This TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT (herein, the “Agreement”) is made on and by Senior Home Exchange (herein, the “Company”) and an individual or individuals (herein, individually a “Member” and collectively “Members”) who access and use the Senior Home Exchange website (herein, the “Website”) located at www.seniorhomexchange.com and the Senior Home Exchange service (herein, the “Service”).
The Company reserves the right to change, remove, or add to these terms and conditions at any time without notice and any modification thereof shall be effective immediately.
The Company is a South Dakota Corporation.
All questions, complaints or comments about the Website, the Service or these Terms, are to be communicated through the Website “Contact Us” page.
1 TERMS AND CONDITIONS
1.1 The terms and conditions (herein, the “Terms”) contained in this Agreement, together with our privacy policy, constitute the terms of use for the Website and the Service.
1.2 By using the Website and/or the Service, a Member accepts these Terms and the Member agrees to be bound by them. Members not agreeing to these Terms are to cease from using the Website or the Service and any continuance thereof is a violation of this Agreement and these Terms. Any Member found to be in violation of these Terms may have their access to the Website and Service denied and/or restricted at the sole discretion of the Company.
1.3 Please read these Terms carefully before you start to use the Website and/or the Service. These Terms are only available in the English language.
2 THE SERVICE
2.1 The Service is a home exchange service: (i) to allow Members to list (herein, a “Listing”) their home or holiday/second homes (herein, individually a “Home” and collectively “Homes”) on the Website; and (ii) to connect Members of the Service who wish to exchange (herein, “Exchange”) their Homes with other Members.
2.2 A Member who agrees to provide their Home for Exchange is a host (herein, “Host”). A Member who agrees to occupy a Host Home during an Exchange is a Guest (herein, “Guest”). In most Exchanges, a Member is both a Host and a Guest.
2.3 Further information about the Service, how it operates and the rules relating to it are set out on the Website at http://www.seniorhomexchange.com/faqs. The Company reserves the right to change, remove, or add rules to the Service at any time without notice and any modification thereof shall be effective immediately. Such information is incorporated into, and forms part of, these Terms and this Agreement; however, in the event of any conflict between such information and these Terms, these Terms shall prevail.
2.4 The Service is a Members Exchange only, allowing Members to connect with other Members for the purpose of exchanging their Homes for a period of time agreed upon solely by the Members participating in an Exchange. Members agree that an Exchange between Members is without fee, payment or other financial or monetary consideration between the Members except those fees charged by the Company to the Members for the right to use the Service as outlined on the Website and modified from time to time without notice. The Company does not own, manage, provide, operate, otherwise deal with, make promises or statements in respect of, or take responsibility for any type of property or its condition or suitability even when a property is marked as verified on the website, including Homes, except as set out in these Terms.
2.5 The Company makes no statement, guarantee or warranty, express or implied, that Members use of the Service will produce and/or generate any particular outcome.
2.6 Any Exchange between Members is solely an agreement between those Members under whatever terms those Members agree so long as the agreement between Members does not violate Section 2.4, herein and the Members further agree the Company has no liability, expressed or otherwise, for the Exchange agreed upon by the Members.
2.7 Members executing an Exchange agree to hold the Company harmless and agree to defend, indemnify and hold the Company, its officers, directors, agents, employees and representatives harmless from and against any and all claims, demands, breach, liabilities, actions, judgments, losses and expenses (including reasonable attorney fees), arising out of or related to an Exchange.
3 USE OF THE WEBSITE AND THE SERVICE
3.1 Individuals may sign up to become a Member to use the Service via the Website or by using certain third party social media (herein, “Social Media”) accounts, for example, Facebook. If you choose to sign up using a Social Media account and/or link your Social Media account to the Service, you agree that:
a) you are allowed to disclose your Social Media account details to the Company;
b) your use of that Social Media in connection with the Service is subject to the terms and conditions you have agreed with that Social Media (of which the Company has no part in);
c) the Company may use content (herein, “Content”) from that Social Media, to the extent the Member allows the Company, and all such Content will be deemed Company Content (as defined in Section 8.2) for the purpose of these Terms; and
d) the ability to integrate a Social Media account with the Service is dependent on the availability and functionality of that Social Media, and the Company is not responsible for any failure of the same or for how this may impact the use of the Service by a Member.
