Privacy Policy
This privacy notice was last updated on 8th June 2026.
This privacy notice sets out the basis on which we collect and process your personal data through the use of our website, our digital applications, our application and matching forms, and/or signing up for newsletters and other communications either in person or online.
Any changes we make to this policy in the future will be posted on this page so please check this page regularly.
Who We Are
Kindred Co Living Company Limited trading as PorchLight Lodging is the Data Controller responsible for your personal data within the context of the data you choose to directly pass to us through our website, digital applications, application and matching forms, by email, phone or face to face.
Kindred Co Living Company Limited trading as PorchLight Lodging will be what is known as the 'Data Controller' of the personal data you provide to us, and we will sometimes refer to ourselves in this notice as "we" or "us". By Data Controller, this means Kindred Co Living Company Limited trading as PorchLight Lodging determines the purposes and way in which any personal data are, or will be, processed.
Our registered office is at The Old Brickworks, St Judes Road, St Judes, IM7 3BY, Isle of Man.
If you have any questions about this privacy notice, the use of your personal information, your dealings with our website or our digital applications, you can contact us at hello@porchlight.im.
What We Do
Kindred Co Living Company Limited trading as PorchLight Lodging helps people find safe, supported and well matched living arrangements, from intergenerational home sharing to traditional lodging. We connect homeowners who have space to offer with sharers and lodgers who are looking for somewhere to live. To do this well, and to keep everyone involved safe, we collect and process personal information about homeowners, sharers and lodgers, and we introduce matched parties to one another so that an arrangement can be agreed.
Once you have been introduced to another person through our services and you go on to agree a living arrangement directly between yourselves, each of you will also process the other's personal data in your own right. This notice covers our use of your information as the party that matches and supports you.
Our Principles of Data Protection
Kindred Co Living Company Limited trading as PorchLight Lodging is committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors and service users and complying with the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Looking after the personal information you share with us is very important, and we want you to be confident that your personal data is kept safely and securely and to understand how we use it to offer you the best user experience.
We have published this notice to help you understand
- how and why Kindred Co Living Company Limited trading as PorchLight Lodging collect information from you;
- who we share your information with, why and on what basis; and
- what your rights are.
What information we collect and why?
Information you provide to us directly
When you visit or use some parts of our website and/or services we might ask you to provide personal data to us. For example we ask you for your contact information when you register your interest as a homeowner, sharer or lodger, complete one of our application or matching forms, arrange or attend a viewing, give feedback, contact us, or subscribe to our newsletter.
Depending on which of our services you are using, the information you provide may include:
- Identity and contact details, such as your name, date of birth, postal address, email address and telephone number.
- Emergency contact details, such as name, relationship and contact details of someone we or another party can reach in an emergency.
- Information about your home and household (where you are a homeowner offering space), such as the property and its location, the rooms and facilities available, the people who currently live there, any pets, and house preferences such as smoking.
- Information about you and what you are looking for (where you are a sharer or lodger), such as your occupation or studies, interests and lifestyle, the contribution or rent you can offer, and the kind of arrangement and location you are seeking.
- Suitability and verification information that helps us make safe and well matched introductions, such as identity verification and references.
- Sensitive (special category) information such as information about your health, care needs, mobility or the support you require or can offer. We collect this so that we can match and support you safely and appropriately. We treat this information with particular care, as explained in the "Sensitive (special category) information" section below.
- Any additional information you choose to give us to help match and support you well.
Where you give us personal data about another person (for example an emergency contact or a reference), please make sure that person is happy for you to share their details with us and that they understand how we will use them.
Where you are requested to fill in a form (either online or offline), it is your choice as to which fields to complete and with what data. If you do not want to provide us with your personal data you do not have to, but it might mean we cannot match you or you cannot use some parts of our website or service.
Information we collect automatically
We collect some information about you automatically when you visit our websites or use our services, like your IP address and device type. We also collect information when you navigate through our website and digital applications such as what pages you looked at and what links you clicked on and so on. This information is useful as it helps us get a better understanding of how you use our websites and services so that we can continue to provide the best experience possible.
Some of this information is collected using cookies and similar tracking technologies. If you want to find out more, take a look at our cookie policy.
