Terms of Service

This is an operational draftdescribing ScholarSafe's actual current practices during its limited pilot. It has not yet been reviewed by an attorney and should not be treated as final, legally complete terms. Sections marked below as requiring counsel review are placeholders, not enforceable commitments.

1. Acceptance of terms

By creating an account or using ScholarSafe (the “Service”), you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.

2. Who operates ScholarSafe

ScholarSafe is currently operated by its founder as an unincorporated online service. No LLC or other entity currently owns or operates ScholarSafe. A public mailing address is not currently available. Formal entity registration and a public mailing address are external launch items tracked outside this codebase.

3. Eligibility and age requirements

Users under 13 are prohibited. ScholarSafe's provisional minimum age is 16. Users aged 16–17 may use ScholarSafe only with a parent or legal guardian's involvement and permission. Users under 18 may not create landlord accounts or publish housing listings unless a later, separately approved policy expressly permits it. ScholarSafe's initial market is California; the Service may also be reachable elsewhere in the United States, and landlords and students are not technically restricted by location.

4. Account security

You're responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity under your account. Tell us immediately at support@scholarsafe.com if you suspect unauthorized access.

5. Student accounts and School Email Verified

Student accounts may complete an email verification step we label “School Email Verified.” This confirms control of an eligible school-issued email address only. It does not confirm identity, age, current enrollment, graduation status, background, safety, or housing eligibility. See our verification standards page.

6. Landlord accounts and listing review

Landlord accounts may submit documentation for our internal review, disclosed as “Landlord Review Completed.”This means staff reviewed submitted information or documents — it does not guarantee identity, background, professional license, lawful conduct, property authority, or listing accuracy. Where we disclose “Ownership or Listing Authority Reviewed,”that means documents were reviewed that reasonably indicated ownership, management authority, or permission to list — it does not guarantee legal title, authority in every jurisdiction, habitability, availability, or the accuracy of every listing claim. ScholarSafe does not currently perform guaranteed third-party identity verification for any account type.

7. Listings and your representations

If you submit a listing, you represent that you have the legal right to list the property and that the information you provide is accurate and not misleading. Listings are reviewed by our team before publication, but review does not constitute a guarantee of accuracy, legality, availability, or habitability.

8. Housing safety and independent verification

Always independently verify a listing, landlord, and lease terms before signing anything or sending money. See our Community Guidelines for scam and off-platform-payment warnings. ScholarSafe is not a landlord, broker, property manager, escrow agent, screening agency, attorney, or party to any lease. We do not guarantee the identity, title, authority, legality, availability, habitability, or safety of any listing, landlord, or tenant.

9. User-generated content and license

You retain ownership of content you post (listings, reviews, messages, profile information, images). By posting content, you grant ScholarSafe a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, display, and transmit that content as needed to operate the Service — for example, displaying your listing to prospective renters or delivering your message to its recipient.

10. Prohibited content and conduct

You may not use ScholarSafe to:

• Post false, misleading, or fraudulent listings or reviews
• Discriminate based on a legally protected characteristic (see our forthcoming Fair Housing / Anti-Discrimination Policy)
• Harass, threaten, or impersonate another person
• Post intimate imagery of a person without their consent
• Post content that infringes another person's intellectual property
• Attempt to circumvent our verification, moderation, or security controls
• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose

11. Messaging and harassment

Messaging is provided to facilitate legitimate housing and roommate conversations. Harassment, unsolicited solicitation, or abusive messages may result in account suspension. Report abusive messages using the in-app report feature.

12. Reviews

Reviews must reflect a genuine experience. Fake, incentivized, or retaliatory reviews are prohibited and may be removed. ScholarSafe does not guarantee the accuracy of any review.

13. Reporting and moderation

We provide in-app tools to report listings, users, reviews, and messages. We may review, remove, or restrict content or accounts that violate these Terms, at our discretion, without guaranteeing any particular outcome or timeline outside of the specific processes described in our TAKE IT DOWN and DMCA pages.

14. Suspension and termination

We may suspend or terminate your account for violating these Terms, for safety reasons, or as required by law. You may stop using the Service at any time.

15. Account deletion

You may request deletion of your account and associated data. We describe how deletion works, including what's deleted, anonymized, or retained for a limited period, in our Privacy Policy.

16. Copyright complaints

If you believe content on ScholarSafe infringes your copyright, see our interim Copyright Policy. ScholarSafe's designated DMCA agent registration is currently pending — we do not claim Section 512 safe-harbor protection at this time.

17. TAKE IT DOWN requests

If you believe nonconsensual intimate imagery involving you or, if you are a parent/guardian, a minor, has been posted on ScholarSafe, see our TAKE IT DOWN page for a no-login-required removal request process.

18. Third-party services

ScholarSafe relies on third-party service providers (hosting, authentication, error monitoring, bot protection, email delivery, and mapping) described in our Privacy Policy. We're not responsible for those providers' own outages or practices.

19. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. SCHOLARSAFE DOES NOT WARRANT THAT LISTINGS, REVIEWS, OR VERIFICATION DISCLOSURES ARE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR RELIABLE.

20. Limitation of liability

Placeholder — requires counsel review before this section is treated as final or enforceable. A limitation-of-liability provision is anticipated here once drafted and approved by an attorney.

21. Indemnification

Placeholder — requires counsel review before this section is treated as final or enforceable. An indemnification provision is anticipated here once drafted and approved by an attorney.

22. Governing law

Placeholder — requires counsel review. A specific governing-law provision is anticipated here once drafted and approved by an attorney.

23. Dispute resolution

Placeholder — requires counsel review. ScholarSafe does not currently impose mandatory arbitration or a class-action waiver; any such provision would require explicit, clearly-labeled counsel-reviewed terms before taking effect.

24. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms as ScholarSafe's practices evolve during this pilot. We'll update the effective date above when we do. Material changes will be communicated through the Service.

25. Contact

Questions about these Terms: legal@scholarsafe.com. General support: support@scholarsafe.com.

These addresses are monitored for ScholarSafe pilot requests. Response times may vary based on the nature and complexity of the request.