Privacy Policy

Stories is committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected and our use of your personal information is governed by this Privacy Notice. On this site, “Stories”, “our” and “we” each mean all the UK companies in the Stories (Holdings) Limited group (including but not limited to Stories (Services) Limited and Stories (Investments) Limited and their respective subsidiaries) which collect and use your information in the manner set out in this Privacy Notice. Any reference to “you” or “your” refers to anyone whose personal information we process.

1. Introduction

Our use of your personal data will be governed by this Privacy Notice.

Stories is a controller for the personal information that it collects and uses about you. We will treat your personal information as confidential and in accordance with applicable data protection legislation and your personal information will only be shared with others in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

This Privacy Notice explains;

What personal information is
How we collect your personal information
The types of personal information we collect
How we use your personal information
The legal basis for processing your personal information
How we share your personal information
How long we keep your personal information
How we keep your personal information secure
Overseas transfers of your personal information
Your rights in relation to your personal information
How to make complaints and how to contact us

If there are any changes to the way in which your personal information is used, this Privacy Notice will be updated.

2. What is personal information

Personal information is any information that tells us something about you. This could include information such as name, contact details, date of birth, bank account details or any information about your needs or circumstances which would allow us to identify you.

Some personal information is classified as "special" data under data protection legislation. This includes information relating to health, racial or ethnic origin, religious beliefs or political opinions and sexual orientation. This information is more sensitive and we need to have further justifications for collecting, storing and using this type of personal information. There are also additional restrictions on the circumstances in which we are permitted to collect and use criminal conviction data.

Any references to personal information in this privacy notice will include personal data, and where relevant, special categories of personal data.

3. What personal information do we collect?

We will collect your full name and contact details (such as phone number, email address and postal address) from you whenever you engage with us.

Depending on the service that we provide to you (or on your behalf) we may also collect additional personal information as detailed below;

Buying and renting

If you are buying a property from us;

Where you engage with Stories, we may collect information required to identify you to meet anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing requirements.
If we are dealing with an entity such as a company, trust or charity, we may need to obtain personal information for the beneficiaries of the entity and those in a position of control. This will include, but is not limited to, identity and address documents. We may also need to collect information on other individuals who have an interest in the property who are not considered to be our customers.
Where we are working alongside third parties such as solicitors or agents, we may need to share these documents on the basis of legitimate interests.

If you wish to purchase a property we selling, where you have specifically provided us with these, we will collect personal information relating to any specific access requirements you may have in relation to a property so that we can find a property that is suitable for your needs.

If you wish to rent a property from us;

Specific access requirements
Your bank / building / similar account details to allow us to manage an approved tenancy deposit account for you and to set up your rental payments.
We may also need to collect specific identity documents from you for the purpose of preventing and detecting crime, fraud or money laundering.

Property Management

Where we engage with you to manage property on your behalf we will ask for additional emergency contact information in case we need to get in touch with you outside of working hours or in the event there is a matter requiring your urgent attention.
Where you are a tenant in a building managed by Stories, we may need to share your personal information with the property owner, but will only do so where we have considered your own rights first.
Where we operate CCTV in a property, we may capture your image which would constitute your personal data.

Investment Management

Where you engage with Stories as an individual investor we may collect information if required to identify you to meet anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing requirements.
If the investor is an entity such as a company, trust or charity, we may need to collect personal information about the controllers and the beneficiaries of the entity.

4. How we use your personal information

What is the legal basis of our data processing?

Under data protection legislation we are only permitted to use your personal information if we have a legal basis for doing so. We rely on the following legal bases to use your information;

For employment-related purposes
Where we need information to perform the contract we have entered into with you
Where we need to comply with a legal obligation
Where the processing is necessary for us to carry out activities for which it is in Stories legitimate interests (or those of a third party) to do so and provided that your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests, including:

Processing that is necessary for us to promote our business and measure the reach and effectiveness of our campaigns – this will include sending you marketing information from time to time after you have engaged us to provide services or received services from us either which may be similar and of interest to you or where you have expressly indicated that you would like to receive such information. You have the right to opt out of receiving this information at any time.
Processing that is necessary to improve our knowledge of the real estate sector – this will include undertaking market analysis and research so that we better understand trends in the property sector and provide better knowledge along with more tailored and relevant services for our customers in the future.
Processing necessary for us to operate the administrative and technical aspects of our business efficiently and effectively – this will include verifying the accuracy of information that we hold about you and create a better understanding of you as a customer; processing for administrative efficiency purposes such as where we outsource certain administrative functions to third parties who are specialise in such services; processing for network and information security purposes i.e. in order for us to take steps to protect your information against loss, damage, theft or unauthorised access or to comply with a request from you in connection with the exercise of any of your rights outlined below.

In more limited circumstances we may also rely on the following legal bases:

Where we need to protect your interests (or someone else's interests); and/or
Where it is needed in the public interest or for official purposes

We may process special categories of personal information and criminal conviction information in the following limited circumstances:

With your explicit consent, in which case we will explain the purpose for which the information will be used at the point where we ask for your consent.

Specific information on how your personal information will be used for the particular services you have requested from us is provided below.

Buy and renting

We use your personal information for the purposes of fulfilling of arranging viewings, obtaining feedback, and arranging a contract for sale or a lease for you.
We will use your personal information to conduct due diligence in accordance with other legal or regulatory obligations
We will share your personal information with your appointed solicitors and the solicitors and agents acting for the other side of the deal as is necessary to facilitate the sale or purchase. We may also share your personal information with our agents as the case may be.
We will share your personal data with third party referencing agencies for the purposes of the prevention and detection of crime, fraud and/or money laundering and checking your suitability to rent that property.

