Terms of Service

These Terms take effect as to you, and you accept and agree to be bound by them, at the moment you first access, view, or otherwise come into contact with any part of the Service, whether or not you register an account. Your acceptance is confirmed by any access to or use of the Service, including browsing the Service, creating an account, posting or responding to a Listing, clicking "I Agree" or any similar button, or viewing, liking, commenting on, sharing, saving, following, or messaging in response to any Company social media account or post, and your continued access or use constitutes your continued acceptance. These Terms apply to whichever part of the Service you use, whether it exists now or is launched or acquired later. You must be at least eighteen (18) years old and able to form a binding contract. You use the Service, and you deal with users and third parties, entirely at your own risk. Your access or use also constitutes your express agreement, without exception, to Section 2 (Our Role), Section 5 (Your Content), and Section 9 (Risk and Release). If you do not agree to these Terms, your sole remedy is to immediately stop accessing and using the Service.

The Service is an online platform on which users may post, browse, and respond to Listings and communicate about them. The Company's sole role is that of owner and operator of the Service. The Company is not a participant in, a party to, or otherwise involved in any Listing or in any communication, viewing, negotiation, payment, transaction, or arrangement of any kind between or among users and third parties; it has no relationship with, and no control over, any user or any third party; and it is not a real estate broker, salesperson, or agent, an apartment information vendor, a property manager, a landlord, or a fiduciary of anyone. The Company does not vet, screen, investigate, or verify, and could not fully vet, screen, investigate, or verify, the identity, background, or conduct of any user, poster, or third party, the accuracy or legality of any Listing, the condition, safety, or habitability of any accommodation, or anyone's right to offer it, and the Company assumes no obligation to do any of the foregoing.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Service is provided for use entirely at your own risk, and the Company has no responsibility or liability whatsoever, without exception, for any user, poster, or third party, or for any act, omission, statement, content, listing, payment, or arrangement of any of them, and by accessing or using the Service or any asset of the Company you expressly agree to this without exception.

The Company may receive fees as described in Sections 10 and 11; its receipt of compensation does not make it a party to, or responsible for, any Listing or arrangement and is not an endorsement of any user, Listing, or third party. Nothing on the Service constitutes legal, financial, brokerage, or real estate advice.

You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete registration information, to keep your credentials confidential, and to accept responsibility for all activity under your account, and you may not transfer your account or use another person's account without the Company's written consent. Notify the Company promptly in writing of any unauthorized use of your account.

The Company communicates with users electronically. You consent to receive communications from the Company electronically, and you agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications that the Company provides to you electronically, including by email, text message, in-Service message, push notification, social media direct message, or posting on the Service, satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.

Service and relationship communications. By creating an account, posting or responding to a Listing, purchasing a subscription, or otherwise providing the Company with an email address, telephone number, or social media handle, you consent to the Company and its service providers contacting you at each email address, telephone number, and social media or messaging account you provide or use to interact with the Service, by email, telephone call, text message (including SMS and MMS), in-Service message, push notification, and direct message on any social media or messaging platform, for purposes relating to the Service and your relationship with the Company, including administrative, account, security, billing, and transactional messages; messages about your Listings, subscriptions, payments, and roommate matches; responses to your inquiries; requests for feedback, ratings, reviews, testimonials, and survey participation; and invitations to refer friends and other prospective users to the Service. These service and relationship communications are part of the Service, and you may not opt out of those reasonably necessary to its operation, such as security and billing notices, while you maintain an account.