Information we get from third parties
The majority of information we collect, we collect directly from you. Sometimes we might collect personal data about you from other sources, such as references you have nominated, identity or background checking providers or publicly available materials. We may use this information to supplement the personal data we already hold on you, in order to better inform, personalise and improve our services, to support safe matching and to validate the personal information you provide.
Where we collect personal data, we'll only process it:
- To perform a contract with you, or to take steps at your request before entering into a contract;
- Where we have legitimate interests to process the personal data and they're not overridden by your rights
- In accordance with a legal obligation or
- Where we have your consent
How do we use your information?
Data Protection says that we are allowed to use and share your personal data only where we have a proper reason to do so. The law says we must have one or more of these reasons and these are:
- Contract - your personal information is processed in order to provide or arrange the service you have asked for, or to take steps before entering into a contract
- Consent – where you agree to us using your information in this way
- Legitimate Interests - this means the interests of Kindred Co Living Company Limited trading as PorchLight Lodging in managing our service to allow us to provide you with safe, well matched arrangements in the most secure and appropriate way, for example transferring your data to a matched party in order to deliver the service you have requested.
- Legal Obligation – where there is statutory or other legal requirement to share the information e.g. when we have to share your information for safeguarding or law enforcement purposes.
Here is a list of the ways that we may use your personal information, and which of the reasons described above we rely on to do so. Where we list legitimate interests as a reason, we also describe below what we believe these legitimate interests are.
|
What We Use Your Personal Information For |
Our Reasons (Legal Basis) |
Our Explanation Of PorchLight Lodging's Legitimate Interests |
|---|---|---|
|
To match you with a suitable homeowner, sharer or lodger and to make introductions |
Contract or Consent |
Sharing relevant details with the people we introduce you to so that an arrangement can be discussed and agreed |
|
To carry out suitability, identity and reference checks so that arrangements are safe and well matched |
Legitimate Interest or Legal Obligation |
Helping to keep homeowners, sharers and lodgers safe, and checking that the people we introduce are suitable for the arrangement |
|
To provide and support your living arrangement |
Contract or Legal Obligation |
Performing the service you have asked for, providing the information you have requested, operational communications such as changes to our service, and support during your arrangement |
|
To communicate with you or to market to you |
Consent or Legitimate Interest |
Marketing communications in accordance with your marketing preferences Asking you for feedback or to take part in research we are conducting |
|
To analyse, aggregate and report |
Legitimate Interest |
Monitoring and improving our website and services (whether obtained directly or from third parties). This is typically but not always anonymised analytics and reports. To develop new sites and offerings in order to offer you new and more effective services. |
|
To detect, investigate and report financial crime (e.g. Fraud) and ensure compliance with a legal obligation |
Legal Obligation / Legitimate Interests |
Developing and improving how we deal with financial crime. Complying with any legal obligation placed on us by regulators. Complying with any regulations that apply to us. Complying with legal obligation to which we are subject, or in order to protect your vital interests or the vital interests of another natural person. Process efficiency in dealing with such activity, and to make service and process improvements. |
|
To undertake website and or service personalisation |
Legitimate Interests |
Developing services and designs that attract and retain customers. Improving customer interaction with our site and understanding the needs of people using different types of arrangement |
|
Maintaining network and data security |
Legitimate Interests |
To maintain the security of our network this in turn helps us to maintain the safety and confidentiality of your information. |
|
Services planning, demand understanding and research |
Legitimate Interests |
Understanding demand for different types of arrangement and different locations, planning our service and carrying out research to improve how we match and support people |
Who we share your information with and why
There may be times when we need to share your data with third parties. We will only disclose your personal data to:
- Homeowners, sharers and lodgers we introduce you to, so that a living arrangement can be discussed, agreed and supported. We share only the information relevant to making and supporting that introduction.
- Reference providers and identity, background or suitability checking services who help us make safe matches.
- Other companies in the PorchLight Lodging Group of Companies where it is a shareholder or stakeholder and for the purposes of performing its contractual obligations and services
- Third party providers and partners who assist and enable us to use the personal data to support delivery of services or functionality of services or to market services and products to you
- Regulators, law enforcement, government agencies, safeguarding authorities, courts or other third parties where we think it's necessary to comply with applicable laws or regulations, to keep someone safe or to exercise, establish or defend our legal rights
- An actual or potential buyer and or its advisers in connection with a purchase, merger or acquisition of any part of our business
- Other people where we have your consent
- Payment processors
- Sub processors who are vetted for GDPR compliance
- Debt Recovery, Credit Checking Services and Fraud Prevention Services
Transfers to third countries
Kindred Co Living Company Limited trading as PorchLight Lodging operates internationally.
