Privacy policy
Last updated: 16 October 2026
This policy explains how Hilling Homes Ltd, trading as Porchlights ("we"), handles personal data. Hilling Homes Ltd is registered in England and Wales, company number 15370764.
Landlords using Porchlights (we are the controller)
We collect your name, email, password (stored only as a secure hash), business details, billing status, records of how you use the service, and how you found us (for example the advert or website that sent you to us). We use them to provide your account, take payment (through Stripe, which handles card details. We never see them), send service emails, keep the service secure, and understand which of our adverts work. Our lawful bases are performing our contract with you and our legitimate interests in running a secure service. We keep account data while your account is open and for up to 3 years afterwards for legal and accounting purposes, except where you ask us to delete it sooner and we are allowed to.
Tenants, occupiers and tradespeople (we are the processor)
When a landlord uses Porchlights, the landlord is the controller of their tenants', occupiers' and tradespeople's personal data, and we act as their processor. We only process that data on the landlord's instructions to provide the service. In particular we:
- keep each landlord's data separate from every other landlord's;
- use it only to provide Porchlights, never to market to tenants or to sell it;
- make sure our staff and subprocessors are bound by confidentiality;
- protect it with appropriate security, including encryption in transit and access controls;
- help landlords answer subject access, correction and erasure requests (Porchlights has export and erase tools built in);
- tell landlords without undue delay about any personal data breach affecting their data;
- delete or return the data when the landlord closes their account;
- only use the subprocessors listed below and give notice of changes.
If you are a tenant and want to know what information your landlord holds about you, contact your landlord. Their details are on the privacy notice shown on your reporting link.
Subprocessors
| Provider | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Cloudflare, Inc. | Hosting, storage, security and cookie-free visitor statistics for our website |
| Resend (Plus Five Five, Inc.) | Sending email notifications |
| Stripe Payments Europe, Ltd. | Subscription billing (landlords only) |
| Twilio Ireland Limited (if text messaging is enabled) | Sending and receiving text messages and WhatsApp messages |
| Anthropic, PBC (if AI features are enabled) | Suggesting a category and urgency for repair reports sent by text: only the message text is sent, with phone numbers and email addresses removed. Market rent checks: only the postcode district, town and the home's details (type, bedrooms, furnishing) are sent, never names, the full address or the rent. Not used to train models. |
Cookies
We use one essential cookie to keep landlords logged in. Tenant reporting pages may remember a tenant's name and contact details on their own device so they don't have to retype them. We don't use advertising or tracking cookies. Our public web pages count visits with Cloudflare Web Analytics, which doesn't use cookies or identify you.
Your rights
You have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to the processing of your personal data, and to data portability. Contact privacy@porchlights.co.uk. If you're unhappy, you can complain to the ICO at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.