Privacy Policy - Paddington Cleaner

Last updated: June 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Paddington Cleaner collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when providing cleaning services. It applies to all Paddington Cleaner customers in the area, including prospective customers, current customers, and anyone who enquires about our services. We are committed to handling personal information in line with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

For the purpose of this policy, personal data means any information relating to an identified or identifiable individual. This may include your name, address, contact details, booking information, payment records, service preferences, and communications with us.

1. Data We Collect

We only collect data that is necessary to provide and manage our cleaning services, respond to enquiries, and meet our legal obligations. Depending on your interactions with us, we may collect the following categories of personal data:

Identity information: name, title, and relevant property or household contact details.
Contact information: telephone number, email address, billing address, and service address.
Service details: cleaning instructions, access arrangements, preferred appointment times, and information about the type of service requested.
Payment information: payment status, invoices, and transaction records. We do not intentionally store full card details where a secure payment provider is used.
Communication data: emails, phone call notes, message history, complaints, and feedback.
Technical or usage data: basic website or device information, if you submit a form or interact with our digital services, where applicable.
Special category data: we do not knowingly collect sensitive data unless you voluntarily provide it and it is necessary for the service, such as accessibility information or health-related access requirements.

We encourage customers to avoid sharing unnecessary personal or sensitive information. Where such information is provided, we will handle it carefully and only use it where there is a lawful basis to do so.

2. How We Use Personal Data

Paddington Cleaner uses personal data to operate our business and deliver reliable cleaning services. We may use your data to:

process bookings and manage appointments;
provide cleaning services at your premises;
send service confirmations, reminders, and updates;
issue invoices, process payments, and manage refunds where applicable;
respond to questions, complaints, or customer support requests;
keep records of services provided and customer preferences;
improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of our services;
meet legal, tax, accounting, and insurance obligations;
prevent fraud, misuse, or unauthorised access to our systems.

We do not sell personal data. We also do not use personal data for unrelated purposes that are incompatible with the reason it was collected, unless we are required or permitted by law.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under the UK GDPR, we must have a lawful basis to process personal data. The lawful basis may vary depending on the purpose for which we use your information.

Contract

We process personal data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you. This includes arranging cleaning services, managing bookings, communicating about the service, and processing payment-related actions.

Legal Obligation

We may process certain information where required to comply with legal obligations, such as tax record-keeping, accounting, and responding to lawful requests from authorities.

Legitimate Interests

We may rely on legitimate interests where this is appropriate and does not override your rights and freedoms. This includes managing our business efficiently, improving our services, maintaining records, and protecting against misuse or fraud.

Consent

In limited situations, we may rely on consent, for example if we ask to use optional information or send certain non-essential communications. Where consent is used, you can withdraw it at any time.

4. Retention of Personal Data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and in line with legal, accounting, and operational requirements. Retention periods depend on the type of information and the reason for processing.

Customer service records: generally retained for the period needed to provide services and handle follow-up issues.
Financial and tax records: retained for the period required by law and standard accounting practice.
Communications and complaints: retained for a reasonable period to support customer care, dispute resolution, and service quality.
Inactive customer records: deleted or anonymised when no longer needed for lawful business purposes.

Where data is no longer required, we will take reasonable steps to delete, anonymise, or securely archive it. In some cases, we may keep minimal records if necessary to defend legal claims or satisfy regulatory requirements.

5. Processors and Data Sharing

We may share personal data with trusted processors and service providers who assist us in operating our business. These third parties are only permitted to process personal data on our instructions and must apply appropriate security measures.

Payment providers: to process card or electronic payments securely.
Accounting or bookkeeping providers: to manage invoices, records, and tax-related tasks.
Customer communication tools: to send service messages, reminders, or updates.
IT and cloud service providers: to store or protect business data and maintain systems.
Professional advisers: such as legal or insurance advisers, where needed for compliance, claims, or business protection.

We may also disclose personal data if required by law, court order, regulator, or law enforcement authority. If Paddington Cleaner is involved in a business transfer, merger, or reorganisation, personal data may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to legal safeguards.

Where processors act on our behalf, we ensure, as far as reasonably possible, that they have appropriate contractual commitments regarding confidentiality, security, and data protection.

6. Data Security

We take reasonable and proportionate steps to protect personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include restricted access, secure storage, password protection, staff confidentiality obligations, and careful management of records.

However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we become aware of a personal data breach that is likely to present a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will respond in accordance with legal requirements.

7. Your Rights Under GDPR

You have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may be subject to legal exceptions or limitations, depending on the circumstances.

Right of access: you may request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
Right to rectification: you may ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
Right to erasure: you may request deletion of personal data in certain cases.
Right to restriction: you may ask us to restrict how we use your data in specific circumstances.
Right to object: you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, where applicable.
Right to data portability: you may request that certain data be provided to you or another controller in a structured format, where technically feasible and legally required.
Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, we may ask for information to verify your identity and to help us locate the relevant records. We aim to respond within the time limits required by law.

8. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is incidentally provided as part of service arrangements relating to a household and is necessary for the provision of our services. If we become aware that we have collected data from a child without a valid reason, we will take appropriate steps to delete it.

9. 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. The revised 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 we handle personal data.

10. Summary of Our Commitment

Paddington Cleaner respects your privacy and is committed to processing personal data fairly, lawfully, and transparently. We collect only what we need, use it for clearly defined purposes, keep it for no longer than necessary, and share it only with trusted processors or where legally required. We also recognise and support your rights under GDPR.

By using Paddington Cleaner services, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection laws.