Privacy Policy

Overview

Home & Heart Clearance is a specialist estate and property clearance service operating across Auckland, New Zealand, trading under Navigate Japan Limited (NZBN 9429052367342). This Privacy Policy explains what personal information we collect, why we collect it, how we use and protect it, and what your rights are under the Privacy Act 2020 (New Zealand).

By using our website, submitting an enquiry form, or engaging our services, you agree to the practices described in this policy. We have designed these practices to be clear, proportionate, and respectful — consistent with how we approach every clearance job we undertake.

Who We Are

Legal entity

Navigate Japan Limited

Trading name

Home & Heart Clearance

NZBN

9429052367342

Registered address

22 Kiri Place, Mairangi Bay, Auckland 0630, New Zealand

Privacy Officer

Shogo (co-director) — contact details in Section 13

Primary contact

Ken (director and field operations lead)

Navigate Japan Limited is incorporated in New Zealand and subject to New Zealand law, including the Privacy Act 2020 and the Health Information Privacy Code where applicable.

Information We Collect

We collect personal information in the following categories, depending on how you interact with us:

Contact and identity information

Your name, phone number, email address, and postal address — provided when you submit an enquiry, booking form, or correspond with us directly.

Property information

The address of the property to be cleared, its approximate size, and details about its contents relevant to planning the clearance (room count, access conditions, volume estimate).

Estate and executor information

Where the clearance relates to a deceased estate: the name of the deceased (for documentation purposes only), the name and contact details of the estate executor or solicitor, and any probate reference number provided voluntarily.

Photos and visual records

Photographs of the property interior and its contents, taken by Ken during a site visit or submitted by you through our online intake form. See Section 5 for full details of how photo data is handled.

Service preferences and instructions

Your choice of farewell tier (Māori takahi whare, secular farewell, or standard clearance), any cultural or religious instructions you provide, and any specific instructions about items to be treated with particular care or returned to family members.

Payment information

Invoice records, payment confirmations, and any bank account details provided for refund or payment purposes. We do not store credit card numbers. All electronic payments are processed through our bank or a secure payment gateway.

Professional referral information

If you are an estate lawyer, property manager, or other professional referring clients to us: your name, firm, email address, and phone number for the purpose of managing the referral relationship and paying any applicable referral fee.

Website and analytics data

Basic usage data collected through website analytics (see Section 10). This data is aggregated and not linked to identifiable individuals unless you submit a form.

How We Use Your Information

We use the personal information we collect for the following purposes only:

• Delivering the clearance service — scheduling, quoting, planning, executing, and documenting the clearance job you have engaged us for
• Communicating with you — responding to your enquiry, confirming bookings, providing updates during the job, and delivering aftercare reports
• Producing documentation — written quotes, signed agreements, disposal weight records, aftercare summaries, and auction consignment records for your files and for estate or probate purposes
• Coordinating third-party services — contacting auction houses, freight providers, or farewell ceremony contacts on your behalf where you have requested these services
• Processing payments and referral fees — issuing invoices, confirming payments, and paying registered referral partners
• Compliance and record-keeping — meeting our obligations under the Auckland Council Waste Collector Licence, Privacy Act 2020, and IRD tax and payroll requirements
• Improving our service — using anonymised, aggregated feedback to improve our quoting accuracy, service delivery, and documentation

We do not use your information for unsolicited marketing, profiling, or automated decision-making. We do not sell, rent, or trade personal information to any third party.

Property Photos & Visual Data

Photos play an important operational role in how we work. They allow our team in New Zealand and Japan to assess items, plan logistics, and communicate with auction houses and family members. We take the handling of these images — which often show the private homes and belongings of people who have recently passed — very seriously.

What we photograph

Property interiors, room layouts, and specific items of potential salvage value. We do not photograph people without their consent.

Where photos are stored

Photos are uploaded to our Airtable job management system, accessible only to Ken and Shogo (the two directors). Photos are not shared with any third party except where strictly necessary to obtain an auction house appraisal, and only with your knowledge.

Who sees photos

Ken (field operations, Auckland) and Shogo (remote systems and logistics, Japan) — both directors of Navigate Japan Limited. Where an auction house appraisal is sought, photos of the relevant item only are shared with the specific auction house being consulted.

Automatic deletion

All photos are automatically deleted from our Airtable system 90 days after the clearance job is marked complete. Photos used for auction house appraisals are deleted from our system as soon as the consignment decision is made. We do not retain property photos for any marketing or portfolio purpose without explicit written consent.

Photos submitted by clients

If you submit photos through our online intake form (for salvage assessment or quoting purposes), those photos are treated under the same retention and access rules above.

