors, and accountancy or administrative support. These providers are only allowed to process your data in line with our instructions and must keep it secure.

Operational partners such as subcontractors or logistics partners who assist with completing your clearance, but only to the extent necessary to carry out the work.

Professional advisers such as accountants, auditors, insurers or legal advisers where necessary for our legitimate interests and to meet our legal obligations.

Public authorities, regulators, law enforcement or courts where we are legally required to disclose information or where it is necessary to protect our rights or those of others.

Data Retention

We keep your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

In general, we keep customer and job records, including basic contact details, booking information and invoices, for up to seven years after the end of our relationship with you, in line with tax and accounting requirements. Communication records such as emails and messages may be kept for a similar period where they form part of our service or are required to handle complaints or legal claims.

Where data is no longer needed, we securely delete or anonymise it so that it can no longer be linked to you.

International Transfers

Some of our service providers may store or access data from outside the United Kingdom. Where this occurs, we take steps to ensure that your personal data is given an equivalent level of protection, such as by using approved contractual clauses or ensuring that the destination country has an adequacy decision in place.

How We Protect Your Data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include access controls, secure storage, encryption where appropriate, staff confidentiality obligations and regular review of our data handling practices. While we strive to protect your personal data, no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under data protection law, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data, subject to certain conditions and exemptions:

Right of access: you can ask for confirmation about whether we process your personal data and request a copy of the data we hold about you.

Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct or complete any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.

Right to erasure: in some circumstances, you can ask us to delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purpose it was collected, or where you withdraw consent and there is no other lawful basis for processing.

Right to restriction: you can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as while we are considering a request for rectification.

Right to data portability: where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you may request that we provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, or ask us to transfer it to another controller where technically feasible.

Right to object: you can object to the processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests, including profiling based on those interests. You also have an absolute right to object to direct marketing.

Rights related to consent: where we rely on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided on our website or in our communications. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request.

Complaints And Supervisory Authority

If you are concerned about how we handle your personal data, we encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioners Office, which is the supervisory authority for data protection in the United Kingdom.

Changes To This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, services or legal obligations. Any updated version will be made available through our usual communication channels. We recommend that you review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we process your personal data.