Marketing communications. The Company and its service providers may send you marketing and promotional communications by email, including communications announcing or promoting new features, products, services, events, offers, and promotions, and you may unsubscribe at any time as described below. The Company sends marketing and promotional text messages only where you have provided prior express written consent, such as by checking an unchecked opt-in box or taking another affirmative action indicating agreement, and by providing that consent you authorize the Company and its service providers to send recurring marketing and promotional text messages (including SMS and MMS) to the telephone numbers you provide, including through the use of an automatic telephone dialing system or other automated technology. Your consent to receive marketing text messages is not a condition of any purchase or of using the Service. Message and data rates may apply, and message frequency varies. You are responsible for all charges imposed by your carrier or plan, and neither the Company nor any carrier is liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Opting out. You may opt out of marketing emails through the unsubscribe mechanism included in each marketing email, and out of marketing text messages by replying STOP to any marketing text message or as otherwise instructed in the message; you may reply HELP for help. Opting out through one channel does not opt you out of other channels, and opting out of marketing communications does not affect service and relationship communications. The Company will process opt-out requests within the time required by applicable law.

Your contact information. You represent and warrant that each telephone number and email address you provide is your own and accurate, that you are the subscriber or customary user of each telephone number you provide, and that you will promptly notify the Company and update your account if you change, deactivate, or relinquish any telephone number you have provided. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Company is not responsible for communications sent to a telephone number you provided if you fail to provide that notice. Direct messages sent through any social media platform are also subject to that platform's terms and policies.

"User Content" means all Listings, text, photographs, messages, and other materials you submit through the Service. You retain ownership of your User Content and grant the Company a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, fully paid, transferable, and sublicensable (including through multiple tiers) license to host, store, reproduce, modify, adapt, reformat, excerpt, crop, caption, translate, publish, display, perform, distribute, create derivative works of, and promote it, in whole or in part, in any media or format now known or later developed, in connection with the Service and the Company's business, marketing, and promotion, including on the Company's social media accounts and channels (including Instagram). This license is perpetual and irrevocable, is granted without any obligation of compensation or attribution to you or any other person, and survives the removal of any Listing or other User Content, the deactivation, termination, or deletion of your account, and any termination of these Terms. You represent and warrant that you have all rights necessary to submit your User Content and grant this license, that every person who appears in or contributed to your User Content has consented to the uses described in this Section 5 (including publication to the Company's social media channels), that it is accurate and not misleading, that it does not violate any third party's rights, and that it complies with these Terms and all applicable laws, including Sections 6 and 7. You are solely responsible for your User Content, and the Company does not endorse and is not liable for it. Each time you submit, post, or modify User Content, you reaffirm the license, consents, and waivers set forth in this Section 5.

Social media publication; perpetual display. You acknowledge and agree that the Company may publish your User Content, including Listings, photographs, videos, and descriptions, to the Company's social media accounts and channels, including Instagram, with or without attribution, and that any post or other publication containing or based on your User Content may remain posted, visible, and publicly available indefinitely and in perpetuity, in the Company's sole and absolute discretion, including after the accommodation described in a Listing has been rented or otherwise becomes unavailable, after the Listing or other User Content is removed from the Service, after your account is deactivated, terminated, or deleted, and after these Terms terminate as to you. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you irrevocably and unconditionally waive, relinquish, and agree never to assert any right to require the Company to remove, delete, edit, modify, archive, disable, or take down any such post or publication, and any request that the Company do so may be granted or refused in the Company's sole and absolute discretion. Removing a Listing or other User Content from the Service, deleting or deactivating your account, or making any request under Section 13 does not affect any publication already made and does not terminate, revoke, or limit the license granted in this Section 5. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you irrevocably waive all moral rights and any rights of attribution, integrity, and withdrawal in and to your User Content as used by the Company, and you agree that the Company has no obligation to publish, maintain, display, restore, or credit any User Content and no obligation to compensate you or any other person for any use permitted by these Terms. This Section 5 survives any termination of your account or of these Terms.

