Privacy Policy

Last updated: 6 December 2025

This Privacy Policy explains how Neighbourhood Finder (“we”, “us”, “our”) collects, uses and shares your personal data when you use our website and services.

1. Who we are

Neighbourhood Finder is operated by Customer Engine Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales.

Controller: Customer Engine Ltd
Address: Unit 82a James Carter Road, Mildenhall, Bury St Edmunds, IP28 7DE, United Kingdom
Email: privacy@neighbourhoodfinder.co.uk

For the purposes of UK data protection law (including the UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018), Customer Engine Ltd is the “data controller” for the personal data described in this policy.

2. The data we collect

We collect information in three main ways: information you provide, information we collect automatically, and information we derive from your activity.

2.1 Information you provide directly

When you use Neighbourhood Finder, you may provide us with:

  • Identity and contact details: name, email address, phone number.
  • Home-buying details:
    • Budget
    • Deposit
    • Buying stage (for example: just browsing, actively viewing, ready to offer)
    • First-time buyer status
    • Mortgage needs (for example: type of mortgage, approximate amount, special requirements)
    • Commute destination and commute time preferences
    • Neighbourhood preferences (for example: schools, green space, transport, amenities)
    • Reason for moving (for example: more space, schools, relocation)
  • Communications: any messages you send us, such as feedback or support requests.

2.2 Information we collect automatically

When you use our website or app, we automatically collect certain technical and usage information. This may include:

  • Device and browser type
  • Operating system
  • IP address (stored and/or processed in a privacy-conscious way)
  • Pages viewed, buttons clicked and other interactions
  • Searches you run, areas you view and filters you use
  • Dates and times of access

We use PostHog as our analytics platform, configured in a privacy-friendly way (see Section 7).

2.3 Derived data

We may derive additional insights from the data above, for example:

  • Interest segments (for example: “family-focused buyer with school priority”)
  • Engagement level (for example: “high intent” based on repeated searches and saved areas)
  • Soft lead scores for matching with mortgage partners

3. How we use your data

We only use your personal data where we have a lawful basis to do so. The main purposes are:

3.1 Providing and improving our service

  • Showing you neighbourhood results, scores and comparisons based on your inputs.
  • Generating personalised insights and reports.
  • Remembering your preferences.
  • Responding to your questions and support requests.
  • Improving the accuracy and relevance of our scoring and recommendations.

Legal basis: performance of a contract (or steps taken at your request before entering into a contract), and our legitimate interest in operating and improving our services.

3.2 Analytics and product improvement

We use analytics to understand how the product is used so we can make it more useful, reliable and secure.

  • Measuring which features are used and how often.
  • Diagnosing errors and performance issues.
  • Detecting unusual behaviour that may indicate abuse or attacks.

Legal basis: our legitimate interest in understanding and improving how Neighbourhood Finder is used, provided that this is balanced against your privacy rights.

3.3 Matching you with mortgage partners

Neighbourhood Finder may work with carefully selected mortgage partners. We use your data in two different ways for this:

3.3.1 Soft leads (preferences only)

If you provide home-buying preferences and details such as budget, deposit, buying stage, first-time buyer status or mortgage needs, we may share only non-contact data with selected mortgage partners. For example:

  • Budget band and deposit band
  • Whether you are a first-time buyer
  • Broad buying timeframe
  • Indicative mortgage amount or type
  • General preferences that may be relevant to mortgage products

We do not share your name, email or phone number as part of a soft lead.

Partners may use this soft-lead data to:

  • Understand demand patterns.
  • Train and improve their own models and services.
  • Target or tailor digital content and offers that you may see elsewhere (for example, on their own website).

Legal basis: our legitimate interest in supporting the home-buying journey and working with relevant partners, combined with the low-risk and non-contact nature of the data shared. You can object to this at any time (see Section 10).

3.3.2 Warm and hot leads (direct contact)

If you explicitly ask to be contacted by a mortgage partner or submit a form that clearly indicates you want contact, we will share the details you provide (such as name, email, phone number and relevant buying information) so the partner can respond.

Legal basis: performance of a contract (fulfilling your request), and where required for ongoing marketing, your consent.

