Privacy Policy - Landscaping Sevenkings

This Privacy Policy explains how Landscaping Sevenkings collects, uses, stores, and protects personal data. It applies to all Landscaping Sevenkings customers in the area, including prospective customers, current customers, and individuals who interact with our services, quotations, or support processes. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent way in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and applicable data protection laws.

1. Who this policy applies to

This policy applies to individuals whose personal data we process in connection with landscaping services, including garden maintenance, design work, soft landscaping, hard landscaping, seasonal services, and related customer support. It also applies where we receive personal data from someone acting on behalf of a household, business, landlord, or property manager. By using our services or requesting information from us, you acknowledge that your data may be processed as described in this policy.

2. Data we collect

We only collect personal data that is necessary for specific business and legal purposes. The categories of data we may collect include:

Identity data: name, title, and any relevant account or property reference details.
Contact data: address, email address, telephone number, and preferred communication details.
Service data: details about the landscaping services requested, quotations, site notes, service preferences, and instructions.
Payment data: billing information, payment records, and transaction details.
Technical data: limited information collected from devices or systems used to communicate with us, such as basic logs or message timestamps.
Communication data: records of emails, calls, written messages, feedback, complaints, and service updates.
Property-related information: access notes, site conditions, photographs needed for planning or service delivery, and scheduling information.

We do not intentionally collect special category data unless it is strictly necessary and a lawful basis applies. If any such information is provided to us incidentally, we will handle it with extra care and only for the purpose for which it was received.

3. How we use personal data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

to provide quotations and arrange landscaping services;
to manage appointments, access arrangements, and customer instructions;
to communicate about service progress, changes, or completion;
to issue invoices, process payments, and maintain accounting records;
to respond to enquiries, complaints, and service requests;
to improve our services, planning, and customer experience;
to comply with legal, tax, insurance, and regulatory obligations;
to protect our business, staff, customers, and property;
to keep appropriate records of work carried out and agreements made.

We always aim to ensure that any use of personal data is relevant, proportionate, and limited to what is necessary for the intended purpose. We do not sell personal data.

4. Lawful basis for processing

Under GDPR, we must identify a lawful basis for each processing activity. Landscaping Sevenkings relies on one or more of the following bases:

Contract

We process personal data where it is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract or to perform a contract with you. This includes preparing quotations, scheduling work, carrying out landscaping services, and managing billing.

Legal obligation

We may process personal data where necessary to meet legal requirements, such as tax law, record-keeping duties, accounting obligations, or compliance with lawful requests from authorities.

Legitimate interests

We may process data for our legitimate business interests, provided your rights and interests do not override those interests. Examples include maintaining service records, improving operations, preventing fraud, managing security, and handling customer communications. When we rely on legitimate interests, we assess the impact on your rights and process data in a way that is reasonably expected and proportionate.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, such as for certain optional communications or where specific data use requires it. Where consent is used, you can withdraw it at any time, and this will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

5. Retention of personal data

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purpose for which it was collected, including satisfying any legal, accounting, tax, or reporting requirements. Retention periods depend on the type of data, the service provided, and the legal context. In general:

customer and service records are kept for the duration of the relationship and for a reasonable period afterwards;
financial and invoicing records are kept for the period required by law;
complaints and correspondence may be retained for longer if needed to resolve disputes or demonstrate compliance;
site notes and operational records are kept only as long as they remain relevant to service delivery.

When personal data is no longer needed, we will delete it securely or anonymise it so that it can no longer identify you. Retention is reviewed periodically to ensure it remains appropriate and lawful.

6. Processors and third parties

We may share personal data with trusted third parties who help us operate our business. These parties act as processors or independent controllers depending on the service they provide. Examples include:

IT and cloud service providers that support data storage, communication, or system maintenance;
payment service providers or banking partners who handle transactions;
accounting, tax, or bookkeeping providers;
professional advisers such as insurers, legal advisers, or auditors;
subcontractors or specialist service providers engaged to assist with landscaping work;
authorities, regulators, or law enforcement where required by law.

Where we use processors, we ensure that appropriate data processing terms are in place and that they only process personal data according to our instructions. We require them to apply suitable security measures and to handle data confidentially. If data is transferred outside the UK or the EEA, we will ensure appropriate safeguards are used where required.

7. Data security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, staff confidentiality obligations, and careful management of data-sharing arrangements. While no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure, we work to maintain a level of protection appropriate to the risk.

8. Your rights under GDPR

You have a number of rights in relation to your personal data. Subject to legal limitations, 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 data.
Right to erasure: to ask for your data to be deleted in certain circumstances.
Right to restriction: to request that we limit the way we use your data in specific situations.
Right to object: to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing, where applicable.
Right to data portability: to request certain data in a structured, commonly used format where technically feasible.
Right to withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.

We may need to verify your identity before responding to a rights request. We will respond within the time limits required by law and will explain if an exception applies. Your rights are important, and we will not treat you unfairly for exercising them.

9. Children’s data

Our services are intended for adults or individuals acting on behalf of property owners or occupiers. We do not intentionally collect personal data from children unless it is necessary in a limited and lawful context, such as a property access note or household arrangement. Where such data is involved, we process it with care and only to the extent required.

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 revised version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically to stay informed about how we handle personal data.

11. Summary of our commitments

Landscaping Sevenkings is committed to processing personal data lawfully, fairly, and transparently. We collect only what we need, use it for clear purposes, keep it only as long as necessary, and share it only with appropriate processors or where required by law. We respect your rights and aim to maintain responsible data practices for every customer in the area.