Terms of Service

Plain-English summary (not a substitute for the Terms): re-qi is a neutral custodian that transfers smart-home devices and accounts from a home’s seller to its buyer at closing. You authorize us to hold and move credentials for that one purpose only. Our systems are automated first, with trained humans stepping in when needed — every access is logged. We protect your information with strong encryption, but no service can promise perfect security. If something goes wrong, our responsibility is limited to what you paid us. Disputes are resolved by individual arbitration.

These Terms of Service (the “Terms”) are a binding agreement between you and Veritas Ventures, LLC, doing business as “re-qi” (“re-qi,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) governing your use of the re-qi website, mobile applications, and smart-home handoff services (together, the “Service”). By creating an account, accepting an invitation to a Handoff, clicking to accept, or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and to our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

PLEASE READ SECTION 16 (LIMITATION OF LIABILITY) AND SECTION 18 (ARBITRATION AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER) CAREFULLY. THEY AFFECT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS.

1. The Service

re-qi provides a neutral, escrow-grade process for transferring control of smart-home devices, accounts, subscriptions, and related home information from the seller of a residential property (the “Seller”) to its buyer (the “Buyer”) in connection with a real estate transaction (a “Handoff”). A Handoff is typically initiated by a real estate professional (an “Agent”) or a title or escrow company (“Title Company”), and completes on or about the transaction’s closing date.

Some definitions used throughout:

• “Enrolled Device” means a smart-home device, account, service, or subscription that the Seller identifies to re-qi and enrolls in a Handoff.
• “Credentials” means usernames, passwords, PINs, access codes, tokens, recovery information, and similar access data for an Enrolled Device.
• “Certificate” means the timestamped handoff record re-qi generates at the completion of a Handoff, reflecting the status of each Enrolled Device and the chain of custody.

2. What re-qi is not

re-qi is a technology service, not a party to your real estate transaction. We are not:

• a licensed escrow agent, title company, or settlement agent, and we do not hold or transfer funds, earnest money, or title to real property;
• a law firm, broker, insurer, or home warranty company, and nothing in the Service is legal, financial, insurance, or professional advice;
• a party to, or guarantor of, the purchase agreement between Buyer and Seller. Whether a smart-home handoff is a contractual condition of your sale is between the transaction parties and their advisors;
• an owner, custodian, or bailee of physical devices. Physical devices remain at the property and convey (or not) under the purchase agreement; re-qi takes temporary custody of Credentials and account control only.

3. Eligibility and accounts

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract to use the Service. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide, for maintaining the confidentiality of your own re-qi login, and for all activity under your account. Notify us immediately at security@re-qi.com if you suspect unauthorized use of your account.

4. Your authorization to re-qi

The heart of the Service is a narrow, purpose-limited authorization. By enrolling a device or participating in a Handoff, the Seller grants re-qi a limited, revocable authorization to access, hold, secure, reset, reconfigure, reassign, and transfer the Credentials and account control of each Enrolled Device, solely to:

• take the Enrolled Device into custody and verify that custody;
• sever the Seller’s access at the appropriate time;
• establish the Buyer’s access and control; and
• generate the audit trail and Certificate for the Handoff.

We will not access Enrolled Devices or Credentials for any other purpose. We do not browse camera feeds, view recordings, review device history, or otherwise use your devices or data except as strictly necessary to perform the steps above, to comply with law, or to investigate a suspected security incident. The Seller may revoke this authorization at any time before the transfer completes by cancelling the Handoff, subject to Section 14.

Automation first; humans when needed

Handoffs are executed primarily by automated systems, including systems that use artificial intelligence to navigate vendor account flows. Where automation cannot complete a step — for example, a vendor requires manual identity verification or a device presents an unusual configuration — trained re-qi personnel may access the relevant Credentials, acting under the same purpose-limited authorization described above. Every access to Credentials, whether automated or human, is written to an audit log that is available to the Seller and Buyer for their Handoff. Our personnel are bound by confidentiality obligations and access controls.

Your representations

By enrolling a device, the Seller represents and warrants that:

• the Seller owns or lawfully controls the Enrolled Device and its associated accounts, and has the right to grant the authorization above;
• the Credentials provided are accurate and complete, and do not provide access to accounts or data beyond what is reasonably necessary for the Handoff (for example, an email account used for many purposes should be migrated to a device-specific account where the playbook calls for it);
• no other person’s consent is required, or all required consents have been obtained (for example, from co-owners or household members with shared access).