You must comply at all times with all applicable fair housing and anti-discrimination laws, including the federal Fair Housing Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the New York State Human Rights Law, and the New York City Human Rights Law. You may not post or communicate through the Service any Listing, advertisement, or statement that states, indicates, or suggests any preference, limitation, or discrimination based on race, color, religion or creed, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, familial status, presence of children, pregnancy, disability, age, marital or partnership status, lawful source of income (including housing vouchers and public assistance), lawful occupation, citizenship or immigration status, military or veteran status, status as a victim of domestic violence, height, weight, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Whether or not any statutory exemption applies to a shared living arrangement, the Company may reject, remove, or require the modification of any content in its sole discretion, and you remain solely responsible for your own compliance. The Company may suspend or terminate any user, and may report content or conduct to governmental authorities, in connection with any actual or suspected violation of this Section 6.

If you post a Listing, you represent and warrant that: you have the legal right and authority to offer the arrangement described; you have obtained every consent and approval required by your lease or proprietary lease, by applicable law (including New York Real Property Law Section 226-b where applicable), and by any landlord, owner, managing agent, cooperative board, condominium board, or homeowners' association; the Listing and any resulting arrangement comply with all rent stabilization, rent control, and other rent regulation requirements, including any limits on the rent chargeable to a subtenant; they comply with all laws governing short-term and transient occupancy; and all information in the Listing is accurate. The Company may require proof of any right, consent, or approval, or additional identity verification, as a condition of posting or maintaining any Listing or account. If you view or respond to a Listing, you are solely responsible for your own due diligence, including verifying the lister's identity and authority, reviewing the underlying lease and required consents, inspecting the accommodation, and confirming the lawfulness of the arrangement, before making any payment or signing any agreement. The Company verifies none of the foregoing and does not provide legal advice; users are solely responsible for their own legal compliance and for any required registrations, permits, filings, and taxes.

You may not use the Service for any unlawful, fraudulent, deceptive, or harmful purpose; post any false, misleading, or unauthorized Listing; harass, threaten, defame, or abuse any person; post infringing, obscene, or otherwise objectionable content; circumvent, disable, or interfere with any security or content-review feature, including any approval or moderation process; scrape or use automated means to access the Service or collect content or user information; use any content or data from the Service to train, develop, or improve any artificial intelligence or machine learning model; impersonate any person or misrepresent your affiliation; send spam; or attempt unauthorized access to the Service, other accounts, or the Company's systems. The Company reserves the right, but has no obligation, to review, screen, monitor, pre-approve, edit, refuse, remove, or restore any User Content at any time, for any reason or no reason, with or without notice; no review, approval, or publication constitutes an endorsement, verification, or determination of accuracy or legality, and none creates any duty of care to you or to any third party. The Company's decisions regarding the review, approval, refusal, removal, or restoration of content are final, and the Company has no liability for moderating or for declining to moderate. The Service is an interactive computer service; User Content is the sole responsibility of the user who provided it, and, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, including 47 U.S.C. Section 230, the Company shall not be treated as the publisher or speaker of, and shall have no liability for, any User Content.

You are solely responsible for your interactions with other users and third parties, including meetings, viewings, negotiations, payments, deposits, and living arrangements; the Company does not and could not fully vet, screen, or verify any user or third party, performs no background checks, and makes no representations about anyone or anyone's conduct. The Company does not process, hold, escrow, or guarantee any payments or deposits between users or third parties and has no responsibility for any payment made, promised, lost, or misapplied; never send funds to anyone whose identity and authority you have not verified.

The Service, all Listings, and all interactions with users and third parties are used and undertaken entirely at your own risk. You assume all risk arising out of your use of the Service and any Listing, interaction, or arrangement, including the risk that no user, poster, Listing, or third party has been or could be fully vetted by the Company, and including the risk of fraud or misrepresentation, personal injury, property damage, financial loss, lost or misapplied payments or deposits, rent overcharge, unlawful sublet or occupancy, eviction or other loss of housing, and lease or occupancy disputes. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you release, waive, and forever discharge the Company and its affiliates, and each of their respective officers, directors, managers, members, employees, agents, and representatives (the "Company Parties"), from any and all claims, known or unknown, arising out of or relating to any Listing or User Content, any interaction, transaction, payment, arrangement, or dispute with any user or third party, any accommodation described on or arranged through the Service, or the acts or omissions of any user, landlord, owner, managing agent, tenant, subtenant, broker, or other third party, in each case whether or not the Company received any fee or other compensation in connection with it.

