Storage Southgate Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Storage Southgate collects, uses and protects personal data relating to customers and prospective customers in our service area. It is intended to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and, where applicable, the EU General Data Protection Regulation. This Privacy Policy applies to all Storage Southgate customers and individuals who make enquiries, request quotations, or otherwise interact with our services in the area we serve.
Who We Are and Scope of This Policy
Storage Southgate is a storage service provider offering storage units and related services to residential and business customers. For the purposes of data protection law, Storage Southgate is the controller of the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. This Privacy Policy applies to all personal data we process about our customers, prospective customers and authorised contacts in connection with storage bookings, use of our facilities, and associated services in our operating area.
Personal Data We Collect
We collect and process different types of personal data depending on how you interact with us and which services you use. The categories of data we may collect include:
Identification and contact details: name, postal address, billing address, contact address, date of birth, and other identifying information you provide, as well as contact details such as email address and other contact channels you choose to use.
Contract and account data: information required to set up and administer your storage agreement, including unit type and number, contract start and end dates, payment history, correspondence relating to your account, and records of services you have requested.
Payment and billing information: payment method details necessary to process your payments, billing history, and information relating to invoices, charges and refunds. Where payments are processed by a third-party payment provider, we receive only the information necessary to reconcile and confirm your payment.
Security and access data: information relating to your access to our premises, such as gate or door access codes, key or fob allocation, log records of entry and exit where applicable, and vehicle registration details if you provide them for security or parking purposes.
Communication and enquiry data: details you provide when you contact us for information, request quotations, submit a complaint, or provide feedback. This may include records of telephone conversations or notes made by our staff, as well as content of written communications.
Technical and usage data: limited technical data generated when you visit our website or digital services, such as the date and time of access and basic device information. We do not seek to identify you from this information unless it is necessary for security or legal reasons.
Lawful Bases for Processing
We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the context, the lawful basis may be one or more of the following:
Contract: we process personal data where it is necessary to enter into a storage agreement with you or to perform our obligations under that contract. This includes setting up your account, managing your booking, processing payments and providing customer support.
Legal obligation: we may process and retain certain information because we are required to do so by law, for example for tax, accounting, financial reporting, health and safety, or to comply with lawful requests from public authorities.
Legitimate interests: we may process your data where this is necessary for our legitimate business interests and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. This may include ensuring the security of our premises and customers, preventing and detecting fraud or misuse of our services, improving our services, recovering debts, and managing business operations.
Consent: in limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example for optional marketing communications that you choose to receive. When we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time, and this will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before it was withdrawn.
How We Use Your Personal Data
We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:
To provide storage services: to manage enquiries, provide quotations, set up and administer your account, allocate and manage storage units, handle payments and invoicing, and communicate with you regarding your contract.
To ensure safety and security: to protect our premises, customers and staff, to manage access control systems and records, and to investigate and respond to incidents, claims or disputes.
To manage our relationship with you: to respond to questions or requests, notify you of important service information such as changes to your contract or conditions of use, and to handle complaints and service issues.
To improve our services and operations: to analyse service usage, enhance our facilities and customer experience, and conduct internal reporting and business planning, relying on aggregated or minimised data where possible.
For legal, regulatory and business protection: to comply with our legal obligations, exercise or defend legal claims, and protect our rights, property and legitimate interests.
Data Retention
We keep your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and to meet legal, accounting or reporting requirements. The specific retention period depends on the type of data and the context in which it was collected, but the following principles apply:
Customer account and contract data: information relating to your storage agreement and account will generally be retained for the duration of your contract and for a period after it ends to manage any queries, disputes or legal claims, and to comply with statutory retention obligations.
Billing and financial records: payment records, invoices and related financial data are kept for the period required under applicable tax and accounting laws.
Security and access data: access records and similar information are kept for a limited period consistent with security, safety and incident investigation needs, unless a longer period is required in connection with a specific incident or legal matter.
Marketing and communication preferences: data used for optional communications will be retained until you opt out or we no longer need it, subject to maintaining a record of your preferences to ensure they are respected.
When personal data is no longer required, we will delete it or irreversibly anonymise it in a secure manner.
Data Processors and Sharing
We may share your personal data with trusted third parties who act as our processors and who process data on our behalf and under our instructions. These may include:
IT and hosting providers: companies that supply and support our information technology, storage, and communication systems.
Payment service providers: organisations that process card or electronic payments for us, helping us to take and manage payments securely.
Professional advisers: such as accountants, auditors, or legal advisers who may need access to limited personal data in order to provide services to us, under duties of confidentiality.
Security and maintenance providers: third parties who support the security, maintenance and operation of our premises and systems.
When we use processors, we ensure that appropriate contractual safeguards are in place to require them to protect your personal data and use it only in accordance with our instructions and applicable data protection law.
We may also share personal data where this is required by law, necessary to protect our rights or the rights of others, or in connection with corporate transactions such as the sale or restructuring of our business, always in accordance with data protection requirements.
International Transfers
Where we transfer personal data outside the UK or European Economic Area, for example because a service provider is located in another country, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place. These may include using countries that have been formally recognised as providing an adequate level of data protection or implementing standard contractual clauses or equivalent safeguards approved by data protection authorities.
Your Data Protection Rights
Under data protection law, you have a number of rights in relation to your personal data, subject to certain conditions and exemptions. These rights include:
Right of access: you can request confirmation that we process your personal data and obtain a copy of the data, together with information about how we use it.
Right to rectification: you can ask us to correct or complete personal data that is inaccurate or incomplete.
Right to erasure: you can request that we delete your personal data in certain circumstances, for example where it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected, or where you successfully object to processing. This right may be limited where we need to retain data to comply with legal obligations or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
Right to restriction of processing: you can ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, such as while we verify its accuracy or assess an objection.
Right to object: you can object to processing based on our legitimate interests, including profiling based on those interests, and we will stop the processing unless we have compelling legitimate grounds or the processing is required for legal claims. You also have an absolute right to object to direct marketing at any time.
Right to data portability: where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you may have the right to receive the personal data you provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and to request that we transmit it to another controller where technically feasible.
Where our processing is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing that took place before the withdrawal.
How We Protect Your Data
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include access controls, staff training, physical security at our premises, and regular review of our procedures and safeguards. While no system can be completely secure, we work to ensure that the level of protection is appropriate to the risks associated with the types of data we process.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements, or data protection best practice. Any updated version will apply from the date it is made available. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we handle personal data.
