Acceptable Use Policy
This Acceptable Use Policy ("AUP") sets the rules for what you may and may not do with the Charcom Service. It is incorporated by reference into the Terms of Service. Violation of the AUP is a material breach of the Terms.
Prohibited activity
You must not use the Service to:
- Engage in illegal activity of any kind, including illegal listings, illegal advertising, or facilitating an unlawful transaction.
- Harass, threaten, or abuse any person, or post hate speech or content that incites violence.
- Violate fair-housing laws or regulations — including steering, refusing service based on protected characteristics, or running discriminatory advertising. This includes, without limitation, the Ontario Human Rights Code, the Canadian Human Rights Act, and applicable provincial human-rights legislation.
- Post fake or unauthorized listings, including listings you do not have the right to advertise, expired listings without authorization, or listings of property you do not represent.
- Scrape MLS, IDX, or third-party data without explicit authorization from the data provider. This includes using the Service to host scraped content from the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) DDF, or any other organized real-estate data source without a valid feed agreement.
- Infringe copyright — including using listing photos taken by other agents or photographers without permission. Charcom takes copyright complaints seriously and will remove infringing content and may terminate accounts of repeat infringers.
- Send spam or violate CASL — including unsolicited bulk email through Charcom-hosted forms, deceptive subject lines, missing unsubscribe options, or non-compliant transactional messages.
- Distribute malware, phishing content, or malicious code of any kind.
- Impersonate another agent, brokerage, or person — including using a name, photo, license number, or brokerage affiliation that is not yours.
- Violate RECO advertising rules or equivalent regulations in your jurisdiction. This includes failing to display your brokerage's trade name and license number, making unauthorized claims about earnings or market position, or using titles you have not been granted.
- Conduct bulk email through Charcom-hosted forms beyond reasonable use for ordinary lead generation. We reserve the right to rate-limit, throttle, or block accounts that send excessive volumes.
- Reverse-engineer, decompile, or attempt to extract source code from the Service.
- Conduct security testing, penetration testing, or vulnerability scanning without our prior written permission. To request a coordinated security review, contact [SUPPORT_EMAIL].
- Compete directly with Charcom by reselling, white-labeling, or repackaging the Service as a website builder for resale. (You are encouraged to use the Service to operate your own real-estate practice and to host listings, even if you do business at scale — what is prohibited is using the Service to compete against Charcom as a website-builder vendor.)
Consequences
Violations may result, at Charcom's sole discretion, in any of the following:
- A written warning with a curative window for minor or curable issues.
- Removal of offending content.
- Account suspension while we investigate.
- Account termination for serious or repeat violations.
Termination procedures and grace-period mechanics are set out in the Terms of Service, Section 12. Founder Members are entitled to the cure period described in Section 5(c) of the Founder Pricing Addendum.
Reporting abuse
To report a violation of this AUP — including illegal content, copyright infringement, or impersonation — email [SUPPORT_EMAIL] with details. Charcom will investigate and act in good faith.
Contact
Abuse reports and AUP questions: [SUPPORT_EMAIL] Legal escalations: [LEGAL_EMAIL]