Terms of Service

Houselewa operates an online marketplace that helps Learners discover, book and pay independent Tutors for lessons delivered online (by live video, whiteboard and messaging) or in person at an agreed location. We also offer related features such as scheduling, in-app messaging, learning resources, quizzes, progress tracking and AI study assistance.

Houselewa is a technology and payments intermediary. We are not a school, employer or agent of Tutors, and Tutors are not our employees. We do not provide tutoring ourselves, do not supervise lessons in real time, and do not guarantee any particular academic result. Any contract for tutoring is formed directly between the Learner (or the parent) and the Tutor; Houselewa facilitates the introduction, booking, payment and safety tooling around it.

You must be able to form a legally binding contract to hold an account. Tutors and paying account holders must be adults (18 or older, or the age of majority where they live). Where required by law, a minimum age applies to create an account, and in the European Union we apply the local digital-consent age (for example 15 in France).

Children use the Platform through an account created and managed by a parent or legal guardian, who is responsible for that account, for supervising their child’s use, and for all activity and payments under it. You agree to provide accurate, current information, to keep your login credentials confidential, and to notify us promptly of any unauthorised use. One person may hold one account per role; you may not impersonate others or transfer your account.

You can book a single lesson, a recurring schedule, or a longer arrangement such as a Home Teacher enrolment (one Tutor across a child’s subjects over a period, on a weekly schedule). Some bookings are confirmed instantly; others (including certain direct bookings) are placed on hold and require the Tutor to accept before they are confirmed.

Online lessons take place in our in-browser or in-app session room, which may include live video, a shared whiteboard, screen sharing, chat and a panic/safety control. In-home lessons take place at the address you provide; for these you may be shown a meeting point on a map and a safety code, and location features may be used to support arrival and safety. Tutors may provide session notes after a lesson.

You agree to attend booked sessions on time, to treat Tutors and Learners with respect, and to keep all booking, communication and payment on the Platform. Arranging or continuing paid lessons off-platform to avoid fees or safety tooling is a breach of these Terms.

Lessons are paid in advance. Funds are held securely (in escrow) and are released to the Tutor only after the corresponding session has taken place, subject to our cancellation and refund rules. Prices are set by Tutors (or by the applicable Houselewa product, such as Home Teacher rates) and are shown before you confirm.

Houselewa charges a platform commission, which varies by Tutor tier and country and is snapshotted onto each booking at the time it is made. Certain bookings may also carry travel or payment-processing charges, which are shown before payment. The price you see at checkout is the price that applies to that booking.

You are charged in your local currency and Tutors are paid in theirs; where these differ, the exchange rate is snapshotted per booking so both sides know their amounts in advance, and refunds are converted back at that locked rate. Payments are processed by third-party providers, including card payments (via Stripe) and mobile-money and other local methods (for example Monetbil for MTN Mobile Money and Orange Money), as well as an in-app wallet where available. Your use of a payment method is also subject to that provider’s terms.

The cancellation and refund rules that apply to a booking are shown at the time you book. In general, cancellations made within the permitted window are refundable, late cancellations may be non-refundable, and if a Tutor fails to attend or a session cannot be delivered you are eligible for a refund or reschedule.

Where a first-lesson or money-back guarantee is offered, its conditions are shown at booking. Approved refunds are returned to your original payment method (or wallet) and, for cross-border bookings, are converted at the rate that was locked for that booking. Some third-party processing charges may be non-refundable where the processor does not return them.

Tutors are independent providers, not employees or agents of Houselewa. You are responsible for the lawful delivery, quality and safety of your lessons, for your own taxes and any required registrations, licences or insurance, and for the accuracy of your profile, rates, qualifications and availability.

To offer lessons you may be required to complete identity and credential verification (KYC), accept the Tutor agreement, provide tax information, and, where offered in your country, pass background checks. You must keep communications and payments on the Platform, honour confirmed bookings, and follow our safety and community rules. Breaches may lead to warnings, removal of listings, withheld payouts, suspension or termination, subject to any appeal process we make available.

