Homeowner User Agreement
Thank you for accessing our Service at http://www.thehabitablezone.ie (the “Website“). Please read this Agreement carefully as it governs your use of the Service. Do not use the Service unless you wish to be bound by this Agreement.
The Service is for use in the Ireland only. You must not access the Service from any other jurisdiction. You are responsible for all compliance with laws and regulations which apply to you.
This Agreement was last modified on 19 July 2014.
- Definitions
- Service Content
- Use of the Service
- Links and User Content
- Use of Information
- Arrangements with Trade Businesses
- Intellectual Property Rights
- Indemnity
- Limitation of Liability
- Our Rights
- General
Definitions
We are The Habitable Zone: Energy Management Solutions. Co. Reg. 423577 and our registered office is at Westmount, Church Road, Tramore, Co Waterford. Where we refer to ourselves in this Agreement, this is also taken to include (where the context allows) our group companies, affiliates, and our and/or their employees, associated and contracted persons, and persons supplying services to us or them. You can contact us via our online contact form.
Where we refer to you in this Agreement, this also includes any person that accesses or uses our Service on your behalf. The “Agreement” includes the terms set out here and the Privacy Policy as made available via the internet and/or our “Apps” from time to time.
Our “Apps” are The Habitable Zone ‘HomeApp’, ‘AutoApp’, ‘QuoteApp’ applications and any other application that we release (each as modified and/or updated by us from time to time).
The “Service” consists of the Website, our Apps, any pages we operate on third party social media applications, and the content and services we make available through them via the internet, mobile devices including smart phones and tablets, and/or interactive television devices and services, together with the provision by us of associated information, products and services by e-mail, telephone, fax or mail.
Any person using the Service to promote their services (except us) shall be a “Service Providers or Preferred Contractors“. As part of receiving the Service, you may from time to time upload information to the Service or otherwise provide us or other users of the Service with information relating to you or your subcontractors (including by communicating via the Communities) (“Homeowner Information“).
Service Content
The vast majority of the material on the Service originates from our users, and we rely on Homeowners to accurately describe their requirements for any projects for which they invite tenders from Service Providers. We have little or no editorial control over the material and we therefore cannot guarantee the accuracy, timeliness, completeness, performance or fitness for any particular purpose of the material available through the Service. We cannot accept responsibility for errors, omissions, or inaccurate material available through the Service, and make no warranty that the Service will be uninterrupted or error free, or that any defects will be corrected.
Whilst we take steps to prevent misuse of our systems, we cannot warrant that the Service will be free of viruses or other malicious code and accept no liability for loss or damage caused from the transmission of such code. We recommend that you always use up-to-date firewalls and anti-virus software to protect your equipment and data.
We do recommend Service providers, however the recommendation is based on our current understanding of their compliance in the following areas :
- Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) Registered Contractors
- Fully Qualified
- Fully Insured
- Tax Compliant
- Full Warranty on work carried out
- Work subject to random quality inspection
- Registered for home improvements grants
Any material you obtain from the Service is used at your own risk, and we will not be liable for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection with access or use of the Service (except to the extent that such liability cannot be excluded by law).
Use of the Service
You are responsible for ensuring that you are legally entitled to publish any information which you upload. You may only use the Service to invite tenders for genuine Projects where you have authority to appoint one or more Service providers and your intention is to do so subject to agreeing appropriate terms. You may not invite tenders for any Project which is not legal.
It is your responsibility to select a suitable Service Provider and to negotiate the terms of any Project to be performed by the Service Provider selected. We do not guarantee any specific Service Providers information, accreditation, or registration. We make no warranty regarding any goods or services purchased or obtained through listing a Project on the Service or any transactions entered into through the Service, and you should in all cases make your own enquiries. In particular, it is your responsibility to carry out appropriate checks on any Service Provider that you are considering engaging and to request evidence of relevant trade or industry accreditations, and to satisfy yourself that the Service Provider is solvent and has appropriately qualified and certified personnel to complete the Project prior to contracting. You should not engage any Service Provider or make any deposit or other payment to them without having conducted such checks to your full satisfaction. While our hope is that you will be happy with every Service Provider you find through the Service, you should not engage any Service Provider if you have any doubts or concerns about it.
