Storage Balham Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Storage Balham collects, uses, stores and protects personal data relating to customers and prospective customers in the Balham area. It also explains your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. We are committed to processing your personal data lawfully, fairly and transparently.
Scope of this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy applies to all Storage Balham customers, including individuals and businesses using our storage units, associated services, website, and customer support within the Balham area. By using our services, contacting us, or providing your personal data, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.
Data Controller
Storage Balham is the data controller for the personal data processed in connection with our storage services and related activities. As data controller, we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal data and are responsible for ensuring that such processing complies with applicable data protection laws.
Personal Data We Collect
We collect and process different categories of personal data depending on how you interact with us and which services you use. This may include:
Identity and contact details such as full name, postal address, billing address, contact address, and any other contact information you provide.
Account and contract information such as customer or account numbers, storage unit numbers, contract terms, start and end dates, and information about the services you have ordered or used.
Payment and billing information such as payment method details, billing history, transaction records, and information related to late or missed payments. We do not store full card details; these may be processed by our chosen payment processor.
Communication data such as enquiries, complaints, feedback, correspondence records, and any information you choose to provide when communicating with us in writing or verbally.
Usage and technical information such as information about how you use our services, visit our website, or interact with our systems, including log data, device information and approximate location information derived from IP addresses.
Security and access data such as CCTV footage in and around our facilities, access control logs, entry and exit records, vehicle registration numbers where relevant, and incident reports for security and safety purposes.
Special category data is not routinely collected. If we need to process any special category data, we will only do so where necessary and based on an appropriate legal basis under data protection law.
How We Collect Your Personal Data
We collect personal data directly from you when you enquire about, reserve or sign up for a storage unit, sign a contract, make a payment, or contact us for customer support. We may also collect personal data when you visit our premises or use our website and online tools.
We may receive limited personal data about you from third parties, for example from payment processors, credit reference agencies, debt recovery agencies, or law enforcement authorities where this is permitted by law and necessary for our purposes.
Lawful Bases for Processing
We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis to do so. The main lawful bases we rely on are:
Contract: We process personal data to take steps at your request before entering into a contract and to perform our contract with you. This includes setting up and managing your storage agreement, processing payments, managing access to your unit, and providing customer support.
Legal obligation: We process personal data where necessary to comply with legal and regulatory obligations, such as accounting, tax, record keeping, security, and health and safety requirements, as well as responding to lawful requests from authorities.
Legitimate interests: We process personal data where necessary for our legitimate interests or those of a third party, provided that your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests. Examples include ensuring the security of our facilities and systems, preventing and detecting fraud, managing business operations, improving our services, and pursuing or defending legal claims.
Consent: In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain types of marketing communications where required by law. Where processing is based on consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.
Purposes of Processing
We may use your personal data for the following purposes:
To manage enquiries, reservations and customer onboarding.
To set up, administer and terminate storage contracts.
To manage access to our storage facilities and ensure site security.
To process payments, issue invoices, and manage billing and debt collection.
To respond to requests, complaints and support queries.
To operate and improve our services, facilities and customer experience.
To maintain accurate business and financial records.
To comply with applicable laws, regulations and lawful requests.
To protect our property, customers, staff and visitors, including through CCTV monitoring and access control measures.
To establish, exercise or defend legal claims.
Data Retention
We keep personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected and to meet legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or reporting requirements. The retention period will vary depending on the type of data and the nature of our relationship with you.
In general, we retain contract and billing records for a number of years after the end of the contractual relationship, in line with legal and regulatory requirements. CCTV footage and access records are retained for a shorter period, unless an incident requires us to keep specific footage or records for longer for investigative or legal purposes.
When personal data is no longer required, we will securely delete or anonymise it in accordance with our data retention policies and applicable law.
Data Processors and Third Parties
We may share your personal data with carefully selected third party service providers acting as data processors who process data on our behalf and under our instructions. These may include:
Payment processing providers for secure handling of card and other payments.
IT and cloud service providers that host or support our systems and data storage.
Security and CCTV system providers that support our access control and surveillance systems.
Professional advisers such as accountants, lawyers and auditors.
Debt recovery agencies and credit reference agencies, where necessary to manage overdue payments or assess credit risk.
These processors are contractually required to protect your personal data, use it only for the agreed purposes, and process it in accordance with data protection law.
We may also share personal data with other third parties where required by law or where necessary for our legitimate interests, such as law enforcement authorities, regulatory bodies, insurance providers, courts and tribunals, and purchasers or prospective purchasers of our business or assets.
International Data Transfers
Where we transfer personal data outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your data in accordance with data protection laws. This may include using standard contractual clauses approved by relevant authorities or ensuring that the destination country is considered to provide an adequate level of data protection.
Security of Your Personal Data
We take the security of your personal data seriously and implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect it against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include access controls, physical security at our facilities, encryption and secure storage where appropriate, regular monitoring of systems, staff training, and policies covering data protection and information security.
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 have the right to request confirmation that we process your personal data and to obtain a copy of the personal data we hold about you, together with certain information about how we process it.
Right to rectification: You have the right to request that inaccurate or incomplete personal data about you is corrected or completed.
Right to erasure: In some circumstances, you have the right to request the deletion of your personal data, for example where the data is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected or where you withdraw consent and there is no other legal basis for processing.
Right to restriction of processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data in certain situations, for example while we verify the accuracy of data or consider an objection.
Right to data portability: Where processing is based on your consent or on a contract and carried out by automated means, you may have the right to receive your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and to transmit it to another controller.
Right to object: You have the right to object to processing of your personal data where we rely on legitimate interests as the lawful basis, including for direct marketing. We will stop processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, rights and freedoms, or where processing is required for legal claims.
Right to withdraw consent: Where processing is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant supervisory authority if you believe that your data protection rights have been infringed. We encourage you to contact us first so that we can address any concerns.
Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements or for other operational reasons. Any changes will be posted in the latest version of this Privacy Policy, and the updated version will apply from the date it is published. You are encouraged to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we handle your personal data.
