Privacy Policy for Storage Hatch End Customers
This Privacy Policy explains how Storage Hatch End collects, uses and protects personal data relating to customers and prospective customers in the Hatch End area. It is intended to comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018. By using our services, you acknowledge that your personal data will be processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Scope of this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy applies to all Storage Hatch End customers, prospective customers, and authorised users of storage units and related services in the Hatch End area. It covers data collected in person, by post, via our website or digital forms, and through any other communication or contract channel we use to provide storage or associated services.
Data Controller
Storage Hatch End is the data controller in relation to the personal data described in this Privacy Policy. As data controller, we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal data and are responsible for ensuring that such processing is carried out in a lawful, fair and transparent manner.
Personal Data We Collect
We may collect and process the following categories of personal data about you:
Identification data, such as full name, date of birth, proof of identity details and proof of address details, when required to enter into a storage agreement or meet legal obligations.
Contact data, such as home address, billing address, and any other address you provide to us, as well as your name and other contact details that allow us to communicate with you about your account and our services.
Account and contract data, such as storage unit number, key or access code information, start and end dates of contracts, payment records, and service preferences.
Payment and billing data, such as payment method details, transaction history, invoice information and records of payments made or due.
Communication data, including correspondence and communications with us, such as queries, complaints or feedback you provide in person or via written or electronic communication.
Security and access data, such as logs of access to the premises, records of visits where we use entry systems, and vehicle registration details where these are recorded for site security.
Technical and usage data, where applicable, relating to your use of our online services, such as basic device information and interaction with online forms, to help maintain and improve our services.
Lawful Bases for Processing
We process your personal data only where we have a lawful basis under data protection law. Depending on the context, we may rely on one or more of the following lawful bases:
Contract: we process your personal data when it is necessary to enter into, perform or manage a storage agreement or related service contract with you. This includes processing identification, contact, account, and payment data to set up and administer your storage unit and to collect payments.
Legal obligation: we process certain personal data where we are required to do so by law. This may include verifying your identity, retaining invoicing and transaction records for tax or accounting requirements, and cooperating with law enforcement or regulatory authorities where necessary.
Legitimate interests: we process your personal data where it is necessary for our legitimate interests and these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. Our legitimate interests include ensuring the security of our premises and customers, managing and improving our services, preventing fraud, and handling customer queries and disputes.
Consent: in limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example where we wish to send you certain types of marketing communications beyond what is necessary for our existing customer relationship. Where we rely on consent, you have the right to withdraw it at any time.
How We Use Personal Data
We use the personal data we collect for the following purposes:
To set up and manage your storage contract, including verifying your identity, preparing and administering contractual documents, allocating a storage unit, and providing ongoing customer service.
To process payments, manage billing, and maintain financial records, including issuing invoices, taking and recording payments, and following up on unpaid amounts.
To maintain site security, including controlling and recording access to the premises, monitoring storage units to prevent unauthorised access, and investigating suspected misuse, damage or criminal activity.
To communicate with you, including responding to enquiries, providing updates about your account, notifying you of changes to our terms or services, and dealing with complaints or requests.
To comply with legal and regulatory requirements, such as tax record keeping obligations, anti fraud or crime prevention obligations, and responding to lawful requests from public authorities or law enforcement.
To manage and improve our business, including reviewing service performance, training staff, and developing our services and customer experience.
Data Retention
We keep personal data only for as long as it is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required to meet legal, accounting or reporting obligations.
In general, we will retain core customer and contract data for the duration of your contract with us and for a defined period afterwards, to deal with queries, disputes or legal claims. This will typically be several years after your contract ends, in line with limitation periods under applicable law and record keeping requirements.
Payment and invoice records are kept for the periods required by tax and accounting legislation. Security related records, such as access logs, are retained for shorter periods, unless they are required for investigating an incident, in which case they may be kept longer as evidence.
When personal data is no longer required and there is no legal or business need to retain it, we will securely delete, anonymise or otherwise dispose of it in accordance with our data retention procedures.
Data Sharing and Processors
We do not sell your personal data. However, we may share your data with third parties where this is necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy or where we are required to do so by law.
We may share personal data with service providers who act as data processors on our behalf. These may include providers of payment processing services, accounting or administrative support, information technology and system maintenance services, and physical security or access control systems. These processors are only permitted to process your personal data on our instructions and must protect it in accordance with applicable data protection laws and appropriate contractual safeguards.
We may also share data with professional advisers, such as legal and accounting advisers, where necessary to obtain advice or manage legal obligations, and with law enforcement or regulatory authorities where we are legally required or permitted to do so.
International Transfers
Where we engage service providers or store data in locations outside the United Kingdom, we will ensure that appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal data in accordance with data protection laws. These safeguards may include recognised adequacy decisions or the use of standard contractual clauses approved by relevant authorities.
Data Security
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 controlling physical access to storage areas, using secure systems for customer and payment records, limiting access to personal data to those who have a business need to know, and training staff on data protection responsibilities.
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 include:
The right of access, which allows you to request confirmation that we process your personal data and to receive a copy of that data, along with information about how it is used.
The right to rectification, which allows you to request that inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you is corrected or updated.
The right to erasure, also known as the right to be forgotten, which allows you to request that we delete your personal data where there is no longer a lawful basis for us to retain or use it.
The right to restrict processing, which allows you to request that we limit the way we use your data in certain circumstances, such as while we are verifying its accuracy or considering an objection.
The right to object, which allows you to object to our processing of your personal data where we are relying on legitimate interests as our lawful basis, or to object to direct marketing at any time.
The right to data portability, which allows you, in certain situations, to receive personal data you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format and to request that we transmit it to another controller.
The right to withdraw consent, where we rely on your consent for a particular processing activity. Withdrawal of consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.
Exercising Your Rights and Complaints
If you wish to exercise any of your rights, or if you have questions or concerns about how we handle your personal data, you can contact us using the contact details provided in your contract or on our official communications.
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 encourage you to contact us first so that we can try to address your concerns directly.
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. When we make significant changes, we will take reasonable steps to bring them to your attention. The most current version of the Privacy Policy will apply to our processing of your personal data.
By continuing to use our services after an updated Privacy Policy has been made available, you acknowledge that your personal data will be processed in accordance with the revised terms.
