CL Clearances (“we”, “us”) is a house and office clearance business based at 7A Buttfield Road, Howden, East Yorkshire, DN14 7DY. This policy explains what personal data we collect through this website, why we hold it, how long we keep it and what rights you have over it.
We are the data controller for that information. If you have a question about anything on this page, email hello@cl-clearances.co.uk or call 07783 430775.
Last updated: 22 September 2026
The short version
We ask for a phone number so we can call you back about a clearance, and for as much detail about the job as you want to give. We email that to ourselves and keep a copy so an enquiry cannot go missing. We do not sell it, share it for marketing, or send you anything you did not ask for.
What we collect, and when
When you use the quote form
The form on this site asks for:
| Field | Required? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Telephone number | Yes | It is how we reply. Most people would rather be rung back than emailed. |
| Name | No | So we know who we are speaking to. |
| Email address | No | An alternative way to send you a written quote. |
| Location (town or postcode) | No | To confirm we cover the area and price the travel. |
| A description of the job | No | The property, the rooms, any deadline — what we need to quote. |
When the form is submitted we also automatically record:
- The page you submitted from, so we know which service you were looking at.
- Your IP address, used to rate-limit the form. Without it, a script could send thousands of submissions and bury a real enquiry.
- The date and time of the submission.
We do not ask for, and you should not send us, bank or payment details, or any sensitive personal data (health, religion, and so on) through this form.
When you call, WhatsApp or email us
We hold whatever you tell us — usually your name, number, address and what needs clearing. WhatsApp messages sit on the business phone. WhatsApp is operated by Meta and its own privacy terms apply to messages in transit.
When we carry out a job
We keep the address, the date, what was cleared and what we charged, plus any Waste Transfer Note we issued. Waste Transfer Notes are a legal requirement and are kept for at least two years.
Photographs
We often ask for photographs of a room, a garden or a pile of waste so we can quote without visiting. We may photograph a job before and after, for our own records and occasionally for the website or social media. We will not publish a photograph that identifies you, your address or the inside of your home without asking you first, and you can say no at any point without it affecting the work or the price.
Why we are allowed to hold it (lawful basis)
- To answer your enquiry and quote for work — steps taken at your request before entering a contract (UK GDPR Article 6(1)(b)).
- To carry out and invoice a job — performance of a contract (Article 6(1)(b)).
- To keep the enquiry log and rate-limit the form — our legitimate interests in not losing customer enquiries and in keeping the site usable (Article 6(1)(f)).
- To keep Waste Transfer Notes, invoices and tax records — legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c)), under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 and HMRC record-keeping rules.
We do not rely on consent for any of the above, because you are contacting us about work. We would only send marketing if you had asked for it, and we do not currently send any.
Who else sees it
- SMTP2GO — the service that delivers the enquiry email to our inbox. The message passes through their systems. They are a processor acting on our instructions.
- Our email provider, which holds the enquiry in our mailbox.
- TradeyHub, who built and maintain this website, and who may see enquiry data when fixing a problem with the form.
- An accountant or HMRC, for invoices and tax records.
That is the full list. We do not sell your data, share it with other clearance companies, or pass it to advertisers or data brokers. We do not transfer it outside the UK or EEA other than through the standard operation of the email services above, which are covered by appropriate safeguards.
Where it is kept and for how long
Every accepted enquiry is written to a log file on our web host above the web root, where it cannot be reached from the internet, before the email is sent. That exists because enquiries have been lost on this site before, and a silent failure means somebody who asked for help never hears back.
| What | Kept for |
|---|---|
| Enquiry log entries and emails | 24 months from your last contact, then deleted |
| Rate-limiting records (hashed IP) | 1 hour |
| Job records, invoices and accounts | 6 years, as HMRC requires |
| Waste Transfer Notes | At least 2 years, as the law requires |
| Job photographs | Until no longer needed; longer only if you have agreed to their use |
Cookies and analytics
This site sets no cookies of its own. There is no cookie banner because there is nothing to consent to.
We may add Google Analytics 4 to understand which pages people find useful. It is not enabled at the time of writing. If and when it is switched on, this page will be updated first, a consent banner will be added, and no analytics cookies will be set until you accept them.
Pages that embed a Google Map will load content from Google, and Google may set cookies through that embed under its own privacy policy. If you would rather avoid it, our address is written out in text on the contact page.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask us to:
- Tell you what we hold about you, and give you a copy.
- Correct anything that is wrong.
- Delete it, where we do not have a legal reason to keep it (we cannot delete a Waste Transfer Note or a tax record inside its retention period).
- Restrict or object to what we do with it, including anything we do on the basis of legitimate interests.
- Receive it in a portable format, where that applies.
Email hello@cl-clearances.co.uk or call 07783 430775. We will respond within one month, and there is no charge. We may ask a question or two to check who you are before we send personal data out.
If you are not happy with how we have handled it, you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or on 0303 123 1113. We would rather you told us first so we can put it right.
Security
The site is served over HTTPS. The enquiry log sits above the web root with an additional server rule denying access, and the email API key is held in a configuration file outside the public folder, never in the website’s code. The business phone and email are password-protected. No system is perfect, but the enquiry data on this site is deliberately kept small and out of public reach.
Changes
If this policy changes we will update the date at the top. Material changes to what we collect or who we share it with will be described here rather than made quietly.