Privacy Policy

Gardeners Noak Hill Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Gardeners Noak Hill collects, uses, stores and shares personal data in connection with our gardening and related services. It applies to all Gardeners Noak Hill customers and prospective customers in our service area, as well as visitors who contact us to enquire about our services. We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data in a lawful, fair and transparent manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and applicable data protection laws.

Who this Privacy Policy applies to

This Privacy Policy applies to individuals who use or request our gardening services, including regular maintenance, one-off visits, landscaping or related work, and to people who contact us for quotations, advice or general enquiries. It also applies to people whose details are provided to us in the course of delivering our services, for example a neighbour’s contact details given for access coordination. By using our services or providing your personal data to us, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

Personal data we collect

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

Identification and contact information such as name, postal address, property address where services are carried out, and any other contact details you choose to provide. Service and contract information such as details of the services you request, instructions you give us, visit history, quotes, invoices, payment records and contract status. Communication information such as messages, correspondence and notes about our interactions with you, including any feedback or complaints. Usage and preference information such as information about the type of garden you have, your service preferences, access instructions, and any before and after photographs taken to document our work where appropriate and agreed.

We generally do not collect special category data such as health information. If such information is volunteered by you and is relevant to how we perform our services, for example mobility considerations for arranging access, we will handle it with additional care and only as necessary for that purpose.

How we collect your personal data

We may collect personal data directly from you when you contact us by any communication method, request a quote, book an appointment, or otherwise interact with us in relation to our services. We may also collect data in the course of providing services at your property, for example by recording visit dates, service details and access notes.

In some cases, we may receive your details from third parties, such as recommendations from existing customers or contact details provided by landlords, tenants, letting or managing agents or neighbours for access or coordination purposes. Where we receive your information from someone else, we will only use it for the purposes for which it was provided and in line with this Privacy Policy.

Lawful bases for processing your data

We rely on the following lawful bases under the UK GDPR to process your personal data:

Contractual necessity. We process your data where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract for gardening or related services, including providing quotes, scheduling and delivering services, handling payments and communicating with you about your agreement. Legitimate interests. We process your data for our legitimate business interests, provided these are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. This includes managing and improving our services, maintaining records for business purposes, preventing fraud, securing access to properties responsibly, and responding to queries and complaints. Legal obligations. We may process and retain certain data to comply with our legal obligations, for example tax, accounting and record keeping requirements. Consent. In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example to use certain photographs of your garden for marketing. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

How we use your personal data

We use your personal data to provide and manage our services, including handling enquiries, issuing quotes, scheduling visits, delivering gardening work, taking and processing payments, and providing aftercare or follow up. We use your information to communicate with you about your bookings, changes to appointments, service recommendations and responses to your questions or concerns.

We also use personal data for internal administration, business planning, quality control, accounting, and to keep accurate records of the work we have carried out. Where appropriate and lawful, we may use information to help improve our services, for example by analysing which services are most requested or by maintaining safe and efficient access procedures for gardens and properties.

Data sharing and processors

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your personal data with selected third parties where necessary for the operation of our business and the performance of our contract with you. These third parties may act as data processors who process personal data on our behalf.

Examples of such processors may include providers of accounting or invoicing software, scheduling or booking tools, payment processing services, cloud storage or document management services, and information technology support. These processors are only permitted to use your personal data in accordance with our written instructions and are required to keep it secure and confidential.

In some situations, we may share relevant personal data with other parties acting as independent controllers, such as insurers, professional advisers, or where we are required to do so by law or by a competent authority. We may also share limited information with landlords, tenants, neighbours or agents where necessary to arrange access or coordinate services, taking care to share only what is reasonably required.

Data retention and storage

We keep your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, including any legal, accounting or reporting requirements. The length of time we keep your data will depend on factors such as the nature of the services provided, our ongoing relationship with you and applicable legal obligations.

In general, we retain core customer and transaction records for a number of years after the end of our relationship, in line with tax and accounting rules and our legitimate interest in maintaining accurate records of work carried out. We aim not to keep information that is no longer needed and will securely delete or anonymise personal data when it is no longer required.

International transfers

Where we use service providers located outside the United Kingdom who may process your personal data, we take appropriate steps to ensure that your data is afforded an equivalent level of protection. This may include using providers in countries with adequacy regulations in place or incorporating standard contractual clauses or similar safeguards into our agreements with them.

How we protect your personal data

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data from loss, misuse, unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration or destruction. These measures include limiting access to personal data to those who have a business need to know it, using secure storage systems where appropriate and training relevant staff or contractors on their data protection responsibilities. While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we work to maintain appropriate security for the type and volume of data we hold.

Your rights under data protection law

You have a number of rights in relation to your personal data under the UK GDPR, subject to certain conditions and exemptions. These include the right to access your personal data and receive information about how it is processed, the right to have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected, and the right to request the erasure of your personal data where there is no good reason for us to continue processing it.

You also have the right to restrict the processing of your data in certain circumstances and the right to object to processing that is based on our legitimate interests. Where processing is based on consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

You may also have the right to receive certain personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to request that it is transmitted to another controller where technically feasible.

Exercising your rights and complaints

If you wish to exercise any of your rights or have questions about how we handle your personal data, you can contact us using the contact methods made available on our customer materials or through the usual channels you use to communicate with us. We will respond to your requests in accordance with applicable data protection law and may need to verify your identity before responding.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, we would encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve your concerns. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority responsible for data protection matters in the United Kingdom.

Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations or the way we handle personal data. Any updates will take effect when the revised policy is made available. We recommend that you review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your personal data.