Property Management

Where we are managing property on your behalf we may need to pass your personal information from time to time on to third party contractors whom we have engaged to carry out maintenance on your properties.
We may operate CCTV in properties based on our legitimate interest in protecting the property and ensuring the safety of visitors, tenants and clients, as well as to assist with the prevention and detection of crime.

Investment

Where you engage with Stories as an individual investor we may collect information if required to identify you to meet anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing requirements.
If the investor is an entity such as a company, trust or charity, we may need to collect personal information about the controllers and the beneficiaries of the entity.

Other uses of your personal information

If we sell any part of our business and/or integrate it with another organisation your details may be disclosed to our advisers and to prospective purchasers or joint venture partners and their advisers. If this occurs the new owners of the business will only be permitted to use your information in the same or similar way as set out in this privacy notice.
We will share personal information with our regulators, governmental or quasi-governmental organisations, law enforcement authorities and with courts, tribunals and arbitrators as may be required from time to time in order to comply with our regulatory and legal obligations.
Where we use third party services providers who process personal information on our behalf in order to provide services to us. This includes IT systems providers and IT contractors as well as third party referencing or screening agencies for the purposes of the prevention and detection of crime.
We may share your personal information with any person working at Stories on a need to know basis to ensure we are able to perform our obligations to you.
We will hold your personal information on our client management systems and use this to provide you with marketing information about similar services offered by Stories to those which you have engaged us to provide which we feel you might find useful from time to time. You have the opportunity to opt out of receiving this information at any time.

What happens if you do not provide information that we request?

We need some of your personal information to perform the services you have requested from us.

We also need some information so that we can comply with our legal obligations. For example, we may need identity documents from you to meet our obligations to prevent fraud and money laundering.

If you do not provide the information required for these purposes, we will not be able to perform our contract with you and may not be able to provide services to you or continue to provide certain services to you. We will explain when this is the case at the point where we collect information from you.

5. How we keep your information secure

The security of information is very important to us and we have measures in place which are designed to prevent unauthorised access to your personal information.

All data is hosted by cloud-based systems with protections in place to protect against both unauthorised access and other external factors that could cause damage to your personal data. There are strict access requirements in place and access is restricted to those absolutely necessary and via a two-step authentication.

We ensure access to personal information is restricted to Stories employees and workers or other persons working within the Stories group on a need to know basis. Training is provided to any of those Stories employees and workers who need access to personal information.

6. For how long do we keep your personal information

The period for which we will keep your personal information will depend on the type of service you have requested from us. The retention period may be longer than the period for which we are providing services to you where we have statutory or regulatory obligations to retain personal information for a longer period, or where we may need to retain the information in case of a legal claim.

7. Your rights in relation to your personal information

You have a number of rights in relation to your personal information, including the right to:

Be informed about how we use your personal information
Obtain access to your personal information that we hold
Request that your personal information is corrected if you believe it is incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate
Request that we erase your personal information in the following circumstances:
- If Stories is continuing to process personal information beyond the period when it is necessary to do so for the purpose for which it was originally collected
- If Stories is relying on consent as the legal basis for processing and you withdraw consent
- If Stories is relying on legitimate interests as the legal basis for processing and you object to this processing and there is no overriding compelling ground which enables us continue with the processing
- If the personal information has been processed unlawfully (i.e. in breach of the requirements of the data protection legislation)
- If it is necessary to delete the personal information to comply with a legal obligation
Ask us to restrict our data processing activities where you consider that:
- personal information is inaccurate
- our processing of your personal information is unlawful
- where we no longer need the personal information but you require us to keep it to enable you to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim
- where you have raised an objection to our use of your personal information
Request a copy of certain personal information that you have provided to us in a commonly used electronic format. This right relates to personal information that you have provided to us that we need in order to perform our agreement with you and personal information where we are relying on consent to process your personal information
Object to our processing of your personal information where we are relying on legitimate interests or exercise of a public interest task to make the processing lawful. If you raise an objection we will carry out an assessment to determine whether we have an overriding legitimate ground which entitles us to continue to process your personal information; and
Not be subject to wholly automated decisions which produce legal effects or which could have a similarly significant effect on you.

If you would like to exercise any of your rights please contact privacy@stories.partners

Please note that we will keep a record of the fact that you have made a request to exercise your rights, and our response to your request, in order to demonstrate compliance with our data protection obligations and so that we can handle any queries, complaints or claims in relation to your request. This record will be kept in accordance with our retention policies.

8. Complaints and Contact Details

Complaints

If you have any complaints about the way we use your personal information please contact us at privacy@stories.partners. If we cannot resolve any issue, you have the right to complain to the data protection authority in your country (the Information Commissioner in the UK).

Contact details

If you have any questions, comments or requests regarding any aspect of this Privacy Policy, please do not hesitate to contact us by sending an email to privacy@stories.partners or writing to the Chief Executive Officer, Stories, 167 Fleet Street, London, EC4A 2EA.

9. The use of cookies by Stories

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small text file that is downloaded onto your computer when you visit certain websites and allows a website to recognise a user's computer. Cookies are used to help users navigate websites more efficiently and to perform certain functions, as well as to provide information to the owners of the website.

What cookies do Stories use?

The table below lists the cookies used by this site.

Our website is hosted by Wix. For more information on how Wix holds and processes information please click here

How do I restrict or delete cookies?

The cookies we use are essential for parts of the website to operate and have already been set. You may delete and block all cookies from this website, but please be aware that restricting or deleting cookies may impact on the functionality of the website.

Your web browser may allow you to restrict or delete cookies set by this website.

The Help function within your browser should tell you how. Alternatively, you can visit www.allaboutcookies.org which provides general information about cookies and how you can manage cookies on your computer.

To opt out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites visit http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.