DRAFT FOR LEGAL REVIEW — this text describes how the site works today. Items in square brackets are to be completed by the operator before the terms are relied on.
1. Who we are
Properties in Georgia (propertiesingeorgia.com, "the platform", "we") is operated by [OPERATOR LEGAL NAME], [legal form], registered in Georgia under identification number [ID NUMBER], with its registered address at [REGISTERED ADDRESS]. You can reach us through the Contact page.
These terms apply to everyone who uses the platform: visitors, people with an account, and the agencies, developers and other organisations that publish on it. By using the platform or creating an account you accept these terms and the Privacy notice.
2. What the platform is — and is not
The platform is an online marketplace where homeowners, agents, agencies and developers publish property listings and new-build projects, and where visitors search, save listings and contact the people who published them.
- We are not a party to any sale, purchase or rental. Any agreement is made directly between you and the other party.
- We are not a real-estate agent, broker, valuer or lawyer, and we do not act for either side of a transaction unless we say so in writing.
- We do not receive, hold or transfer the price, a deposit or any commission. Deal tools on the platform (tasks, documents, commission records) only help the people involved keep track; they move no money.
- Commission figures and records on the platform are for reference only. We do not know which deals close and do not track them, and no party can make a claim against anyone, including us, on the strength of those figures.
- Listings are written by the people who publish them. Our review before publication checks a listing against our publication rules; it is not an inspection of the property, of its title or of its legal status.
3. Your account
- You must be at least [18] years old and able to enter into a binding agreement to create an account.
- Give a real name and an email address you control. You must confirm the address before the account can be used to publish, enquire as a member, or file requests.
- Keep your password secret and tell us at once if you think someone else has used your account. You can turn on two-step verification; staff accounts with full administrative rights must use it.
- One person, one account. An account may not be shared, sold or transferred.
- When you first sign in you are asked what you want to do (look for a home, sell or rent your own property, work as an agent, run an agency or a developer). Your choice shapes your workspace; you can change direction later.
- Becoming an agent changes your personal account into an agent account. You are told what changes and asked to confirm before it happens.
- An agency, developer or other organisation is set up by its owner, who invites members and decides their roles. The owner is responsible for who has access to the organisation's listings, enquiries and deals.
4. Verification badges
An agent can upload an identity document for our staff to check. When the check is approved, the agent's public profile shows "Verified". This means only that our staff matched the person to an identity document. It is not a professional licence, a government registration, a guarantee of the agent's work or an endorsement by us. Where no badge is shown, nothing is implied either way.
5. Publishing a listing
If you publish a listing, you confirm — and are asked to confirm when you submit it — that:
- you own the property or have the owner's authority to advertise it, for the transaction you describe;
- the price, area, location, photos and description are accurate and not misleading, and you will correct them if they change;
- you have the right to use every photo and document you upload, and any person who can be recognised in a photo has agreed;
- the property is genuinely available.
How publication works:
- Every new listing, and every significant change to a published listing, is reviewed by our staff before it appears. We aim to give a first answer within [1] business day. We may approve it, ask for changes, or refuse it, and we tell you which.
- The exact address you enter is private. Visitors see the location you choose: exact, approximate, or hidden. A land plot's cadastral code is never shown publicly; you can choose to share it with people who send an enquiry.
- A published listing stays live for the period shown when you publish it (for a free listing, currently [30] days). You are reminded before it ends and can renew it.
- You can withdraw a listing at any time. An expired or withdrawn listing can be relisted until the archive date shown on it; relisting puts it back through the normal publishing steps and counts as a new listing for any allowance.
- A listing that has ended and is not relisted is archived after the period set by the platform (currently [60] days). You are warned in advance. Archiving removes the photos; the record of the listing is kept as described in the Privacy notice.
- A listing marked as sold or rented is closed for good. A new transaction for the same property needs a new listing.
- Only one active listing per property and transaction is allowed. Duplicates may be refused or removed.
6. Free allowance, listing plans and payments
During the launch period publishing is free, within an allowance of new listings per rolling period for each kind of account. The current figures are shown on the Listing plans page.
