Terms & Conditions

The Owners' Co (“we”, “us”, “our”) operates The Rota App, a digital service that helps owner-occupiers in shared residential buildings organise communal maintenance tasks such as stair cleaning, grass cutting and other regular upkeep.

The Owners' Co is a trading name of The Owners Co Platform Ltd, a private limited company registered in Scotland (company number SC897707). Registered office: Office 595, 18 Young Street, Unit LGE, Edinburgh EH2 4JB, Scotland.

The Rota App lets a building's owners and occupiers (“members”) create and manage a shared cleaning or maintenance rota. Each flat may choose to carry out its allocated task itself (a “take a turn” flat) or to have a third-party provider attend on its behalf (a “pay a provider” flat).

The service is currently a limited pilot for a small founding cohort of Edinburgh buildings. Any building may apply through the app; buildings join the pilot once approved by us. Founding cohort buildings use the service free for their first year. No payments are taken through the app: any paid provider visits are billed and paid outside the app.

Some buildings come to the app a different way: where a cleaning provider is ending an existing billing arrangement at that address, we set the building up ourselves and invite its flats to claim their place (see section 8). Those buildings are not part of the founding cohort, and the free first year above does not apply to them. Taking your own turns on the rota is free on every building.

Engaging a provider is a direct arrangement between the flat and that provider. The contract for the cleaning is between you and them, not with us.

The provider used on the stairs we serve at present is Capital Stair Services, which is owned and run by the same person as The Owners Co Platform Ltd. We are not independent of that provider. We say so wherever you are asked to choose one, and the rota works the same whether or not you ever pay Capital Stair Services anything.

We reserve the right to modify, suspend or withdraw the service at any time, including ending the pilot. We will give reasonable notice where practicable.

To use The Rota App you must create an account. You must provide accurate, current and complete information, and keep it up to date. Signing in works by a code sent to your email address, so you are responsible for keeping access to that email account secure, and for all activity that takes place under your account.

One account holder per flat is expected to represent that flat. If you leave the building or flat, you should transfer or close your account promptly. We may suspend or terminate accounts where we have reason to believe they are inactive, inaccurate or in breach of these terms.

You agree not to:

• use the service for any unlawful purpose;
• upload or transmit content that is abusive, harassing or defamatory;
• impersonate another person or flat;
• interfere with or disrupt the security, integrity or performance of the service;
• attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the service or its systems;
• use automated means (bots, scrapers) to access the service without our consent.

We may remove content and/or suspend accounts that we reasonably believe are in breach of these rules, without prior notice.

The Rota App and all content, design and software associated with it are owned by or licensed to The Owners' Co. You may not reproduce, distribute or create derivative works without our prior written consent, except as expressly permitted by these terms.

Content you submit (for example, building details or notes) remains yours. You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to store and display it as necessary to provide the service.

The Rota App is provided free of charge during the pilot, “as is”. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we exclude all warranties, conditions and representations, whether express or implied.

We are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive losses arising from your use of the service, including loss of data, loss of income, or property damage, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such loss.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, fraud, or any other liability that cannot be excluded by law. Nothing in these terms affects your statutory rights as a consumer.

We do not oversee the performance or quality of any provider you engage through the service. Any disputes with a provider are between you and them.

This section applies only to the yearly plan described in it. It does not apply to the standing arrangements in section 8, where the per-visit price is fixed for the stair and does not change as flats join.

Where we advertise that a stair's first visit is free, this is what the offer means and the conditions that apply.

• The offer applies when a building sets up a yearly cleaning plan: you sign up once, a provider visit covers each of your own turns as it comes round, and you pay per visit. You only ever pay for your own turns. The exact per-visit price and the expected number of visits in the year are shown before you sign up, and you can cancel the plan at any time.
• If you cancel within the first year, the free first visit is billed at your stair's per-visit price. That is the only cancellation charge: cancel after the first year and nothing is owed for it.
• Payment for plan visits is made directly to the provider, Capital Stair Services, not to The Owners' Co. The free first visit is provided by the provider as part of the plan.
• While you are signed up the per-visit price only ever moves down, never up. If your stair's price falls, for example because more flats join, you pay the lower price. Any recalculation upwards happens only at a yearly renewal, never mid-term.
• The free visit is one standard cleaning visit of the building's shared stair. A standard visit is a routine clean: sweeping and mopping the stairs and landings, and wiping banisters and other reachable surfaces. It does not include clearing heavy or long-standing buildup, removing bulk items or rubbish, dealing with hazardous materials, repairs, or redecoration.
• If a stair needs more than a standard visit to reach a reasonable baseline, the standard visit is still provided free of charge, and the building may be offered a quote for the additional work. Any additional work is a separate arrangement, agreed with the building in advance, and is never carried out or charged without that agreement.

The offer applies once per building and is tied to the building's address, not to any account. It is earned when we approve the building and the yearly plan is set up; the visit is then scheduled with the building within a reasonable time. It has no cash alternative and is not transferable.

Starting a rota and taking your own turns needs no plan and no payment: that is free, stays free, and commits you to nothing. It does not include the free first visit.

We may amend or withdraw the offer at any time for buildings that have not yet set up a plan. Nothing in this offer obliges us to approve any particular building.

On some stairs, a flat is offered a standing arrangement when it joins: the cleaning provider covers that flat's turns on the rota as each one comes round, instead of the flat taking them itself. This section applies to that arrangement. It is separate from asking a provider to cover a single turn, which any flat can do at any time.

• The arrangement is per flat and covers only your own flat's turns. It is not a contract to clean the whole stair, and it does not change how often anyone's turn comes round.
• You pay the provider directly, per visit, at the per-visit price shown on your stair's page before you choose. No payment is taken through The Rota App.
• That per-visit price will not increase while your arrangement continues.
• You can end the arrangement at any time from your stair's page, and nothing is owed for ending it.
• One exception, so a visit already in the provider's diary is not cancelled from under them: if a visit is less than seven days away when you end the arrangement, it still goes ahead and is still charged at your per-visit price. Your flat comes off the service from the turn after it.
• Ending the arrangement puts your flat back to taking its own turns. Your flat stays on the rota either way.
• There is no minimum number of flats. If yours is the only flat on a standing arrangement at your stair, the provider still covers your turns.

Where an existing arrangement is ending. Some stairs come to The Rota App because a provider is ending an existing billing arrangement at that address. Where that is so, the date of the last visit under the old arrangement is stated on the stair's page and in the notice you are sent. Signing up is not required. The old arrangement ends on that date either way, and taking your own turns on the rota costs nothing.

We may update these terms from time to time. When we make material changes we will notify you by email or by a prominent notice in the app. Your continued use of the service after such notice constitutes your acceptance of the revised terms.

These terms are governed by Scots law. Any disputes shall be subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Scottish courts.

Questions about these terms? Email us at hello@theownersco.co.uk.