Privacy Policy - Gardeners Kilburn

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Kilburn collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data when providing gardening services. It applies to all Gardeners Kilburn customers in the area, including prospective customers, current clients, and anyone who contacts us about our services. We are committed to handling personal information in a lawful, fair, and transparent way in line with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who this policy applies to

This policy applies whenever we process personal data in connection with our gardening services in the local area. It covers residential and commercial customers, property managers, tenants, landlords, and anyone requesting quotes, scheduling work, or receiving ongoing maintenance. By using our services or sharing your information with us, you acknowledge that your data may be processed as described in this policy.

2. Personal data we collect

We only collect information that is necessary for providing our services and managing our customer relationship. The types of data we may collect include:

Identity data: name, title, and any business or property name you provide.
Contact data: address, email address, telephone number, and service location details.
Service data: information about your gardening requirements, booking history, preferences, and instructions for site access.
Payment and invoicing data: billing details, payment status, and transaction records.
Communication data: messages, notes from calls, complaints, feedback, and correspondence history.
Technical data: limited information such as device or browser data if you interact with digital forms or online tools.
Special category data: we do not intentionally collect sensitive personal data. If such information is ever shared with us by mistake, it will only be processed where lawful and necessary.

We do not seek to collect unnecessary information. Gardeners Kilburn encourages customers to provide only the details required for service delivery and administration.

3. How we collect personal data

We may collect personal data directly from you when you request a quote, make a booking, provide instructions, complete a form, send a message, or speak with us by phone or in person. We may also receive information from third parties where it is necessary for carrying out a service, such as a property manager, landlord, tenant, or another person acting on your behalf.

In some cases, we may also collect data indirectly from payment providers, invoicing systems, scheduling tools, or service records created during the course of work. We aim to keep all collection methods limited and relevant to the purpose for which the data is needed.

4. Why we use your data

We use personal data only for legitimate business and legal purposes connected with our gardening services. These purposes include:

responding to enquiries and preparing quotes;
arranging and delivering gardening services;
managing bookings, schedules, and site visits;
issuing invoices and handling payments;
maintaining service records and customer preferences;
dealing with complaints, disputes, or follow-up requests;
meeting legal, tax, and accounting obligations;
protecting our business, staff, and customers from misuse or fraud.

We do not use your data for unrelated purposes without informing you where required by law.

5. Lawful basis for processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis before processing your personal data. Depending on the situation, we rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotes, confirming bookings, carrying out work, sending invoices, and managing service-related communication.

Legal obligation

We may process and retain some information because we are required to do so by law, including for tax records, accounting purposes, and compliance with other legal duties.

Legitimate interests

We may process data where it is in our legitimate interests to run and improve our business, provided that those interests do not override your rights and freedoms. This may include record keeping, service administration, responding to enquiries, and preventing misuse of our services.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on your consent, for example if you agree to receive a specific type of communication that is not necessary for service delivery. Where consent is used, you may withdraw it at any time.

We do not rely on consent where another lawful basis is more appropriate.

6. Data sharing and processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties that help us operate our services. These third parties act as processors when they handle data on our instructions. Examples may include:

accounting and bookkeeping providers;
payment processing services;
invoicing and scheduling platforms;
IT support or cloud storage providers;
professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers;
service contractors assisting with specific work where necessary.

We require processors to handle data securely, only for authorised purposes, and in line with data protection law. We do not sell personal data.

We may also disclose information where required by law, regulation, court order, or to protect our legal rights, customers, staff, or property.

7. Data retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose it was collected. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the reason for processing. In general:

customer enquiry records are kept for a limited period after the enquiry concludes;
service and booking records are retained while the customer relationship is active and for a reasonable period afterwards;
invoicing, payment, and tax records are kept for the period required by law;
complaint or dispute records may be retained longer if needed to resolve the matter or defend legal claims.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it where appropriate. Retention is always based on necessity, legal duties, and business record-keeping requirements.

8. Data security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure devices, password protection, and restricted sharing with staff or processors who need the information to do their work.

Although no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we take reasonable steps to safeguard the information entrusted to us and to reduce the risk of accidental or unlawful processing.

9. Your rights

You have rights under data protection law in relation to the personal data we hold about you. These rights may include:

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 information.
Right to erasure: you can ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restrict processing: you can ask us to limit how we use your data in some situations.
Right to object: you can object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, where applicable.
Right to data portability: you can request certain information in a structured, commonly used format where the law applies.
Right to withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

These rights are not absolute and may be subject to legal or contractual limits. We will respond to requests in accordance with applicable law and may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

10. Children’s data

Our services are intended for adults who arrange gardening work for their property or business. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children in the ordinary course of our work. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected such data, we will take appropriate steps to delete it unless we are legally required to keep it.

11. International transfers

Where any processor or system involved in our services stores or accesses data outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your information. These safeguards may include adequacy regulations, contractual protections, or other lawful transfer mechanisms.

12. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in law, our services, or the way we handle data. Any revised version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is used.

13. Summary of our approach

Gardeners Kilburn takes privacy seriously and only processes personal data where it is necessary, lawful, and proportionate. We collect limited information to provide and manage our gardening services, we share data only with trusted processors or where required by law, and we retain records for as long as needed for service, legal, and accounting purposes. Customers in the area have rights over their personal data, and we will support those rights in accordance with GDPR requirements.

By engaging our services, you acknowledge this policy applies to the personal data we process in relation to customers in the area.