Privacy Policy - Landscaping Blackfriars

Effective date: This Privacy Policy applies to all Landscaping Blackfriars customers in the Blackfriars area and explains how we collect, use, store, share, and protect personal data in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

We are committed to respecting your privacy and handling your personal information fairly, lawfully, and transparently. This policy applies when you request a quotation, make an enquiry, purchase services, receive ongoing landscaping work, visit a property where we are working, or otherwise interact with our business.

1. Information We Collect

We collect only the data needed to provide landscaping services, manage our relationship with you, meet legal obligations, and improve our operations. The types of personal data we may collect include:

Identity details: your name and, where relevant, company or property management name.
Contact details: telephone number, email address, service address, and billing address.
Service information: details about the landscaping work requested, property features, site access requirements, preferred service times, and instructions you give us.
Payment and transaction information: records of invoices, payments received, and payment status.
Communication records: correspondence, enquiry notes, complaint records, and service updates.
Technical information: limited information such as device or browser data if you submit forms electronically or interact with our digital systems.
Site-related information: photographs, measurements, and notes relating to the condition of a garden, outdoor space, or work area.

We do not intentionally collect special category data, such as health information, unless you choose to provide it to help us carry out a service safely. If you do share such information, we will only use it where necessary and permitted by law.

2. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to respond to enquiries and provide quotations;
to assess your requirements and plan landscaping work;
to deliver services safely and effectively;
to manage bookings, scheduling, and project updates;
to issue invoices, process payments, and maintain financial records;
to handle complaints, disputes, and service follow-up;
to improve our services, customer experience, and business processes;
to comply with legal, tax, accounting, and insurance obligations;
to protect our business, customers, staff, and property from fraud or misuse.

We will only use your personal data for the purposes explained in this policy, unless we reasonably believe we need to use it for a compatible related purpose or where law requires us to do otherwise.

3. Lawful Basis for Processing

Under data protection law, we must have a valid lawful basis to process your personal data. Landscaping Blackfriars relies on the following lawful bases:

Contract

We process your data when it is necessary to prepare for or perform a contract with you. This includes providing quotes, arranging services, completing landscaping work, and handling billing.

Legal Obligation

We may process personal data where we need to comply with legal requirements, such as tax records, accounting obligations, health and safety obligations, or insurance-related record keeping.

Legitimate Interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights and freedoms do not override those interests. Examples include managing customer relationships, preventing fraud, maintaining internal records, improving service quality, and protecting our business operations.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where you ask us to use optional information in a specific way. If we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

4. Data Sharing and Processors

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who help us operate our business and deliver services. These organisations act as processors when they handle data on our behalf and only under our instructions, or as independent controllers where they determine their own purposes.

Typical processors or service providers may include:

Accounting and bookkeeping providers that help manage invoices, receipts, and tax records;
Payment service providers that handle card or electronic payment transactions;
IT and cloud storage providers that support secure data storage, email, or administrative systems;
Scheduling and administration tools used to organise work orders and service planning;
Professional advisers such as insurers, auditors, or legal advisers where necessary;
Subcontractors or specialist trades where required to complete a service you have requested.

We only share the minimum personal data necessary for the relevant purpose. All processors are expected to maintain appropriate safeguards and process data securely and lawfully.

We may also disclose information if required by law, regulation, court order, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of Landscaping Blackfriars, our customers, or others.

5. Retention of Personal Data

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to meet legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Retention periods may vary depending on the type of data and the reason for processing.

Customer and project records: retained for the duration of the relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards to handle follow-up, warranty issues, or disputes.
Financial and tax records: retained for the period required by law.
Communication records: retained for as long as needed to manage enquiries, complaints, or service history.
Site notes and photographs: retained only as long as needed to document work, complete the service, or resolve any issue.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you.

6. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal data from accidental loss, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and limiting access to those who need the data for legitimate business purposes.

Although we work hard to keep your information secure, no system can be guaranteed completely safe. We therefore encourage customers to be careful when sharing personal information and to contact us promptly if they believe their data may have been compromised.

7. Your Rights

Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to legal limits, these may include:

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 ask us to delete your data in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction: you may ask us to limit how we use your data in certain cases.
Right to object: you may object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing.
Right to data portability: you may request certain data in a structured, commonly used format where applicable.
Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

Please note that these rights are not absolute. In some situations, legal obligations or other lawful reasons may mean we cannot fully comply with a request.

8. How to Exercise Your Rights

If you wish to exercise any of your rights, you should make a clear request using the details ordinarily used to communicate with us. We may need to verify your identity before responding to protect your information from unauthorised disclosure. We aim to respond within one month, although this may be extended where requests are complex or numerous.

If you are dissatisfied with how we handle your data, you also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority for data protection matters.

9. Children’s Data

Our services are intended for adults and property-related customers. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children unless it is incidentally provided in connection with a household or property service and only where necessary for the service to be delivered safely and appropriately.

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or data handling practices. The latest version will apply from the date it is published or otherwise made available. We encourage customers to review it periodically so they remain informed about how their personal data is handled.

11. Summary of Our Commitment

Landscaping Blackfriars is committed to processing personal data lawfully, fairly, and transparently. We collect only what we need, use it for clear and legitimate purposes, share it carefully with trusted processors, and retain it only as long as necessary. We also respect your rights and will handle requests with care and in line with applicable data protection law.