House Clearance Lambeth Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how House Clearance Lambeth collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data for customers and prospective customers within the Lambeth area. We are committed to complying with the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, and to handling all personal data lawfully, fairly, and transparently.

Scope and data controller information

This Privacy Policy applies to all House Clearance Lambeth customers, prospective customers, and website users located in the Lambeth area who contact us, request a quote, or use our house clearance and related services. House Clearance Lambeth is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. This means we decide how and why your personal data is processed in connection with our services.

If you provide personal data about another individual, such as a relative or property owner, you confirm that you have their permission to share that information with us and that they have been informed about this Privacy Policy.

Personal data we collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for us to provide our services, manage our business, and meet our legal obligations. The types of personal data we may collect include the following categories.

Identification and contact details, such as your name, address, email address, and telephone number. Service and booking information, such as property address for clearance, access instructions, preferred dates and times, details of items to be cleared, and any special requirements. Communication records, such as emails, messages, and notes of telephone conversations with you relating to enquiries, bookings, or complaints. Payment and billing information, such as partial card details, transaction references, and billing addresses processed via our payment providers. We do not store or have access to full card numbers or security codes when third party processors are used. Technical and usage data, such as pages visited on our website, approximate location data from IP address, and device information; this is generally collected through cookies or similar technologies where used.

How we collect personal data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us by phone, email, contact form, or social media, when you request a quote, when you make a booking, or when you provide information in person to our staff. We may also receive personal data from third parties, such as estate agents, solicitors, landlords, or relatives, where they are arranging a clearance on your behalf and are authorised to share your information.

Some technical data may be automatically collected when you visit our website, for example through server logs or basic analytics tools, in order to maintain and improve our website and services.

Lawful bases for processing

We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the context, the main lawful bases we rely on are set out below.

Performance of a contract, where processing is necessary to provide a quote, carry out a house clearance, or manage a booking or contract for services. Legitimate interests, where processing is necessary for our reasonable business interests, and those interests are not overridden by your data protection rights. This may include managing enquiries, improving our services, preventing fraud, and defending legal claims. Legal obligation, where we are required to retain or disclose certain information to comply with applicable laws, such as accounting or tax regulations. Consent, where we rely on your explicit permission, for example for certain direct marketing communications or for non-essential cookies or analytics where required. Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time.

How we use your personal data

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

To provide quotes, confirm bookings, attend at the property, and deliver house clearance and related services. To communicate with you about your enquiry, booking, or service, including sending confirmations, reminders, and updates. To manage payments, invoices, and refunds, and to maintain accurate financial records. To respond to complaints, queries, and feedback and to resolve disputes. To improve our services, business processes, and customer experience, including training our staff. To comply with legal, regulatory, and accounting obligations and to protect our rights, property, staff, and customers.

Data sharing and processors

We do not sell your personal data. However, we may share your personal data with carefully selected third parties where necessary to provide our services or meet legal obligations. These third parties act as data processors or, in some cases, as separate controllers with their own responsibilities.

The types of third parties we may share data with include payment service providers who process card and online payments on our behalf, information technology and hosting providers who supply email, data storage, customer management, or website services, professional advisers such as accountants, insurers, and legal professionals, and public authorities, regulatory bodies, or law enforcement when required by law or when necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others.

Where we use data processors, they are only permitted to process your personal data on our instructions, must keep it secure, and must not use it for their own purposes. We take reasonable steps to ensure that our processors provide sufficient guarantees to meet applicable data protection requirements.

International transfers

Your personal data is generally stored and processed within the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area. If any of our service providers transfer personal data outside these territories, we will take appropriate measures to ensure that your data is protected, such as relying on adequacy decisions or implementing standard contractual clauses or equivalent safeguards where required by law.

Data retention

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

In most cases, personal data relating to quotes, bookings, and services is retained for up to six years from the date of the final service or transaction in order to comply with tax and contractual limitation periods. Communications data such as routine email correspondence may be kept for a shorter period where appropriate. Anonymised or aggregated information that does not identify you may be retained for longer for statistical or business analysis purposes.

When personal data is no longer required, we will securely delete it or irreversibly anonymise it.

Security of your personal data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction, or damage. These measures include limiting access to personal data to staff and service providers who need to know it for the purposes described in this policy, using secure systems and passwords, and training our staff in the importance of data protection and confidentiality.

While we take reasonable steps to safeguard your information, no system can be completely secure. You are responsible for taking sensible precautions when communicating with us, such as not including sensitive payment details in unencrypted emails.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data, subject to certain conditions and exemptions. These rights include the right to request access to your personal data and to receive a copy of the information we hold about you, the right to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data, the right to request erasure of your personal data in certain circumstances, for example where it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, the right to request restriction of processing where you contest the accuracy of the data or object to our use of it, the right to object to processing that is based on our legitimate interests or for direct marketing, and the right to data portability for data you have provided to us where we process it based on consent or contract and by automated means.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the contact details provided on our website or in our communications with you. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request. We will respond within the time limits set by law.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioners Office if you believe your data protection rights have been infringed. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve any concerns.

Children

Our services are not intended for use by children, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under the age of 18. If you believe that we have collected personal data from a minor, please contact us so that we can delete it where appropriate.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or how we process personal data. The most current version will always be available on our website. We encourage you to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.