3.2 You cannot use the Service if such use of the Service would constitute a breach of any applicable Sanctions. 'Sanctions' means any trade, economic or financial sanctions laws, regulations, embargoes or restrictive measures administered, enacted or enforced by the following 'Sanctions Authorities': (i) the United States of America; (ii) the Security Council of the United Nations; (iii) the European Union; (iv) the United Kingdom; and/or (v) the governments and official institutions or agencies of any of (i) to (iv), including the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
3.3 When a Member signs up to use the Service (other than via a Social Media account), the Member will be asked to choose a password which, together with the Member email address (which will be the username), the Member will use to log in to the Service. The Member is responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the password and username and is responsible for all activities that are carried out under them. The Company accepts no responsibility for losses suffered by a Member due to the loss of or the public exposure of a Member password or username regardless of circumstance.
3.4 As a Member you agree that:
a) you are at least 18 years old;
b) all information and details provided by you to the Company (including when you sign up to use the Service and in connection with any Listing (as defined in Section 4.1)) are true, accurate and up to date in all respects and at all times;
c) any property you list is either owned by you or you have the consent of the property owner to list the property;
d) any information you provide to the Company to provide proof of ownership to verify you are the owner are true, accurate and up to date in all respects and at all times;
e) you are able to validly enter into any Exchange agreement that you agree to and, in doing so, you will not breach any other agreement you may have with anyone else;
f) you will at all times comply with the restrictions on your use of the Service and any other obligations, in each case as set out in these Terms;
g) you will at all times comply with, and will only use the Service in a manner consistent with, all applicable local, national and international laws and regulations;
h) you will not use the Service if such use is not legal in your jurisdiction;
i) you will be responsible for obtaining all necessary licenses, consents and permissions relating to your use of the Service (including, where relevant, the consent of your landlord, mortgage provider or insurance provider);
j) neither you nor a Home that is the subject of a Listing is (as the case may be) located in, resident in or a citizen of any of Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria, the Crimea Region of the Ukraine or North Korea or any other country or region that is subject to comprehensive U.S. Government Sanctions from time to time;
k) you are not a person that is listed on, or owned or controlled by a person listed on, any Sanctions list published by a Sanctions Authority (a 'Restricted Person'), or a person acting on behalf of such Restricted Person or otherwise a subject of Sanctions; and
l) any Home that is the subject of a Listing is not owned by a Restricted Person and the Service would not in any way violate any governmental restriction or violation.
3.5 As a Member you agree that, in using the Service, you will not:
a) use the Service for any unlawful purpose;
b) use the Service for any commercial or business purpose;
c) recruit or otherwise encourage any Member to join another service similar to the Service;
d) use the Service in any way that interrupts, damages, impairs or renders the Service less efficient;
e) impersonate any other person (living or dead), misrepresent your connection with a person or entity or provide false or otherwise misleading information (or fail to provide information which has the same effect);
f) sell, pass-on or refer any inquiries from Members to any other person (whether registered with the Service or otherwise);
g) transfer files that contain viruses, trojans or other harmful malware programs;
h) authorize, encourage or assist any other person to copy, modify, reverse-engineer, decompile, disassemble, alter or otherwise tamper with any software (including source code), databases and other technology that forms part of the Service;
i) access or attempt to access the accounts of other Members or to penetrate or attempt to penetrate the Service security measures;
j) email, publish or otherwise disseminate any Content (as defined in Section 8.2) or Communication (as defined in Section 7.1) which is defamatory, obscene, or may have the effect of being harassing, threatening or abusive to an individual or group of individuals on the basis of religion, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age or disability or which is otherwise inappropriate; or
k) advertise or promote your own or third party products or services (other than your Home).
3.6 As a Member you agree to compensate the Company fully for any loss or damage whatsoever that the Company suffer as a result of your breach or alleged breach of these Terms, including, without limitation, your breach of Section 3.5c); the Company will not tolerate the Service being used by similar services to try to recruit Members to their service.