We will not be a party to any contract made between you and any Service Provider and therefore we shall not be liable for any loss or damage that results from any dealings between you and any Service Provider including but not limited to any direct, indirect or consequential or inconsequential loss of any kind.
You agree not to use the Service in any unlawful manner and in particular shall not:
- defame, abuse, harass, stalk, threaten or otherwise violate the legal rights (including rights of privacy and publicity) of others;
- publish, post, upload, distribute or disseminate (“Post”) any inappropriate, defamatory, abusive, infringing, obscene, discriminatory or otherwise unlawful material;
- Post any material that infringes any patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret or other proprietary right of any person;
- Post any corrupted files, files that contain viruses, or any other code that may damage the operation of a computer or other electronic device;
- conduct or forward surveys, contests other than in Communities (as defined below) intended for such uses, and shall not forward pyramid schemes or chain letters;
- download any file Posted by another user of a forum that the user knows, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally distributed in such manner;
- impersonate another person or entity, or falsify or delete any author attributions, legal or other proper notices or proprietary designations or labels of the original or source of software or other material contained in a file that is Posted;
- cause the Service to be interrupted, damaged, rendered less efficient or such that the effectiveness or functionality of the Service is in any way impaired; or
- restrict or inhibit any other user from using and enjoying the Service.
You agree that you will comply with the Privacy Policy.
Links and User Content
It is not possible for us to review all websites which are linked to from the Service (or link to the Service), and you should therefore take care when following any link. We cannot accept liability for any loss or damage that may be suffered as a result of following any links. You agree not to Post links to any websites.
You are responsible for your own communications and for any consequences arising out of them.
Use of Information
You are solely responsible for the content, accuracy, and completeness of the Homeowner Information, and agree only to provide true, accurate, current and complete information.
You acknowledge that we may edit, modify or remove any parts of Homeowner Information which we consider is in breach of any of the provisions of this Agreement, and/or suspend or terminate your access to the Service without notice.
You consent to information about the device you use to access the Service being collected and processed for fraud prevention purposes and we may use third parties (and information they provide) to help us prevent fraud or unauthorised access to our Service.
You agree not to copy, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, distribute or publicly display any content (except for your Homeowner Information) from the Service without our prior written permission.
Arrangements with Service Providers
Should you have a dispute with a Service Provider, you must address such dispute directly to the Service Provider concerned. However, you agree to notify the details of the dispute to us as soon as reasonably practicable.
We may decide to investigate any grievances held by you or by Service Providers and may discuss any such investigation with all involved parties. We may take any lawful action we deem necessary in the event of a grievance, but likely outcomes of a grievance investigation include:
- you and the Service Provider being allowed to continue using the Service;
- your and/or the Service Provider access to the Service being suspended for a period of time;
- your and/or the Service Provider access to the Service being terminated and banned for a definite or indefinite period.
Save as provided above, we cannot be involved in your dealings with Service Providers and, in the event that you have a dispute with one or more Service Providers, you hereby release us from any and all claims, demands and damages of every kind and nature, known and unknown, suspected and unsuspected, disclosed and undisclosed, arising out of or in any way connected with such disputes.
Intellectual Property Rights
You acknowledge that all present and future copyright and other intellectual property rights subsisting in, or used in connection with, the Service and any part of it (the “Rights“), including the manner in which the Service is presented or appears and all information and documentation relating to it is our property (or that of our licensors), and nothing in this Agreement shall be taken to transfer any of the Rights to you.
Solely for the purposes of receiving the Service, we hereby grant to you for the period during which the Service is provided a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use the Rights.
Indemnity
It is your responsibility to ensure that you are entitled to provide the Homeowner Information and you therefore agree to indemnify us against any and all expenses, damages and losses of any kind (including reasonable legal fees and costs) incurred by us in connection with any actual or threatened claims of any kind (including without limitation any claim of trademark or copyright infringement, defamation, breach of confidentiality, false or misleading advertising or sales practices) arising from your provision of Homeowner Information.
