1. Introduction

Exchanging email and information online with other Internet users is generally a matter of common sense and courtesy.
“The majority” of our customers are able to use their own sense of what is appropriate to guide their behaviour. From time to time however, eMail, listings or postings of unwelcome types (collectively known, along with other unwelcome activity, as net abuse) is sent and received.
It is not always obvious whether such eMail, listings or postings is innocent, inadvertent, or intentional, however, certain activities will result in action being taken by us as described in Section 6 of this document.
We reserve the right to change this Acceptable Use Policy for services at its sole discretion and without prior notice. Any decision made by us in relation to this AUP and its services shall be final on all matters.

Net abuse is an abuse of Internet facilities and not necessarily abuse on the Internet. To qualify as net abuse, an act must interfere with the net-use of an individual or group of individuals in some specific way. Net abuse also includes activities that are illegal or dishonest.
Under the terms of this AUP, net abuse includes, but is not limited to, the following:

1. Chain Letters and Pyramid-Selling Schemes
   Such messages work in much the same way as their paper-based cousins. The most common example of this in eMail is MAKE MONEY FAST. In addition to being a waste of resources, such messages are illegal in certain countries.
2. Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (UCE)
   Unsolicited Commercial E-mail is advertising material received by e-mail without the recipient either requesting such information or otherwise expressing an interest in the material advertised.
   Since many Internet users use a dial-up connection and pay for their online time, it costs them money to receive e-mail. Receipt of unsolicited commercial advertising therefore costs them money and is particularly unwelcome.
   It should be noted that a user has not expressed an interest by the mere act of posting a news article in any particular newsgroup, unless of course they have made a specific request for information to be eMailed to them.
3. Unsolicited Bulk eMail (UBE)
   UBE is similar to the above UCE but not attempting to sell anything. Its sole purpose is usually to annoy.
4. Forged headers and / or Addresses
   Forging headers or messages means sending eMail such that its origin appears to be another user or machine, or a non-existent machine.
   It is also considered forgery to arrange for any replies to the e-mail to be sent to some other user or machine.
   However, in either case, if the other user or the administrators of the other machine has granted prior permission to you, then there is no problem.
5. eMail Bombing
   eMail bombing is the sending of multiple eMail, or one large eMail, with the sole intent of annoying and / or seeking revenge on a fellow Internet user. It is wasteful of shared Internet resource as well as serving no value to the recipient.
   Due to the time taken to download it, sending long eMail to sites without prior agreement can amount to denial of service, or access to eMail at the receiving site. Note that if binary attachments are added to the eMail this may increase the size considerably. If prior arrangement has not been made, the mail will be extremely unwelcome.
6. Denial of Service Attacks
   Denial of Service is any activity designed to prevent a specific host on the Internet from making full and effective use of their facilities. This includes, but is not limited to:
   • eMail bombing an address in such a way to make their Internet access impossible, difficult, or costly.
   • Opening an excessive number of eMail connections to the same host.
   • Intentionally sending eMail designed to damage the receiver's systems when interpreted; for example, sending malicious programs or viruses attached to an eMail.
   • Using an SMTP relay without authorisation to do so.
7. Mailing List Subscriptions
   You must not subscribe anyone, other than yourself, to our mail list or similar service without their permission.
8. Illegal Content
   You must not send via eMail, list or post any item which it is illegal to send or possess. This includes material which is prohibited under the various Acts of Parliament dealing with material sent over a public telecommunications network, notably the telephone system. This includes but is not limited to:
   • Content that contains or contains links to nudity, pornography, adult content, sex, extreme violence, or foul language
   • Content that condones, promotes, contains, or links to warez, cracks, hacks, their associated utilities, or other piracy-related information, whether for educational purposes or not.
   • Content that is racist, or otherwise extremely offensive to others, including content which aggravates, harasses, threatens, defames, or abuses others.
   • Sites that exploit images of children under 18 years of age.
   • Content that posts or discloses personal identification information or private information of individuals under the age of 13 or in connection with materials directed toward individuals under the age of 13 without verifiable parental consent.
   • Content that provides, sells, or offers to sell the following: controlled substances, illegal drugs and drug contraband, alcohol, weapons, pirated materials, pornography or sexual products, programs to attack others, illegal goods, escort services, instructions on making, assembling, or obtaining illegal goods or weapons, information used to break copyright or trademark violations, to destroy others' property, or to harm any people or animals.
9. Breach of Copyright or Intellectual Property
   You must not send Copyrighted material or Intellectual Property via eMail unless you have permission to do so.