When listing plans are introduced:
- the prices, what each plan covers and how long it lasts are shown on the Listing plans page before you buy, and the terms in force when you order are recorded with your order;
- homeowners and independent agents keep a free allowance; past it, a homeowner can pay for a single listing, and agents and organisations buy a plan;
- payment is currently by bank transfer against a pro-forma invoice. A paid listing goes live once the payment is confirmed and the listing is approved. Paying does not guarantee approval;
- refunds and cancellations follow the refund terms recorded with the order [and the consumer-protection rules that apply to you];
- prices include taxes where stated. Invoices are issued to the billing details you give, which you must keep accurate.
7. Promoted placement (boosts)
Some publishers may promote a listing or project so that it appears in marked places such as the top of search results. Promoted items are always labelled "Promoted". The number of promoted places in each city is limited and may be queued. Promotion changes where an item appears, not whether it is approved, and it does not guarantee views, enquiries or a sale.
8. Enquiries, messages and reviews
- When you send an enquiry, the details you give and your message are passed to the publisher of that listing so they can reply. You do not need an account to send one. You are asked for explicit consent first, and the version of the notice you accepted is recorded.
- Use enquiries and messages only to discuss the property. Do not send advertising, bulk messages or anything that breaks section 9.
- Messages are not read by our staff as a matter of routine. We may look at them to investigate a report, to protect someone's safety, or when the law requires it.
- Reviews of agents can be left only by people who actually dealt with that agent, and appear only after our staff approve them. The agent can reply publicly.
9. What is not allowed
You must not use the platform to:
- publish fake, duplicate, unavailable or misleading listings, or prices you do not intend to honour;
- defraud anyone, including asking for deposits or payments for a property you cannot let or sell;
- publish content that is illegal, discriminatory, hateful, sexually explicit, or that infringes someone else's rights;
- harass, threaten or deceive other users;
- publish another person's personal data without a lawful reason, including in photos or descriptions;
- copy listings or data from the platform in bulk, by automated means or otherwise, except as the platform itself offers;
- test, overload or get around the platform's security, rate limits or access controls;
- impersonate a person, an agency, a developer or our staff.
10. Reports, moderation and takedowns
Anyone can report a listing, with or without an account, using "Report this listing". Reports are reviewed by people. A report does not remove a listing by itself.
We may hold a listing from public view, ask for changes, remove it, or restrict or suspend an account when we reasonably believe these terms or the law are being broken, when a property's authority to advertise is in doubt, or when the law requires it. The publisher sees a short reason (unavailable, under review, or removed) and can contact us about it. [A formal appeal procedure is being prepared; until then, contact us through the Contact page.]
11. Your content
You keep ownership of what you publish. You give us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence, for as long as the content is on the platform and for the retention periods in the Privacy notice, to host, store, copy, resize, crop, translate and display it on the platform and in the platform's own promotion (including search engines and social media previews), so that we can provide the service.
Translations produced by the "Translate" tools are machine translations made on request. Check them before publishing; you remain responsible for the published text.
12. Availability and changes to the service
We work to keep the platform available and secure, but we do not promise that it will always be available or free of errors. We may change, add or remove features. Where a change materially affects a paid service you have bought, we will tell you in advance.
13. Responsibility
Listings, prices, profiles and messages come from the people who publish them. We review listings against our rules but cannot verify everything in them. Check any property, document and person yourself before you commit, and take independent professional advice where appropriate.
To the extent the law of Georgia allows, we are not liable for loss arising from content published by others, from a transaction between users, or from interruptions to the service outside our reasonable control. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law, including for intent or gross negligence, or takes away rights you have as a consumer.
14. Ending your use
You can stop using the platform at any time and ask for your account to be deleted from your account area. What happens to your data is explained in the Privacy notice.
We may suspend or close an account that seriously or repeatedly breaks these terms, after telling you why unless the law or the safety of others prevents it.
15. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms. When a change matters to you, we will tell you on the platform or by email before it applies. The date of the current version is shown below.
16. Law, disputes and languages
These terms are governed by the law of Georgia. [Disputes are subject to the courts of Tbilisi], without affecting any mandatory rights you have as a consumer where you live. Before going to court, please contact us so that we can try to resolve the issue.
These terms are published in Georgian, English, Hebrew and Russian. [If the versions differ, the Georgian version prevails.]
Version: draft, [DATE].