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Acceptable Use Policy

TrustedHousesitters Acceptable Use Policy Last updated: 8th June 2023

Real, Caring, Connecting and Enriching Lives. Our values are at the heart of everything we do. When we talk about “we”, ‘’our’’ or ‘’us’’ in this policy, we are referring to TrustedHousesitters Ltd., the company which provides the Platform and/or Services. Please read this policy carefully before using our Platform/Services.

This Acceptable Use Policy sets out the standards that apply when you upload content to our Platform, make contact with other Members on our Platform, link to our Platform, or interact with our Platform in any other way.

We have created this Acceptable Use Policy as guidance on how we would like you to use the Platform, and how you should communicate clearly, fairly, and respectfully at all times with other Members of our community.

This Acceptable Use Policy is supplemental to and should be read in accordance with the Member Code of Conduct and our Terms of Service. Any defined terms shall have the same meaning assigned to them in the Terms of Service, unless otherwise defined. 

Some of your personal data will be published on the Platform so please do not give us any information that you would not like to be made public. For more information about how we may use your personal data, please read our privacy policy.

If we consider that any content uploaded to the Platform does not comply with this policy, we can at our absolute and sole discretion amend or remove it at any time without being required to provide any reason for our decision.

If you are unsure about this policy and have any queries, please don’t hesitate to speak to our Membership Services team via our contact us page.

CONTENT

You must make sure that anything you upload is:

  • Fair
  • Balanced
  • Factual
  • Accurate
  • A genuinely held belief
  • Generic e.g. that you list the nearest big town or nearest city, not your specific location
  • General e.g. when describing your home and location use wording such as ‘close to shops, cafes, bars and amenities’, not ‘next door to Starbucks’
  • Non-specific e.g. just a job role, not official job title (Service Executive, not Membership Service Executive at TrustedHousesitters)
  • Done with any person involved’s prior written consent
  • Compliant with the law

You must not upload any content that:

  • Includes personal information about yourself such as surnames, specific job title and employer/place of work
  • Is specific home address information such as house numbers/names
  • Is specific to your location e.g. if you live in a smaller town, where you can be identified
  • Includes specific location information e.g. directions, specific names of places (such as names of restaurants and bars) and street names
  • Includes private information such as car license number plates
  • Includes specific security information such as alarm codes, wifi codes and passwords (It is advised you discuss that information during the pre sit handover or in the owner Welcome Guide)
  • Contains children e.g. photos, videos and written information 
  • Contains other individuals without their permission e.g. photos, videos and written information
  • Promotes political opinions or Trade Union memberships
  • Includes information about anyone who is not a Member without their prior permission
  • Has anything in the background that could identify you or anyone else
  • Has sensitive information in the background such as open laptop screens, bills, personal photos (e.g. wedding photos, baby photos and general family photos)
  • Promotes discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age
  • Is threatening, abusive or invades another’s privacy, causes an annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety
  • Is likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person
  • Is defamatory of any person
  • Obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory
  • Sexually explicit
  • Promotes violence
  • Is likely to deceive any person
  • Breaches any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence
  • Promotes any illegal activity
  • Promotes any other business (including your own)
  • Reveals any confidential information (including information exchange between you and another Member)
  • Infringes any copyright, database right or trade mark of any other person
  • Knowingly transmits any data, sends or uploads any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of the Platform and any computer software or hardware

Welcome Guide information is seen only by the Owner and the confirmed Sitter (once it is shared with them). Any information you include within the Welcome Guide is at your own risk. For all Members we would encourage you to keep the information on your profile/listing generic and then when another Member gets in contact you can discuss arranging a sit in further detail, via the secure messaging system.

PLATFORM USE

You may use our platform:

  • Only for personal (non-commercial) purpose and primarily for accessing our Platform which allows users to arrange house sits as a Sitter or Owner. Use of the Platform in any other way, is not permitted. 

You may not use our Platform:

  • In any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation.
  • In any way that is unlawful or fraudulent, or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect.
  • For the purpose of harming or attempting to harm minors in any way.
  • To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material which does not comply with this Acceptable Use Policy.
  • To transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (spam).
  • To simulate communications from us or another service or entity in order to collect identity information, authentication credentials, or other information (‘phishing’).
  • To represent or suggest that we endorse any other business, product or service unless we have separately agreed to do so in writing.
  • To gain unauthorised access to or use of computers, data, systems, accounts or networks.
  • To attempt to circumvent password or user authentication methods.
  • In any manner that disrupts the operation of our Platform or business or the website or business of any other entity.

REVIEWS AND OTHER INTERACTIVE SERVICES

We may make reviews and other communication services (“Interactive Services”) available on the Platform.

We are not obliged to monitor or moderate any text, images, video, audio or other multimedia content, information or material (“Submission”) submitted to our Interactive Services. Where we do monitor or moderate Submissions we shall indicate how this is performed and who should be contacted in relation to any Submission of concern to you.

We may remove or edit any Submission to any of our Interactive Services whether they are moderated or not. The Submissions must comply with this Acceptable Use Policy, the Terms of Service and our Member Code of Conduct. 

By making a Submission, you grant to us a royalty-free, irrevocable, non-exclusive, transferable licence to use, reproduce, modify, publish, edit, translate, distribute, perform and display the Submission (in whole or in part) on the Platform, and on any other websites operated by us, indefinitely.