Privacy Policy - Kennington Cleaners

Last updated: This Privacy Policy explains how Kennington Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data for all customers in the Kennington area. It applies to every customer who uses our cleaning services, requests a quotation, makes an enquiry, or otherwise interacts with us in connection with our services.

We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent way in line with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. This policy is written to help you understand what information we collect, why we collect it, how long we keep it, who may process it on our behalf, and what rights you have over your information.

1. Information We Collect

We collect only the personal data that is necessary for delivering our services, managing customer relationships, and meeting legal and operational requirements. The types of information we may collect include:

Identity details: your name and, where relevant, the name of a company or property manager.
Contact details: address, telephone number, and email address.
Service information: the type of cleaning service requested, property access notes, preferred times, service history, and service instructions.
Billing information: invoice details, payment status, transaction references, and basic payment records.
Communication records: messages, calls, complaint details, feedback, and correspondence with our team.
Technical information: limited data such as IP address or device information if you contact us through digital channels that automatically collect such data.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless you choose to provide it and it is strictly necessary for a specific service arrangement or legal reason. If such information is ever provided, we will only process it with appropriate safeguards and a valid lawful basis.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to provide and manage cleaning services;
to arrange appointments, access, and operational planning;
to prepare quotations, invoices, and payment records;
to communicate about your booking, service changes, or issues;
to handle complaints, feedback, and service recovery;
to maintain internal records and service quality;
to comply with tax, accounting, and legal obligations;
to protect against fraud, misuse, or security incidents.

We will only use your data for the purposes for which it was collected unless we reasonably need to use it for a compatible purpose. If we need to use your data for an unrelated purpose, we will explain the reason and, where required, obtain a lawful basis or your consent.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. Kennington Cleaners relies on the following legal bases where applicable:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes taking bookings, delivering services, invoicing, and handling service-related requests.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests, provided your interests and rights do not override those interests. Examples include improving our services, maintaining internal records, preventing fraud, and responding to customer enquiries.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain data where required to comply with legal duties, including tax, accounting, insurance, and regulatory obligations.

Consent

In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example where you ask us to send optional marketing communications or where special category data must be processed and no other lawful basis applies. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

4. Data Sharing and Processors

We do not sell personal data. However, we may share it with trusted third parties where necessary to operate our business and deliver services. These third parties may act as processors or independent controllers depending on the service they provide.

Examples of processors and service providers may include:

Booking and scheduling providers: to manage appointments and service planning.
Accounting and invoicing providers: to create invoices, record payments, and support financial administration.
Payment service providers: to process transactions securely.
IT and cloud storage providers: to store customer records and support communication systems.
Customer communication tools: to send service updates or respond to enquiries.
Professional advisers: such as accountants, insurers, or legal advisers where necessary.

We require our processors to handle personal data securely, only on our instructions, and in compliance with data protection law. Where data is transferred outside the UK, appropriate safeguards will be used to protect it.

5. Data Retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including to meet legal, accounting, and reporting requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the nature of the information and why it was collected.

As a general approach:

Customer service records are kept for the duration of the relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards.
Invoice and payment records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Complaint and correspondence records are kept long enough to resolve disputes and demonstrate how we handled matters.
Unused enquiry data is retained only for a limited time unless it becomes part of an active customer file.

When data is no longer needed, we will delete, anonymise, or securely destroy it. Retention schedules may be reviewed periodically to ensure they remain appropriate and legally compliant.

6. Data Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and careful selection of third-party processors.

While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we take the protection of your information seriously and continually review our safeguards to reduce risk.

7. Your Rights

Depending on the circumstances and the legal basis for processing, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:

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

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we will review your request and respond in line with applicable law. In some cases, we may need to verify your identity before acting on your request.

8. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adult customers and property-related service arrangements. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children as a primary target group. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected such information, we will take appropriate steps to delete it unless we are legally required to retain it.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or data protection practices. The updated version will apply to all Kennington Cleaners customers in the area from the date it is issued. We encourage you to review this policy periodically so that you remain informed about how we protect your personal data.

10. Summary of Our Commitment

Kennington Cleaners is committed to processing personal data responsibly, securely, and lawfully. We collect only what we need, use it for clear purposes, keep it only as long as necessary, and protect it with suitable safeguards. We also respect your rights and aim to be transparent about how your information is handled.

In short: your privacy matters to us, and we will handle your data with care, fairness, and compliance.