Terms of Service

Last updated: July 22, 2026

These Terms govern your use of sfhousing.org — the website at www.sfhousing.org, the application at app.sfhousing.org, and anything we offer through them. By using the service or joining the waitlist, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the service.

We are currently pre-launch. Today the service is a waitlist; the sections below about listings and accounts take effect when the board opens.

1. What sfhousing.org is — and is not

sfhousing.org is a board: a place where people post rooms, apartments, sublets, and shared homes, and where other people find them. That is the whole product.

We are not a landlord, property manager, real estate broker or agent, tenant screening company, escrow service, or party to any lease, sublease, or roommate agreement you enter into. We do not own, inspect, or control any listed property. We do not verify listings, incomes, references, or identities unless we explicitly say we do for a particular feature. Any agreement about a place to live is strictly between you and the other person.

2. Who may use it

You must be at least 18 years old and able to enter a binding contract. You agree to give accurate information about yourself and to keep it current. You are responsible for everything that happens under your account and for keeping your credentials — including your passkey device — secure. Tell us promptly at [email protected] if you think someone else has access to your account.

3. Fair housing

This matters more than anything else on this page, so read it carefully.

Whole units and separate dwellings. When you advertise a separate dwelling — an apartment, a house, an in-law unit, or any place the occupant will not share with you — federal and California law prohibit you from stating or implying a preference, limitation, or discrimination based on a protected characteristic. Under the federal Fair Housing Act, California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, and San Francisco ordinance, those characteristics include race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, marital status, familial status (including having children), disability, medical condition, genetic information, citizenship, primary language, immigration status, age, veteran or military status, and source of income — including Section 8 and other housing vouchers. Listings that say things like “no kids,” “professionals only, no vouchers,” or “prefer a Christian tenant” are not allowed here and will be removed.

Shared living space is different. If you are looking for a roommate who will share your actual living quarters — kitchen, bathroom, living room — you may state personal preferences about who you live with, including preferences based on sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Courts have recognized that choosing whom you share a home with is a personal decision that fair housing advertising rules were not written to reach. This is why a listing for a women-only room share, or a room in a queer household, is legitimate and welcome on this board.

The line between the two is whether the space is genuinely shared. Do not use a roommate framing to get around the rules for a separate unit.

Accessibility. You may not refuse a reasonable accommodation or modification request from a person with a disability where the law requires one, and you may not turn away service or support animals as if they were pets.

If you see a listing you believe is discriminatory, report it to [email protected]. We remove listings that violate this section.

4. Listings and content rules

When you post, you confirm that the listing is real, currently available, and accurately described, and that you have the right to offer it. You are responsible for complying with the law that applies to your situation — including San Francisco’s rent ordinance, short-term rental registration requirements, subletting terms in your own lease, and any HOA or building rules.

You may not:

• Post a place that does not exist, that you cannot actually offer, or that is a bait-and-switch for a different unit;
• Ask for money — deposits, application fees, holding fees, “verification” payments, first month’s rent — before an applicant has seen the place and signed something, or ask for payment by wire transfer, gift card, cryptocurrency, or any other irreversible method;
• Run a scam, phish for personal or financial information, or impersonate anyone;
• Harass, threaten, stalk, dox, or sexually solicit other users, or condition housing on a personal or sexual relationship, which is illegal;
• Post someone else’s photos, listing text, or personal information without permission;
• Post spam, off-topic advertising, or referral schemes;
• Scrape, crawl, bulk-download, or resell listings or user data, or use the service to build a competing database;
• Attempt to breach, disrupt, overload, or gain unauthorized access to the service, or probe it for vulnerabilities without our written permission;
• Break any applicable law.

You keep ownership of what you post. You grant us a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, display, and distribute your content for the purpose of operating and promoting the service. That license ends when you delete the content, except for copies already made in routine backups.

We may remove content or suspend accounts that violate these Terms. We are not obligated to monitor content, and we are not responsible for what users post — but when something is reported to us, we look at it.

5. Your safety

We want to be blunt: housing searches attract scammers, and meeting strangers carries risk.

• See the place in person, or on a live video call, before paying anything.
• Never wire money, send gift cards, or pay in cryptocurrency to someone you have not met.
• Meet in a public place first when you can, and tell someone where you are going.
• Be skeptical of below-market rent, an owner who is conveniently overseas, or pressure to decide immediately.
• Get your agreement in writing.

We do not conduct background checks or verify the identity of users. You use your own judgment about whom you meet, whom you live with, and what you sign.

6. Fees

Using the board is currently free. If we ever introduce paid features, we will tell you clearly what costs money before you are charged, and joining the waitlist will never itself cost anything.

7. Availability and changes to the service

We may change, suspend, or discontinue any part of the service. We will give reasonable notice of significant changes when we can. We do not promise the service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure, or error-free.

8. Disclaimer of warranties

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the service is provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement. We make no warranty about the accuracy, legality, safety, or condition of any listing, or about the conduct, identity, or suitability of any user.

9. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, sfhousing.org and its operator will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, or loss of goodwill, arising out of or relating to your use of the service — including any dispute with another user, any rental arrangement, or any loss caused by fraud committed by a third party.

Our total liability for all claims relating to the service will not exceed the greater of the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim, or one hundred U.S. dollars ($100).

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so parts of this section may not apply to you. Nothing in these Terms limits liability for fraud, gross negligence, willful misconduct, or anything else that cannot lawfully be limited.

10. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless sfhousing.org and its operator from claims, damages, and reasonable legal fees arising out of your content, your use of the service, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of the rights of another person — including any fair housing claim arising from a listing you posted.

11. Disputes between users

If you have a dispute with another user, you resolve it between yourselves. We are not a party to it and are not obligated to mediate, though we will act on reports of conduct that violates these Terms.

12. Termination

You may stop using the service and delete your account at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these Terms, if we are required to by law, or if continuing to serve you would create risk for other users. Sections that by their nature should survive termination — content license for already-distributed copies, disclaimers, limitation of liability, indemnity, and governing law — do.

13. Privacy

Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect and what we do with it. In short: we do not sell or share your personal information, we do not run advertising or analytics trackers, and we do not record your browsing.

14. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. You and we agree to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located in San Francisco, California, except that either of us may bring an individual claim in small claims court. Nothing here waives any right you have under California law that cannot be waived, including your rights under fair housing and consumer protection statutes.

15. General

If any provision of these Terms is held unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver of it. You may not assign these Terms; we may assign them in connection with a merger or sale of the business. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and us about the service.

16. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. When we make a material change, we will update the date at the top and notify registered users by email. Continuing to use the service after a change takes effect means you accept the revised Terms. If you do not accept them, stop using the service and delete your account.

Contact

Questions about these Terms, reports of a listing, or anything else: [email protected].

sfhousing.org is operated from San Francisco, California by Adam Koszek ([email protected], @wkoszek on X).