Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of CicilyHomes Estates ("CicilyHomes", "we", "us", "our"), an online housing platform that helps landlords and tenants find each other and interact about residential rentals in Abuja, Nigeria. By creating an account or using the platform you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use CicilyHomes. Our handling of personal data is described in our Privacy Policy.

1. What CicilyHomes is, and is not

CicilyHomes provides tools for landlords to list rental properties and for tenants to find them, request viewings, record lease agreements, and arrange rent payments, together with a manual review of submitted identity and property documents. CicilyHomes is not a party to the rental agreement between a landlord and a tenant and does not own, manage or control the listed properties.

We do not guarantee that any listing, user identity, property ownership or authority to let, payment, transaction, or statement made by a user is accurate, complete or lawful. Our review (Section 3) is a limited check and is not a guarantee. You are responsible for your own due diligence, including viewing a property in person, checking the landlord's authority to let it, and taking independent advice before signing or paying.

2. Accounts and roles

The platform has three account roles: Tenant, Landlord, and Admin (CicilyHomes staff only; admin accounts are never self-registered). Your available actions depend on your role.

• You must provide accurate, lawful and non-misleading information when registering and using the platform, and keep it up to date. This includes information about your identity, your ownership of or authority to let a property, your listings, rental terms, and payments.
• You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for activity under your account. Tell us immediately at support@cicilyhomes.com if you suspect unauthorised access.
• You must be at least 18 years old to create an account.
• One account per person. Creating multiple accounts to avoid verification, trust scoring or a restriction is not permitted.

3. Verification: what "Verified" means

Consistent with our About page: landlord identity and property-document review is performed by a member of our team who checks a submitted National Identification Number (NIN) and a utility bill against the listing. It is a human review, not an automated real-time check against government or utility-company records. A "Verified" or "Manually Reviewed" badge means a CicilyHomes team member approved the submission at that point in time. It is not a guarantee against fraud and does not replace your own judgement.

4. Listings, leases and digital records

Landlords are responsible for the accuracy of their listings (rent, condition, amenities, availability) and for having the legal right to let the property.

When a lease is signed on the platform, CicilyHomes stores a timestamped record of the agreed terms together with an integrity check, so that later changes can be detected. We do not represent that this record is a certified or secure electronic signature or that it will be accepted as proof in any particular proceeding. We recommend each party keeps their own copy of the lease and takes legal advice on enforceability.

5. Payments and fees

• Rent is paid according to the payment plan agreed for the property (monthly, quarterly, or annual upfront). At the time of this update, payment is made by bank transfer, with the tenant uploading a receipt and transfer details that our team checks against the bank record before a payment is marked as paid. Submitting a receipt does not mean a payment has been accepted.
• If online payment options are added, they will be processed by a third-party payment provider, and a payment will be recorded as successful only once the provider confirms it.
• Refunds are decided through an admin-reviewed process, not unilaterally by either user, to protect both sides from disputed or mistaken transactions.
• You are responsible for any charges your bank or payment method applies independently of CicilyHomes.
• You must not use the platform for payment fraud, to pay or receive funds you are not entitled to, or to misuse payment or refund procedures.

6. Prohibited conduct

You agree not to:

• post a fake, misleading or unauthorised listing, impersonate another person, or submit false or altered identity, ownership or verification documents;
• try to bypass the platform's verification or payment flow, or misuse another person's verification documents;
• access, or try to access, another user's account or data or any part of the platform your role does not permit;
• use the platform unlawfully, or to harass, discriminate against or defraud another person;
• interfere with the platform (for example scraping, evading rate limits, attempting to bypass security controls, or introducing malicious code).

