Privacy policy

BACKGROUND:

House Gecko Architectural Services Limited understands that your privacy is important to you and that you care about how your personal data is used. We respect and value the privacy of everyone who visits this website. Our Site will only collect and use personal data in ways that are described here, and in a way that is consistent with our obligations and your rights under the law.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully and ensure that you understand it. Your acceptance of this Privacy Policy is requested

  1. Definitions and Interpretation

In this Policy the following terms shall have the following meanings:

“Account” means an account required to access and/or use certain areas and features of Our Site;

“Cookie” means a small text file placed on your computer or device by Our Site; when you visit certain parts of Our Site; and/or when you use certain features of Our Site;. Details of the Cookies used by Our Site; are set out in Part 14, below; and

“Cookie Law” means the relevant parts of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003;

2. Information About Us And Our Site

Our Site; is owned and operated by House Gecko Architectural Services Limited, a Limited Company registered address is whose registered address is held at: 4 Drayton Road, Shawbury, SY4 4NZ, and whose main trading address is held at : P4 Drayton Road, Shawbury, SY4 4NZ. Registered in England and Wales under company number : 11885426.

Registered address held at:  4 Drayton Road, Shawbury, SY4 4NZ
Main trading address held at : 4 Drayton Road, Shawbury, SY4 4NZ
Data Protection Officer: Leanne Millilchap
Email address: leanne@housegecko.co.uk
Telephone number: 07977 193837
Postal address: 4 Drayton Road, Shawbury, SY4 4NZ
Representative: Leanne Millilchap
Email address: leanne@housegecko.co.uk

3. What Does This Policy Cover?

This Privacy Policy applies only to your use of Our Site.  Our Site may contain links to other websites. Please note that we have no control over how your data is collected, stored, or used by other websites and we advise you to check the privacy policies of any such websites before providing any data to them.

4. What Is Personal Data?

Personal data is defined by the General Data Protection Regulation (EU Regulation 2016/679) (the “GDPR”) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (collectively, “the Data Protection Legislation”) as ‘any information relating to an identifiable person who can be directly or indirectly identified in particular by reference to an identifier’.

Personal data is, in simpler terms, any information about you that enables you to be identified. Personal data covers obvious information such as your name and contact details, but it also covers less obvious information such as identification numbers, electronic location data, and other online identifiers.

5. What Are My Rights?

Under the Data Protection Legislation, you have the following rights, which we will always work to uphold:

  • The right to be informed about our collection and use of your personal data. This Privacy Policy should tell you everything you need to know, but you can always contact us to find out more or to ask any questions using the details in Part 15.

  • The right to access the personal data we hold about you. Part 13 will tell you how to do this.

  • The right to have your personal data rectified if any of your personal data held by us is inaccurate or incomplete. Please contact us using the details in Part 15 to find out more.

  • The right to be forgotten, i.e. the right to ask us to delete or otherwise dispose of any of your personal data that we hold. Please contact us using the details in Part 15 to find out more.

  • The right to restrict (i.e. prevent) the processing of your personal data.

  • The right to object to us using your personal data for a particular purpose or purposes.

  • The right to withdraw consent. This means that, if we are relying on your consent as the legal basis for using your personal data, you are free to withdraw that consent at any time.

  • The right to data portability. This means that, if you have provided personal data to us directly, we are using it with your consent or for the performance of a contract, and that data is processed using automated means, you can ask us at any time for a copy of that personal data to re-use with another service or business in many cases.

  • Rights relating to automated decision-making and profiling. We do not use your personal data in this way.

For more information about our use of your personal data or exercising your rights as outlined above, please contact us using the details provided in Part 15.

It is important that your personal data is kept accurate and up-to-date. If any of the personal data we hold about your changes, please keep us informed as long as we have that data.

Further information about your rights can also be obtained from the Information Commissioner’s Office or your local Citizens Advice Bureau.

