Terms of Service

1. What Roompal is, and what it is not

1. Roompal is an online marketplace. It helps renters find rooms, apartments, condos, boarding houses and transient spaces, helps landlords list them, and lets parents and other guarantors support a renter's application.
2. Roompal is not a landlord, lessor, real estate broker, agent or property manager. We do not own, operate, inspect or manage any listed property, and we do not negotiate leases on anyone's behalf.
3. A lease or booking is a contract between the renter and the landlord (and the guarantor, if any). Roompal is not a party to it and is not responsible for either side performing it.
4. Roompal provides lease templates and an e-signing tool for convenience. They are not legal advice. Read every agreement before you sign, and get your own legal advice if you need it.

2. Who may use Roompal

1. You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter into a binding contract under Philippine law.
2. You may hold one account. One account can carry the renter, landlord and guarantor roles, and you can switch between them.
3. You may not use Roompal if we have previously banned you, or if the law prohibits you from using it.

3. Your account

1. You can sign up with an email address and password, a phone number, Google, or another sign-in option we offer. You must give accurate information and keep it up to date.
2. Keep your sign-in details secure. You are responsible for activity on your account unless it results from our failure to protect it. Tell us at once at roompal.ph@gmail.com if you think someone else has accessed it.
3. Before we give you a role, we ask you to accept the documents that apply to it. We keep a record of which version you accepted and when.

4. Identity and property verification

1. To use some features, you must verify your identity with a government ID and a selfie. Landlords may also be asked to submit property documents, such as a title or deed, barangay clearance and fire safety certificate.
2. Our staff review what you submit by hand. A "Verified" badge means the documents we saw appeared genuine and matched at the time of review. It does not guarantee a person's identity, honesty, finances or behaviour, or the condition or legal status of a property.
3. Always use your own judgement. View a property, in person or by video, before you pay or sign.
4. We may refuse, suspend or remove a verification badge if we have reason to doubt it.

5. Renters

1. When you apply for a listing, the landlord can see your application, your answers to their questions, and your Renter Resume, including any documents you uploaded. Only upload documents you are willing to share with landlords you apply to.
2. You may withdraw an application until the landlord approves it. After approval, you must settle any change directly with the landlord.
3. Messaging with a landlord opens after you apply. Premium members can send a limited number of InMail messages before applying.
4. The exact address of a listing is shared only after your application is approved. Do not share it with others.

6. Landlords

If you list a property, the Landlord Policy also applies to you. In short: you must have the right to rent out the property, your listing must be accurate, you must treat applicants fairly and lawfully, and you must use applicants' information only to assess their application.

7. Guarantors

If you act as a guarantor or co-signer, the Guarantor Terms also apply to you. Co-signing a lease can make you legally responsible for the renter's unpaid rent and damage.

8. Leases, bookings and e-signatures

1. When you sign an agreement in the app, you agree that your electronic signature (a typed name, with or without a drawn signature) has the same legal effect as a handwritten one, under the Electronic Commerce Act (RA 8792).
2. To prove what was signed, we record the exact text, a fingerprint (hash) of it, the time, and the IP address and device information of each signer. We give each party a PDF copy.
3. Disputes about a lease or booking, such as rent, repairs, deposits or move-out, are between the parties. We may help by sharing records we hold, if the law allows, but we do not decide them.

9. Payments, credits and Premium

1. Rent, advance, deposits and stay payments are paid directly to the landlord. Roompal does not collect or hold them.
2. Landlords buy listing credits, and renters may subscribe to Renter Premium, through the App Store or Google Play.
3. Pricing, renewals, cancellations and refunds are covered by the Payments, Subscriptions and Refund Policy.

10. Features not yet available

Some features shown in the app, such as in-app rent payments, the landlord wallet and bank payouts, guarantor payments, video calls, Spaces videos and referral rewards, may be marked as coming soon or be limited to testing. They are not part of the Service until we announce them, and these Terms or a separate notice will cover them then.

11. Your content

1. "Your content" means what you post or upload, such as listings, photos, videos, profile details, resume entries, documents and messages. You keep ownership of it.
2. You give Roompal a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence, worldwide and for as long as it is on the Service, to store, copy, resize, watermark, display and transmit your content in order to operate, secure and improve the Service. For public listing content (photos, videos, descriptions and price), this licence also lets us show it in search results, share links and Roompal's own promotion of the Service. It ends when you delete the content or your account, except for copies other users have already received or that we must keep by law.
3. You confirm you have the rights to your content, and that it does not break the law or anyone's rights.
4. We do not pre-screen everything, but we may review, edit for formatting or accuracy, hide or remove content that we believe breaks these Terms or the law.