4 LISTINGS
4.1 As part of the Service, a Member must provide and list information on the Service about the Home which you would like to Exchange.
4.2 When creating a Listing, the Member agrees to accurately describe your Home, as well as the Exchange preferences. This includes an accurate description of the Home and any relevant information about the Home and its surrounding area. Any photos, videos or other Content included in a Listing must be of the relevant Home and you must not add photos from any copyrighted service such as Getty Images unless you have their permission. The Company takes no responsibility for any such practice by a Member. The Company also consider omissions of relevant information regarding a Home as being inaccurate.
4.3 Ensure your contact details for any Listing remain complete and accurate, and that the status of any Listing remains correct as regards its availability for Exchange and you further acknowledge that the Company reserves the right to remove any Listing at its sole discretion that the Company determines to be inaccurate, fraudulent or no longer available for Exchange.
4.4 All Members agree to ensure their Listings are accurate, complete and provide a true representation of the relevant Home and its condition. The Company cannot guarantee the validity of a Member listing and the Company accepts no responsibility or liability for inaccurate Listings and a Member’s reliance on other Members Listings.
4.5 A Member may seek to have their Listing verified by the Company. In such cases, the Member must provide documentary evidence to the Company that they own the property. The Company shall accept or reject such documentary evidence at its own discretion. Members agree it is their responsibility to vet another Member prior to an Exchange agree to hold the Company harmless and agree to defend, indemnify and hold the Company, its officers, directors, agents, employees and representatives harmless from and against any and all claims, demands, breach, liabilities, actions, judgments, losses and expenses (including reasonable attorney fees), arising out of or related to an Exchange whether the Listing is marked on the website as verified or not.
5 MEMBER EXCHANGES
5.1 When you as a Member agree to enter into an Exchange with another Member, any part in or involvement with, or any responsibility or liability for, any such arrangement, agreement, relationship or other dealings you may have with any other Members, including the terms of any Exchange, you agree to accurately disclose all relevant information about the Home, its condition and suitability for an Exchange. You also acknowledge and agree that personal information such as email addresses and phone numbers should only be exchanged between Members once a possible Exchange has been agreed through the Website.
5.2 Any cancellations by a Member to another Member for previously agreed upon Exchanges shall be considered “No Fault” meaning neither party is liable to the other party for such cancellations and the Members further agree to hold the other Exchange Member harmless for any damages, perceived, real or otherwise for such cancellations.
5.3 In the event of an Exchange cancellation, both Members of the cancelled Exchange shall agree to defend the Company against any claims or legal proceedings bought against the Company by any person in respect of any arrangement, agreement, relationship or other dealings you may have with other Members. You agree that you will not involve the Company in any dispute between you and any other Member.
5.4 Members shall have the ability to rate and provide commentary feedback on other Members with regard to Exchanges after an Exchange has been completed. Only the Member shall be able to rate another Member and only those Members who have agreed to and completed an Exchange. The Company shall maintain Member ratings for the purposes of aiding other Members in choosing prospective Exchange candidates.
5.5 Any Member receiving continually poor ratings may be removed from the Website and denied access to the Service at the sole discretion of the Company. The Member agrees that all decisions by the Company are final. If a Member has been removed by the Company, that Member shall forfeit any remaining membership and have no recourse, legal or otherwise, for payment, reimbursement or damages as a result of being removed from the Website and Service due to continually poor ratings.
6 PROPERTIES
6.1 If you are a Member Host, you agree:
a) to ensure that your Home is in a clean and well-kept condition for your Guest and in the same or better condition than that shown in any photos included in your Listing;
b) to hold appropriate insurance coverage in respect of your Home (and its contents) for when Guests are staying there;
c) at all times to treat your Guest with the utmost consideration, courtesy and respect; and
d) to adhere to all terms, conditions and other agreements (whether in writing, verbally or otherwise) that you have agreed with your Guest regarding the Exchange.
