Privacy Policy - Harrow Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Harrow Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing cleaning services to customers in the Harrow area. It applies to all Harrow Cleaners customers in area, including individuals, households, landlords, tenants, letting agents, and business clients who use our services. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are

Harrow Cleaners acts as the data controller for the personal information we collect in connection with our services. This means we determine how and why your personal data is processed. We only collect data that is relevant and necessary for delivering cleaning services, managing bookings, administering payments, responding to enquiries, meeting legal obligations, and improving our operations.

2. What Personal Data We Collect

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

• Identity information such as your name and title.
• Contact details such as email address, telephone number, and service address.
• Service details such as booking preferences, cleaning instructions, access information, and special requests.
• Billing and payment information such as invoicing details, payment status, and transaction references.
• Communication records such as messages, complaints, feedback, and appointment notes.
• Technical information if you interact with our digital systems, such as device type, browser type, and basic usage data where applicable.
• Security and access information where needed to safely enter a property or complete the service.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is necessary and you choose to share it with us, for example if it relates to access needs or health-related instructions needed to carry out a cleaning service safely and appropriately. In such cases, we only process it where permitted by law and with appropriate safeguards.

3. How We Use Your Personal Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

• To provide and manage cleaning services.
• To arrange appointments, reschedule visits, and confirm service details.
• To communicate with you about bookings, changes, or service issues.
• To issue invoices, process payments, and maintain accounting records.
• To respond to enquiries, complaints, and feedback.
• To maintain service quality, train staff, and improve operations.
• To comply with legal, tax, insurance, and regulatory requirements.
• To protect our business, staff, and customers against fraud, misuse, or security incidents.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

We process personal data only where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the situation, our lawful bases include:

Contract

We process data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes managing bookings, providing cleaning services, handling payment administration, and fulfilling service requests.

Legal Obligation

We process certain data to comply with legal obligations, including tax recordkeeping, accounting requirements, health and safety duties, and other applicable legal responsibilities.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include service improvement, internal administration, fraud prevention, business management, and responding to customer queries. Where we rely on legitimate interests, we carefully consider the impact on your privacy.

Consent

In limited cases, we may ask for your consent, such as where we need to process optional information that is not necessary for the service. When we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

Vital Interests

In rare circumstances, we may process data to protect someone’s vital interests, for example where urgent action is needed to protect health or safety.

5. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data only when necessary and with appropriate safeguards. We do not sell personal data. We may use trusted third-party processors who process data on our behalf, such as:

• Payment providers for handling transactions securely.
• Accounting or bookkeeping processors for financial administration and compliance.
• IT and cloud service providers for data storage, communication systems, and business operations.
• Scheduling or customer management tools used to organise appointments and service records.
• Professional advisers such as insurers, auditors, or legal advisers where necessary.

All processors are required to protect data, act only on our instructions, and maintain appropriate confidentiality and security measures. We may also disclose data to public authorities, regulators, law enforcement, or courts where required by law.

6. International Transfers

If any processor stores or accesses data outside the UK, we will ensure that suitable safeguards are in place before any transfer occurs. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations, standard contractual clauses, or other lawful transfer mechanisms designed to protect your personal data.

7. Data Retention

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

• Booking and service records are retained for the period needed to manage our relationship with you and resolve any issues.
• Financial and tax records are retained for the period required by applicable law.
• Complaint or dispute records may be kept for longer where needed to protect our legal rights or establish facts in the event of a claim.
• Information collected with consent is retained until the consent is withdrawn or the information is no longer needed.

When data is no longer required, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

8. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against loss, unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and regular review of our data handling procedures. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to protect your information using proportionate and reasonable safeguards.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to legal limits, these rights include:

• Right of access - to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Right to rectification - to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data.
• Right to erasure - to ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances.
• Right to restriction - to request limits on how we use your data in certain situations.
• Right to data portability - to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
• Right to object - to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing where applicable.
• Right to withdraw consent - where processing relies on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

You also have the right to raise concerns about how your data is handled. If you believe your rights have been infringed, you may lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

10. Children’s Data

Our services are generally intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is incidental to a service arrangement made by an adult customer and is necessary for completing the service safely and appropriately.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or data processing practices. Any updated version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise made available. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their personal data is handled.

12. Summary of Our Commitments

Harrow Cleaners is committed to processing personal data in a transparent and lawful way. We collect only the information needed to deliver our services, use it for specified purposes, retain it only for as long as necessary, and share it only with trusted processors or where the law requires it. We respect your privacy rights and aim to make our data handling clear, secure, and accountable.

By using Harrow Cleaners services, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy.