Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

GUARDEMAR is a commercial brand of Ownizo Unipessoal Lda, a company incorporated in Portugal under NIPC 517169029. We provide private property care and home watch services in the Western Algarve.

2. Who is responsible for your personal data

The data controller is Ownizo Unipessoal Lda, NIPC 517169029, with its registered office at Avenida do Atlântico 16, Escritório 5.07, 1990-019 Lisboa, Portugal, trading as GUARDEMAR. Privacy enquiries may be sent to info@guardemar.com. Guardemar has not stated that it has appointed a Data Protection Officer.

3. What personal data we collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may process identity and contact data, including your name, email address, telephone number, WhatsApp contact details and country of residence; property information, including location, property type, approximate size, occupancy, access and service requirements; communications and enquiries; and contract, service and billing information for customers.

We may also process technical website information, such as an IP address where collected by necessary hosting or security infrastructure, browser and device information, cookie preferences, and analytics data where you have given consent. We do not ask for passport details, identity cards or special-category personal data through the current website. Please do not include unnecessary sensitive information in an enquiry.

4. How we collect personal data

We collect information directly from you when you complete the property assessment form, contact us by email, telephone or WhatsApp, request a quotation, become a customer or otherwise communicate with us. We may also receive information from a person authorised to act for a property owner, from service providers used to operate the website, or from contractors involved in an agreed property matter.

Technical information may be generated when you use the website. Optional analytics information is only made available to consent-aware integrations after Analytics consent has been given.

5. Why we use your personal data

We use personal data to respond to enquiries, understand a property and its requirements, arrange assessments, prepare quotations, provide and administer agreed services, communicate with customers, coordinate authorised access or contractor activity, maintain business and accounting records, protect the website and our legal rights, and improve the website where optional analytics consent has been given.

We do not sell personal data.

6. Legal bases for processing

We rely on the legal basis that fits the particular purpose. Under Article 6(1)(b) GDPR, we process information needed to take steps at your request before a contract or to perform a contract, including property assessments, quotations, customer communications and service delivery. Under Article 6(1)(c), we process records needed to comply with legal obligations, including accounting, tax and legally required record-keeping.

Under Article 6(1)(f), we may rely on legitimate interests for proportionate business purposes such as responding to business enquiries, administering the service, maintaining security, preventing fraud, protecting legal rights and keeping appropriate operational records. We consider the impact on your rights before relying on this basis. Under Article 6(1)(a), we rely on consent for non-essential analytics technologies and for marketing communications where consent is legally required. Consent is not treated as the basis for processing needed simply to answer a service enquiry.

7. Enquiries and property assessment requests

When you submit an enquiry or property assessment request, we use the information to understand your request, contact you and decide whether and how Guardemar can assist. Sending the form does not create a service contract. The current form is processed using Netlify and delivered by transactional email through Resend.

Please provide only information relevant to the property and requested service. If you provide information about another person, you should be authorised to do so.

8. Customers and service delivery

If you become a customer, we may use contact, property, access, service, communications, contract and billing information to deliver the agreed property-care service. Information may be used to prepare visit records, report visible observations, follow owner instructions and coordinate agreed practical action.

Where you ask us to coordinate a contractor, relevant property, access and contact information may be shared only to the extent reasonably necessary for the agreed task. Specialist providers remain responsible for their own professional work and their independent legal obligations.

9. Communications

We use the contact method you provide to respond to an enquiry and communicate about requested or contracted services. Operational or service messages are not promotional marketing.

If you choose to contact Guardemar through a third-party platform such as WhatsApp, that provider may independently process your information under its own privacy terms. Guardemar does not control WhatsApp’s independent processing. You may use email or telephone instead. We do not currently operate a newsletter sign-up on this website.

10. Website usage data

The hosting and content-delivery infrastructure may process technical request data needed to deliver and secure the website, such as IP address, request time, requested page, browser information and security signals. This information is used for website operation, security, fault diagnosis and abuse prevention.

The site currently requests its web fonts from Google Fonts. This may disclose technical request information, including an IP address and browser details, to Google when the font resources are requested.

11. Cookies and analytics

Guardemar stores a first-party cookie preference record in your browser’s local storage. It contains the consent version, your Analytics choice and the time the preference was saved. This is used to remember and demonstrate your choices.