6.2 If you are a Member Guest, you agree:
a) to inhabit the Host Member Home in a respectful manner as if it were your Home practicing the “Golden Rule” whereby you treat their Home as you would want them to treat your Home;
b) in the event of an issue or problem with the Host Home, within 24 hours or as reasonably practical, communicate with the Host Member as to the issue, potential resolutions, etc. In such instances, you agree to allow the Host Member to resolve the issues at their discretion (unless otherwise agreed between Exchange Members);
c) in the event the issue or problem was caused by you, the Guest Member, you will promptly replace, repair or pay to correct or resolve the issue or problem (unless otherwise agreed between Exchange Members); and
d) to adhere to all terms, conditions and other agreements (whether in writing, verbally or otherwise) that you have agreed with your Host regarding the Exchange.
7 COMMUNICATIONS
7.1 The Website and Service allow Members to communicate (herein, “Communications”) with and send messages to other Members. The mechanism for doing so is outlined in the search criteria on the Website for Communication with other Members whether individually or by any other search criteria allowed by the Website.
7.2 Communications are allowed solely for the purpose of arranging Exchanges with other Members. As a Member, you agree not to send Communications that are:
a) unsolicited;
b) advertising or other commercial promotions;
c) announcements;
d) charity requests or petitions; or
e) otherwise inappropriate.
7.3 As a Member you also agree to abide by the restrictions set out in Section 3.5 when sending Communications.
8 RIGHTS GRANTED AND RESERVED
8.1 Use of the Website and Service and its contents as a Member grants no rights to the Member in relation to title or interest in the Company content, the software, the license, the Services, the Company Confidential Information, the improvements and all intellectual property rights of any kind relating thereto, including, without limitation, Content and functionality, which are and shall remain the sole and exclusive property of the Company; and neither the License, the Services nor any other right granted to the Member hereunder confers upon the Member or any other person or entity any right, title, or interest of any kind in any such Company right, title or interest, except as expressly provided herein.
8.2 As a Member you agree to grant the Company a non-exclusive, irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide basis, to use Member Content at our own discretion in any media, including, without limitation, the right to store, edit, copy, reproduce, distribute, disclose and make such Content publicly available on the Website or Service so long as such Content does not reveal the exact address location of a Member Home or reveal any Content that would expose a Member’s person or family members. If such an error is made by the Company, the Member shall notify the Company and the Company will remove the Content in question. In no circumstance shall the Company be liable in any way for errors in revealed Content except to promptly remove the Content from any public use as prompted by the Member. You further waive any moral rights you may have in relation to such Content.
8.3 As a Member you agree that the Company can edit or take down from the Website or Service without notice any Content you submit to the Company via the Website if the Company believes that it is in breach of these Terms (and will use our reasonable endeavors to promptly inform you of this). You also acknowledge that the Company does not guarantee all types of Content formats can be uploaded to the Website or Service. You are responsible for keeping copies of your Content, and the Company does not make guaranties to provide back-up copies or return any Content to you when you cease to use the Website or Service.
8.4 You agree any and all Content you submit to the Company via the Website or Service does not infringe intellectual property rights or any other rights of any third parties. You agree any and all Content you submit to the Company via the Website or Service is acceptable for public viewing, is non-offensive and without nudity or other inappropriate material. In relation to any Content you submit which includes any personal information relating to other people, for example where they appear in photographs, you also agree that you have the right to do so and have obtained all necessary consents.
8.5 You agree to compensate and defend the Company fully against any claims or legal proceedings bought against the Company by any person as a result of your breach of this Section 8 (including if you are unable to validly grant the Company the rights you agree to grant).
8.6 You acknowledge and agree that, although the Company alerts other Members that they may not misuse your Content (for example, by using it for commercial or business purposes), the Company cannot guarantee this and accepts no liability to you if it is so misused by other Members or any other third parties.
9 FEES
9.1 If you are a paying Member, you confirm that you own the credit card, debit card, bank account or other form of payment you provided the Company. The Company is not responsible for your card issuer, bank or other payment processer charging you fees as a result of the Company processing of your credit card, debit card, bank account or any other form of payment.
9.2 The various levels of membership for the Service and the corresponding membership fees are set out on the Website and are subject to change by the Company from time to time. Unless otherwise specified, no membership fee is payable for “limited access” memberships.
