Self Storage South Kensington Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Self Storage South Kensington collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to our customers and prospective customers. It applies to all individuals and businesses using, or enquiring about, our storage services within the South Kensington area.
We are committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data in a lawful, fair and transparent manner, in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Scope of this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy applies to all customers, prospective customers, representatives of business customers, visitors to our premises and visitors to our online services who are based in or use our storage services in the South Kensington area. By engaging with our services, you acknowledge that you have been provided with this Privacy Policy.
Types of Personal Data We Collect
We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you, depending on your relationship with us and the services you use:
Identification and contact details: name, postal address, billing address, contact address, date of birth, and similar identifying information.
Contact details: email address, mobile number, landline number and preferred contact method, where provided.
Contract and account information: unit number, contract dates, payment history, correspondence relating to your account, records of your enquiries and booking information.
Payment and billing data: details necessary to process payments and issue invoices, such as billing name and billing address. Card or bank details are generally processed directly by our payment service providers and not stored by us, except where strictly necessary and subject to appropriate safeguards.
Security and access information: CCTV footage within and around our facilities, access log records such as key fob or code usage times, vehicle registration numbers when accessing our site, and incident reports.
Usage and communication data: records of communication between you and us, including any complaints, queries or feedback you submit by phone, in person, by post or through online contact forms.
Business customer data: where you act on behalf of a business, we may collect your role, job title, business contact details and other information necessary to manage the business account.
How We Collect Your Personal Data
We collect personal data directly from you when you:
make an enquiry by phone, in person or online
request a quote or provisional booking
enter into a storage agreement or related contract with us
make a payment or set up a recurring payment method
visit our facilities where CCTV and access controls operate
contact us for support, customer service or complaint handling
We may also receive personal data about you from third parties where it is lawful for them to share it with us, such as payment service providers confirming payment status, or debt collection partners where necessary to recover outstanding amounts.
Lawful Basis for Processing Your Data
We rely on one or more of the following lawful bases to process your personal data:
Contract: to take steps at your request before entering into a contract, and to perform our contract with you. This includes providing storage services, administering your account, taking payment and communicating with you about your bookings and units.
Legal obligation: to comply with laws and regulatory requirements, such as tax, accounting and health and safety obligations, and to assist law enforcement or regulatory authorities when we are legally required to do so.
Legitimate interests: to pursue our legitimate business interests, provided that your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This includes using CCTV for security and crime prevention, managing and improving our services, protecting our property and that of other customers, preventing fraud, and recovering debts.
Consent: in limited circumstances where we rely on your consent, for example for certain types of direct marketing. Where we rely on consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time.
How We Use Your Personal Data
We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:
to provide, manage and administer storage services and related customer accounts
to verify your identity and undertake appropriate checks before entering into a contract
to process payments, issue invoices and manage billing queries
to communicate with you about your bookings, unit access, renewals, changes to services and important account information
to ensure the safety and security of our premises, customers and staff, including through CCTV and controlled access systems
to handle enquiries, support requests, complaints and disputes
to comply with legal, regulatory and law enforcement obligations
to improve our services, facilities and customer experience, including through analysis of service usage on an aggregated basis where possible
to send you information about services that may be relevant to you, in accordance with applicable direct marketing rules and your communication preferences
Data Retention and Storage
We retain personal data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by law or regulatory obligations.
Typically, we will keep your customer account data, contract records and billing information for a period required by tax and accounting regulations following the end of your contract. CCTV footage is retained for a shorter period, which is limited to the time necessary to investigate incidents, respond to legitimate requests or comply with legal obligations.
When data is no longer needed, it will be securely deleted, anonymised or archived in accordance with our data retention policies.
Data Processors and Third Parties
We may share your personal data with trusted third-party service providers who act as data processors on our behalf. These may include:
payment processing providers
IT infrastructure hosting providers and software suppliers
security and CCTV system providers
accountants and professional advisers
debt recovery agencies, where necessary
Each processor is only permitted to process your data in accordance with our documented instructions and is required to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data. We do not authorise our processors to use your personal data for their own independent purposes.
We may also disclose personal data to law enforcement agencies, regulatory bodies, insurance companies, legal advisors or courts where it is necessary to comply with legal obligations, to protect our rights or the rights of others, or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
Where we transfer personal data outside the United Kingdom or European Economic Area, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data, in line with data protection law.
Your Data Protection Rights
Under data protection law, you have a number of rights regarding your personal data. These rights apply to all Self Storage South Kensington customers and individuals in the South Kensington area whose data we process, subject to applicable legal limitations and exemptions.
Right of access: you have the right to request confirmation as to whether we process your personal data and to obtain a copy of that data, together with certain information about how it is processed.
Right to rectification: you have the right to request that inaccurate or incomplete personal data about you is corrected or updated.
Right to erasure: in certain circumstances, you may request that we delete your personal data. This right may be limited where we need to retain data for legal or contractual reasons.
Right to restriction of processing: you can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, for example while we verify the accuracy of data or assess an objection.
Right to object: you have the right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests and to object to direct marketing at any time, including profiling related to direct marketing.
Right to data portability: where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you may request to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, and to have it transmitted to another controller where technically feasible.
Right to withdraw consent: where we rely on your consent for specific processing, you can withdraw that consent at any time. This will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
To exercise any of these rights, you may contact us using the contact methods made available through our usual customer service channels. We may need to verify your identity before responding to your request.
Security of Your Personal Data
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access. Measures may include access controls, encryption where appropriate, staff training, secure storage and regular review of our data handling procedures.
While we take reasonable steps to protect your personal data, no system can be completely secure. You are also responsible for keeping any access codes or passwords confidential and for notifying us promptly of any suspected misuse of your account or access credentials.
Direct Marketing
We may use your contact details to send you information about our storage services, offers or updates that may be of interest. We will do this in line with applicable marketing and privacy laws and your communication preferences.
You can opt out of receiving marketing communications at any time by following the instructions provided in our communications or by updating your preferences through our usual customer contact channels.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal obligations or how we process personal data. The version made available at our premises or through our online services will always show the date of the latest update. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we handle your personal data.
Contact and Complaints
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, you can contact us through our usual customer service channels.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you believe that your data protection rights have been infringed. We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns directly in the first instance.