You waive the protection of any statute or doctrine that would limit a general release to known claims, including California Civil Code Section 1542 if applicable to you.

The Company may charge and receive fees and other compensation in connection with the Service, including listing, subscription (including the recurring Roommate Finder subscription described in Section 11), featured-placement, advertising, or other fees, as described on the Service from time to time. Fees are non-refundable except as stated at the time of purchase or required by law; the Company may introduce or change fees prospectively upon reasonable notice; and you are responsible for applicable taxes. If you dispute a charge with your card issuer or bank, including by initiating a chargeback, without first contacting the Company, the Company may suspend or terminate your account and refuse future service. The Company's receipt of compensation creates no duty to any user or third party, and the Company will disclose compensated third-party relationships where required by applicable law.

The roommate matching features of the Service (the "Roommate Finder") are offered as a paid subscription. The subscription price, any free trial or promotional terms, and any additional purchase conditions are disclosed at the point of purchase and form part of these Terms.

Automatic renewal; recurring monthly charges. The Roommate Finder is a recurring monthly subscription, not a one-time purchase. By purchasing a subscription, you authorize the Company and its payment processors to charge the payment method you provide the monthly subscription fee then in effect, plus any applicable taxes, on the date of purchase and again on each monthly renewal date thereafter. Billing is continuous: your subscription continues and renews automatically each month, and your payment method will continue to be charged each month, unless and until you cancel. You acknowledge that you understand that you will be billed monthly on a continuous basis unless and until you cancel, and that you may cancel at any time as described below.

Your purchase requires your separate affirmative consent to these automatic renewal terms, such as by checking a box presented at checkout, and the Company will provide you an acknowledgment of the automatic renewal terms, the cancellation policy, and how to cancel, in a form you can retain.

Cancellation. You may cancel your subscription at any time, for any reason or no reason, through your account settings on the Service, which include an online cancellation mechanism, or by notice to the Company as provided in Section 17. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the then-current monthly billing period, and you will retain access to the Roommate Finder through the end of that period. Except as required by applicable law or expressly stated at the time of purchase, fees already charged are non-refundable and no refunds or credits are given for partial billing periods.

Payment method. You must keep your payment information current, complete, and accurate. You authorize the Company and its payment processors to retry any failed or declined charge, to obtain updated card information from your card issuer or through account updater services, and to charge the updated payment method. If a charge fails and is not promptly cured, the Company may suspend or terminate your subscription or your access to the Roommate Finder without limiting your obligation to pay amounts due.

Changes; trials. The Company may change the subscription fee or materially change the subscription on a prospective basis by giving you advance notice by reasonable means, including email, at least as far in advance as applicable law requires, together with clear information about how to cancel; the change takes effect on the first renewal after the notice period, and your continued subscription after the change takes effect constitutes acceptance. If you do not agree to a change, your sole remedy is to cancel before it takes effect. If a free trial or promotional rate is offered, its terms, including when the standard monthly fee begins, will be disclosed at signup, and unless you cancel before the end of the trial or promotional period, your subscription converts automatically and your payment method will be charged the standard monthly fee.

The Service and all materials in it other than User Content, including software, designs, text, graphics, logos, and trademarks, and all Company content published through its social media channels, are owned by the Company or its licensors and protected by law. You receive only a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for personal, non-commercial purposes, and you grant the Company a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use any feedback you provide. The Company may remove allegedly infringing material and will, in appropriate circumstances, terminate repeat infringers.