9.3 All membership fees are in US dollars.
9.4 No fees are payable to the Company for Member Exchanges.
9.5 This Agreement shall terminate immediately without notice when you cancel your membership (or otherwise cease to be a Member). A Member who ceases to be a Member for whatever reason shall not be entitled to any reimbursements by the Company for any fees paid by the Member to the Company prior to membership cancellation.
10 MEMBERSHIP TERM AND CANCELLATION OF MEMBERSHIP
10.1 When you choose to become a Member, your membership will begin upon completion of the necessary information to create an account. There is no limitation on the number or amount of time a Member engages in Exchanges with other Members so long as they are a trial Member or a current paying Member who’s paid membership has not expired. If a trial Member’s or a current paying Member’s term has expired and the membership will revert to a non-paying Member.
10.2 As a trial Member, you will not be prompted to enter your payment information. You will have full access to the Website and Services once you have completed the necessary profile information and created a Listing. Full access to the Website and Services as a trial Member shall continue until expiration of the trial Membership term. You will receive an “in-mail” (herein, InMail) notice through the Website and an email notice to the email of record informing you that your membership is due to expire. If a trial Member does not subscribe to become a paying Member prior to the expiration of the trial Term, the Member will become a non-paying Member. The Company is not responsible for a trial Member lapsing into non-paying Member whether the Member was notified by the Company or not.
10.3 As a paying Member, you will be prompted when creating an account to enter your payment information. Upon payment confirmation, you will instantly have full access to the Website and Services. Full access to the Website and Services as a paying Member shall continue until expiration of the paying Membership term you chose. If the “Auto Renew” option is available and you select the “Auto Renew” option on the website or in the payment gateway, you will be notified when your membership has renewed. If the payment method is no longer valid, you will receive an InMail notice through the Website and an email notice to the email of record informing you of the need to update your payment information. If you have not selected the “Auto Renew” option, you will receive an InMail notice through the Website and an email notice to the email of record informing you that your membership is due to expire. If a paying Member does not renew their subscription prior to the expiration of the Term, the Member will become a non-paying Member. The Company is not responsible for a paying Member’s subscription lapsing whether the Member was notified by the Company or not.
10.4 As a non-paying Member, you will have restricted access to the Website. Non-paying Members are not able to review other Member Listings nor will they have access to the Service (searches, InMail communications, etc.). However, a paying Member will have access to a non-paying Member’s Listing or any related search criteria that a paying Member selects that applies to a non-paying Member’s Listing. A non-paying Member will receive InMail as if they were a paying Member. In the event a paying Member sends a non-paying Member InMail, the non-paying Member must become a paying Member prior to being able to respond or reply to a paying Members InMail through the Website.
10.5 Your membership will automatically renew for a further period of 12 months or as otherwise specified (Renewal Period (as applicable) unless you notify the Company in writing or by email sent to info@seniorhomexchange.com at any time prior to the end of the Subscription Period or relevant Renewal Period (as applicable) that you do not wish your membership to renew. Such notice or email must be received by the Company by no later than the end of the Subscription Period or relevant Renewal Period (as applicable). The Company reserve the right to increase membership fees at any time, and will notify you of this by email to the address you have provided in advance of any changes taking effect.
10.6 You can check the date of the next membership fee payment due from you and/or your renewal date at any time by going to the “My Account” section of the Website. The Company may also send this information to you by email from time to time.
10.7 The Company may immediately suspend or cancel your membership and access to the Website and Service without notice and without refunding any fees if:
a) you breach any of your obligations or restrictions under these Terms;
b) you cancel an already agreed and confirmed Exchange (whether as a Guest or a Host) other than due to events or circumstances beyond your reasonable control; or
c) if bankruptcy proceedings are brought against you, or if you do not pay a court judgment on time, or if you make an arrangement with your creditors or if your assets are the subject of any form of seizure.
11 LIMITS ON THE COMPANY LIABILITY
11.1 The Company does not exclude or limit in any way Company liability for:
a) death or personal injury caused by Company negligence or the negligence of Company employees or agents;
b) fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or
c) any other matter for which it would be illegal or unlawful for the Company to exclude or attempt to exclude the Company liability.
