Privacy Policy - Soho Cleaners

This Privacy Policy explains how Soho Cleaners collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data. It applies to all Soho Cleaners customers in the area, including anyone who requests, receives, or enquires about our cleaning services. We are committed to handling personal data lawfully, fairly, transparently, and in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who we are and what this policy covers

Soho Cleaners provides domestic and commercial cleaning services. In order to deliver our services, manage bookings, communicate with customers, process payments, and improve our operations, we may need to collect and use personal data. This policy applies when you book a service, request a quote, communicate with us, visit our premises, or otherwise interact with us in relation to our cleaning services.

Personal data means any information that identifies, or can be used to identify, an individual. This may include names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, booking details, service preferences, payment-related information, and records of correspondence.

2. Data we collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for our legitimate business purposes or required by law. Depending on the service you use, we may collect the following categories of data:

Identity data: name, title, and any relevant household or business contact information.
Contact data: address, email address, phone number, and other communication details.
Service and booking data: property details, cleaning instructions, appointment dates and times, access arrangements, service history, and preferences.
Payment data: billing details, payment status, transaction references, and limited financial information necessary to process or confirm payments.
Communication data: messages, enquiries, complaints, reviews, and feedback.
Technical data: basic information about how our systems and devices are used, where relevant for security or service improvement.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is strictly necessary and you choose to provide it. Special category data includes information about health, religion, ethnicity, biometric data, or similar sensitive information. If such data is incidentally shared with us, we will treat it with appropriate care and only process it where a lawful basis applies.

3. How we use personal data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to respond to enquiries and provide quotations;
to schedule, deliver, and manage cleaning services;
to manage customer accounts and service records;
to process and verify payments, invoices, and refunds where applicable;
to communicate about bookings, changes, service updates, and customer support;
to maintain safety, quality, and security;
to resolve disputes, handle complaints, and keep proper business records;
to meet legal, regulatory, tax, and accounting obligations;
to analyse service performance and improve our operations.

We only use personal data for the purposes for which it was collected, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another compatible purpose and that such use is permitted by law.

4. Lawful basis for processing

Under data protection law, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. Soho Cleaners relies on the following lawful bases, depending on the context:

Performance of a contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to provide the cleaning services you requested, to arrange bookings, and to manage our contractual relationship with you.

Legitimate interests

We may process personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This may include managing customer records, improving services, securing our systems, preventing fraud, and responding to complaints.

Legal obligation

We may process personal data where we must do so to comply with a legal obligation, such as tax, accounting, employment, or record-keeping requirements.

Consent

In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example where it is required for a specific communication or optional service. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time, and this will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

We do not sell personal data. Any processing is carried out only for legitimate business, contractual, or legal purposes.

5. Sharing data 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 process data on our instructions, and they are required to protect personal data and use it only for authorised purposes.

Examples of processors may include:

booking and scheduling system providers;
payment processing providers;
secure data storage and cloud service providers;
customer communication and email service providers;
IT support and maintenance providers;
accounting and bookkeeping service providers.

We may also share personal data with professional advisers, insurers, regulators, law enforcement authorities, or other third parties where required by law or where necessary to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

Where processors handle personal data on our behalf, we require them to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures. They are not permitted to use your data for their own purposes.

6. Retention of personal data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including any legal, accounting, or reporting obligations. The retention period depends on the nature of the data and why it is held.

In general:

customer and booking records are retained for a period necessary to manage services and handle follow-up queries;
financial and transaction records are retained for the period required by tax and accounting law;
complaints, correspondence, and dispute records are retained for as long as needed to resolve the matter and protect legal interests;
data no longer required is securely deleted or anonymised.

Where personal data is no longer needed, we will take reasonable steps to ensure it is disposed of securely and permanently.

7. Data security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures may include access restrictions, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and internal policies for handling personal information.

While we take reasonable steps to safeguard data, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee absolute security, but we work to maintain a level of protection that is appropriate to the risks involved.

8. Your rights

Under data protection law, you may have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

Right of access: to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
Right to rectification: to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data;
Right to erasure: to ask us to delete 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 receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable;
Right to withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent;
Right to complain: to raise concerns with the relevant data protection supervisory authority.

Some rights are subject to conditions and exemptions. For example, we may need to retain certain information where required by law or where it is necessary for the establishment, exercise, or defence of legal claims.

You can exercise your rights at any time by making a request through the appropriate channels provided by Soho Cleaners. We may need to verify your identity before responding to ensure your data is protected.

9. International transfers

If any personal data is transferred outside the UK, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place so that the data remains protected in accordance with applicable law. Such safeguards may include standard contractual clauses or transfer mechanisms approved by law.

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations, or data handling practices. Any updated 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 handled.

11. Summary of our commitment

Soho Cleaners is committed to respecting privacy and using personal data responsibly. We collect only what is needed, process it on a lawful basis, keep it only as long as necessary, and share it only with trusted processors or where required by law. We also recognise and support your data protection rights. This policy is intended to provide clear information about how we handle personal data for all customers in the area who use our services.