House Clearance Greenwich Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how House Clearance Greenwich collects, uses, shares and protects personal data relating to our customers and prospective customers in Greenwich and the surrounding area. It also explains your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation, the Data Protection Act 2018 and related laws. This Privacy Policy applies to all House Clearance Greenwich customers and enquiries within our service area, regardless of how you contact us or use our services.

Who we are and how to contact us

House Clearance Greenwich is a provider of house clearance and related services. For the purposes of data protection law, we are the data controller in respect of the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, you can contact us using the contact details published on our main customer communications, including our website and service documentation.

What personal data we collect

We collect and process different types of personal data depending on how you interact with us and which services you use. The categories of data we may collect include the following.

Identification and contact details, such as your full name, address of the property to be cleared, billing address, email address, telephone number and, where relevant, business or company name and position.

Service and booking information, such as details of the property type, access information, photographs you provide to help us assess a clearance, dates and times of visits, and records of the services you request or purchase.

Payment and transaction information, such as amounts charged, payment method used, partial card details as processed by our payment provider, invoices, receipts, and records of refunds where applicable. We do not store full card numbers or security codes.

Communication records, such as emails, text messages, phone call notes, and any other correspondence between you and House Clearance Greenwich, including complaints, queries and feedback.

Marketing preferences, such as whether you have consented to receive marketing communications, and details about how you interact with those communications where technically available.

Technical information, where you visit our website or online booking tools, such as your IP address, device type, browser type, approximate location, and usage data. This may be collected using cookies or similar technologies where permitted by law.

How we collect your personal data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us, request a quotation, make a booking, use our website or communicate with us in any other way. We may also collect personal data from third parties where you ask them to contact us on your behalf, such as an estate agent, solicitor, family member or landlord, and from payment processors who confirm whether a payment has been authorised or declined.

Lawful bases for processing your data

We only process your personal data where we have a lawful basis to do so under data protection law. The lawful bases on which we rely include the following.

Contract. We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes taking steps at your request before entering into a contract, providing quotations, arranging and carrying out house clearances, issuing invoices and handling payments and refunds.

Legal obligation. We process personal data where we are required to do so by law, for example to comply with tax, accounting, waste disposal, health and safety or consumer protection obligations, and to respond to lawful requests from public authorities.

Legitimate interests. We process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, and where your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This includes managing and improving our services, preventing fraud, keeping records of past services, handling enquiries and complaints, and sending limited direct marketing to our existing customers about similar services, where permitted by law.

Consent. In some situations we rely on your explicit consent, for example where required before sending certain types of electronic marketing communications to new customers or prospective customers. Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us using our published contact details or by using any unsubscribe option provided.

How we use your personal data

We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes.

To provide quotations, schedule visits and deliver house clearance and related services you request.

To manage bookings, including confirmations, reminders, changes, cancellations and follow-up communications.

To process payments, issue invoices and receipts, recover debts where necessary and maintain our financial records.

To respond to your enquiries, requests for information, complaints and feedback.

To comply with our legal and regulatory obligations, including record-keeping, reporting and responding to requests from regulators or law enforcement.

To monitor, analyse and improve our services, website, customer relationships and business operations.

To send you information about our services, offers or updates that may be of interest to you, in line with your marketing preferences and applicable laws.

To protect our business, staff, customers and property, for example by preventing fraud, misuse of our services or unauthorised access to our systems.

Data sharing and processors

We may share your personal data with trusted third parties where necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, and only to the extent required. These third parties act either as data processors on our behalf or as independent controllers.

Types of recipients may include payment service providers that process card or online payments, professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers, waste management and recycling partners who assist with the lawful disposal of items, IT and communication service providers who host our systems, email services or provide customer management tools, and regulatory, tax or law enforcement authorities where we are legally required to share data.

Where we use third party processors, we ensure that they are bound by written contracts that require them to protect your personal data, only process it in accordance with our instructions, and implement appropriate security measures.

International transfers

If any of our service providers are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, and your personal data is transferred internationally, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data in line with data protection law. These safeguards may include using countries that have been formally recognised as providing an adequate level of protection, or using standard contractual clauses approved by data protection authorities.

Data retention

We keep your personal data only for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to satisfy legal, accounting or reporting requirements. The specific retention period will vary depending on the type of data and our legal obligations.

In general, records relating to services provided, including invoices, contracts and communications, are retained for up to seven years after the end of the relevant financial year to comply with tax and accounting rules and to respond to any queries or legal claims. Basic contact details and limited service history may be kept for a longer period where necessary for our legitimate interests, such as maintaining accurate records of work carried out at a property or for defending potential legal claims, unless you exercise your rights to restrict or erase data where applicable.

Where we process personal data based solely on your consent and there is no other lawful basis for retention, we will delete that data when you withdraw your consent or when it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected.

How we protect your data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include restricting access to personal data to those staff and contractors who need it to perform their duties, using secure systems and, where appropriate, encryption, and regularly reviewing our security measures and procedures.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have certain rights in relation to your personal data. These rights apply to all House Clearance Greenwich customers and prospective customers in our service area, subject to some limitations and exceptions.

Right of access. You have the right to request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.

Right to rectification. You have the right to ask us to correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.

Right to erasure. In certain circumstances, you have the right to request that we delete your personal data, for example where the data is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected or where you withdraw consent and there is no other lawful basis for processing.

Right to restriction. You may have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as while we verify its accuracy or consider an objection you have raised.

Right to object. You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests as the lawful basis, including for direct marketing. If you object to direct marketing, we will stop sending it to you.

Right to data portability. Where we process your personal data by automated means on the basis of your consent or a contract with you, you may have the right to receive that data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and to request that we transmit it to another controller where technically feasible.

Right to withdraw consent. Where we rely on your consent to process your personal data, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of any processing carried out before you withdrew your consent.

You can exercise any of these rights by contacting us using the details provided in our customer communications. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request to protect your privacy and security.

Complaints and contact

If you are concerned about how we handle your personal data, please contact us first so that we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK data protection supervisory authority, the Information Commissioner's Office. Further information about your rights and how to complain can be obtained directly from the Information Commissioner's Office.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations or the way we process personal data. Any updated version will apply to all House Clearance Greenwich customers and prospective customers in our service area from the date it is published. We recommend that you review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.