Privacy Policy - Gardeners Custom House

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Custom House collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data for all customers in the Custom House area. It applies to every customer, client, and service user who engages with our gardening and related outdoor services in this area. We are committed to handling personal information in a lawful, fair, and transparent way, in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who this policy applies to

This policy applies to all Gardeners Custom House customers in the area, including people who request quotations, make service bookings, receive gardening services, communicate with us about a project, or otherwise interact with our business in connection with domestic or commercial outdoor work. It also applies to anyone whose personal data we receive while carrying out our services, including tenants, property owners, site managers, and authorised representatives.

2. Information we collect

We collect only the information necessary to provide our services effectively and responsibly. Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of personal data:

Identity data such as your name, title, and the name of any business or property you represent.
Contact data such as phone number, email address, and service address.
Service and property data such as garden preferences, access instructions, job notes, photographs for quoting or service planning, and details about the work requested.
Billing and payment data such as invoicing details, payment status, and transaction references.
Communication data such as messages, enquiry records, complaint details, and service feedback.
Technical data if you contact us electronically, which may include basic device or email metadata needed to manage your enquiry.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless you choose to provide it and it is strictly necessary for a specific service arrangement, such as access or safety information. Where such information is provided, we handle it with extra care and only for a clear and lawful purpose.

3. How we collect personal data

We may collect data directly from you when you:

request a quote or consultation;
book or amend a service;
communicate with us by phone, email, or message;
provide feedback or make a complaint;
pay for services or request an invoice.

We may also receive information from third parties where appropriate, for example from a property manager, landlord, tenant, or another authorised person arranging services on your behalf. In limited cases, we may receive relevant information from subcontractors, suppliers, or payment providers when needed to complete a service or process a transaction.

4. Lawful basis for processing

We only process personal data when we have a valid lawful basis under data protection law. The main lawful bases we rely on are:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, such as arranging services, delivering garden work, managing bookings, and issuing invoices.

Legal obligation

We may process data to meet legal obligations, including accounting, tax compliance, and record-keeping requirements.

Legitimate interests

We may use personal data for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests do not override your rights and freedoms. This may include managing enquiries, improving our services, preventing fraud, maintaining business records, and handling service-related communications.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on consent, for example where you agree to receive certain optional communications. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Vital interests and legal claims

In rare situations, we may process data where necessary to protect someone’s vital interests or to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

5. How we use your information

We use personal data to provide a professional, reliable, and safe service. This may include:

responding to enquiries and preparing quotations;
planning, delivering, and reviewing gardening services;
managing appointments, site access, and customer instructions;
processing payments and issuing invoices;
communicating about changes, scheduling, or service issues;
keeping business and legal records;
handling complaints, disputes, or claims;
improving our services and customer experience.

We will only use your information in ways that are compatible with the original purpose for which it was collected, unless we reasonably need to use it for a related purpose that is permitted by law.

6. Data sharing and processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who help us operate our business. These third parties act as processors when they handle data on our instructions, and they must protect your information appropriately. Examples may include:

IT and cloud service providers that store messages, records, or documents securely;
accounting or bookkeeping providers that support invoicing, tax, or financial records;
payment processors that help manage card or electronic payments;
booking or communication systems used to manage customer enquiries and appointments;
subcontractors or service partners where necessary to deliver the requested work.

We may also disclose personal data where required by law, by court order, or to protect our legal rights, property, staff, customers, or the public. We do not sell personal data.

7. International transfers

Where any processor or service provider stores or accesses data outside the United Kingdom, we take appropriate steps to ensure that your personal data remains protected. This may include using approved contractual safeguards or relying on recognised adequacy arrangements where available.

8. Retention of personal data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law. Retention periods depend on the type of information and the reason it is held. In general:

service enquiries and quotations are kept for a limited period if no booking follows;
customer and service records are retained for the duration of the service relationship and for a reasonable time afterwards;
financial and tax records are kept for the period required by law;
complaints, disputes, and legal records are kept until the matter is resolved and any relevant limitation period has expired.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you. We regularly review retained data to ensure it is not kept longer than necessary.

9. Security of your information

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access restrictions, secure storage, staff awareness, and limiting data access to those who need it to perform their duties. While no system can be guaranteed completely secure, we work to maintain a level of protection appropriate to the risks involved.

10. Your rights under GDPR

You have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to legal limits and exemptions, these may include:

the right to be informed about how your data is used;
the right of access to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
the right to rectification if data is inaccurate or incomplete;
the right to erasure in certain circumstances;
the right to restrict processing in certain circumstances;
the right to data portability for data processed by consent or contract, where applicable;
the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing;
rights related to automated decision-making, where such processing applies.

If you want to exercise any of these rights, we will respond in accordance with applicable data protection law. We may need to verify your identity before responding to protect your information from unauthorised disclosure.

11. Marketing preferences

Where we send optional marketing or promotional communications, we will do so only where permitted by law. You can opt out of such communications at any time. Service-related communications, such as updates about appointments, invoices, or important job information, are not marketing and may still be necessary for us to provide the service properly.

12. Complaints and supervisory authority

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data, you have the right to raise a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority in the UK. We encourage you to raise concerns directly with us first where possible so that we can address them promptly and fairly.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the law, our services, or the way we process personal data. Any revised version will continue to apply to all Gardeners Custom House customers in the area from the date it takes effect.

14. Summary of our commitment

Gardeners Custom House is committed to using personal data responsibly, transparently, and only where necessary. We collect limited information, use it for clear purposes, rely on lawful bases, retain it only for as long as needed, and protect it through appropriate safeguards. We respect your rights and aim to ensure that every customer in the Custom House area can trust us to handle personal information with care and accountability.