12. Rules of conduct

You must follow the Community Guidelines. You also must not:

• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose, including fraud or a rental scam
• Collect other users' data, or scrape, crawl or copy listings by automated means
• Copy, modify, reverse engineer or resell the app, except where the law allows
• Interfere with the Service's security, including App Check, rate limits or watermarks
• Use another person's account, ID or payment method
• Create fake accounts, applications, listings, reports or reviews

13. Messages and notifications

1. Messages are stored so the Service works and so we can investigate reports. Authorised Roompal staff can read a conversation only when it has been reported, for a limited time and a recorded reason.
2. We send push notifications about messages, applications and viewings. You can change these in Settings. We send marketing messages only if you opt in.

14. Ads

The free version of the app shows ads provided by Google AdMob. Renter Premium removes them. Ads are marked "Advertisement". Roompal does not endorse advertised products, and your dealings with an advertiser are between you and them.

15. Suspension and termination

1. We may warn you, remove content, limit features, suspend or permanently close your account if you break these Terms, if the law requires it, or if needed to protect other users or Roompal. We will tell you the reason unless the law or a safety concern prevents us.
2. If you think a decision is wrong, write to roompal.ph@gmail.com within 30 days and a different staff member will review it.
3. You can close your account at any time from Profile, Delete Account. The Account and Data Deletion Policy explains what happens next.
4. Sections 1, 8, 11 (for content already shared), 16 to 21 and any obligation you owe under a lease or to another user survives the end of your account.

16. Roompal's intellectual property

The Service, including the Roompal name, logo, the Roomeo mascot, the app's design and software, belongs to Roompal or its licensors. We give you a personal, non-transferable, revocable licence to use the app for its intended purpose. You may not use our brand without written permission.

17. Third-party services

The Service relies on third parties such as Google (Firebase sign-in, Maps and Places, AdMob), Apple and Google app stores, and the sign-in provider you choose. Their own terms apply to your use of them, and we are not responsible for them.

18. Disclaimers

To the extent the law allows, the Service is provided "as is" and "as available". We do not guarantee that:

• Listings, prices, availability or descriptions are accurate, or that a property is safe, legal or fit to live in
• Any user is who they claim to be, will pay, will hand over a unit, or will return a deposit
• The Service will be uninterrupted, error-free or free of harmful components

Nothing in these Terms excludes a warranty or right that you have under the Consumer Act of the Philippines (RA 7394) or other law that cannot be waived.

19. Limitation of liability

1. To the extent the law allows, Roompal is not liable for indirect, incidental or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, data or opportunity.
2. Roompal is not liable for loss caused by another user, including unpaid rent, damage to property, a lost deposit, or a listing that turns out to be false.
3. Our total liability to you for any claim is limited to the greater of (a) what you paid Roompal in the 12 months before the claim and (b) ₱[amount to be provided].
4. These limits do not apply to liability for fraud, gross negligence, wilful misconduct, death or personal injury, or anything else the law does not allow us to limit.

20. Indemnity

You agree to cover Roompal's reasonable losses and legal costs from a third-party claim caused by your breach of these Terms, your content, or your dealings with another user, except to the extent Roompal caused them.

21. Governing law and disputes

1. These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of the Philippines.
2. Before going to court, contact roompal.ph@gmail.com and give us 30 days to try to resolve the dispute informally.
3. If it is not resolved, the courts of [city to be provided], Philippines, have jurisdiction, without affecting your right to file a complaint with the Department of Trade and Industry, the National Privacy Commission, or another government agency.

22. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. For a material change, we will notify you in the app at least 15 days before it takes effect, and ask you to accept the new version. If you do not accept it, you may close your account. The version you accepted and its date are kept on your account.

23. Apple App Store users

If you downloaded the app from the Apple App Store: these Terms are between you and Roompal, not Apple. Apple has no obligation to provide maintenance or support for the app. Apple is not responsible for any claim about the app, including product liability, legal compliance or intellectual property claims. If the app fails to meet a warranty, you may notify Apple for a refund of the purchase price, if any, and Apple has no other warranty obligation. Apple and its subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms and may enforce them against you.

24. General

If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest stays in force. Our failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it. You may not transfer these Terms; we may transfer them to a successor of the Service, with notice to you. These Terms are written in English; any translation is for convenience, and the English version governs.

25. Contact us

Roompal Real Estate Intermediary Services, [business address to be provided], Philippines. Email: roompal.ph@gmail.com