Privacy Policy

Account and profile data: your name, email, phone number, password (stored hashed), country, preferred language and currency, role (parent, student or tutor), and profile details such as a photo, bio, subjects, rates and availability.

Verification data (Tutors): identity documents, credentials and references, and — where offered — background-check information, processed to verify Tutors and protect Learners.

Booking, session and learning data: lessons you book or teach, schedules, attendance, session notes, whiteboard and screen-share activity, session recordings where enabled and consented to, and study data such as quiz answers and progress.

Payment data: the amounts, currency and status of your transactions, payout details for Tutors, and limited card/mobile-money metadata. Full card numbers and sensitive payment credentials are handled by our payment processors, not stored by us.

Location data: the address you provide for in-home lessons and, with your permission, precise device location used for map, routing, arrival and safety features.

Communications: messages, attachments (images, files, voice) and reactions exchanged on the Platform, and your contacts with our support team.

Device and usage data: device and browser information, IP address, approximate location derived from it, log data, and cookies or similar technologies (see the Cookies section).

To provide the Platform — create your account, match Learners with Tutors, run bookings, lessons and messaging, and deliver session and learning features. Legal basis: performance of a contract.

To process payments — take payment into escrow, apply commission and any charges, convert currencies, release funds and pay out Tutors, and handle refunds. Legal basis: performance of a contract and legal obligation (accounting/tax).

To keep people safe — verify Tutors, run safety tooling, protect children, detect and prevent fraud, abuse and security incidents, and enforce our Terms. Legal basis: legitimate interests and legal obligation.

To communicate with you — send transactional notices (bookings, payments, security) by in-app, push, email or SMS, and, where you have opted in, updates and offers. Legal basis: contract, legitimate interests, or consent for marketing.

To provide AI features and improve the Platform — power study assistance and assistant tools, and analyse usage to maintain and improve the service. Legal basis: legitimate interests and, where required, consent.

To meet legal obligations — respond to lawful requests and comply with applicable law. Legal basis: legal obligation.

The Platform is used by children through parent-managed accounts. We apply an age gate at sign-up and, where required, obtain parental consent; in the EU we apply the local digital-consent age. We collect only the child data needed to deliver tutoring and keep the child safe, apply heightened protections, and act on parental requests to access or delete a child’s data.

With other users as needed for a booking — for example a Tutor and a parent see the information necessary to arrange and deliver a lesson (such as first name, relevant booking details and, for in-home lessons, the meeting location).

With service providers who process data on our behalf under contract, including: payment processors (for example Stripe for cards; Monetbil for mobile money); identity-verification and background-check providers; communication providers for email, SMS and push; mapping and translation providers; live-session/video infrastructure; and cloud hosting and storage. They may only use the data to provide their service to us.

For legal and safety reasons — with authorities, regulators or others where necessary to comply with law, enforce our Terms, or protect the rights, safety and property of users (especially children) or the public. In a merger, acquisition or reorganisation, data may transfer subject to this Policy.

We do not sell your personal data.

Houselewa operates across countries, so your data may be processed outside your country of residence, including by the service providers above. Where data is transferred internationally, we use appropriate safeguards (such as recognised contractual protections). Cross-border payments involve processing your transaction data in more than one country.

We use cookies and similar technologies that are strictly necessary to run the Platform (for example to keep you signed in and secure), plus, with your consent where required, technologies for preferences and analytics. You can accept or decline non-essential cookies via our consent banner and manage your choices at any time from Privacy & data in your profile.

We keep personal data for as long as your account is active and as needed to provide the Platform, then for the period required to meet legal, tax, accounting, safety and dispute-resolution obligations, after which it is deleted or anonymised. Records of the legal terms you accepted (the consent log) are kept as an immutable audit record. When you delete your account we remove or anonymise your data except where we must retain it by law.

We use technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including encryption in transit, access controls, holding payments in escrow, and restricting access to sensitive verification data through token-gated access. No system is perfectly secure, but we work to protect your information and to respond appropriately to any incident.

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access your data, correct it, delete it, receive a copy in a portable format, restrict or object to certain processing, and withdraw consent at any time (without affecting prior processing). You can exercise these rights, including data-access and erasure requests, from Privacy & data in your profile or by contacting us. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request.

You can control notifications and communication channels, including opting out of marketing and setting quiet hours, in your notification preferences. If you believe we have not handled your data properly, you may lodge a complaint with your local data-protection authority.

The Platform may link to third-party sites or services we do not control. This Policy does not apply to them; please review their own privacy notices.

We may update this Policy; the effective date and version are shown at the top, and for material changes we will ask you to review it. For privacy questions or to exercise your rights, contact privacy@houselewa.com. Country-specific addenda (for example under Cameroon Data Protection Law No. 2024/017) may provide additional information where you live.