3.4 Marketing

We may send you email updates about new features, content or services, but only where you have opted in or where the law allows us to do so.

Legal basis: your consent, or our legitimate interest in promoting similar services where the law permits this, with a clear opt-out.

4. Lawful bases in more detail

Under UK data protection law, we must identify a lawful basis for each type of processing. We mainly rely on:

  • Performance of a contract: where processing is necessary to provide the service you have asked for, such as generating neighbourhood results or passing your details to a partner when you request contact.
  • Legitimate interests: for analytics, product improvement, security, and soft-lead sharing of non-contact data with partners. We have carried out a Legitimate Interest Assessment to ensure this is balanced against your rights.
  • Consent: for optional marketing communications and for any processing that is not strictly necessary and not covered by another lawful basis.

5. Who we share your data with

We share personal data only where necessary and with appropriate safeguards in place:

5.1 Service providers (processors)

We use trusted third parties to host and operate our service:

  • Netlify – hosting and delivery of our marketing website.
  • Railway – hosting of our core application, API and database infrastructure.
  • AWS – storage and delivery of images and static assets.
  • PostHog – product analytics and event tracking.

These providers act as our “processors” and may only process personal data on our instructions, for the purposes described above, in line with this policy and applicable law.

5.2 Mortgage and financial partners

As described in Section 3.3, we may share:

  • Soft-lead preference data (no contact details) on the basis of legitimate interests.
  • Full contact and enquiry details where you have clearly requested contact, on the basis of contract (and consent where required).

5.3 Legal, regulatory and business transfers

We may disclose your data where required by law, to protect our rights, or in connection with a business transaction (for example, a merger or sale). In such cases, we will share only what is necessary and will seek to ensure your rights remain protected.

6. International transfers

Some of our service providers may process data outside the UK. Where this occurs, we only do so where:

  • The destination country has been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection; or
  • We have put appropriate safeguards in place, such as standard contractual clauses approved by the UK Government.

7. Cookies and analytics

Neighbourhood Finder uses a small number of cookies and similar technologies.

  • Essential cookies – required for basic site functionality (for example, session handling, security).
  • Analytics cookies and events – used through PostHog to understand usage and improve the product.

We configure analytics in a privacy-conscious way and do not use tracking for advertising or to follow you across unrelated websites.

8. Data security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data, including:

  • Using reputable hosting providers.
  • Encrypting data in transit (HTTPS).
  • Restricting access to production systems to authorised personnel only.

However, no internet service can be completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Data retention

We keep personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this policy, or as required by law. Indicatively:

  • Account and profile data: as long as your account remains active.
  • Soft-lead preference data: up to 12 months from collection.
  • Contact enquiries to partners: up to 24 months from submission.
  • Analytics data: generally up to 12 months, after which it may be aggregated or anonymised.

You may request deletion of your personal data at any time (see Section 10).

10. Your rights

Under data protection law, you have rights over your personal data. These include:

  • Right of access – to ask for a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
  • Right to rectification – to ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data.
  • Right to erasure – in certain circumstances, to ask us to delete your data.
  • Right to restrict processing – in certain circumstances, to ask us to suspend processing.
  • Right to object – to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, including soft-lead sharing and analytics.
  • Right to data portability – to receive data you provided to us in a structured, commonly used format, where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means.
  • Right to withdraw consent – where we rely on consent (for example, for marketing), you can withdraw it at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us atprivacy@neighbourhoodfinder.co.uk.

11. Children’s data

Neighbourhood Finder is intended for users aged 18 or over. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.

12. Opting out

You can object to our use of your data for soft-lead sharing with mortgage partners at any time. You can do this by:

  • Emailing us at privacy@neighbourhoodfinder.co.uk with “Soft lead opt-out” in the subject line; or
  • Using any account or profile setting we may provide for this purpose.

You can also opt out of marketing emails at any time by using the unsubscribe link in our emails or by contacting us directly.

13. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data, please contact us first so we can try to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK data protection regulator:

Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
Website: www.ico.org.uk

14. Version history

We maintain previous versions of this policy and can provide them on request.

15. Changes

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The “last updated” date at the top of this page will change accordingly. We encourage you to review this page periodically to stay informed about how we handle your personal data.