Copyright complaints. If you believe that material on the Service infringes your copyright, send to the Company's designated copyright agent (whose contact information is posted on the Service and on file with the U.S. Copyright Office) a written notification that includes: your physical or electronic signature; identification of the copyrighted work claimed to be infringed; identification of the material claimed to be infringing and information reasonably sufficient to permit the Company to locate it; your address, telephone number, and email address; a statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and a statement that the information in the notification is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are the owner of the copyright or authorized to act on the owner's behalf, consistent with 17 U.S.C. Section 512(c)(3). Upon receipt of a compliant notification, the Company may remove or disable access to the identified material and will take reasonable steps to notify the user who posted it. That user may submit a counter-notification meeting the requirements of 17 U.S.C. Section 512(g)(3), and the Company may restore the material as permitted by law. Any person who knowingly materially misrepresents that material is infringing, or that material was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, may be liable under 17 U.S.C. Section 512(f).

This Section 13 is the Company's privacy policy and forms part of these Terms.

Information we collect: information you provide (such as your name, email address, phone number, account details, Listings, photographs, messages, roommate matching information you choose to provide (such as your profile photograph, maximum budget, age, gender, desired neighborhoods, move-in timing, industry, pastimes, and your answers and importance ratings in the roommate compatibility questionnaire), and any payment-related details you submit) and information collected automatically (such as IP address, device and browser information, pages viewed, and interactions with the Service, including through cookies and similar technologies and third-party analytics providers).

How we use it: to operate, maintain, secure, and improve the Service; to create and display Listings and enable communications between users; to operate the roommate matching features described in Section 11, including to compute compatibility scores, to apply the filters and preferences that you and other users select, and to display limited profile and compatibility information to prospective matches; to review and moderate content, including for compliance with Section 6; to communicate with you as described in Section 4, including service and relationship communications, requests for feedback, reviews, and referrals, and, where any consent required by applicable law has been given, marketing; to detect and prevent fraud and abuse; and to comply with law and enforce these Terms.

How we share it: Listings and other content you post are visible to other users and the public, and User Content published to the Company's social media channels is public, may be viewed, shared, reposted, and indexed by others and by search engines, is subject to each platform's own terms and policies, and may remain available as described in Section 5; if you use the roommate matching features, limited elements of your roommate profile (such as your profile photograph, name, and compatibility indicators) are displayed to prospective matches, individual questionnaire answers are used for scoring and surfaced to other users only as limited compatibility labels, certain attributes are used only for scoring and are not displayed, and your individual questionnaire answers are not published to the Company's social media channels; we share information with service providers that support the Service (such as hosting, analytics, communications, and payment providers); with governmental authorities or others when we believe in good faith that disclosure is required by law or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of the Company, our users, or others; in connection with a merger, financing, acquisition, or sale of assets; and otherwise with your consent. We do not sell personal information. Mobile telephone numbers, text message opt-in data, and consent to receive text messages are not shared with or sold to any third party or affiliate for its own marketing or promotional purposes, and are shared only with service providers acting on the Company's behalf as necessary to deliver messages and operate the Service. We may use and share aggregated or de-identified information that does not reasonably identify you. Like most websites, we do not respond to Do Not Track browser signals.

Cookies: you may limit cookies through your browser settings, but parts of the Service may not function properly without them.

Retention and security: we retain information as needed for the purposes described above and as required by law, except that if you leave the roommate matching pool your roommate profile and questionnaire responses are deleted from the Company's active database, subject to residual copies retained for a limited period in routine backups and logs and to any retention required by law or for the establishment or defense of legal claims, and we use reasonable safeguards to protect it, but no method of transmission or storage is completely secure and we cannot guarantee security.

Your choices: you may request access to, correction of, or deletion of your account information by written request to the Company delivered as provided in Section 17, subject to legal retention requirements, and where applicable law grants you additional rights we will honor them as required. Requests to delete account information do not apply to User Content published to the Company's social media channels, which is governed by Section 5, and you may opt out of marketing communications as described in Section 4.

