Self Storage Ealing Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy explains how Self Storage Ealing collects, uses, stores and protects personal information relating to customers in the Ealing area. It also explains your rights under UK data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
This Privacy Policy applies to all Self Storage Ealing customers and prospective customers in the Ealing area, including individuals and business clients who use or enquire about our self storage services.
Data Controller
Self Storage Ealing is the data controller for the personal information described in this Privacy Policy. This means we determine the purposes and means of processing your personal data in connection with the provision of our self storage services.
Personal Data We Collect
We collect and process different types of personal data depending on your relationship with us and how you use our services. The categories of data we may collect include:
Identification data such as name, title, date of birth, and proof of identity details shown on official documents where required for verification.
Contact details such as home or business address, billing address, and general correspondence address, together with contact preferences where you have provided them.
Communication data including information you provide when you contact us by phone, in writing or in person, such as enquiries, complaints, service requests, and any notes relating to your account.
Contract and account data such as details of the storage unit you rent, contract start and end dates, payment history, services selected, and records of any changes to your agreement.
Payment and billing data such as the method of payment used and transaction records. Card details are handled via secure payment processors and are not stored by us beyond what is necessary for processing payments and complying with legal obligations.
Security and access data such as CCTV footage on and around our premises, unit access activity where access control systems are in place, and incident or accident reports relating to health and safety or security matters.
Technical data where you use our website or digital services, which may include IP address, browser type, device identifiers and basic usage information necessary to operate and secure our online services.
How We Collect Your Data
We collect personal data directly from you when you contact us, request a quote, make a booking, sign a storage agreement, make a payment, or visit our premises. We may also receive limited personal data from third parties, such as payment service providers confirming that a payment has been made, or from law enforcement or regulatory bodies when legally required.
Lawful Basis for Processing
We only process your personal data when we have a lawful basis to do so. Depending on the context, we may rely on the following lawful bases:
Contract performance. We process your data when it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract with you, such as providing you with storage space, administering your account, managing payments, and dealing with any queries or changes to the agreement.
Legal obligation. We process certain data to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, such as tax laws, accounting rules, health and safety obligations, and requests from law enforcement authorities when we are legally required to respond.
Legitimate interests. We process data for our legitimate business interests, provided these are not overridden by your rights and freedoms. These interests include securing and managing our premises, preventing fraud and misuse, improving our services, managing business operations, and maintaining accurate records.
Consent. In limited circumstances, we may rely on your consent, for example for certain types of optional marketing communications. Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time, and we will stop processing your data for that purpose.
How We Use Your Personal Data
We use your personal data to provide, manage and improve our self storage services. Typical uses include:
Setting up and managing your storage agreement, including identity and eligibility checks where needed, unit allocation and account administration.
Processing payments, deposits, refunds and dealing with any billing queries, chargebacks or account corrections.
Maintaining the safety and security of our premises, including the use of CCTV and access control systems, investigating incidents, and enforcing site rules.
Communicating with you about your storage unit, contract renewals, service updates, access changes, and other important information relevant to your use of our services.
Carrying out internal reporting, auditing and business planning, including financial management and service improvement.
Responding to complaints, disputes or legal claims and cooperating with lawful requests from public authorities.
Data Retention
We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, and to meet legal, accounting or reporting obligations.
In general, we keep customer account and contract information for a period following the end of your agreement in order to handle any queries, disputes or legal claims and to comply with tax and financial record keeping requirements.
CCTV footage is kept for a limited period, which is typically short, unless it is needed for the investigation of an incident or legal matter, in which case it may be retained for a longer period as necessary.
When personal data is no longer required, we will securely delete it or irreversibly anonymise it in line with our data retention and destruction procedures.
Data Sharing and Processors
We do not sell your personal data. We may share your data with carefully selected third parties where this is necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy or where we are legally required to do so.
We use external service providers acting as data processors to support our operations. These may include payment processing companies, customer relationship and billing system providers, IT hosting and maintenance providers, security system providers and professional advisers such as accountants or legal advisers. These processors are only allowed to process your personal data on our documented instructions, must keep it secure, and are bound by contractual obligations to protect your data.
We may also disclose personal data to law enforcement, regulatory bodies, courts or other public authorities when required by law or where disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, the rights of our customers, or the safety of individuals.
If we undergo a business reorganisation, merger or transfer of ownership, customer data may form part of the assets transferred, subject to appropriate safeguards and continuation of this Privacy Policy or a substantially similar policy.
International Transfers
Where any of our service providers 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. These safeguards may include the use of standard contractual clauses approved by the relevant authorities or other legally recognised mechanisms to ensure an adequate level of protection.
Data Security
We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, accidental loss, destruction or damage. These measures include access controls, physical security on site, staff training, secure systems, and regular review of our security arrangements.
While we take reasonable steps to protect your data, no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure. You also have a role in keeping your information safe, such as keeping access codes confidential and notifying us promptly of any suspected misuse of your account or access credentials.
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.
Right of access. You have the right to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you and to obtain information about how we process it.
Right to rectification. You can ask us to correct or complete any inaccurate or incomplete personal data we hold about you.
Right to erasure. In some circumstances, you can ask us to delete your personal data, for example where it is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected and we have no legal obligation to retain it.
Right to restriction. You can ask us to restrict the processing of your data in certain situations, such as while we are investigating a request you have made regarding accuracy or objection.
Right to data portability. Where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means, you may request that we provide your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine readable format, or transfer it directly to another controller where technically feasible.
Right to object. You have the right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, including profiling related to those interests. We will stop processing your data unless we have compelling legitimate grounds which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or where processing is required for legal claims.
Rights in relation to automated decision making. Self Storage Ealing does not carry out automated decision making that produces legal or similarly significant effects on you based solely on automated processing.
You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority if you believe your rights have been infringed.
Updates to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our services, legal requirements or how we process personal data. When we make changes, we will revise the date of the latest version and take appropriate steps to inform you of any significant changes. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we protect your information.
