Storage Sydenham Hill Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Storage Sydenham Hill collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to customers and prospective customers in the Sydenham Hill area. It is intended to meet the requirements of the UK General Data Protection Regulation and applicable data protection laws. By using our services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.
Scope of this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy applies to all Storage Sydenham Hill customers, prospective customers and users of our storage services and related facilities in the Sydenham Hill area. It covers personal data collected before you become a customer, while you use our services and, where relevant, after your contract ends during the retention period described below.
Personal Data We Collect
We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you when you enquire about or use Storage Sydenham Hill services:
Identification details such as full name, title, date of birth and identification document details when required for verification or legal purposes.
Contact details such as postal address, billing address, and any other addresses you provide to us, together with your preferred method of contact.
Account and contract information such as customer or account number, storage unit number, contract start and end dates, and details of the services you have purchased.
Payment and transaction information such as payment method, partial card details sufficient for payment processing but not full card numbers where payment is processed by a third party, payment status, and records of invoices and receipts.
Security and access information such as access codes, entry and exit times from our premises recorded by access control systems, and where in operation, CCTV footage relating to your use of the facility.
Communication records such as enquiries, complaints, feedback, call notes and any other correspondence you have with us by post or in person.
How We Collect Your Data
We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us for a quotation, make a booking, enter into a contract, arrange payment, request information, or otherwise interact with our staff. We may also generate data about you in the course of providing services, for example, by recording access to the facility, maintaining transaction records or recording security-related events. Where legally permitted, we may receive limited personal data from third parties such as payment service providers or credit reference agencies, strictly for identity verification and payment related purposes.
Lawful Basis for Processing
We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the circumstances, the lawful basis will be one or more of the following:
Contract: We process personal data where this is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into a storage agreement, to enter into a contract with you, and to perform our contractual obligations, including managing bookings, providing access to storage units, handling payments and customer service.
Legal obligation: We may process personal data where necessary to comply with legal and regulatory obligations, such as accounting and tax requirements, fraud prevention, law enforcement requests, and health and safety obligations relating to our premises.
Legitimate interests: We may process personal data where this is necessary for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, and where your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This includes maintaining the security of our premises through access logs and CCTV where used, managing and improving our services, recovering debts, and protecting our property and business operations.
Consent: In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where we wish to send you certain types of marketing communications not covered by our legitimate interests. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time, and this will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
How We Use Your Personal Data
We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:
To provide and manage storage services, including processing reservations, setting up and managing customer accounts, issuing access credentials and administering your contract.
To process payments, manage invoices, handle deposits or refunds where applicable, and maintain accurate financial records in line with legal requirements.
To communicate with you about your enquiries, bookings, contract, payments, service changes, facility access and any issues that may affect your use of our services.
To maintain the security and safety of our premises, staff, customers and property, including through controlled access systems and, where installed, CCTV monitoring.
To manage our business operations, including service quality monitoring, internal reporting, auditing, and responding to complaints or disputes.
To comply with legal obligations, respond to lawful requests from authorities, and cooperate with regulatory or law enforcement bodies where required.
Data Retention
We retain your personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected and to meet legal, accounting or reporting obligations. In general, we apply the following retention periods:
Core customer and contract information is retained for the duration of your contract and for a defined period after it ends, to handle queries, disputes, or legal claims and to comply with financial record keeping requirements.
Payment and transaction records are retained for the period required by applicable tax and accounting laws.
CCTV footage and access logs, where used, are kept for a limited period necessary for security and investigation purposes, unless a particular recording is required longer in connection with an incident, dispute or legal requirement.
At the end of the relevant retention periods, we will securely delete or anonymise your personal data so that it can no longer be associated with you.
Data Sharing and Processors
We do not sell your personal data. We may share your personal data with third parties only where this is necessary and lawful, and we ensure that appropriate protections are in place.
Data processors are third parties who process personal data on our behalf and under our instructions. Typical categories of processors include payment processing providers, IT and system support providers, cloud storage and backup services, security or access control system providers, and accountants or professional advisers handling records on our behalf.
Where we use processors, we require them by contract to protect your personal data, use it only for the agreed purposes and treat it in accordance with data protection law. We remain responsible for your personal data when processed by these service providers.
We may also share personal data with other third parties where required by law or where we have a lawful basis, such as law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, courts, or debt recovery agencies engaged to recover unpaid charges.
International Data Transfers
Where any of our service providers or systems are located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal data in line with applicable legal requirements. This may include using standard contractual clauses or ensuring that the destination country has been recognised as providing an adequate level of data protection.
Security of Your Personal Data
We take the security of your personal data seriously. We implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. Measures may include access controls, secure storage, restricted access to systems on a need to know basis, staff training on data protection responsibilities and regular review of our security arrangements. While we strive to protect your personal data, no system can be guaranteed as completely secure, and you are encouraged to take care when sharing information with us.
Your Data Protection Rights
Subject to certain conditions and legal exceptions, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:
The right of access to obtain confirmation as to whether we process your personal data and to receive a copy of that data together with information about how it is used.
The right to rectification to request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.
The right to erasure in some circumstances, allowing you to request that we delete personal data where there is no longer a lawful basis for us to keep it.
The right to restrict processing in certain situations, for example while we are assessing a request for rectification or objection.
The right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, including certain types of marketing, where your particular situation justifies it.
The right to data portability, allowing you, in some cases, to receive personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and to transmit it to another controller.
Where we rely on consent as the lawful basis for processing, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
Complaints and Further Information
If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data or wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, you can contact us using the usual customer contact channels associated with your contract or enquiry. We will respond to your request in line with applicable data protection laws and may need to verify your identity before acting on it.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority for data protection if you believe your rights have been infringed. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve any issues directly.
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations or data protection practices. The updated version will apply from the date it is published and will supersede previous versions.