Payouts are made to your chosen payout method on the applicable schedule (for example weekly) once funds have cleared and any minimum is met; an instant-payout option may be offered for a fee. You are responsible for your tax obligations; we may provide earnings statements to assist you.

After a lesson, Learners and Tutors may leave honest reviews and ratings. Reviews may be published on a double-blind basis and must reflect genuine experience. You may not post false, misleading, defamatory or manipulated reviews, offer incentives for reviews, or attempt to inflate or suppress ratings. We may remove content that breaches these Terms or the law.

You retain ownership of the content you submit (such as messages, profile details, uploads and reviews). You grant Houselewa a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, display and use that content as needed to operate, secure and improve the Platform, and to the extent necessary to provide the service to other users (for example showing a review or a Tutor profile).

The Platform, including its software, design, trademarks and content we provide, belongs to Houselewa or its licensors and is protected by law. Tutor teaching materials remain the Tutor’s; you may use materials shared with you only for your own learning and not redistribute them. You may not copy, scrape, reverse-engineer or build a competing service from the Platform.

You agree not to use the Platform unlawfully or to: harass, abuse, endanger or discriminate against anyone; put a child at risk; circumvent fees or safety tooling; share another person’s data without permission; upload malware or attempt to disrupt or gain unauthorised access to the Platform; or use it for anything other than genuine tutoring.

Protecting children is central to Houselewa. Grooming, sexualised, exploitative or abusive behaviour toward minors, and any illegal content, are strictly prohibited and may be reported to the authorities.

Online sessions may offer recording, and recordings are made only with the consent required in your context; where recording is used, participants are informed. In-home and online sessions may include safety features such as a panic control, check-ins, meeting-point sharing and, for in-home lessons, location-based geofencing. These features are provided to support safety but do not replace your own judgement, supervision or, in an emergency, contacting local emergency services.

The Platform may offer AI-assisted features, including study help for students and assistant tools for parents and Tutors. AI output is generated automatically, is provided on an "as is" basis for convenience, may be inaccurate or incomplete, and is not professional, legal, medical or financial advice. Do not rely on AI output as a substitute for a qualified professional or a Tutor’s judgement, and review it before acting on it.

The Platform relies on third-party services — including payment processors, identity-verification providers, communication providers (email/SMS/push), mapping and video-session providers, and cloud hosting. Your use of features that depend on these services may also be subject to the relevant provider’s terms, and we are not responsible for third-party services we do not control.

The Platform is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. We do not warrant that the Platform will be uninterrupted or error-free, that a Tutor will meet your expectations, or that any learning outcome will be achieved. Tutors are independent and we are not responsible for their acts or omissions.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Houselewa and its officers, employees and partners will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, data or goodwill. Our total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the Platform will not exceed the greater of the amounts you paid to Houselewa (as platform fees) in the three months before the event giving rise to the claim, or fifty US dollars (or local equivalent). Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded by law.

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Houselewa from claims, damages and reasonable expenses arising out of your use of the Platform, your content, your lessons, or your breach of these Terms or of applicable law.

You may stop using the Platform and close your account at any time from your settings. We may suspend or terminate access, remove content, or withhold payouts where we reasonably believe there is a breach of these Terms, a risk to users or children, fraud, or a legal requirement. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination (including payment obligations, disclaimers, liability limits and indemnities) will survive.

These Terms are governed by the laws applicable to the Houselewa entity providing the service to you, and, where mandatory consumer-protection or data-protection laws of your country of residence apply, those protections are not affected. You agree to first contact us to resolve any dispute informally; if it cannot be resolved, it will be handled by the competent courts, subject to any mandatory local rights. Country-specific addenda may add terms that apply where you live.

We may update these Terms. For material changes we will bump the version and ask you to review and re-accept before you continue using the Platform; continued use after a non-material update means you accept it. The effective date and version are shown at the top of this document.

Questions about these Terms can be sent to legal@houselewa.com.