Privacy Policy

Why this policy exists

Cedar Saffron Kabushiki Kaisha cleans homes in Tokyo. To do that we need to know a little about the people who invite us in and a fair amount about the homes themselves. This policy sets out what we keep, why we keep it, and when we let it go. It is written with Japan's Act on the Protection of Personal Information (APPI) in mind and applies to this website and to the visits arranged through it.

What we hold about you

• Contact details: Your name, email address and, if you choose to give it, a phone number, taken from the enquiry form or from a later email.
• The home itself: The ward and building type, the rooms and surfaces in scope, floor area, and any notes you add about tatami, stone, wood finishes or appliances that need particular care.
• Access arrangements: How our staff enter on the day: an agreed meeting time, an entry code, or a key handed over in person. Codes are written only on the job sheet for that visit.
• The written scope and condition notes: The checklist agreed before the first visit, and for seasonal and move-out work a short condition note with photographs of the areas cleaned.
• Payment records: Invoices and the date of payment. We do not receive or store card numbers through this website.

How the information is used

Contact details are used to answer your message and to confirm visit dates. The home details and the checklist exist so that the same standard is kept from one visit to the next, whoever is on the team that day. Condition photographs are taken so that a household or a property manager can see what was done at handover, and so that any later question about a surface can be answered from a record rather than from memory.

We do not use your details for advertising, we do not send newsletters, and we do not sell or rent personal information to anyone.

Photographs taken inside your home

Photographs are limited to the surfaces and fittings covered by the scope. Staff are asked not to photograph personal documents, family photographs, name plates or anything that would identify the people living in the home. Photographs are stored with the job record, shared only with you or with the property manager you name, and deleted twelve months after the last visit unless you ask us to keep them longer for a deposit discussion.

Who else sees it

• Our own staff: Only the team assigned to your visits and the person who schedules them.
• Service providers: Our email and website hosting providers, which process data on our behalf under confidentiality terms. Some of these providers may store data on servers outside Japan; where that happens we choose providers with protections equivalent to those required by the APPI.
• Property managers: For move-out restoration only, and only when you ask us to send the condition note to them.
• Authorities: Where disclosure is required by Japanese law.

How long we keep it

Enquiries that do not lead to a visit are deleted after six months. For regular households, the job record is kept while visits continue and for two years after the last one, so that a returning household does not have to start the checklist again. Accounting records are kept for the period required by Japanese tax law. Entry codes are removed from the job sheet as soon as the visit is finished.

How we protect it

Job records live in a shared scheduling system that only our staff can open, each with their own login. Staff carry the day's job sheet on a company phone rather than on paper; if a phone is lost, access is withdrawn remotely the same day. Keys are never labelled with an address or a family name. Staff are trained not to discuss one household's home or belongings with another, and this obligation continues after they leave Cedar Saffron.

Other people in the home

Staff may meet family members, lodgers or neighbours during a visit. We do not record anything about them beyond what is needed for the visit — for example, a note that a grandparent will open the door on Thursdays. Please let the other people in your home know that a cleaning team will visit and that this policy applies.

Your rights

You can ask us to show you what we hold, correct it, stop using it, or delete it. You can also ask for a record of anyone we have shared it with. Write to info@cedarsaffron.com or send a letter to the address at the top of this page; we reply within two weeks. You do not have to give us any personal information to read this website, and you may stop regular visits at any time without giving a reason.

Changes to this policy

If the way we handle information changes, the new version will be published on this page with a new effective date. Households with regular visits will be told by email before a change that affects them takes effect.