If you have any cause for complaint about our use of your personal data, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office. We would welcome the opportunity to resolve your concerns ourselves, however, so please contact us first hand, using the details in Part 15.

6. What Data Do You Collect and How?

Depending upon your use of our Site, we may collect and hold some or all of the personal and non-personal data set out in the table below, using the methods also set out in the table. Please also see Part 14 for more information about our use of Cookies and similar technologies within our Cookie Policy (Please Insert the relevant link that is appropriate). We do not collect any ‘special category’ or ‘sensitive’ personal data OR Any personal data relating to children OR any data relating to criminal convictions or offenses.

Data Collected & How We Collect the Data

Name: In person, over the telephone, by post or via email.

Address, telephone numbers, email addresses: In person, over the telephone, by post or via email.

Bank account numbers: In person, over the telephone, by post or via email.

Photographs and drawings of property: In person, by post or via email.

7. How Do You Use My Personal Data?

Under the Data Protection Legislation, we must always have a lawful basis for using personal data. The following table describes how we will use your personal data, and our lawful bases for doing so:


What We do | What Data We Use | Our Lawful Basis

Administering Our Site | Drawings and photographs | Legitimate Interest. Portfolio and testimonials.

Administering Our Business | Name, Address, telephone numbers, email addresses, drawings and photographs | Legitimate Interest. Record keeping

Supplying Our Products and Or Services to you | Name, Address, telephone numbers, email addresses, drawings and photographs. | Legitimate Interest. Supply of services.

Managing payments for Our Services Or Products | Name, Address, telephone numbers, email addresses, drawings and photographs | Legitimate Interest. Procurement of services and products.

Communicating with you | Name, Address, telephone numbers, email addresses, drawings and photographs | Legitimate Interest. Contact.

With your permission and where permitted by law.  We may also use your personal data for marketing purposes, which may include contacting you by method of e-mail, telephone, text message or by post with information, news, and offers on Our Products and Services. You will not be sent any unlawful marketing or spam. We will always work to fully protect your rights and comply with Our obligations under the Data Protection Legislation and the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, and you will always have the opportunity to opt-out if you require.  We will always obtain your express opt-in consent before sharing your personal data with third parties for marketing purposes and you will be able to opt-out at any time.

We use the following automated system(s) for carrying out certain kinds of decision-making and profiling. If at any point you wish to query any action that we take on the basis of this or wish to request ‘human intervention’ (i.e. have someone review the action themselves, rather than relying only on the automated method), the Data Protection Legislation gives you the right to do so. Please contact us to find out more using the details in Part 15.

We will only use your personal data for the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected unless we reasonably believe that another purpose is compatible with that or those original purpose(s) and need to use your personal data for that purpose. If we do use your personal data in this way and you wish us to explain how the new purpose is compatible with the original, please contact us using the details in Part 15.

If we need to use your personal data for a purpose that is unrelated to, or incompatible with, the purpose(s) for which it was originally collected, we will inform you and explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

In some circumstances, where permitted or required by law, we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent. This will only be done within the bounds of the Data Protection Legislation and your legal rights.

8. How Long Will You Keep My Personal Data?

We will not keep your personal data for any longer than is necessary in light of the reason(s) for which it was first collected. Your personal data will therefore be kept for the following periods (or, where there is no fixed period, the following factors will be used to determine how long it is kept):

Type of Data & How Long We Keep It

Identify information including name, title: Retained for at least 6 years or longer if deemed necessary.

Contact information, including address, e-mail address, telephone number: Retained for at least 6 years or longer if deemed necessary.

Payment information including, insert data collected, e.g. card details, bank account numbers: Destroyed after transaction complete.

Drawings and photographs: Retained indefinitely for portfolio purposes.

9. How and Where Do You Store or Transfer My Personal Data?

We will only store or transfer your personal data OR store or transfer some of your personal data with the UK.  This means that it will be fully protected under the Data Protection Legislation.

