Privacy Policy

CJ Bookkeeping provides bookkeeping and property reporting services to landlords, property investors and property developers.

CJ Bookkeeping is operated by Charlotte James as a sole trader.

For questions about this privacy policy or how your information is handled, please contact:

Email: hello@cj-bookkeeping.com

The information we collect depends on whether you are making an enquiry or becoming a client.

When you contact us or complete our discovery form, we may collect information including:

• Your name
• Company or business name
• Email address
• Telephone number
• Information about your property portfolio or business
• Information about your bookkeeping requirements
• Details you provide within your enquiry

If you become a client, we may also collect and process:

• Your address and contact details
• Company and business information
• Identification information required for anti-money laundering checks
• Information about company directors and beneficial owners
• Financial and bookkeeping records
• Bank transaction information
• Property, rental and project information
• Invoices, receipts and other accounting records
• Information required to provide our bookkeeping and reporting services

We aim to collect only the information reasonably necessary to provide our services and meet our legal obligations.

We may use your personal information to:

• Respond to enquiries
• Assess your bookkeeping requirements
• Prepare quotations
• Onboard new clients
• Carry out identity and anti-money laundering checks
• Provide bookkeeping and reporting services
• Maintain accurate accounting records
• Communicate with you about your account and services
• Issue and maintain records of invoices and payments
• Meet legal, regulatory and professional obligations
• Prevent and detect fraud, money laundering or other unlawful activity
• Establish, exercise or defend legal claims where necessary

Depending on why we are using your information, our lawful basis will generally be one or more of the following:

Contract — where using your information is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a contract or to provide services you have engaged us to provide.

Legal obligation — where we need to process or retain information to comply with legal or regulatory requirements, including applicable anti-money laundering obligations.

Legitimate interests — where it is reasonably necessary to operate and protect CJ Bookkeeping, respond to business enquiries, maintain appropriate business records and provide an effective service, provided those interests do not override your rights and interests.

The ICO requires businesses to identify an appropriate lawful basis for each purpose for which personal information is processed.

As a bookkeeping provider, CJ Bookkeeping is subject to anti-money laundering requirements.

Before accepting a client, and where appropriate during the client relationship, we may need to obtain and verify information about:

• Your identity
• Your address
• Your business
• Company ownership and control
• Directors and beneficial owners
• Relevant financial transactions or sources of funds

We may also carry out checks using publicly available or official information, including Companies House and relevant sanctions or PEP information.

Certain AML information must be retained to meet our legal obligations even after the client relationship has ended.

We do not sell your personal information.

Where necessary, information may be shared with organisations that help us provide our services, such as:

• Xero and other accounting or bookkeeping systems used to provide your service
• Website, form, email, cloud-storage and IT service providers
• Your accountant or other professional adviser where you have authorised us to work with them
• HMRC or other government bodies where required or appropriate
• Regulators, law-enforcement agencies or other authorities where we are legally required to provide information

Where third-party service providers process personal information on our behalf, we take reasonable steps to use reputable providers and appropriate safeguards.

We keep personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected and to meet applicable legal, regulatory, accounting and anti-money laundering requirements.

Different types of information may therefore be retained for different periods.

When information is no longer required, we will take reasonable steps to securely delete or dispose of it.

The ICO requires privacy information to explain the retention period or the criteria used to determine it, rather than requiring one blanket period for every type of information.

We take reasonable measures to protect the information we hold from unauthorised access, loss, misuse or disclosure.

Client records are primarily held electronically and access is restricted to those who need it to provide the service or meet legal obligations.

Under UK data protection law, depending on the circumstances, you may have rights including:

• Accessing personal information we hold about you
• Asking us to correct inaccurate information
• Asking us to delete information in certain circumstances
• Asking us to restrict how information is used
• Objecting to certain uses of your information
• Receiving certain information in a portable format

Not every right applies in every situation. For example, we may need to retain certain information where we have a legal obligation to do so.

To exercise your rights, contact: hello@cj-bookkeeping.com

If you have concerns about how CJ Bookkeeping handles your personal information, please contact us first at hello@cj-bookkeeping.com so we can try to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to raise a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's data protection regulator.

Information Commissioner's Office

We may update this privacy policy if our services, systems or legal obligations change.

The latest version will always be published on our website.