House Clearance Hammersmith Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how House Clearance Hammersmith collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to our customers. It applies to all House Clearance Hammersmith customers in the Hammersmith area and to all enquiries and services we provide, whether made by telephone, email, our website or in person.

Who We Are

House Clearance Hammersmith is a house clearance service operating in the Hammersmith area. For the purposes of applicable data protection laws, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018, House Clearance Hammersmith is the data controller in respect of the personal data we collect and process about you as a customer or potential customer.

Personal Data We Collect

We collect and process personal data that is necessary for us to provide our services, manage our business and comply with legal obligations. The types of personal data we may collect include:

Name, address and contact details such as telephone numbers and email addresses.

Service details, including property address, access instructions, contents descriptions relevant to the house clearance, dates and times of appointments and records of the services provided.

Billing and payment information, such as invoicing address, bank transfer details you provide to us for refunds, and payment confirmations from our payment providers. We do not store full card details when card payment is used; these are handled by our payment processor.

Communication records, including emails, text messages, notes of telephone calls, and any feedback or complaints you provide to us.

Technical data related to website use, such as your IP address, browser type, and basic usage information, which may be collected through server logs for security and analytics purposes.

How We Collect Your Data

We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us for a quote, make a booking, use our services, or communicate with us by phone, email, text message, contact form or in person.

We may also receive personal data from third parties where this is necessary to provide our services, for example from a landlord, estate agent, solicitor, executor, family member or other person who is arranging the clearance of a property on your behalf. In these cases, we treat that data in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Lawful Bases for Processing

We will only process your personal data where we have a valid lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the context, we may rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:

Performance of a contract: We process your personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform our contract with you, for example to provide a quote, schedule appointments, carry out the clearance, issue invoices and manage payments.

Legitimate interests: We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests and these are not overridden by your interests or fundamental rights. This includes managing and improving our services, keeping records of work carried out, responding to enquiries and complaints, preventing fraud and ensuring the security of our operations.

Legal obligations: We process personal data where we need to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, such as keeping certain financial and tax records or responding to lawful requests from authorities.

Consent: In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain marketing communications. 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 to provide and manage our house clearance services in the Hammersmith area and to run our business. Typical uses include:

Providing quotes, answering enquiries and arranging property visits.

Carrying out house clearance services, including planning logistics, accessing the property and removing items.

Invoicing and payment processing, including issuing receipts and dealing with refunds or queries.

Maintaining service and transaction records for administrative purposes and to ensure continuity of service.

Handling complaints, disputes and claims and improving our services based on your feedback.

Protecting our business, for example by preventing fraud, securing our systems and enforcing our terms of service.

Data Sharing and Processors

We may share your personal data with trusted third parties where necessary for the operation of our business and the provision of our services. These third parties act as processors or, in some cases, as independent controllers. Categories of recipients may include:

Payment processors who handle card payments and other electronic payments on our behalf.

IT and communications providers who supply email, hosting, data storage and related systems that we use to run our business.

Professional advisers, such as accountants, insurers, legal advisers or auditors, who may require access to certain records for legitimate professional reasons.

Regulators, law enforcement bodies or other authorities where disclosure is required by law or necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others.

Where we use third party processors, we ensure that they only process your personal data on our instructions, that they are subject to confidentiality obligations and that appropriate technical and organisational measures are in place to protect your data.

International Transfers

Our core operations and services are based in the United Kingdom. If any of our service providers or systems involve the transfer of personal data outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place, such as standard contractual clauses or an adequacy decision, in order to protect your rights and ensure a level of protection essentially equivalent to that provided under applicable data protection laws.

Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as is reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy and to meet our legal, regulatory, tax, accounting and reporting requirements.

In general, we keep customer contact and service records for the duration of our relationship with you and for a period afterwards, typically up to six years, to comply with legal obligations and to be able to respond to any queries or disputes relating to the services we provided.

Where data is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected, and there is no legal requirement to retain it, we will delete it or anonymise it so that it can no longer be associated with you.

Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. These measures include access controls, secure storage, the use of reputable service providers and staff awareness of data protection responsibilities.

While we take steps to safeguard your personal 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 the relevant supervisory authority where required by law.

Your Data Protection Rights

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

Right of access: You can request confirmation that we process your personal data and obtain a copy of the data we hold about you.

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

Right to erasure: In certain circumstances, you can request that we delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and there is no lawful basis for us to continue processing it.

Right to restrict processing: You can ask us to suspend the processing of your personal data in specific situations, such as where you contest the accuracy of the data or object to our legitimate interests.

Right to data portability: Where we process your personal data based on your consent or on a contract and the processing is carried out by automated means, you can request that we provide your data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and, where technically feasible, transmit it to another controller.

Right to object: You can object to our processing of your personal data where we are relying on legitimate interests as our lawful basis. We will stop processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests or the processing is needed for legal claims.

Right to withdraw consent: Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal.

How To Exercise Your Rights

If you wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, or if you have questions about how we handle your personal data, you can contact House Clearance Hammersmith using the contact details made available on our usual customer correspondence and service documentation.

We may need to request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and ensure your right to access your personal data or exercise your other rights. We aim to respond to all legitimate requests within one month, or any other period required or permitted by law.

Complaints

If you have concerns about how we process your personal data, we encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to resolve the issue. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK supervisory authority for data protection matters. Details of how to do this can be found on the Information Commissioner's Office guidance and materials.

Changes To This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations or how we process personal data. Any updates will apply to all House Clearance Hammersmith customers in the Hammersmith area from the date the revised policy is issued. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically so that you remain informed about how we handle your personal data.