Privacy Policy

South Kensington Cleaner Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how South Kensington Cleaner collects, uses, stores and protects the personal data of its customers and prospective customers. It applies to all South Kensington Cleaner customers and users of our services located in the South Kensington area, including individuals, households and business clients.

South Kensington Cleaner acts as the data controller for the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. We are committed to processing your personal data lawfully, fairly and transparently, in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Scope of this Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy applies whenever you interact with South Kensington Cleaner in connection with our cleaning and related services. This includes when you contact us to request a quote, make a booking, use our services, communicate with us by any channel, or otherwise provide us with your personal data. By using our services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

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 personal data we may collect include:

Identity and contact details: Name, title, postal address, property access details where required, and other contact details necessary to deliver our services to you.

Booking and service information: Details of cleaning bookings, frequency and type of services requested, property type and size, special instructions, dates and times of visits, and records of services provided.

Payment and billing information: Information required to process payments and manage invoices, such as billing address and basic transaction details. Card or bank details are processed only through secure third party payment processors and are not stored by us where this can be avoided.

Communication records: Records of emails, messages, phone calls and other communications between you and South Kensington Cleaner, including enquiries, complaints, feedback and support requests.

Technical and usage information: Limited technical information about how you use our website or online tools, such as pages visited and basic device or browser information, to help us maintain and improve our services. Where cookies or similar technologies are used, we seek to do so in a manner consistent with applicable law.

Sensitive or special category data: We generally do not seek to collect special category data. In rare cases, we may process limited health or access-related information where you choose to share it with us, for example to accommodate mobility needs or access requirements at your property. This information is used only when strictly necessary and with appropriate safeguards.

Lawful basis for processing

South Kensington Cleaner processes personal data only when there is a lawful basis under the UK GDPR. Depending on the context, we rely on the following bases:

Performance of a contract: We process your data to provide our cleaning services, manage bookings, take payment, communicate about your appointments and fulfil our contractual obligations.

Legal obligations: We may process and retain certain information to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, such as accounting, tax and record keeping obligations.

Legitimate interests: We process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided that your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. Examples include improving our services, responding to enquiries, managing our relationship with you, preventing fraud, and ensuring the security of our staff and customers.

Consent: In certain cases, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain forms of direct marketing or where we collect optional information that is not strictly necessary for the provision of the service. Where processing is based on consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

How we use your personal data

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

To provide and manage cleaning services requested by you, including arranging visits, tailoring our work to your property and preferences and resolving any issues.

To communicate with you about quotes, bookings, changes to appointments, service updates and other necessary service communications.

To manage payments, issue invoices, handle refunds where applicable and maintain accurate financial records.

To respond to enquiries, feedback and complaints, and to provide customer support.

To improve the quality, safety and reliability of our services, including staff training, service planning and performance monitoring.

To send you information about our services, offers or updates where permitted by law or where you have given consent. You can object to or opt out of marketing communications at any time.

To protect our rights, property and safety and that of our staff, customers and the public, and to detect and prevent fraud or misuse of our services.

Data sharing and processors

We do not sell your personal data. We share personal data only when necessary and with appropriate safeguards in place:

Service providers and processors: We may share personal data with carefully selected third parties who act as data processors on our behalf. These may include payment processing providers, IT and website hosting providers, email and communication service providers, accounting and administrative support services, and contractors who assist us in delivering our services. These processors are contractually required to process your data only on our instructions and to protect it appropriately.

Cleaning staff and contractors: We may share limited personal data, such as your name, address and service instructions, with cleaners and contractors who need this information to perform the services at your property.

Legal and regulatory bodies: We may disclose personal data where required by law, regulation, court order or government request, or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

Business transfers: In the event of a business sale, merger or reorganisation, your personal data may be transferred as part of the relevant transaction, subject to appropriate confidentiality and data protection safeguards.

Data retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this Privacy Policy and to meet legal, accounting or reporting requirements.

In general, we retain customer and booking records for as long as you remain an active customer and for a reasonable period afterwards to handle queries, disputes and to maintain business records. Financial and invoicing information is typically retained for a longer period as required by tax and accounting laws.

Where we rely on consent for specific processing activities, we will retain the relevant data until you withdraw consent or until it is no longer needed for the stated purpose, whichever occurs first. When personal data is no longer required, we will delete it or anonymise it so that you can no longer be identified.

International transfers

Some of our service providers or systems may be located outside the United Kingdom. Where personal data is transferred to countries that do not provide the same level of data protection as the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as standard contractual clauses or equivalent measures, to protect your information in accordance with applicable law.

Your data protection rights

As a customer of South Kensington Cleaner, you have a number of rights under the UK GDPR in relation to your personal data. These rights apply to all customers within the South Kensington area to whom this policy applies, subject to certain legal limitations and exemptions.

Right of access: You have the right to request confirmation of whether we process your personal data and to obtain a copy of that data, together with certain information about how it is used.

Right to rectification: You have the right to ask us to correct inaccurate personal data and to complete incomplete information.

Right to erasure: In certain circumstances, you can ask us to delete your personal data, for example where it 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 of processing: You may request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in specific situations, such as while we verify the accuracy of the data or assess an objection.

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

Right to data portability: Where processing is based on consent or the performance of a contract and carried out by automated means, you may request to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and to have it transmitted to another controller where technically feasible.

Right to withdraw consent: Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing before consent was withdrawn, but may affect our ability to continue providing certain services.

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

Security of your personal data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include restricting access to personal data to staff and contractors who need it to perform their duties, using secure systems and maintaining policies and procedures designed to safeguard information.

While we strive to protect your personal data, no system can be completely secure. You are also responsible for taking reasonable steps to protect your own information when communicating with us or using our services.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, services or legal requirements. Any updates will take effect when the revised policy is made available. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we process your personal data.

Your continued use of South Kensington Cleaner services after any changes to this Privacy Policy will constitute your acknowledgement of the updated policy.