House Clearance Brent Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how House Clearance Brent collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data relating to our customers and prospective customers in our service area. It also describes your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, and how you can exercise those rights.

This Privacy Policy applies to all House Clearance Brent customers, including individuals and businesses, located within the areas we serve. By contacting us, requesting a quotation, booking a service, or otherwise interacting with us, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

Who we are and how to contact us

House Clearance Brent is a house clearance service provider operating in the Brent area and surrounding locations. We act as the data controller in relation to the personal data we collect and use about you for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or about how we handle your personal data, you can contact us using the contact details provided on our website or on any correspondence we send you. When you contact us about your data, please give us enough information to identify you and your query so that we can respond efficiently.

Personal data we collect

We collect and process different types of personal data depending on how you interact with us. The main categories of data we may collect include:

Identification and contact details, such as your full name, address of the property to be cleared, billing address, email address, telephone numbers, and, where applicable, the name and contact details of a representative acting on your behalf.

Service and contract information, such as details about the property to be cleared, access instructions, photographs you choose to provide for quotation purposes, inventory notes, job schedules, quotes, invoices, records of services delivered, and related correspondence.

Payment information, such as payment method, billing records, and transaction details. We do not store full card numbers or security codes if you pay by card through a third-party processor; such details are handled directly by the payment processor.

Communication data, such as emails, text messages, call notes, and other communications between you and House Clearance Brent, including any feedback or complaints.

Technical and usage data, where applicable, including basic information about how you use our website or online contact forms, such as the device and browser you use and the time and date of visits. This is typically collected through standard web technologies.

How we collect your personal data

We collect personal data in a variety of ways, including:

Directly from you when you contact us by phone, email, online form, or in person to request information, obtain a quotation, or make a booking.

During the provision of our services, for example when we visit a property to assess a clearance or to carry out the agreed work.

From third parties who may act on your behalf, such as family members, landlords, estate agents, solicitors, or executors who provide your details in connection with a clearance.

Automatically through your use of our website or online tools, where technical and usage data may be generated.

Lawful basis for using your data

We will only process your personal data where we have a valid legal basis to do so. Depending on the context, we rely on the following lawful bases:

Contract: We process your personal data when it is necessary for entering into or performing a contract with you, for example to provide quotations, confirm bookings, carry out clearances, and issue invoices or receipts.

Legal obligation: In some cases we must process your data to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, such as tax law, accounting rules, and waste disposal regulations.

Legitimate interests: We may process your data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This may include managing and improving our services, handling enquiries, preventing fraud, and keeping appropriate business records.

Consent: In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where you ask us to keep your details on file for future services or to receive specific types of communication. Where we rely on consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time.

How we use your personal data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To respond to your enquiries, provide quotations, and arrange home visits or assessments.

To provide and manage house clearance services, including scheduling, performing the clearance, and dealing with any follow-up or aftercare.

To manage payments, fees, and charges, and to recover any sums owed to us.

To manage our relationship with you, including responding to your feedback, complaints, or requests for information.

To maintain business and financial records, prepare accounts, and comply with legal, tax, and regulatory obligations.

To improve our services, train staff, and ensure the safety and security of our operations.

Data sharing and processors

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your data with carefully selected third parties where necessary for the purposes described above and where we have a lawful basis to do so.

These third parties can include:

Service providers acting as data processors who provide services on our behalf, such as payment processing providers, waste management and recycling companies, secure document disposal providers, IT and system support providers, and cloud-based email or storage services.

Professional advisers, such as accountants, auditors, and legal advisers, where necessary to obtain professional services or comply with our obligations.

Public authorities, regulators, law enforcement, or courts, where we are required to disclose data by law or where disclosure is necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Where we use data processors, we require them to process your data only on our instructions, to keep it secure, and to comply with data protection law.

Data retention

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

In general, we apply the following retention periods:

Service and contract records, such as invoices, job records, and related correspondence, are typically retained for up to seven years after the end of the financial year in which the service was provided, to comply with tax and accounting rules.

General enquiries and quotation requests that do not lead to a contract are usually kept for up to two years from the date of our last contact, unless you ask us to delete them sooner and we have no overriding legal need to retain them.

Complaint and dispute records may be retained for as long as reasonably necessary to resolve the issue and to protect our legal position.

At the end of the relevant retention period, we will securely delete or anonymise your personal data.

International transfers

Our core operations are based in the United Kingdom. Where we use service providers that store or process data outside the UK or the European Economic Area, we take steps to ensure that your data is given adequate protection, for example by relying on adequacy regulations or by using approved standard contractual clauses. Details of such safeguards can be provided upon request.

How we protect your data

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage systems, staff training, and procedures for dealing with suspected data breaches.

While we strive to protect your data, no system can be completely secure. If we become aware of a personal data breach that is likely to result in a high risk to your rights and freedoms, we will inform you and any relevant authorities where required by law.

Your data protection rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These include:

Right of access: You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to receive information about how we use it.

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

Right to erasure: In certain circumstances, you have the right to ask us to delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected and we have no legal reason to retain it.

Right to restriction of processing: You can ask us to restrict the processing of your data in certain situations, such as while we are verifying the accuracy of data you believe is incorrect.

Right to data portability: In some cases, you may have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to ask us to transfer it to another organisation.

Right to object: You have the right to object to certain types of processing based on legitimate interests. We will stop the processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, rights, and freedoms, or where processing is required for legal claims.

Where we rely on consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of any processing carried out before the withdrawal.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you are concerned about how we handle your personal data. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve your concerns.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, how we process personal data, or changes in legal or regulatory requirements. Any updated version will apply 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 as a customer of House Clearance Brent in our service area.