Some of the information you provide to us may be transferred outside the European Economic Area. This is a transfer to a "third country".
Whilst your data is held in UK, Ireland or Isle of Man data centres, our colleagues and partners in third countries may access it to undertake services necessary for the fulfilment of our contracts and services.
Kindred Co Living Company Limited trading as PorchLight Lodging also works with suppliers and partners who may make use of cloud and/or hosted technologies. We undertake data security due diligence on our partners and ensure that these partners conform to appropriate accreditations.
Wherever transfers of data to third countries occur Kindred Co Living Company Limited trading as PorchLight Lodging will put in place appropriate contractual provisions to ensure that there are strict rules regarding both the confidentiality and security of your information. To find out more please contact us at hello@porchlight.im.
Keeping in touch with you
We want to keep you up to date with information about improvements to our services. When you initially contact us over the website we will ask you if you want to receive this type of marketing information.
Kindred Co Living Company Limited trading as PorchLight Lodging will not share your information with companies outside of those listed in "Who we share your information with and why".
If you decide you do not want to receive this marketing information you can request that we stop by writing to the Data Protection Officer at the address provided above or emailing hello@porchlight.im.
You may continue to receive mailings for a short period while your request is dealt with.
How long we keep your information
If we collect your personal information, the length of time we retain it is determined by a number of factors including the purpose for which we use that information and our obligations under other laws.
We may need your personal information to establish, bring or defend legal claims. For this purpose, we will always retain your personal information for 7 years after the date it is no longer needed by us for any of the purposes listed under How we use your information above. The only exceptions to this are where:
- the law requires us to hold your personal information for a longer period, or delete it sooner;
- you exercise your right to have the information erased (where it applies) and we do not need to hold it in connection with any of the reasons permitted or required under the law;
- we bring or defend a legal claim or other proceedings during the period we retain your personal information, in which case we will retain your personal information until those proceedings have concluded and no further appeals are possible; or
- in limited cases, existing or future law or a court or regulator requires us to keep your personal information for a longer or shorter period.
Sensitive (special category) information
Some of the information we collect to match and support you is treated by data protection law as "special category" data. This includes information about your health, care needs, mobility, or the support you require or can offer. Information of this kind needs extra protection, and we handle it accordingly.
We will normally only collect and use this information where you have given us your explicit consent to do so. You do not have to provide it, but it may help us make a safer and more suitable match, and in some cases we may not be able to offer a particular type of arrangement without it. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us at hello@porchlight.im , although this will not affect any use of the information that took place before you withdrew it.
In limited circumstances we may also use this information without your consent where the law allows, for example where it is necessary to protect your vital interests or those of another person, or to meet a safeguarding or other legal obligation.
We will only share special category information with a homeowner, sharer or lodger we introduce you to where it is relevant to the arrangement and, where required, with your consent.
Security
Security is a priority for us when it comes to your personal data. We're committed to protecting your personal data and have appropriate technical and organisational measures in place to make sure that happens.
What are your rights
You are entitled to request the following from Kindred Co Living Company Limited trading as PorchLight Lodging, these are called your Data Subject Rights and there is more information on these on the Information Commissioner's website www.ico.org.uk
- Right of access –to request access to your personal information and information about how we process it
- Right to rectification –to have your personal information corrected if it is inaccurate and to have incomplete personal information completed
- Right to erasure (also known as the Right to be Forgotten) – to have your personal information erased. Email hello@porchlight.im
- Right to restriction of processing – to restrict processing of your personal information
- Right to data portability - to electronically move, copy or transfer your personal information in a standard form
- Right to object - to object to processing of your personal information
- Rights with regards to automated individual decision making, including profiling – rights relating to automated decision making, including profiling
If you have any general questions about your rights or want to exercise your rights please contact hello@porchlight.im
You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection regulator in Europe, in particular in a country you work or live or where your legal rights have been infringed. The contact details for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the data protection regulator in the UK, are available on the ICO website www.ico.org.uk. If you believe your personal information is being used in a way that does not comply with data protection law, we encourage you to contact us before making any complaint, and we will seek to resolve any issues or concerns you may have.