11.2 If the Company fails to comply with these Terms, the Company is responsible for loss or damage the Member suffers that is a foreseeable result of the Company breach of these Terms or the Company negligence, but the Company is not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable. Loss or damage is foreseeable if it is an obvious consequence of the Company breach of these Terms or the Company negligence. Under any circumstance of this Section 11.2 the maximum financial liability the Company is responsible for to the Member is the amount of the current monthly or annual subscription paid by the Member at the time.
11.3 The Company is not liable to the Member for:
a) any damage to a Member’s Home (or its contents) caused by another Member;
b) any material loss, harm or bodily injury or any other form of loss to the Member as a result of an Exchange or during an Exchange arranged through the Website or the Service; or
c) any failure to provide the Service or to meet any of the Company obligations under these Terms where such failure is due to the Member’s breach of these Terms or events or circumstances beyond the Company‘s reasonable control.
11.4 While the Company takes reasonable precautions to prevent the existence of computer viruses and/or other malicious programs on the Service, the Company accepts no liability for them. While the Company takes reasonable precautions to prevent unauthorized access to Member data through hacking or other malicious attempts to access Member data on the Website or the Service, the Company accepts no liability for any breach of Member personal information obtained by such acts to the Website or the Service.
12 ACCESSING THE WEBSITE AND AVAILABILITY OF THE SERVICE
12.1 The Member is responsible for making all arrangements necessary for the Member to have access to the Website. The Member is also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access the Website through the Member internet connection are aware of these Terms and that they comply with them.
12.2 The Company provides the Service on an “as-is” basis and does not guarantee that the Service will be available or fault free and does not accept any liability for any errors or omissions. The Company may suspend or terminate the Service without notice at any time if the Company feels this is necessary (for example, for maintenance or upgrades), but will use our reasonable efforts to notify Members of the same in advance.
13 NO RELIANCE
13.1 All content on the Website (including Listings whether checked as verified on the Website or not) is provided in good faith, but the Company gives no warranty or representation that such content is accurate, complete or up-to-date (or, in the case of a Listing, provides a true representation of the relevant Home and its condition), nor that the Service does not infringe the rights of any third party. The Company accepts no responsibility or liability for your use of, or reliance on, content provided by the Company and such use is entirely at your own risk.
14 SECURITY AND LINKING
14.1 Information transmitted via the Service will pass over public telecommunications networks and the Company cannot guarantee the security of these sources of these telecommunications networks.
14.2 Your use of a web browser may subject you to various types of data gathering, analytics, artificial intelligence and other means of automation to prompt, suggest or entice you to link to other websites resulting from the use of search engine methods. The Company has no control over, nor does the Company endorse, the contents of those sites or resources nor any use of personal data by such third party and you acknowledge and agree that your use of them is at your own risk. The Company accepts no responsibility or liability for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.
15 GENERAL
15.1 The Company may assign our rights, and/or transfer or sub¬contract our obligations, under these Terms to another legal entity. These Terms are personal to you. You may not assign your rights, and/or transfer or sub-contract your obligations, under these Terms to anyone else.
15.2 Any failure or delay by the Company in exercising or enforcing any right available to the Company under these Terms does not constitute a waiver of that right or any other rights under these Terms. A waiver by the Company of any default shall not constitute a waiver of any subsequent default. No waiver by the Company shall be effective unless it is expressly stated to be a waiver and is communicated to you in writing.
15.3 If any provision of these Terms is disallowed or found to be ineffective, invalid, illegal or unenforceable by any court or regulator, the other provisions shall not be affected and shall continue to apply.
15.4 These Terms are not intended to give rights to anyone except the Parties.
15.5 These Terms are governed by laws of the State of South Dakota.
15.6 The Company will do our best to resolve any disputes with you arising out of, or in connection with, these Terms and your use of the Service. If, however, any such dispute cannot be resolved between the Company and either the Company or you wish to take court proceedings, the courts of the State of South Dakota, have exclusive jurisdiction over any claim arising from, or related to, these Terms.
15.7 Nothing in Section 15.6 will limit our right to take actions the Company deem necessary to protect the interest of the Company.
Thank you for using the Service.