Privacy Policy

01 — Who We Are

About this policy

StorageMania (referred to as "StorageMania", "we", "us", or "our") operates a self-storage facility located at 23 Lower Ottery Road, Philippi Industria, Cape Town, South Africa. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, share, and protect personal information when you use our website, request a quote, sign a rental agreement, or visit our facility.

We are committed to processing your personal information lawfully, fairly, and transparently in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (Act No. 4 of 2013) ("POPIA").

02 — Information We Collect

What we collect from you

We only collect personal information that we reasonably need in order to provide you with our storage services and respond to your enquiries.

Information you provide directly

• Identity information — full name, identity number or passport number (required for rental agreements), date of birth
• Contact information — email address, phone number, physical address
• Storage details — unit size requirements, items to be stored, intended duration
• Payment information — banking details for debit orders or EFT (we do not store full card numbers)
• Communication records — emails, WhatsApp messages, call notes, and quote requests submitted through our website

Information collected automatically

• Website usage data — pages visited, time spent on site, referring website, device type, and browser information collected via Google Analytics and the Meta Pixel
• CCTV footage — captured at our facility for security purposes
• Vehicle registration numbers — recorded at our access gate

03 — How We Use It

Why we process your information

We process your personal information for the following purposes:

• To respond to quote requests and provide pricing information
• To enter into and administer a rental agreement
• To collect rental payments and manage your account
• To communicate with you about your unit, payments, notices, or facility updates
• To maintain the security of our facility, tenants, and stored property
• To comply with legal, regulatory, and tax obligations
• To improve our website, services, and marketing — including remarketing on Meta (Facebook/Instagram) and Google
• To prevent and detect fraud, theft, or misuse of our facility

04 — Sharing

Who we share information with

We do not sell your personal information. We may share it with the following parties only where necessary:

• Payment processors and banks — for processing EFTs, card payments, and debit orders
• Service providers — including our website host, database provider (Supabase), transactional email provider (Resend), and accounting software
• Marketing platforms — Google Ads and Meta (Facebook/Instagram) for measurement and remarketing in pseudonymised or hashed form
• Security and law enforcement — where required to investigate suspected criminal activity, comply with a court order, or respond to a lawful request
• Professional advisors — including lawyers, auditors, and insurers where required to protect our legitimate interests

Where your information is stored. Two of our service providers process information outside South Africa. Our database provider, Supabase, stores quote enquiries and feedback on servers in the European Union (Ireland). Our transactional email provider, Resend, is based in the United States and delivers the notification emails those enquiries generate. Our product analytics provider, PostHog, processes website usage data on servers in the United States. We make these transfers under section 72 of POPIA on the basis that they are necessary to perform the service or respond to the enquiry you asked us for, and because the recipients are subject to data-protection rules that provide a comparable level of protection. Where any other party operates outside of South Africa, we take reasonable steps to ensure your information receives an adequate level of protection.

05 — Retention & Security

How long we keep it and how it's protected

We retain personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, or as required by South African law (for example, financial records are kept for at least 5 years in line with SARS requirements).

Quote enquiries that do not result in a rental are retained for up to 24 months for follow-up and marketing measurement, unless you ask us to delete them sooner. CCTV footage is typically retained for 30 days unless it forms part of an active investigation.

We protect your information using reasonable technical and organisational measures, including access controls, encrypted database storage, secure backups, and staff confidentiality obligations. No system is perfectly secure, but we take our duty seriously.

06 — POPIA

How we apply the POPI Act

The Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (Act No. 4 of 2013) sets out eight conditions that every South African business must meet when it processes personal information. This section explains, condition by condition, how those obligations apply to StorageMania and what we do about each one. We treat this as an ongoing responsibility rather than a once-off exercise, and review these practices as our systems change.

1. Accountability

StorageMania is the responsible party for the personal information described in this policy — we decide why and how it is processed. As required by section 55 of the Act, we have designated an Information Officer who is accountable for our compliance and for handling privacy requests. Their contact details are at the bottom of this page.