5. Roles and responsibilities

• Sellers are responsible for identifying all devices, accounts, and subscriptions to be transferred, providing accurate Credentials and information, and completing their release steps by the scheduled dates. re-qi can only transfer what the Seller enrolls.
• Buyers are responsible for completing their claim steps, establishing their own new credentials promptly, and reviewing the Certificate and audit trail when delivered.
• Agents and Title Companies are responsible for the accuracy of transaction details they provide (property, parties, dates) and for having the authority to initiate a Handoff for the transaction. Agents and Title Companies do not receive Credentials through the Service.

6. Transfer methods and their limits

Different device makers support very different transfer paths. Depending on the device, re-qi will use the safest available method, which may include a vendor-native ownership transfer, a factory reset and re-enrollment, custody and reassignment of a device-specific account, a multi-admin handover, a subscription transfer or cancellation, or — for devices with no workable transfer path — documentation and attestation only. As a result:

• the level of verification varies by device. Where a vendor exposes a technical means of confirming that the Seller’s access is removed, we use it; where it does not, the Certificate will reflect that the step was completed by party attestation rather than technical verification;
• a Certificate is a record of the steps performed and confirmations received through the Service. It is not a guarantee that every device in the home was enrolled, that no undisclosed access path exists, or that a vendor’s systems behaved as documented;
• re-qi does not warrant that any particular device is transferable, that transferred devices will function correctly, or that a vendor will not require additional steps from Buyer or Seller.

7. Device vendors and third-party services

Enrolled Devices are made and operated by third parties (device vendors, platform providers, and subscription services), each with its own terms and policies. When re-qi acts on your Credentials, it does so on your behalf and at your direction. You are responsible for your relationship with each vendor, and you acknowledge that vendors may impose requirements outside our control — including identity checks, transfer restrictions, service interruptions, subscription changes, or account actions. re-qi is not responsible for the acts, omissions, availability, or policies of any third-party vendor or service.

8. Fees and payment

Fees are disclosed before payment. On the standard buyer-paid plan, no payment is collected up front: the Handoff is performed first, and the buyer is charged a one-time fee at completion to release the Certificate. Until that fee is paid, the Certificate is generated but held; if it remains unpaid, the Handoff may eventually be archived with the Certificate still held, without affecting transfers already performed. Where a Handoff is attached to a registered professional account (broker, brokerage, escrow, or title), the professional’s selected plan covers the fee — per-transaction billing or a subscription — the Certificate releases at verification, and the Seller is not charged. Subscription plans renew until cancelled; cancellation takes effect at the end of the billing period, and in-progress Handoffs are never blocked mid-flight by a billing change. Except as required by law, fees are non-refundable once the Certificate has been released. Taxes may apply. Payment processing is provided by third-party processors; we do not store full payment card numbers.

9. Neutrality; disputes between transaction parties

re-qi acts as a neutral custodian. We take instructions through the Service’s defined flows and do not take sides between Buyer, Seller, Agent, or Title Company. If we receive conflicting instructions, learn the transaction has been disputed or terminated, or reasonably believe proceeding could harm a party or a device, we may suspend the Handoff and hold custody unchanged until the parties give joint instructions or a court or arbitrator directs us. We may (but are not required to) return custody to the Seller if a transaction is terminated. Disputes between transaction parties are theirs to resolve; you agree that re-qi is not liable for acting in good faith on instructions received through the Service, or for suspending action in the face of conflicting instructions.

10. Custody, retention, and purge of Credentials

Credentials in our custody are encrypted at rest with authenticated encryption (currently AES-256-GCM) with keys held outside the database, and are transmitted only over encrypted connections. Where playbooks allow, we prefer revocable tokens and account reassignment over storing passwords at all. After a Handoff completes and both parties confirm — or after a Handoff is cancelled — Credentials are purged from our systems on a scheduled basis, as described in our Privacy Policy. The Certificate and audit log (which do not contain usable Credentials) are retained as the durable record of the Handoff.

11. Security

We engineer the Service for the sensitivity of what it briefly holds: encryption in transit and at rest, hardened infrastructure, least-privilege access, immutable audit logging, and prompt purge of Credentials after completion. At the same time, you understand that no security program — ours or anyone’s — can eliminate risk entirely, and the transmission and storage of information always carries some residual risk. We do not promise that the Service will be immune from every attack or incident. What we do promise is to take that risk seriously: to design for minimal custody, to notify affected users of security incidents as required by law, and to keep strengthening our safeguards. You are responsible for the security of your own devices, networks, email accounts, and re-qi login.

12. Intellectual property; feedback; your content

re-qi and its licensors own the Service, including software, playbooks, designs, and content. We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Service for its intended purpose during your Handoff. You retain your rights in the information you submit; you grant re-qi a license to host, process, and display it solely to provide the Service. If you send us feedback or suggestions, we may use them without obligation. You may not copy, modify, reverse engineer, scrape, resell, or build a competing service from the Service, except as permitted by law.

13. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• enroll devices or accounts you do not own or lawfully control, or use the Service to gain or retain access to a home you are not entitled to access;
• provide false transaction details, impersonate another person, or accept an invitation intended for someone else;
• interfere with the Service’s operation, probe or test its security without written authorization, or attempt to access other users’ data;
• use the Service in violation of applicable law.

14. Term, cancellation, and termination

These Terms apply from your first use of the Service. A Seller may cancel a Handoff any time before transfer-day steps begin; custody is returned and Credentials are purged. We may suspend or terminate access (or a Handoff) for material breach of these Terms, suspected fraud or unlawful use, or risk to the Service or its users; where practicable we will notify affected parties and, if a Handoff is terminated mid-custody, return custody to the Seller. Sections that by their nature should survive (including Sections 6, 7, 9, 10, and 15–21) survive termination.

15. Disclaimers

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express, implied, or statutory, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement. Without limiting the foregoing, re-qi does not warrant that the Service will be uninterrupted, timely, or error-free; that every device in a home will be identified or enrolled; that any third-party vendor will cooperate with or complete a transfer; or that home information, professional introductions, or other seller-provided content is accurate or complete.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above may not apply to you.

16. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law: (a) in no event will re-qi or its officers, directors, employees, agents, or suppliers be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, loss of goodwill, diminution in property value, cost of substitute services, or claims arising from the acts or omissions of transaction parties or device vendors, even if advised of the possibility of such damages; and (b) the total aggregate liability of re-qi arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms, under any theory of liability, shall not exceed the amounts actually paid to re-qi for the Handoff giving rise to the claim or, if no amounts were paid, one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

Each provision of this Section allocates risk between the parties and is an essential basis of the bargain; the pricing of the Service reflects this allocation. These limitations apply even if a limited remedy fails of its essential purpose. Some jurisdictions do not allow the limitation of certain damages, so some of the above may not apply to you; in that case, our liability is limited to the greatest extent permitted by law.

17. Indemnification

You will defend, indemnify, and hold harmless re-qi and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against claims, damages, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of (a) your breach of these Terms or of your representations in Section 4; (b) your violation of law or of a third party’s rights, including a device vendor’s terms; or (c) disputes between you and any other transaction party. We will give you prompt notice of any such claim and reasonable cooperation at your expense.

18. Arbitration and class action waiver

Please read this Section carefully — it requires most disputes to be resolved by binding individual arbitration, and it waives class actions and jury trials.

You and re-qi agree that any dispute, claim, or controversy arising out of or relating to the Service or these Terms will be resolved by binding arbitration between you and re-qi on an individual basis, administered by the American Arbitration Association under its Consumer Arbitration Rules, and governed by the Federal Arbitration Act. The arbitrator’s award is final and may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction, and the arbitrator must apply the limitations in Section 16. Exceptions: either party may (i) bring an individual claim in small-claims court, or (ii) seek injunctive or other equitable relief in court to protect intellectual property or confidential information. YOU AND RE-QI EACH WAIVE THE RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL AND TO PARTICIPATE IN A CLASS ACTION, CLASS ARBITRATION, OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING.

Opt-out: you may opt out of this arbitration agreement by emailing legal@re-qi.com within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, with your name, the email on your account, and a statement that you opt out of arbitration. Opting out does not affect any other provision of these Terms.

19. Governing law and venue

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules, except that the Federal Arbitration Act governs Section 18. For matters not subject to arbitration, you and re-qi consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in Delaware.

20. Changes to the Service or these Terms

We may update the Service and these Terms from time to time. If a change to these Terms is material, we will give notice before it takes effect — by email or through the Service — and the updated Terms will apply prospectively. A Handoff in progress remains governed by the Terms in effect when that Handoff was initiated, unless a change is required by law. Continued use of the Service after the effective date constitutes acceptance.

21. General

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any Handoff-specific terms presented in the Service, are the entire agreement between you and re-qi about the Service. If any provision is found unenforceable, it will be limited to the minimum extent necessary and the rest will remain in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets with notice to you. Neither party is liable for delay or failure caused by events beyond its reasonable control, including vendor outages, internet failures, and natural disasters — though this does not excuse payment obligations or our duty to safeguard data in our custody. You consent to receive notices, disclosures, and records electronically. The Service is operated from the United States and intended for U.S. real estate transactions.

22. Contact

Questions about these Terms: legal@re-qi.com.