We collect and process personal data for the following purposes:

Website registration and enquiries — Name, email address, phone number, property preferences. Legal basis: Legitimate interest in responding to your enquiry and providing relevant property information (Article 6(1)(f) UK GDPR).

Property transactions (sales) — Name, address, identification documents (passport, driving licence), proof of address, financial information, employment details. Legal basis: Necessary for the performance of a contract or to take steps prior to entering a contract (Article 6(1)(b)), and compliance with legal obligations including Anti-Money Laundering regulations (Article 6(1)(c)).

Marketing communications — Name, email address, property preferences. Legal basis: Consent (Article 6(1)(a)). You may withdraw consent at any time by contacting us at info@storyhouseagency.co.uk or using the unsubscribe link in any marketing email.

Research and service improvement — Anonymised usage data, feedback responses. Legal basis: Legitimate interest in improving our services (Article 6(1)(f)).

Third-party property portals — Property details and contact information shared with Rightmove, Zoopla, and OnTheMarket. Legal basis: Necessary for the performance of a contract (Article 6(1)(b)) and legitimate interest in marketing your property effectively (Article 6(1)(f)).

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or as required by law. Specifically: 

Property transaction records: six years after completion, in line with limitation periods.
Anti-Money Laundering records: five years after the end of the business relationship, as required by the Money Laundering Regulations 2017.
Marketing consent records: until you withdraw consent or unsubscribe.
Website enquiries: two years from last contact unless a business relationship is established.
Complaints records: six years from resolution, in line with TPO requirements.

After the relevant retention period, personal data is securely deleted or anonymised.

Under UK GDPR, you have the following rights in relation to your personal data:

The right to be informed about how we use your data (this policy). The right to access the personal data we hold about you. The right to rectification if your data is inaccurate or incomplete. The right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") in certain circumstances. The right to restrict processing in certain circumstances. The right to data portability, allowing you to obtain and reuse your data. The right to object to processing based on legitimate interest. The right to withdraw consent at any time where consent is the legal basis for processing. The right not to be subject to automated decision-making.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@storyhouseagency.co.uk. We will respond within one month. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or by calling 0303 123 1113.

We may share your personal data with the following categories of recipients where necessary to provide our services or comply with legal obligations: property portals including Rightmove, Zoopla, and OnTheMarket, solicitors and conveyancers acting in a transaction, photographers, energy assessors, and others instructed in connection with a sale, HMRC and the National Crime Agency where required by anti-money laundering regulations, our professional advisers including accountants and legal advisers, and IT service providers who support our systems. We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal data to third parties for marketing purposes.

We have implemented appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction, or damage. Access to personal data is restricted to employees and contractors who need it to perform their duties, and they are subject to confidentiality obligations.

In the event that this business is sold or integrated with another business, your personal data may be shared with our professional advisers and prospective purchasers (and their advisers) as part of the due diligence process. This processing is based on our legitimate interest in conducting the sale (Article 6(1)(f)). If ownership transfers, we will notify you before your data is transferred to the new owner, who will become the new data controller and must comply with this policy or provide you with a new one.

Some of our third-party service providers (such as Google Analytics) are based outside the UK. Where your personal data is transferred outside the UK, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, including UK International Data Transfer Agreements or reliance on adequacy decisions made by the UK Secretary of State. You may contact us for further details of the specific safeguards applied to any international transfer of your data.

If we make significant changes to this Privacy Policy, we will notify you by email or by placing a prominent notice on our website. We will not rely on continued use of the website as acceptance of material changes to how we process your personal data.

Our website uses cookies to ensure it functions correctly and to help us understand how visitors use the site. When you first visit, a cookie consent banner will allow you to accept or reject non-essential cookies. You can change your preferences at any time by clicking "Cookie Settings" in the website footer. For full details of the cookies we use, including their names, purposes, and durations, please see our Cookie Policy.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us using the details in the footer of our website. You may also contact the Information Commissioner's Office if you have concerns about how we handle your personal data: ico.org.uk or 0303 123 1113.