3. System and Network

Clients agree to not:

• Use of any applications that may disrupt the stable operation of our network and/or servers.
• Attempt to breach or disrupt Internet communication. Security breaches include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which Client is not an intended recipient or logging into a server or account Customer is not expressly authorised to access.
• Execute any form of network monitoring (e.g. packet sniffer) which will intercept data not intended for Client server.
• Attempt to circumvent user authentication or security of any host, network, or account ("cracking").
• Attempt to interfere with or deny service to any user or any host (e.g. Denial of Service Attacks).
• Use of any program/script/command, or sending messages of any kind, designed to interfere with a user's terminal session, via any means, locally or via the Internet.
• Attempt to create an "active" full time connection on a Company provided Dial-up account by using artificial means with software, programming, or any other method.

We have in place a procedure for handling your complaints about material stored and/or accessed via our service. If you wish to make such a complaint, please ensure that you make your complaint by eMail to abuse@propertyconceptonline.com. If you do not use this facility, we cannot guarantee that your complaint will be dealt with promptly.
We reserve the right to investigate suspected violations of this AUP. When aware of possible violations, we may initiate an investigation, which may include gathering information from the user involved and the complaining party, if any, and examination of material on our servers. Much of this AUP reflect acts that may constitute breaches of United Kingdom legislation or regulations and may in some cases carry criminal liability.
During an investigation, we may suspend the account involved and/or remove the material involved from our servers. Such action may include temporary or permanent removal of material from our servers, warnings to the user responsible, and the suspension or termination of the account responsible. We will determine what action will be taken in response to a violation on a case-by-case basis.
The Client acknowledges that we may be required by current or future law or regulation, including but not limited to the Regulatory of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, to access, monitor, store, take copies of, or otherwise deal with the Client’s data stored on or transmitted by the Service. Without limitation, the Client expressly authorises us to use personal data and other account information in connection with any such investigation, including disclosure to any third party authority that is considered to possess a legitimate interest in any such investigation or its outcome.
We reserve the right to terminate the Service with immediate effect and without further obligation or liability to the Client for any violation of this AUP as required by any law enforcement organisation or by the Courts.

5. Mailing Lists

Our mailing list is “opt in” and contains an un-subscription function that will be acted upon.

6. Actions we will take if this AUP is breached:

Serious net abuse will result in the following action:
First offence

• The Client will be contacted and informed of the offending breach.
• Information will be provided to the Client about how to rectify the situation.
• If we cannot contact the Client and if the Client fails to contact us after 2 days, the offence will escalate to “second offence” status and we will proceed with the second offence procedure.
• If it is deemed that the Client is causing a serious breach to this AUP, we reserve the right to go to the Second Offence procedure immediately without prior warning.

Second offence

• The offending account will be suspended and access will not be available to the Client.
• The Client will be required to contact our Customer Support, provide evidence to the Customer Support manager that there will be no further breaches of the Conditions of Use and Acceptable Use Policies from the Account.
• The Client must provide in writing the steps that they have undertaken to prevent this from happening again.
• If the Client fails to contact Customer Support within 14 days, the account may be terminated.
• Under no circumstances will any refund be made for the period the account is suspended for breach under this AUP.
• Should it, in our sole opinion, be considered necessary, then a public announcement will be made and this will include the disclosure of the Client’s identity.

Third offence

• The Client’s account will be terminated immediately.
• No refund of monies paid for the account will be made.
• Should it, in our sole opinion, be considered necessary, then a public announcement will be made and this will include the disclosure of the Client’s identity.

7. Privacy

We will not share, divulge or sell your data to any third party.

8. Contacting Clients

We may at any time use any of the contact you provide to inform you of site updates, upgrades, news, special offers and any other information we think you may be interested in.

9. Disclaimer

Property Concept Online is not an agency, we are only here to help you find
somewhere to stay for your holiday. We make introductions.

We like to think that everyone out there is as trustworthy as you and us.
That being said, we disclaim any responsibility for the accuracy, content or
availability of information located on this site. We have to. In the same
way as we don't know what your house actually looks like, we don't know what
your potential holiday home actually looks like either. And unless we were
to charge a lot more we couldn't go around verifying the details of
everyone's listings.

We DO NOT guarantee that your transaction will be problem free. We can't.
Nor can you, but we have done what we can to help ensure that you know what
to do to minimise problems. Take time to get to know the people you are
planning to deal with. We can not do this in most instances and so do not
vouch for anyone using our service.

We are not a party to any agreement between you and the owners of the
property you are interested in. The agreement that you come to between you
and the owners of the property concerned will not involve Property Concept.
Email, write, exchange pictures, do what you need to do so that you are
satisfied you know who you are dealing with and what you are getting. If
possible take up references; you may be able to ask to be put in contact
with a previous visitor to the property from your own neck of the words. If
you are uncomfortable at any point with what you are being offered by
someone, express that concern to them and if you aren't satisfied do not
deal with them and let us know why.

Finally if something doesn't go to plan do let us know. Maybe we can do
something to ensure that the same problem won't happen to someone else.

10. Fees & Subscriptions

Property Concept is Free.