Please contact us using the details below in Part 15 for further information about the particular data protection mechanism(s) by us when transferring your personal data to a third country. 

The security of your personal data is essential to us, and to protect your data, we take a number of important measures, including the following:

  • limiting access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors, and other third parties with a legitimate need to know and ensuring that they are subject to duties of confidentiality;

  • procedures for dealing with data breaches (the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure of, or access to, your personal data) including notifying you and/or the Information Commissioner’s Office where we are legally required to do so;

  • Data is stored on computers and iCloud with password protection. Physical documents are stored in a locked cabinet in the office.

10. Do You Share My Personal Data?

We may share your personal data with other companies and Government bodies we work with such as Local Authority Planning Departments, Building Control Officers, Building contractors, sub-contractors and suppliers. 

We may sometimes contract with the following third parties to supply certain Products or Services:

Recipient | Activity Carried Out | Sector | Location

Local Authority planning departments and building control departments | Planning application determination and consultation | Public sector | UK

Approved Inspectors or other company carrying out the building control Assessment  | Building Control Assessment | Private Sector | UK

Other consultants required | Structural Engineering, Energy Assessment, Drainage Design etc. | Private Sector | UK

Building contractors and tradespeople | Building work, tendering. | Private sector | UK

If any of your personal data is shared with a third party, as described above, we will take steps to ensure that your personal data is handled safely, securely, and in accordance with your rights, our obligations, and the third party’s obligations under the law, as described above in Part 9.

If we sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or assets, your personal data may be transferred to a third party. Any new owner of our business may continue to use your personal data in the same way we have used it, as specified in this Privacy Policy.

In some limited circumstances, we may be legally required to share certain personal data, which might include yours, if this were the case and we are involved in legal proceedings or complying with legal obligations, a court order, or the instructions of a government authority. (

11. How Can I Control My Personal Data?

In addition to your rights under the Data Protection Legislation, set out in Part 5, when you submit personal data via Our Site, you may be given options to restrict our use of your personal data. In particular, we aim to give you strong controls on our use of your data for direct marketing purposes (including the ability to opt-out of receiving emails from us which you may do by unsubscribing using the links provided in our emails and at the point of providing your details [and by managing your Account.

You may also wish to sign up to one or more of the preference services operating in the UK: The Telephone Preference Service (“the TPS”), the Corporate Telephone Preference Service (“the CTPS”), and the Mailing Preference Service (“the MPS”). These may help to prevent you receiving unsolicited marketing. Please note, however, that these services will not prevent you from receiving marketing communications that you have consented to receiving.

12. Can I Withhold Information?

You may access certain areas of Our Site without providing any personal data at all. However, to use all features and functions available on Our Site you may be required to submit or allow for the collection of certain data.

You may restrict our use of Cookies. For more information, see Part 14 or our Cookie Policy Please Insert Link

13. How Can I Access My Personal Data?

If you want to know what personal data we have or hold about you, you can ask us at any time for details of that personal data and for a copy of it (where any such personal data is held). This is known as a “subject access request”.

All subject access requests should be made in writing and sent to the email or postal addresses shown in Part 15. To make this as easy as possible for you, a Subject Access Request Form is available for you to use. You do not have to use this form, but it is the easiest way to tell us everything we need to know to respond to your request as quickly and efficiently as possible.

There is not normally any charge for a subject access request. If your request is ‘manifestly unfounded or excessive’ (for example, if you make repetitive requests) a fee may be charged to cover our administrative costs in responding to your request.

We will respond to your subject access request within 28 Days of your request and, in any case, not more than one month of receiving it. Normally, we aim to provide a complete response, including a copy of your personal data within that time. In some cases, however, particularly if your request is more complex, more time may be required up to a maximum of three months from the date we receive your request. You will be kept fully informed of our progress.