Children: the Service is not directed to anyone under eighteen (18), and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under eighteen (18). Changes to this privacy policy may be made as provided in Section 17.

The Service, all content made available through it, and all Listings are provided "as is" and "as available," without warranties of any kind, express, implied, or statutory, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, quiet enjoyment, habitability, accuracy, and uninterrupted or error-free operation. The Company makes no warranty or representation regarding any user, Listing, accommodation, match, or arrangement, has not vetted and could not fully vet any user, poster, Listing, accommodation, or third party, any person's right to offer or enter into any arrangement, or the compliance of any Listing or arrangement with applicable law.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law: the Company Parties will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for any loss of profits, revenue, data, goodwill, or housing opportunity; the Company Parties will not be liable for any act or omission of any user or third party, any User Content, or any arrangement between users or between a user and a third party, whether or not the Company received any compensation in connection with it; and the aggregate liability of the Company Parties for all claims relating to the Service or these Terms will not exceed the greater of the amounts you paid the Company in the twelve (12) months before the event giving rise to the claim and one hundred U.S. dollars (US $100). These limitations apply even if any limited remedy fails of its essential purpose and apply to the fullest extent permitted in your jurisdiction.

The Service may contain links, including links shared by users in Listings or messages, to third-party websites and services that the Company does not control. You access them at your own risk, the Company is not responsible or liable for them, and your use of any third-party platform, including any social media platform, is also subject to that platform's own terms.

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless the Company Parties from and against all claims, demands, damages, losses, liabilities, judgments, settlements, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or relating to your User Content, your use of the Service, your violation of these Terms or of any applicable law (including any law described in Sections 6 and 7), your violation of any third party's rights, any interaction, transaction, payment, arrangement, or dispute between you and any user or third party, or any unlawful sublet, assignment, share, or occupancy arrangement in which you participate. The Company may assume the exclusive defense and control of any such matter at your expense, and you may not settle any such matter without the Company's prior written consent.

These Terms, and any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to the Service, any User Content, or these Terms, are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict of laws principles. Any such dispute must be resolved exclusively by the state or federal courts located in New York County, New York, and you and the Company each consent to the personal jurisdiction of, and venue in, those courts and waive any objection based on an inconvenient forum, except that the Company may seek preliminary, injunctive, or other equitable relief in any court of competent jurisdiction to protect its intellectual property or to enforce Sections 6, 7, or 8.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you and the Company each waive any right to a trial by jury, and any dispute resolution proceeding will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class, consolidated, or representative action.

The Company may suspend or terminate your account or access to the Service at any time, with or without cause or notice; provisions that by their nature survive termination, including Sections 2 and 4 through 17, survive. The Company may modify the Service or these Terms at any time; material changes will be noticed by reasonable means, such as posting the updated Terms with a new Last Updated date or requiring renewed acceptance, and your continued use after changes take effect is acceptance; and these Terms continue to apply to the Service as it may be renamed, rebranded, redesigned, expanded, migrated, or succeeded.

Any notice or demand to the Company must be in writing and delivered by certified mail, return receipt requested, or by nationally recognized overnight courier, to the Company at its address for service of process on file with the New York Department of State, and is effective only upon actual receipt; the Company may give any notice to you electronically, including by email to the address associated with your account, by text message to a telephone number associated with your account, or by posting on the Service, and such notice is effective when sent or posted and satisfies any requirement of a writing. These Terms are the entire agreement between you and the Company regarding the Service, and you acknowledge that you have not relied on any statement or representation not expressly set out in these Terms; you may not assign these Terms, and the Company may; no failure to enforce any provision is a waiver; any unenforceable provision will be enforced to the maximum permissible extent and the remainder will stand; the Company is not liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond its reasonable control; the Company Parties are intended third-party beneficiaries of Sections 2, 9, 14, and 15; and headings have no legal effect.