Privacy policy

Last updated 3 November 2026

Lagooners is a free community for people who live at DAMAC Lagoons in Dubai. It is run by the Lagooners volunteer team, who are residents, not DAMAC. This policy explains what personal data we hold, why, who can see it, and your rights under the UAE’s Federal Decree-Law No. 45 of 2021 on the Protection of Personal Data (the PDPL).

The short version

• We only collect what the community needs to work, and we never sell or rent your data.
• Your proof of residency is deleted as soon as a volunteer has checked it.
• You choose who sees your villa number and family. Children’s names are optional, encrypted, and hidden unless you choose to share them.
• No advertising, no tracking cookies, no analytics that follow you around.
• You can download everything we hold about you, or delete your account, at any time from your profile.

What we collect

• Account: your name, email address and password (stored only as a secure hash).
• Your home: your cluster, villa number and villa type, so we can confirm you live here and show you your neighbours.
• Proof of residency: a tenancy contract, title deed, utility bill or similar. A volunteer checks it once and it is then permanently deleted. We keep only the type of document and the date.
• Your household (optional): how many adults, a pet, and your children’s birth years and, if you choose, their first names. Children’s names are encrypted when stored.
• What you share: posts, comments, listings and their photos, events, messages, photos and videos, reviews of upgrades, skills, shout-outs, babysitting and house watch details, and pledges to staff collections.
• Technical data: a session cookie to keep you signed in, and server logs (IP address, time, page) kept for up to 14 days for security.

Why we use it, and on what basis

• To run the community you joined (the service you asked for): verifying residents, showing your posts to neighbours, delivering messages and notifications.
• With your consent: optional details such as your bio, family and children, which you can remove whenever you like, and emails beyond the essential ones, which you choose in notification settings.
• To keep everyone safe: moderating reported content, preventing spam and abuse, and keeping a record of moderator actions.
• Where the law requires it, for example if a UAE authority makes a lawful request.

Who can see your information

• Neighbours see only what you choose in your privacy settings. By default your villa number and family are shown to your own cluster only.
• Private messages are seen only by you and the other person, and are encrypted when stored.
• House watch: your villa number is shared only with the watchers you choose, and only until you’re back.
• Volunteer moderators and admins can see reported content and, during verification, your document. They agree to keep it confidential.
• Service providers who process data for us under contract: Amazon Web Services, in its UAE region (me-central-1) for hosting and storage, and Amazon Simple Email Service to send emails. Your data is stored in the UAE. If a provider ever needs to process it elsewhere, we rely on the safeguards the PDPL allows for cross-border transfers.

We never sell your data or share it with DAMAC, estate agents or advertisers.

How long we keep it

• Proof of residency: deleted as soon as it has been reviewed.
• Your account and content: until you delete them or your account.
• When you delete your account, your profile, posts, listings, photos, messages and everything else you shared are deleted straight away. Backups roll over within 30 days.
• Moderator records about warnings and suspensions are kept with your name removed, so the team can stay accountable.

Your rights

Under the PDPL you can:

• Get a copy of your data. Use “Download my data” in your profile, or email us.
• Correct anything that’s wrong, in your profile or by asking us.
• Delete your data. Use “Delete my account” in your profile.
• Restrict or object to how we use your data, and withdraw consent for optional details at any time.
• Complain to the UAE Data Office if you think we haven’t handled your data properly.

Email privacy@lagooners.com and we’ll reply within 30 days.

Security

Everything is sent over HTTPS. Passwords are hashed, children’s names and private messages are encrypted at rest, and access to the admin tools is limited to verified volunteers. If we ever have a data breach that affects you, we will tell you and the UAE Data Office as the law requires.

Children

Lagooners accounts are for adults aged 18 and over. Parents may add basic details about their children to their household, which are hidden from neighbours unless the parent chooses otherwise.

Cookies

We use one session cookie to keep you signed in and one to protect forms from forgery. We don’t use advertising or tracking cookies.

Changes

If we change this policy in a way that matters, we’ll tell you by email or in the app before the change takes effect.

Terms of use