14. Force Majeure – Unforeseen Circumstances

We will not be liable for any failure or delay in performing our obligations where such failure or delay results from any cause that is beyond our reasonable control. Such causes include, but are not limited to: power failure, internet service provider failure, industrial action, civil unrest, fire, flood, storms, earthquakes, acts of terrorism, acts of war, governmental action or any other event that is beyond the control of the Party in question.

Covid -19 may OR will generally adopt one of the following approaches to defining the type of event which may, depending on its impact, so under this clause may have to consider and take into account the possibilities of any requests not being completed within the specified dates in clause 13. These may include events such as:

war, terrorism, earthquakes, hurricanes, acts of government, plagues or epidemics. Where the term epidemic, or pandemic, has been used, that will clearly cover Covid-19.

15. How Do You Use Cookies?

Our Site may place and access certain first-party Cookies on your computer or device. First-party Cookies are those placed directly by us and are used only by us. We use Cookies to facilitate and improve your experience of Our Site and to provide and improve our products and services. We have carefully chosen these Cookies and have taken steps to ensure that your privacy and personal data is protected and respected at all times.

All Cookies used by and on Our Site are used in accordance with current Cookie Law.

Before Cookies are placed on your computer or device, you will be shown a pop-up requesting your consent to set those Cookies. By giving your consent to the placing of Cookies you are enabling us to provide the best possible experience and service to you. You may, if you wish, deny consent to the placing of Cookies; however certain features of Our Site may not function fully or as intended.

Certain features of Our Site depend on Cookies to function. Cookie Law deems these Cookies to be “strictly necessary”. These Cookies are shown in the table below. Your consent will not be sought to place these Cookies, but it is still important that you are aware of them. You may still block these Cookies by changing your internet browser’s settings as detailed below, but please be aware that Our Site may not work properly if you do so. We have taken great care to ensure that your privacy is not at risk by allowing them.

Name of Cookie / Purpose / Strictly Necessary

Cookie Consent / Stores the user's cookie consent state for the current domain / YES /

Google-analytics / Google Analytics Tracking Code that logs details about the visitor's browser and computer. / NO

housegecko.co.uk / _utmq / Collects data on the number of times a user has visited the website as well as dates for the first and most recent visit. Used by Google Analytics. / NO

housegecko.co.uk/_utmb / Registers a timestamp with the exact time of when the user accessed the website. Used by Google Analytics to calculate the duration of a website visit. / NO

housegecko.co.uk/_utmb / Collects data on where the user came from, what search engine was used, what link was clicked and what search term was used. Used by Google Analytics. / NO

housegecko.co.uk/_utmb / Used to throttle the speed of requests to the server. / NO

In addition to the controls that we provide, you can choose to enable or disable Cookies in your internet browser. Most internet browsers also enable you to choose whether you wish to disable all Cookies or only third-party Cookies. By default, most internet browsers accept Cookies, but this can be changed. For further details, please consult the help menu in your internet browser or the documentation that came with your device.

You can choose to delete Cookies on your computer or device at any time, however, you may lose any information that enables you to access Our Site more quickly and efficiently including, but not limited to, login and personalisation settings.

It is recommended that you keep your internet browser and operating system up-to-date and that you consult the help and guidance provided by the developer of your internet browser and manufacturer of your computer or device if you are unsure about adjusting your privacy settings.


16. How Do I Contact You?

To contact us about anything to do with your personal data and data protection, including to make a subject access request, please use the following details for the attention of : Leanne Millichap

Email address: : leanne@housegecko.co.uk

Telephone number: 07977 193837,

Postal Address: Poolside Astley Lane, Hadnall, Shrewsbury, Shropshire,    United Kingdom, SY4 4BE,

17. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may change this Privacy Notice from time to time. This may be necessary, for example, if the law changes, or if we change our business in a way that affects personal data protection.

Any changes will be immediately posted on Our Site and you will be deemed to have accepted the terms of the Privacy Policy on your first use of Our Site following the alterations. We recommend that you check this page regularly to keep up-to-date. This Privacy Policy was last updated on 29th June 2023.