We shall indemnify you against any and all expenses, damages and losses of any kind (including reasonable legal fees and costs) incurred by you in connection with any actual or threatened claims of any kind (including without limitation any claim of trademark or copyright infringement, defamation, breach of confidentiality, false or misleading advertising or sales practices) that any material on the Service generated and uploaded by us infringes the intellectual property of any third party.
Limitation of Liability
Notwithstanding any other provision, nothing in this Agreement shall exclude or limit either party’s liability for death or personal injury caused by that party’s negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.
If you are dissatisfied with the Service, or the terms of this Agreement, your sole remedy under this Agreement shall be to discontinue use of the Service.
Without limiting the foregoing, we shall have no liability for any failure or delay resulting from any matter beyond our reasonable control.
Other than as set out above, we shall not be liable in contract, tort, negligence, statutory duty, misrepresentation, or otherwise for any loss or damage whatsoever arising from or in any way connected with this Agreement.
Save as expressly set out herein, all conditions, warranties and obligations which may be implied or incorporated into this Agreement by statute, common law, or otherwise and any liabilities arising from them are hereby expressly excluded to the extent permitted by law.
We shall not be liable for any loss of business, loss of profits, business interruption, loss of business information, loss of data, or any other pecuniary loss (even where we have been advised of the possibility of such loss or damage).
In the event that any limitation or exclusion of liability in this Agreement proves ineffective, then we shall not be liable to you for more than €100 in aggregate.
We cannot guarantee the day or time that we will respond to any email, telephone or written enquiries or Website form submissions.
Each of the provisions of this Clause shall be construed separately and independently of the others.
Our Rights
We reserve the right at all times to edit, refuse to post, or to remove from the Service any information or materials for any reason whatsoever, and to disclose any information we deem appropriate to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process, police request or governmental request.
We reserve the right to terminate the provision to you of the Service or restrict your access to the Service at any time without notice for any reason whatsoever.
Without prejudice to the generality of the above, we reserve the right to terminate the provision to you of the Service or restrict your access to the Service at any time without notice in the event that we suspect you to be in material breach of any term of this Agreement.
We reserve the right to modify or discontinue temporarily or permanently all or part of the Service with or without notice without liability for any modification or discontinuance.
We may vary the terms of this Agreement from time to time and shall post such alterations on the Website. If you do not agree to the changes made to the terms of this Agreement then you have the right to stop using Service, and should do so immediately. Your continued use of the Service after the date the changes have been posted will constitute acceptance of the amended Agreement.
General
Clause headings are inserted for convenience only and shall not affect the interpretation of this Agreement.
If any provisions hereof are held to be illegal or unenforceable such provisions shall be severed and the remainder of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect unless the business purpose of this Agreement is substantially frustrated, in which case it shall terminate without giving rise to further liability.
You may not assign, transfer or sub-contract any of your rights hereunder without our prior written consent. We may assign, transfer or sub-contract all or any of our rights at any time without consent.
No waiver shall be effective unless in writing, and no waiver shall constitute a continuing waiver so as to prevent us from acting upon any continuing or subsequent breach or default.
This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement as to its subject matter and supersedes and extinguishes all previous communications, representations (other than fraudulent misrepresentations) and arrangements, whether written or oral with the exception of the Terms of Use and/or the Service Provider User Agreement where these have been entered into. To the extent that there is any conflict between them, those agreements shall apply in the following order of precedence:
- this Homeowner User Agreement;
- the Service Provider Agreement; then
- the Terms of Use.
You acknowledge that you have placed no reliance on any representation made but not set out expressly in this Agreement.
Any notice to be given under this Agreement may be given via e-mail, regular mail, or by hand to the address provided on the Website or otherwise as notified by one party to the other.
Nothing herein shall create or be deemed to create any joint venture, principal-agent or partnership relationship between the parties and neither party shall hold itself out in its advertising or otherwise in any manner which would indicate or imply any such relationship with the other.
Notwithstanding any other provision in this Agreement a person who is not a party hereto has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to rely upon or enforce the terms of this Agreement.
This Agreement shall be subject to the laws of Ireland and the parties shall submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish courts.
In the event of any comments or questions regarding this Agreement (including the Privacy Policy) then please Contact Us.