Privacy Policy

Last updated: March 2026

Introduction

Perchli ("we", "our", "us") is a property marketplace connecting buyers with estate agents in Northern Ireland. We are committed to protecting your personal data in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR).

This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect, how we use it, who we share it with, and your rights regarding your data.

Who we are

The platform is operated by Perchli Ltd, a company registered in Northern Ireland. Our registered address and company number will be published here once incorporation is complete.

For data protection enquiries, please contact us at privacy@perchli.com.

Data we collect

Account information

When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, and password (hashed and stored securely). If you use magic-link login, we only need your email address.

Property search activity

We collect information about your property searches, saved searches, favourites, and recently viewed properties to provide personalised recommendations and search alerts.

Enquiry and viewing data

When you enquire about a property or book a viewing, we collect your name, email, phone number, and any messages you send. This data is shared with the relevant estate agent to process your enquiry.

Usage data

We collect information about how you interact with our website, including pages visited, features used, and device/browser information. This helps us improve our services.

Payment data

Payment processing is handled entirely by Stripe. We do not store your card details. Stripe may set cookies for fraud prevention purposes — see our Cookie Policy for details.

How we use your data

To provide and improve our property search and marketplace services
To manage your account and authenticate your identity
To process property enquiries and viewing bookings
To send saved search alerts and property notifications
To process subscription payments for estate agent accounts
To communicate with you about your account and our services
To detect and prevent fraud or abuse of our platform
To comply with legal obligations

Legal basis for processing

We process your personal data on the following legal bases:

Contract: Processing necessary to provide you with our services (account management, property search, enquiries)
Consent: Where you have given consent, such as for non-essential cookies or marketing communications
Legitimate interests: To improve our services, prevent fraud, and ensure platform security
Legal obligation: Where we are required to process data by law

Third parties

We share data with the following third-party services to operate our platform:

Stripe — Payment processing for agent subscriptions and listing upgrades
Google Maps — Interactive maps on property pages and search (requires functional cookie consent)
OpenAI — AI-powered property search and chat assistance (queries are processed but not stored by OpenAI for training)
SendGrid / Resend — Transactional email delivery (search alerts, viewing confirmations, account emails)
Microsoft Azure — Cloud hosting and storage infrastructure

We do not sell your personal data to any third party.

Data sharing with estate agents

When you submit an enquiry, book a viewing, or apply for a rental property, your contact details and message are shared with the relevant estate agent. The agent becomes an independent data controller for any data they receive through Perchli.

Data retention

Account data: Retained while your account is active and for 12 months after deletion
Property enquiries: Retained for 24 months
Search activity: Retained for 12 months
Cookie consent logs: Retained for 36 months (regulatory requirement)
Payment records: Retained for 7 years (legal/tax requirement)

Your rights

Under UK GDPR and EU GDPR, you have the right to:

Access — Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Rectification — Ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete data
Erasure — Ask us to delete your personal data ("right to be forgotten")
Restriction — Ask us to restrict how we process your data
Portability — Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
Object — Object to processing based on legitimate interests
Withdraw consent — Where processing is based on consent, you can withdraw it at any time

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at privacy@perchli.com. We will respond within 30 days.

Data security

We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data, including encrypted connections (TLS/HTTPS), hashed passwords, role-based access controls, and regular security reviews.

Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies on our website. For full details about what cookies we use and how to manage them, please see our Cookie Policy.

AI processing and search

Perchli offers an AI-powered property search feature. When you use natural-language search (e.g. "3-bed house near Belfast under £250k"), your search query is sent to OpenAI's API for parsing into structured search parameters.

Only the search query text is sent — no personal identifiers (name, email, account ID) are included
OpenAI processes queries under a Data Processing Agreement and does not use them for model training
Search queries are not stored long-term by Perchli in association with your account
You can use manual search filters instead of AI search at any time — AI search is entirely optional

The AI chat assistant on our platform operates under the same protections. No personally identifiable information is sent to OpenAI as part of chat interactions.

Automated decision-making

Perchli uses limited automated processing that may affect the content you see:

Search result ordering: Properties with paid listing tiers (Spotlight, Premium) or active boosts are weighted higher in search results. This is a commercial ranking factor, not based on your personal data.
Lead scoring: Estate agents receive automated lead scores based on enquiry and viewing activity. This helps agents prioritise responses but does not affect your access to any property or service.

No solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects are made about you. You have the right to request human review of any automated processing by contacting privacy@perchli.com.

International data transfers

Some of our third-party processors transfer personal data outside the UK and EU. We ensure appropriate safeguards are in place for all transfers:

OpenAI (United States) — Covered by the EU-US Data Privacy Framework (DPF) and UK Extension. Search queries only, no personal identifiers.
Stripe (EU and United States) — Certified under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework. Processes payment data with Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) as additional safeguard.
Microsoft Azure (UK and EU regions) — Primary hosting in UK South and West Europe regions. Data residency within UK/EU.
SendGrid / Resend (United States) — Covered by SCCs and DPF certification. Processes transactional email delivery only.
Google Maps (United States) — Covered by DPF. Processes map tile requests and geocoding — gated behind functional cookie consent.

Children's privacy

Our services are not directed at individuals under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, please contact us.

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be communicated via email or a notice on our website. We encourage you to review this page periodically.

Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, please contact us:

Email: privacy@perchli.com
Post: Perchli Ltd — registered address to be published following incorporation

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). In Ireland, this is the Data Protection Commission (DPC).