7. Responsibility, user information and third parties

The platform is provided on an "as available" basis. To the extent permitted by applicable law:

• CicilyHomes is not responsible for false, misleading, fraudulent or incomplete information supplied by users (including identity, ownership, listing, rental-term and payment information), or for the acts and omissions of users, including a landlord's or tenant's failure to honour a lease.
• CicilyHomes is not responsible for failures of independent third parties outside our reasonable control, such as banks, internet and telecommunications providers, our hosting and infrastructure provider, our email delivery provider, and any payment or verification provider we may add in future (for example delays or non-delivery of emails or bank transfers).
• We are not liable for indirect or consequential loss.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for our own negligence, misconduct or fraud, for a failure to meet our own legal or statutory duties (including our duties to protect personal data), for death or personal injury, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited under Nigerian law. Nothing in these Terms reduces any right or remedy you have as a consumer under Nigerian law.

8. Restriction, suspension and termination

We may investigate credible concerns, ask you for more information or documents, restrict specific features, remove a listing, suspend, or terminate an account where we reasonably believe that:

• there is fraud, impersonation or material misrepresentation;
• a listing is fake, unauthorised or misleading;
• someone is trying to bypass verification or is misusing verification documents;
• the platform is being abused, used unlawfully, or these Terms are being breached;
• there is payment fraud, suspicious payment activity, or misuse of payment or refund procedures;
• there is a security threat, an account has been compromised, or someone is interfering with the service; or
• there are repeated violations, or a restriction is required by law, a court or a regulator.

Where it is lawful and practicable, we will tell you why and what you can do about it. We may act immediately, and may delay giving details, where this is necessary to prevent fraud, protect users or the platform, or comply with the law. Restriction may include revoking your account identifier (LUID/TUID), which blocks dashboard access until it is reviewed and, where appropriate, reissued.

Response and review. If you think an action was mistaken, email support@cicilyhomes.com with your account email and an explanation, and we will review it in good faith. We do not currently operate a separate formal appeal procedure with fixed timelines, and we do not promise a particular outcome.

Outstanding matters. Suspension or termination does not cancel obligations that already exist between you and another user. We may hold, decline or review pending payments, refunds and lease records connected with a restricted account while we investigate, and we may keep records as described in the Privacy Policy.

You may stop using CicilyHomes and ask us to delete your account at any time by emailing support@cicilyhomes.com, subject to records we must or may lawfully keep.

9. Resolving disputes

Step 1: talk to us. If you have a complaint or dispute with CicilyHomes, please first email support@cicilyhomes.com with the details. We will try in good faith to resolve it informally. For a dispute between a landlord and a tenant, we may help the users communicate but we are not the decision-maker of their disagreement.

Step 2: mediation. If informal discussion does not resolve the matter, either side may propose mediation. Mediation is voluntary: it goes ahead if both sides agree, with a mediator they agree on, and is conducted in line with applicable Nigerian law, including the Arbitration and Mediation Act 2023.

Step 3: arbitration (only by agreement). Arbitration is possible only if both sides agree to it in writing. If so, the parties will agree the details (such as the rules, the number and appointment of arbitrators, and where it will be held) at that time. These Terms do not by themselves require you to arbitrate and do not take away your right to go to court unless you have separately and validly agreed to arbitrate.

None of these steps is guaranteed to resolve a dispute. They do not prevent you from approaching a competent court or a regulator or consumer-protection authority where you are entitled to, from seeking urgent relief, or from exercising any right that cannot lawfully be waived. Time limits under Nigerian law continue to run during these steps.

10. Governing law and courts

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, subject to any mandatory legal requirements that apply to you. Subject to Section 9 and to any valid agreement to arbitrate, the competent courts of Nigeria have jurisdiction over disputes arising from these Terms or your use of the platform.

11. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will publish the updated Terms on this page with a new "Last updated" date. For material changes we will give notice through the platform or by email where reasonably practicable, and will say when the changes take effect. Changes apply going forward and do not affect a dispute that has already begun. Where the law requires your express agreement to a change, we will ask for it rather than treat the update, or your continued use, as acceptance. If you do not agree with updated Terms, you can stop using the platform and ask us to delete your account.

12. Contact us

Questions about these Terms: support@cicilyhomes.com, or by mail at 1 Zilly Aggrey drive, Epic Center 4th floor, Idu Karmo, FCT, Nigeria.