Privacy Policy - Gardeners North Harrow

Gardeners North Harrow is committed to protecting the privacy of every customer whose personal information is processed in connection with our gardening services. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, store, and protect personal data belonging to customers in North Harrow and the surrounding area. It applies to all Gardeners North Harrow customers in the area, including anyone who requests a quote, books a service, communicates with us, or receives ongoing garden care.

1. Who We Are

For the purposes of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018, Gardeners North Harrow is the data controller for the personal data we process in the ordinary course of providing our services. This means we decide why and how your personal information is used for service delivery, administration, record keeping, and legal compliance.

We aim to handle personal data fairly, lawfully, and transparently. We only collect information that is relevant to the services we provide and keep it for no longer than necessary.

2. Personal Data We Collect

We may collect and process the following categories of personal data:

Identity details such as your name and, where relevant, the name of a business or household contact.
Contact details such as your telephone number, email address, and service address.
Service information such as the type of gardening work requested, property access notes, appointment preferences, and job history.
Billing and payment information such as records of invoices, payments received, and transaction references.
Communication records including emails, messages, service notes, complaint details, and feedback.
Technical information that may be captured when you interact with our digital systems, such as device or browser details, if applicable.

We generally collect data directly from you when you make an enquiry, arrange a service, or communicate with us. In some cases, data may be provided by a third party acting on your behalf, such as a property manager, family member, or business representative.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to respond to enquiries and provide quotations;
to schedule, deliver, and manage gardening services;
to maintain service records and customer history;
to process payments and maintain accounting records;
to communicate about appointments, updates, or service issues;
to handle complaints, feedback, and disputes;
to meet legal, tax, and regulatory obligations;
to protect our legitimate business interests, including fraud prevention and service improvement.

We do not use your data for unrelated purposes, and we do not sell personal information. If we ever wish to use data for a new purpose that is materially different from the original purpose, we will ensure that a lawful basis exists before doing so.

4. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis for processing your personal data. Gardeners North Harrow relies on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes arranging services, carrying out garden work, invoicing, and fulfilling customer requests.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests and where those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Examples include maintaining internal records, preventing misuse of services, managing customer relationships, and improving the quality of our work.

Legal Obligation

We may be required to retain and process certain information in order to comply with tax law, accounting requirements, insurance obligations, or other legal duties.

Consent

Where we rely on your consent, for example in limited circumstances involving optional communications or specific uses of personal information, you may withdraw consent at any time. Withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

5. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who assist us in operating our business. These parties act as processors when they process data on our behalf and under our instructions. Typical processors may include:

accounting and bookkeeping providers;
IT and cloud storage service providers;
payment processing services;
administrative support tools;
professional advisers such as legal or insurance advisers, where necessary;
subcontractors or service partners engaged to complete parts of a gardening service.

We only share the minimum information necessary for the processor to perform its task. We expect processors to implement appropriate security measures and to process personal data in accordance with data protection law.

We may also disclose personal information where required by law, court order, regulatory request, or where disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, property, customers, or the public.

6. International Transfers

If any processor stores or accesses data outside the United Kingdom, we will take steps to ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. This may include using approved contractual clauses or relying on recognised adequacy decisions, where applicable. We remain committed to ensuring that your personal data receives an appropriate level of protection regardless of where it is processed.

7. Retention of Personal Data

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

customer enquiry records may be kept for a reasonable period to manage follow-up communication;
service records may be retained while services are ongoing and for a period after completion;
invoice, payment, and tax records are usually kept for the period required by law;
complaints and correspondence may be retained to evidence service history and resolve disputes;
data no longer required is securely deleted, anonymised, or destroyed.

Where retention is based on legal obligations, we keep only the information necessary for compliance. When records are no longer needed, we take reasonable steps to dispose of them safely.

8. Security of Your Data

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, accidental loss, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and careful oversight of any processors we engage.

While no system can be completely secure, we work to maintain a level of protection appropriate to the nature of the information we hold and the risks associated with its processing.

9. Your Rights Under Data Protection Law

You have several rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to legal conditions and exemptions, these include:

Right of access – to request confirmation of whether we process your data and to obtain a copy of it;
Right to rectification – to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information;
Right to erasure – to request deletion of your data in certain circumstances;
Right to restriction – to ask us to limit how we use your data in certain cases;
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests;
Right to data portability – to request transfer of certain data to you or another controller, where applicable;
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent;
Right to complain – to raise a concern with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you believe your rights have been infringed.

We may need to verify your identity before responding to a rights request. We aim to respond within the time limits required by law and may extend the response period where requests are complex or numerous.

10. Children’s Data

Our services are generally intended for adult customers, landlords, property managers, and household decision-makers. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is incidental to a service arrangement and necessary for safety or access purposes. If we become aware that we hold such data inappropriately, we will take steps to delete or correct it.

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 protection practices. 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 information is handled.

12. Summary of Our Commitment

Gardeners North Harrow treats privacy as an important part of customer trust. We collect only the information needed to provide reliable gardening services, we process it on a valid legal basis, we retain it responsibly, and we use processors only where necessary and under proper safeguards. We also respect your rights and aim to handle all personal data with care, fairness, and transparency.