Terms

1. Who you're dealing with

This site belongs to [LEGAL ENTITY NAME], trading as Mello, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

KvK number	[KVK NUMBER]
VAT number	[BTW NUMBER]
Address	[STREET, POSTCODE, ROTTERDAM]
Email	rotterdam@mello-housing.nl

In these terms, "we" and "us" mean that business. "You" means whoever is using the site. Using the site means you accept these terms. If you don't, don't use it.

2. What we are and aren't

We film homes, publish the footage, pass messages between students and landlords, and invoice the landlord if a tenancy results. That is the whole service.

We are not:

• a letting agent, a broker or a property manager;
• a party to your rental contract, which is between the tenant and the landlord;
• a payment service, an escrow agent or a holder of deposits;
• a source of legal, tax or financial advice.

We don't guarantee that a landlord will accept you, that a student will take your property, or that either of you will keep to the contract you sign.

3. Money never passes through us

Rent, deposit and service costs are paid by the tenant to the landlord directly. Mello never receives, holds or forwards them, and has no bank account that any tenant is ever asked to pay into.

The only money we receive is our own fee, invoiced to the landlord under section 7. If anyone asks a tenant to transfer money to Mello, it is not Mello. Tell us and we will say so in writing.

4. If you're looking for housing

• Using Mello is free. We charge students no fee, no subscription and no commission, and we never will while we act for landlords.
• You must be 18 or over to sign a rental contract through us.
• Tell the truth about who you are, what you study and when you want to move in.
• Apply for the homes you actually want, not all of them.
• You sign a rental contract with the landlord, not with us. Read it. If you can't read Dutch, ask us to talk you through it, or ask a lawyer, before you sign.
• Selection follows the published criteria on our tenant selection page.

5. The 48-hour check

• After you move in, you have 48 hours to tell us whether the home matches the walkthrough we filmed.
• We do not invoice the landlord until you have confirmed it, or until the 48 hours have passed without you raising anything.
• If you tell us it doesn't match, we compare it against the original footage, put it to the landlord, waive our fee, and take the listing down.
• This is a condition on our invoice only. It is not a refund, not a cooling-off period, and it has no effect on your rental contract, your rent or your deposit, none of which we hold or control.
• Ending a rental contract follows Dutch tenancy law and the notice period in that contract. We cannot end it for you.

6. If you're letting a property

• You confirm you own the property or are otherwise entitled to let it, and that letting it breaks no mortgage, lease, permit or owners' association rule.
• You hold the permit Rotterdam requires for your kind of letting, including a room-letting permit where one applies, and you send us proof before we film.
• You give us accurate rent, service costs, deposit and contract terms before we film, and tell us within 5 working days if any of it changes.
• You keep to the Wet goed verhuurderschap: a deposit of no more than two months' bare rent returned within the statutory period, service costs based on actual costs, a written contract, and the statutory information given to the tenant before signing.
• You accept our tenant selection page, including the duty to give a reason for a rejection, and you must not select on grounds Dutch equal treatment law prohibits.
• You give us access to film, and you obtain written consent from any sitting tenant whose space we enter.
• You keep the listing accurate, and tell us the same week if the home is taken.

7. Our fee

• Filming, listing and hosting cost you nothing.
• Our fee is 75% of the first month's bare rent, with a floor of €350 and a ceiling of €900, including VAT.
• It becomes due once a rental contract has been signed with a tenant we introduced and the 48-hour check in section 5 has passed without a valid objection.
• We invoice at that point, payable within 14 days by bank transfer or the payment link on the invoice.
• If no contract is signed, or the check in section 5 goes against the listing, you owe us nothing.
• If you sign with a tenant we introduced within [TAIL PERIOD] months of the introduction, the fee is still due, even if you signed off-platform.
• We take nothing from any later month's rent, and nothing from the tenant.
• Late payment carries statutory commercial interest and reasonable collection costs, as Dutch law allows.

8. Footage and copyright

• We shoot the footage and we own the copyright in it.
• You may share a link to your listing anywhere. You may not download, re-cut or republish the file, or upload it to another listing site, without our written permission.
• We publish it while the home is available and take it down when it is taken, or when you ask.
• We may use short excerpts to show how our walkthroughs work. Tell us if you'd rather we didn't, and we won't.

9. Rules for everyone

Don't do any of this on our site:

• list a property that doesn't exist, or that you can't let;
• ask a tenant for money outside the rental contract, such as a reservation fee or key money;
• ask a tenant to pay Mello;
• scrape the site, or copy our listings for another service;
• harass, threaten or discriminate against anyone;
• impersonate someone else.

We can suspend or close an account for any of these.

10. Liability

We're liable for damage we cause by failing to do our own job with reasonable care: filming a property badly, or publishing details we were told were wrong.

We're not liable for what a landlord or a tenant does: an unpaid deposit, a contract breach, a broken boiler, or a tenancy that goes wrong. We are not a party to the tenancy and have no control over it.

Except where Dutch law doesn't allow a cap, our total liability to a landlord is limited to the fees paid to us in the preceding 12 months. Nothing here limits liability for intent, deliberate recklessness or personal injury, and nothing here reduces the rights a consumer has under Dutch law.

11. Ending it

You can stop using Mello whenever you like. A landlord can pull a listing at any time before a tenant signs. Once a fee has become due under section 7 it stays due. We can close an account that breaks section 9.

12. Law and disputes

Dutch law applies. Disputes go to the competent court in Rotterdam, unless you're a consumer, in which case you keep the right to bring a claim in the courts of the EU country where you live.

13. Changes

We may change these terms. Anything already agreed keeps the version that applied when you agreed it. We'll email you at least 30 days before a change that affects you takes effect.