Who We Share Information With

We share personal information with third parties only where necessary to deliver the service you have requested and only to the minimum extent required. The categories of third parties are:

• Auction houses (Cordy's, Webb's Estate, Rata Auctions, Green Bay Auctions, Dunbar Sloane) — item descriptions and photographs only, for appraisal and consignment purposes. No personal details about you or the deceased are shared unless specifically requested for consignment documentation.
• Farewell ceremony contacts (kaumātua, tohunga, or other religious contacts) — your name, the property address, and the requested ceremony type only, where you have specifically requested a Tier 1 or privately arranged farewell.
• International freight providers (Japan Post EMS, Nippon Express, FedEx International) — shipping name, destination address, and item descriptions only, where keimiwake (memorial item) shipping to Japan has been requested.
• Estate lawyers and property managers — where you are the referrer, we may confirm job status and share aftercare documentation. Where you are the referred client, we share documentation with the referring professional only if you have authorised this in writing.
• IRD (Inland Revenue) — as required under New Zealand tax law for payroll, PAYE, and GST obligations.
• Auckland Council — waste disposal records as required under our Waste Collector Licence.

We do not share information with social media companies, data brokers, advertising networks, or any party for commercial purposes.

How Long We Keep It

We retain personal information only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, subject to the following minimum retention periods required by law:

• Job records and documentation (quotes, agreements, aftercare reports, disposal records) — 7 years from job completion, as required for tax and business record purposes under the Tax Administration Act 1994
• Property photographs — automatically deleted 90 days after job completion (see Section 5)
• Estate and executor contact information — retained with the job record for 7 years, then deleted
• Farewell preference and cultural/religious information — retained only for the duration of the job and 90 days post-completion, then deleted
• Referral partner information — retained while the referral relationship is active and for 2 years after the last referral, then deleted on request or automatically
• Website enquiry form submissions — retained for 12 months from the date of submission if no job resulted, then deleted
• Financial records — 7 years from the date of the transaction, as required by IRD

When retention periods expire, records are deleted from our Airtable system and any associated cloud storage. Hard copy records, if any exist, are shredded.

Security

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from loss, unauthorised access, use, modification, or disclosure. Our security measures include:

• Access to our Airtable job management system is restricted to Ken and Shogo only, each with separate login credentials and two-factor authentication
• All data stored in Airtable is held on Airtable's cloud infrastructure, which is subject to SOC 2 Type II certification and encrypted in transit and at rest
• Client documents and aftercare reports are shared via password-protected links or secure email rather than unencrypted attachments where the information is sensitive
• Physical documents containing personal information are stored securely and shredded when no longer required
• Our website is served over HTTPS

No method of data transmission or storage is completely secure. In the event of a privacy breach that is likely to cause serious harm, we will notify affected individuals and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner as required under the Privacy Act 2020.

Your Rights

Under the Privacy Act 2020, you have the following rights with respect to your personal information held by Navigate Japan Limited:

• Right to access — you may request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Right to correction — you may request that we correct any personal information that is inaccurate, incomplete, or out of date
• Right to deletion — where information is no longer required for the purpose for which it was collected and we are not required by law to retain it, you may request deletion
• Right to object — you may object to how we are using your information in certain circumstances
• Right to portability — you may request that we provide your information in a machine-readable format where technically practicable

To exercise any of these rights, contact our Privacy Officer using the details in Section 13. We will respond within 20 working days as required under the Privacy Act 2020. We will not charge a fee for responding to access requests unless the request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

If you believe we have breached your privacy rights, you may make a complaint to our Privacy Officer in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner at privacy.org.nz.

Cookies & Website Analytics

Our website is hosted on Squarespace. Squarespace uses cookies and similar technologies to provide website functionality and collect basic analytics data. We use this data in aggregated form to understand how our website is being used — page views, traffic sources, device types — and to improve the site.

We do not use advertising cookies, third-party tracking pixels, or retargeting technologies. We do not use Google Analytics or any similar tool that identifies individual users across websites.

You can manage cookie preferences through your browser settings. Disabling cookies may affect some website functionality. For more information about how Squarespace handles data, refer to the Squarespace Privacy Policy.

Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed at children under the age of 16, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe we have inadvertently collected information from a child, please contact us and we will delete it promptly.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, our services, or New Zealand law. We will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page when changes are made.

For significant changes that affect how we handle information you have already provided, we will notify you directly by email where we hold your contact details.

Your continued use of our website or services after a policy change constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact & Complaints

For any questions about this Privacy Policy, to exercise your rights, or to make a privacy complaint, please contact our Privacy Officer:

If you are not satisfied with our response to a privacy complaint, you may contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner:

• Website: www.privacy.org.nz
• Phone: 0800 803 909
• Post: PO Box 10094, Wellington 6143, New Zealand