Google Analytics 4 (measurement ID G-6T2MR6HYFF) is used to measure website usage. It is optional and off by default: the Google tag is only requested, and analytics cookies are only set, after Analytics consent is given. Internal analytics events follow the same rule. No advertising platform, Google Tag Manager container or Meta Pixel is installed. You can review or withdraw your choice at any time through Cookie Settings in the footer, which stops further analytics collection and clears the related first-party cookies. More detail appears in the Cookie Policy.

12. Service providers and processors

Netlify provides website hosting, content delivery, serverless processing, managed database services and backup form records. Netlify may process technical request information, portal records and information submitted through the property assessment form on our behalf and under its applicable service terms. Supabase provides authentication for invited portal users. Resend provides transactional email delivery for enquiry notifications and acknowledgements and processes the information needed to deliver those messages.

Google provides the hosted font files used by the current website and, where Analytics consent is given, the Google Analytics 4 measurement service. In that case Google processes website usage information, including a randomly generated identifier, approximate location derived from a shortened IP address, device and browser information and the pages viewed. We may also use professional advisers, accountants and appropriate service contractors where reasonably necessary. We require providers acting as processors to handle personal data only for authorised purposes and with suitable safeguards. Advertising platforms and email marketing are not integrated into the website or private portal at this stage, and analytics is not used inside the client portal or administration area.

13. Data transfers outside the EEA

Some technology providers may process information outside the European Economic Area. Where a restricted transfer occurs, we rely on legally recognised safeguards, such as an adequacy decision or Standard Contractual Clauses, where applicable. Google Analytics data may be processed in the United States by Google LLC under the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and Standard Contractual Clauses; this processing only happens where you have given Analytics consent, and you can withdraw it at any time. The safeguards available can depend on the provider, service and processing location.

14. How long we retain information

Enquiries are kept only for as long as reasonably required to deal with the request and associated business follow-up. Customer information is kept for the commercial relationship and afterwards where necessary for legal, accounting, tax, contractual, security or claims purposes. Billing and accounting records are retained in accordance with applicable Portuguese legal requirements.

Cookie consent records are kept in your browser for the period needed to remember the current preference and are renewed when the consent version changes or you update your choice. Marketing data, if introduced in future, would be kept until consent is withdrawn or the information is no longer needed. We periodically review information and delete or anonymise it when there is no continuing purpose or legal need.

15. Security

We use reasonable organisational and technical measures appropriate to the nature of the information and the current service, including limiting access to people and providers who need it, using reputable hosting infrastructure and protecting communications and systems. No internet service can guarantee absolute security, but we review risks and update safeguards where appropriate.

16. Your GDPR rights

Subject to the circumstances and legal basis, you may have the right to access your personal data, correct inaccurate information, request erasure, restrict processing, object to processing based on legitimate interests, and receive or transmit certain data in a portable format where the legal conditions apply. You may withdraw consent at any time without affecting processing carried out before withdrawal.

You also have rights relating to certain decisions based solely on automated processing that produce legal or similarly significant effects. Guardemar does not currently use the website for such automated decision-making or profiling.

17. How to exercise your rights

Email info@guardemar.com and describe the request clearly. We may ask for reasonable information to confirm identity and protect personal data from unauthorised disclosure. There is normally no fee, although the GDPR permits a reasonable fee or refusal in limited cases involving manifestly unfounded or excessive requests.

18. Complaints

Please contact us first at info@guardemar.com so we can try to resolve the concern. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with Portugal’s supervisory authority, the Comissão Nacional de Proteção de Dados (CNPD).

19. Children

Guardemar’s services are intended for adults and property owners. This website is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly seek personal data from children through it.

20. Links to third-party websites

The website may link to external websites or communication services. Their privacy practices are controlled by their respective operators. Review their policies before providing information or enabling their services.

21. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy when the website, services, providers or legal requirements change. The controlled last-updated date on this page identifies the current version. Material changes to optional technology purposes or categories also require a consent-version review.

22. Contact details

Data controller: Ownizo Unipessoal Lda, NIPC 517169029, trading as GUARDEMAR. Registered office: Avenida do Atlântico 16, Escritório 5.07, 1990-019 Lisboa, Portugal. Privacy contact: info@guardemar.com. Operational Guardemar contact address: Lagos, Algarve, Portugal. Telephone: +351 928 226 570.