Terms of Service

1. The Platform

HimalHomes is an online marketplace that connects guests, buyers, and renters with listing owners and licensed agents in Nepal. We facilitate discovery, booking, and payment. We are not a party to any transaction between users and we do not own, sell, or rent the properties listed. Each listing is the responsibility of the user who posted it.

2. Eligibility & account

• You must be at least 18 years old to use the Platform.
• You must provide accurate, current information when creating an account, and keep it up to date.
• You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for all activity on your account. Enable two-factor authentication (under /profile) if you have any administrative or financial responsibilities.
• You may not share, sell, or transfer your account. Each account is for a single natural person.

3. Listings

Who can list

To publish a sale, rent, or homestay listing you must hold either the owner role (private individual listing their own property) or the agent role (licensed real-estate professional listing on behalf of a client). Both roles require completion of KYC verification: a valid Nepali identity document (citizenship, passport, or driver licence) reviewed by an administrator before publication.

Your obligations as a lister

• You confirm that you have the legal right to list the property — either as owner, lawful tenant for sub-letting (where contractually permitted), or licensed agent acting under written authority of the owner.
• Listing content must be accurate. Dimensions, asking price, photos, and amenities must match the property as it exists at the time of listing.
• You may not list the same property as separate duplicate accounts or under deliberately misleading titles to inflate visibility.
• You must respect Nepali property law including tenancy rules, building permissions, and applicable tax-reporting obligations. The Platform does not provide legal or tax advice.

Prohibited content

• Property you don't have the right to list.
• Hate speech, harassment, or content that targets a protected group.
• Listings that solicit illegal activity, prostitution, or hidden fees.
• Sexually explicit imagery or content depicting minors.
• Watermarked images you don't own.
• Phone numbers, emails, or external links in listing photos or titles intended to circumvent the inquiry flow.

We may remove any listing that violates these terms and may suspend repeat offenders without notice.

4. Homestay bookings

Homestay bookings are processed through Stripe Connect with manual capture: the guest's card is authorised when the request is submitted and charged only after the host accepts the booking. If the host declines or 48 hours pass without a decision, the authorisation is released and no charge is made.

Booking fees disclosed at the time of booking are non-refundable when the guest cancels. The host's nightly rate is refundable according to the cancellation policy attached to the specific listing (Flexible, Moderate, or Strict). Refunds are issued back to the original card via Stripe.

Guests and hosts may agree to a booking modification (date change, guest-count change) only at equal or lower price. Upgrades are handled as a new booking — they are NOT supported through the modification flow.

5. Payments & payouts

• All on-platform payments are processed by Stripe. The Platform never receives or stores your card number — it lives with Stripe under their compliance regime.
• Hosts receive payouts on Stripe's standard schedule (typically T+2 to T+7 banking days after the guest's stay), net of the platform's service fees disclosed at booking time.
• Hosts are responsible for their own tax obligations on payouts. We may report aggregate annual payout totals to tax authorities where required.
• Disputes about a charge should be raised first with the counterparty via the Platform's inquiry / refund-claim flow; chargebacks initiated outside this flow may result in account suspension while the matter is investigated.

6. Inquiries & messaging

Messages exchanged through the Platform are stored for at least 12 months for safety and dispute-resolution purposes. We may review messages in response to a report of policy violation. Don't share sensitive personal details (bank credentials, government IDs) through inquiry messages — use the secure KYC upload flow for identity documents.

7. Reviews

• You may post a review only after a stay you actually completed (or a transaction you were a party to). The Platform verifies the relationship before accepting a review.
• Reviews must be honest, based on first-hand experience, and free of personal attacks, hate speech, or extortion (“remove this or I'll post a 1-star”).
• We will remove reviews that violate these terms; we will NOT remove a review merely because the subject disagrees with it.

8. Content ownership

You retain ownership of the content you upload (photos, listing text, reviews). By uploading you grant HimalHomes a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to host, display, and reproduce your content for the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving the Platform. This licence ends when you remove the content, except for backups and caches that may persist for a reasonable period.

The Platform's code, design, name, and logos are owned by us. You may not copy, scrape, or republish the Platform's pages beyond fair use without our written permission.

9. Acceptable use

• Do not use the Platform to break the law or facilitate someone else breaking it.
• Do not attempt to break, probe, or overload our infrastructure. Authorised security research is welcome under the disclosure terms in our Privacy Policy.
• Do not scrape or automate access to the Platform beyond what our public API and the documented rate limits permit.
• Do not impersonate another person, business, or the Platform itself.

10. Account suspension & termination

We may suspend or terminate an account if you breach these terms, if your KYC documents are found to be falsified, or if law-enforcement authority requires us to. Where reasonable, we will email you with the reason and a chance to respond. You may close your own account at any time by emailing us (a self-serve close button is on the roadmap).

On termination: your listings are removed, your active bookings are honoured / refunded per the listing's cancellation policy, and your data is retained per the Privacy Policy.

11. Liability disclaimer

The Platform is provided “as is”. We don't guarantee uninterrupted service, error-free operation, or that any specific listing is accurate or that any specific stay will meet your expectations. To the maximum extent permitted by law, HimalHomes is not liable for indirect, consequential, or punitive damages arising from your use of the Platform; our aggregate liability for any claim is limited to the total fees you paid us in the 12 months preceding the claim.

Nothing in this section limits liability that cannot be limited under Nepali law (e.g. liability for fraud or gross negligence).

12. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold HimalHomes harmless from claims arising out of your breach of these terms, your listings, or your interactions with other users.

13. Disputes & governing law

These terms are governed by the law of Nepal. Disputes that cannot be resolved informally will be submitted to the courts of Kathmandu. If you reside outside Nepal, this clause does not displace mandatory consumer-protection rights you have in your home jurisdiction.

14. Changes

We may amend these terms as the Platform evolves. Material changes will be announced in-app or by email to your registered address. Continuing to use the Platform after a change takes effect means you accept the updated terms.

15. Contact

For anything about these terms email [email protected].