Terms of Use.
Version 2026-10-17.1, effective 17 October 2026. These terms govern use of Your Local HMO Directory, a privately operated, non-commercial personal website at chillinlounge.co.uk. It is not a registered company, official local authority publication or government service. Questions and permission requests: yourlocalhmo@gmail.com.
1. Acceptance and intended use
When you choose “I agree — enter the directory,” you confirm that these terms and our privacy policy were made available and you agree to follow these usage conditions. You are not required to declare you read every word. This acknowledgement is not GDPR consent to optional analytics or an agreement to surrender legal rights. If you do not agree, do not use website services subject to these terms. You may still read our legal policies and exercise statutory information rights.
2. Do not misuse information
Do not use content, features or reports to stalk, harass, threaten, intimidate, discriminate against, identify or target residents, children, vulnerable people, licence holders or property owners. Do not attempt unlawful surveillance or make unverified accusations of criminality or licence breaches. Do not facilitate fraud, stalking, discrimination, trespass, identity theft, doxxing or abuse. Do not submit false, misleading, threatening, defamatory or excessive private information.
Entries may refer to a past council licence or proposed planning use and do not establish that a home is currently a functioning HMO, who lives there, that an individual has done wrong, or the precise location of an approximate map marker. Check current official council records independently before relying on a claim.
3. Confidentiality and sharing — strict member rules
Protected material: unless the admin team has first given explicit written approval from yourlocalhmo@gmail.com, members must not forward, publish, upload, sell, distribute or disclose non-public content from Levels 1–3 where designated confidential, member applications, private property/safeguarding data, case material, account records, or any identifiable visitor information. This includes screenshots, screen-recordings, photographs of a screen or device, camera images, printouts, physical copies, exports, transcripts and substantial reproduced extracts, whether online, by email, messaging or on paper.
Receiving access does not authorise another person to view the account or its protected data. Account credentials must not be shared. Members should use necessary information only for the independently verified safeguarding purpose for which access was granted. Access may be logged and revoked for misuse, with proportionate investigation. Any disclosure permission must state precisely what information and recipient are authorised; silence or a verbal conversation is not approval.
Legal exceptions: these restrictions do not prevent lawfully protected disclosures, reports to police, safeguarding authorities, regulators, courts, solicitors or professional advisers, disclosures required by legal process, access to your own personal data under data-protection law, or other acts that cannot lawfully be prohibited by contract. They do not override statutory rights to use freely available public facts, copyright exceptions or lawful journalism. Do not misuse an exception to publish other people's private information unnecessarily.
Public-source content and third-party mapping and government materials may have their own licence and attribution rules. A member confidentiality condition is not a claim that the site owns copyright in every council or government document.
4. Personal safety and safeguarding
Never contact, visit or confront occupants based solely on this directory. Do not use the website to locate or profile vulnerable people, children or residents. Report suspected imminent harm to emergency services or the appropriate authority. Do not upload a resident's identity, health information, immigration information or photographs to a public form. Do not use protected information for marketing, debt collection, private investigations or nuisance campaigns.
5. Accuracy, reliance and complaints
The service combines official statistics, archived licensing extracts, planning proposals, adverts and moderated leads. Sources can overlap, be out of date or describe only a proposed change of use. We aim to distinguish verified sources from unverified suggestions, but cannot guarantee every entry is complete or current. The directory is informational and does not replace legal, housing, planning or safeguarding advice. Use the relevant council's live register for up-to-date regulatory decisions. Report errors or requests for correction to yourlocalhmo@gmail.com.
These terms do not exclude liability for fraud, unlawful processing, death/personal injury from negligence where relevant, or any legal rights that cannot be limited or excluded. Any limitation only applies to the extent lawful and fair. Nothing prevents lawful consumer or data-protection complaints.
6. Accounts, passwords and access
Applying for an account does not confer access. Applicants must verify their email; administrator approval of identity, purpose and authorised access level remains required. Access may be restricted to certain geographical reports and case-specific records. No one may bypass technical controls, probe accounts, scrape private records, interfere with the website or attempt to access unauthorised data. Accounts may be suspended or revoked for a legitimate security or safeguarding concern, subject to applicable law.
7. Privacy and technical records
The Privacy and Data Retention Policy explains IP/request logs, browser/device estimates, cookies, account processing, lawful bases, sharing, retention and individual rights. Agreeing to these terms is not consent to non-essential cookies or unnecessary tracking. The website does not request GPS position for visitor tracking. Network location and VPN detection, if available, are estimates and must not be treated as facts about visitors.
8. Copyright and permission requests
Original website design, editorial text and confidential compilations are subject to relevant intellectual property and contractual rights. Do not reproduce protected/private compilations outside your authorised purpose. For written permission to share otherwise restricted website material, email yourlocalhmo@gmail.com identifying the material, intended recipients and reason. We may impose reasonable safeguarding/redaction conditions. The lawful use of third-party publicly licensed source data remains subject to its own licence.
9. Changes and governing law
We will update these terms when significant practices change; continued access after a new version may require fresh acknowledgement. Changes do not retroactively remove accrued statutory rights or render otherwise unfair restrictions enforceable. The site is primarily operated for UK users; any jurisdiction clause is subject to mandatory legal protections applicable to you.