2. Processing limitation

We collect only the information we actually need to answer your enquiry, quote you, or manage your rental — typically your name, phone number, email address, and what you intend to store. We process it on one of the lawful grounds in section 11: your consent (for example, when you submit the quote form), the performance of a contract with you (your rental agreement), compliance with a legal obligation, or our legitimate business interests. Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time, and where we rely on legitimate interest, you may object.

3. Purpose specification

We collect personal information for the specific, lawful purposes set out in "Why we process your information" above — responding to enquiries, providing quotes, administering rentals and payments, keeping the site secure, and measuring our advertising. We do not collect information speculatively for purposes we have not identified.

4. Further processing limitation

If we ever want to use your information for a purpose that is not compatible with the one it was collected for, we will ask for your consent first, unless the law specifically permits or requires the further processing. We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own marketing.

5. Information quality

We take reasonable steps to keep the information we hold accurate, complete, and up to date, given the purpose it is used for. Because most of it comes directly from you, the quickest way to correct anything is to contact us — we will update our records and, where relevant, confirm the change back to you.

6. Openness

This policy is our notification to you under section 18: it records what we collect, why, who we share it with, where it is stored, and how long we keep it. We update it when our practices change, and the "Last updated" date at the top of this page shows when that last happened. You are entitled to ask us what personal information we hold about you at any time.

7. Security safeguards

We protect personal information with reasonable technical and organisational measures, described under "How long we keep it and how it's protected" above. Our website is served over HTTPS, database access is restricted so that enquiry data cannot be read publicly, and staff who handle customer information are bound by confidentiality obligations. Where an operator processes information on our behalf, they are required to secure it and to process it only on our instructions. If a security compromise affects your personal information, section 22 requires us to notify the Information Regulator and you as soon as reasonably possible, and we will do so.

8. Data subject participation

You may ask what personal information we hold about you, request a copy of it, ask us to correct or delete it, and object to processing — the full list is in "Your rights under POPIA" below. We respond to these requests within 30 days. We do not charge for a request to correct or delete information; a prescribed fee may apply to a formal request for a copy of your records.

Direct marketing

Section 69 restricts unsolicited electronic marketing. We send marketing messages only where you have consented, or where you are an existing customer and the message relates to a similar service. Every marketing message includes a way to opt out, and you can also tell us to stop at any time by replying, emailing, or calling us. Quotes, invoices, and other messages about a rental you have asked for are service communications, not marketing.

Special personal information and children

We do not seek out special personal information as defined in section 26 — such as health, biometric, religious, or political information — and you should not send it to us in an enquiry. We also do not knowingly collect information from children under 18, as set out under "Children's information" below.

If you think we have got something wrong

Please raise it with our Information Officer first — most issues are quickest to resolve directly. If you are not satisfied with how we have handled it, you have the right to complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa, whose contact details are at the bottom of this page.

07 — Your Rights

Your rights under POPIA

You have the right to:

• Be informed about how your personal information is processed
• Request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Ask us to correct or update inaccurate or outdated information
• Object to processing where we rely on legitimate interest
• Withdraw your consent to direct marketing at any time
• Request that we delete or destroy your personal information, subject to legal retention requirements
• Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details at the bottom of this page. We will respond within 30 days.

08 — Cookies & Tracking

Cookies and analytics

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to make the site work, to understand how visitors use it, and to measure the effectiveness of our advertising. The main tools we use are:

• Google Analytics & Google Ads — to understand site traffic, conversions, and to serve remarketing ads
• Meta Pixel — to measure Facebook and Instagram ad performance and serve relevant ads
• PostHog — product analytics that shows us how visitors move through the site and which pages lead to enquiries. It records page views and interactions such as clicks, and when you submit the quote form it records the unit size and storage type you selected — not your name, phone number, or email address
• Essential cookies — required for the site to function (for example, remembering form input)

You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings. Doing so may affect the functionality of the site.

09 — Children

Children's information

Our services are intended for individuals 18 years or older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, please contact us so we can remove it.

10 — Updates

Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or legal obligations. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the latest changes were made. We encourage you to review this page periodically.