Privacy Policy - Selfstorage Battersea

This Privacy Policy explains how Selfstorage Battersea collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data in connection with our self storage services. It applies to all Selfstorage Battersea customers in the Battersea area, including prospective customers, account holders, authorised users, visitors, and anyone who interacts with us in relation to storage services. We are committed to handling personal data in a lawful, fair, and transparent manner in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Scope of this Privacy Policy

This policy applies to personal data processed when you request a quote, reserve a storage unit, sign an agreement, visit our premises, make payments, communicate with us, or otherwise use our services. It also applies where we must process data to protect our business, other customers, staff, property, and security systems.

We aim to ensure that all personal data is:

Used only for clearly defined and legitimate purposes
Collected only when necessary
Kept accurate and up to date
Retained only for as long as required
Protected against unauthorised access, disclosure, or misuse

2. What personal data we collect

Depending on your relationship with Selfstorage Battersea, we may collect the following categories of personal data:

Identity and contact details

Name
Address
Email address
Telephone number
Date of birth where needed for verification

Account and agreement information

Storage unit details
Contract and booking records
Payment status and billing information
Access credentials or authorisation details
Communication history relating to your account

Verification and security data

Identification documents and verification results where required by law or for fraud prevention
Vehicle registration details, access logs, and site entry records
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) images and related security footage

Financial information

Transaction records
Invoices and receipts
Refund details
Limited payment information needed to process payments securely

Technical and usage data

IP address and browser information where relevant
Device data and log files from digital systems
Information about how you interact with our online services or digital forms

We generally do not collect special category data unless you provide it to us voluntarily or we are legally required to process it. If special category data is ever processed, we will do so only where a valid legal condition applies.

3. How we use your personal data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

To provide self storage services and manage your storage agreement
To verify identity and prevent fraud, misuse, or unauthorised access
To process payments, issue invoices, and manage accounts
To communicate with you about your booking, access, service changes, or account matters
To maintain site safety, security, and operational control
To enforce our terms and recover outstanding amounts where necessary
To comply with legal and regulatory obligations
To improve our services, systems, and customer experience

4. Lawful basis for processing

We only process personal data when we have a lawful basis under data protection law. The lawful bases we rely on include:

Contract

We process data where it is necessary to enter into or perform our storage agreement with you. This includes setting up your account, managing access, taking payment, and providing services you have requested.

Legal obligation

We may need to process data to comply with laws, regulations, tax requirements, accounting rules, fraud prevention duties, or requests from lawful authorities.

Legitimate interests

We may process data where it is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided your interests and rights do not override those interests. This may include site security, CCTV monitoring, service improvement, debt recovery, and protecting our property and customers.

Consent

In limited cases, we may rely on your consent, for example where you choose to receive certain marketing communications or where consent is otherwise required. You can withdraw consent at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

5. How we share personal data

We do not sell your personal data. We may share data only when necessary and with appropriate safeguards in place. This may include sharing with:

Payment service providers who process card or electronic payments securely
IT and cloud service providers who support our systems, data storage, and communications
Security providers involved in CCTV, alarm monitoring, or access control systems
Professional advisers such as accountants, auditors, insurers, or legal advisers
Debt recovery or credit control partners where required to manage unpaid accounts
Public authorities, law enforcement, or regulators where disclosure is required by law or reasonably necessary to protect rights and safety

Any third party acting as a processor is only permitted to process your data on our instructions and must implement appropriate technical and organisational security measures.

6. Processors and data handling arrangements

Where we use service providers to process personal data on our behalf, they act as processors. We require processors to:

Process data only for specified purposes
Keep data confidential
Use adequate security controls
Assist us in meeting data protection obligations where appropriate
Delete or return data when services end, subject to lawful retention needs

Examples of processor activities may include secure payment handling, hosted software support, customer record management, CCTV storage, and secure document management. We ensure that international transfers, if any, are protected by recognised legal safeguards.

7. Data retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including meeting legal, accounting, insurance, and operational requirements. Retention periods depend on the type of information and the reason it is held.

Typical retention periods

Account and contract records: retained for the duration of the agreement and for a reasonable period afterwards
Payment and accounting records: retained for the period required by tax and accounting law
Security records and CCTV: retained only as long as needed for security, incident review, or legal claims
Enquiries and correspondence: retained for a limited time after the matter is concluded
Legal claims or disputes: retained until the claim is resolved and any limitation period has expired

When personal data is no longer needed, we securely delete, anonymise, or destroy it.

8. Your rights under data protection law

As a data subject, you have rights in relation to your personal data. These rights may apply depending on the circumstances and the lawful basis for processing.

Your rights include:

Right of access – to request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
Right to rectification – to have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected
Right to erasure – to request deletion of data in certain cases
Right to restriction – to ask us to limit processing in certain situations
Right to object – to object to processing based on legitimate interests or direct marketing
Right to data portability – to receive certain data in a structured, commonly used format
Right to withdraw consent – where processing is based on consent

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office if you believe your data has been handled unlawfully. We encourage you to raise concerns with us first so we can try to resolve the issue promptly.

9. Security of your personal data

We take reasonable and appropriate security measures to protect personal data from accidental loss, misuse, unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure. These measures may include access controls, secure storage, encryption where appropriate, staff training, system monitoring, and restricted permissions.

However, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. We continually review our practices to reduce risk and protect information.

10. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, legal obligations, or operational needs. Any updated version will apply from the date it takes effect. We encourage customers to review this policy periodically so they remain informed about how their data is handled.

By using Selfstorage Battersea services, you acknowledge that your personal data may be processed in accordance with this Privacy Policy and applicable data protection law.