Privacy Policy - Brent Cleaner

This Privacy Policy explains how Brent Cleaner collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing cleaning services. It applies to all Brent Cleaner customers in the area, including individuals, households, landlords, tenants, property managers, and businesses who engage our services. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, transparent, and secure manner in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Introduction

When you choose Brent Cleaner, you may share personal information with us so we can arrange, deliver, and manage cleaning services. We only process personal data where we have a lawful basis to do so and only for purposes that are relevant to our services. This policy describes 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 data.

We respect your privacy and aim to keep all information accurate, limited to what is necessary, and protected against unauthorised access.

2. Data We Collect

We may collect the following categories of personal data:

Identity details such as your name and, where relevant, the name of your organisation or property.
Contact details such as your phone number, email address, and service address.
Service information including booking dates, preferred times, instructions, property access details, cleaning preferences, and service history.
Payment-related information such as billing details, invoice records, and payment status. We do not retain unnecessary card details where payment is processed through secure third-party providers.
Communication records including emails, messages, feedback, complaints, and notes relating to service delivery.
Technical and usage information if you interact with us electronically, such as basic device and interaction data used to maintain service records or improve our systems.
Special category data only where strictly necessary and usually only if you voluntarily provide it, for example details related to access needs or health-related circumstances that affect service delivery. We limit such processing and apply additional safeguards.

We generally collect data directly from you when you request a quote, make a booking, communicate with us, or provide instructions. In some cases, we may also receive details from third parties acting on your behalf, such as landlords, letting agents, building managers, or payment processors.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To provide quotations, confirm bookings, and deliver cleaning services.
To manage customer accounts, schedules, invoicing, and payments.
To communicate about appointments, changes, reminders, service issues, or follow-up actions.
To respond to enquiries, feedback, and complaints.
To maintain internal records, improve service quality, and support business operations.
To comply with legal obligations, including tax, accounting, and record-keeping requirements.
To protect our business, customers, and staff from fraud, misuse, or security incidents.

We do not sell your personal data. We only use it where necessary for service delivery, legitimate business administration, or legal compliance.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for each type of processing. Brent Cleaner relies on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes managing bookings, carrying out cleaning services, issuing invoices, and communicating about your service.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data for our legitimate interests where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include managing our customer relationship, improving our services, preventing fraud, resolving disputes, and keeping internal operational records. We assess these interests carefully and process only what is reasonably necessary.

Legal Obligation

We may process and retain certain data because the law requires it, such as accounting records, tax documentation, and information needed to comply with regulatory obligations.

Consent

Where required, we rely on your consent, for example if we need to process special category information that you choose to provide and it is not otherwise necessary for the service. You can withdraw consent at any time, although this will not affect processing that has already taken place lawfully.

Vital Interests and Public Task

These bases are unlikely to apply in normal cleaning-service operations, but they may be used in rare circumstances if necessary to protect someone’s vital interests or where required by law.

5. Retention of Personal Data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and then we securely delete or anonymise it. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of information and legal requirements.

Customer and booking records: retained for the duration of the service relationship and for a reasonable period afterward to manage queries or disputes.
Financial and invoice records: retained for the period required by tax and accounting law.
Communications and complaints: retained as long as needed to resolve issues and maintain service history.
Special category or sensitive details: retained only for the shortest period necessary and removed when no longer needed.

We regularly review records to ensure they are not kept longer than necessary. When data is no longer required, we use secure deletion or anonymisation methods appropriate to the format of the record.

6. Processors and Third Parties

To operate efficiently and provide our services, we may use trusted third-party processors who handle personal data on our instructions. These processors are required to protect your data and may only use it for the services we instruct them to provide.

Examples of processors may include:

Booking and scheduling providers.
Payment and invoice processing services.
IT and cloud storage providers.
Email, messaging, and customer communication tools.
Accounting and bookkeeping services.
Security, backup, and data protection providers.

We may also share information with other third parties where necessary, such as:

Landlords, tenants, property managers, or agents involved in arranging access or payment.
Professional advisers, including accountants or legal advisers, where necessary.
Public authorities, regulators, or law enforcement where we are legally required to do so.

We only share the minimum amount of data required for the relevant purpose and ensure appropriate safeguards are in place.

7. International Transfers

If any of our processors store or access data outside the UK, we will take steps to ensure the transfer is lawful and protected by appropriate safeguards, such as adequacy regulations or contractual protections recognised under data protection law.

8. Data Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and restricted data handling practices. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to maintain an appropriate level of protection based on the nature of the data and the risks involved.

9. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have several rights in relation to your personal data:

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

If you exercise any of these rights, we may need to verify your identity before responding. Some rights may not apply in all situations, particularly where we must retain data for legal reasons or where processing is necessary to fulfil a contract.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your data has been handled unlawfully.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are aimed at adults and business customers. We do not intentionally collect personal data from children. If we become aware that we have collected such data without appropriate authorisation, we will take steps to delete it unless we are required to retain it by law.

11. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or data handling practices. Any revised version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise communicated. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is used.

12. Our Commitment

Brent Cleaner is committed to responsible data handling and to ensuring that personal information is only collected and used where it is necessary, proportionate, and lawful. We aim to maintain trust by being clear about our practices and by respecting the privacy rights of every customer in the area we serve. By using our services, you acknowledge that we may process your personal data as described in this policy and in line with applicable data protection laws.