1 What is PACTO?
Pacto application (“Pacto application”) is an online marketplace that enables persons with registered profiles (“User(s)”) to let or lease properties with a specific focus on the low-income and informal segments of the private real estate rental market. By using the Pacto application, you are bound by these terms & conditions, cf. Section 17.
The services and functionalities provided through the Pacto application aims to provide both Users who seek to rent/rents a property (commonly referred to as “Tenants”) and Users who seek to rent out/rents out their property (commonly referred to as “Property Owners”) with the tools needed to safely and securely negotiate and enter into formalized lease agreements and transparently manage their relationship during the period of tenancy.
The rights and responsibilities of the Tenants and the Property Owners are governed by the terms of the agreements which they enter into with each other and any local, regional and/or national legislation governing tenancy rights between the parties to a lease agreement.
The Pacto application is owned by the Norwegian Refugee Council (“NRC”) and is only available for use in the countries designated within The Pacto application. As the provider of the PACTO application, NRC does not own, create, sell, resell, provide, manage, offer, deliver or supply any of the listings. When registered Users enter into a lease agreement based on one of the provided mandatory PACTO templates (“Lease Agreement”), NRC does not become a party to that agreement.
2 Who can sign up to Pacto?
In order to use the Pacto application, you must be an individual of at least 18 years of age. For Tenants under the age of 18 wishing to lease a property, a parent or legal guardian must register as the primary account holder and invite the minor as a co-signatory of the agreement in accordance with local, regional or national legislation.
As of now, using the Pacto application is by invitation only. Any Users that have not received an invitation but have registered on The Pacto application will be notified of the “invitation only” policy and their account deleted along with all data submitted in the registration process.
3 Conditions of Use
You must provide accurate, current and complete information during the registration process and keep your profile information up to date at all times. NRC reserves the right to request additional information to validate your profile and to ensure that it is up to date. Users which are unable to adequately verify their identity will be removed from The Pacto application.
You may not register for more than one Pacto account and you may not transfer your account to another party at any time. Users found to have more than one account or to have transferred their account will be banned from usage of The Pacto application. As per section 17, this termination does not affect any Lease Agreement entered into on The Pacto application.
You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of your Pacto credentials and may not disclose your credentials to another party. You must notify NRC if you suspect that your account has been compromised.
You are liable for any and all activities carried out on your account unless such activities are not authorized by you and you are not otherwise negligent (such as failing to report unauthorized use or loss of your credentials).
The Pacto application shall be used solely for the purpose of connecting Tenants and Property Owners, establishing a contractual relationship between the parties and as a tool for the parties to manage their relationship during the period of tenancy. We reserve the right to ban or delete any profiles or home listings using The Pacto application for other purposes.
At present, the use of the Pacto application is free. All Users will be notified of any changes to the free of charge policy and the date at which any new policy would come into effect. Under no circumstances will charges be applied retroactively to any use prior to the change in policy. If a User decides to end their use of the application due to any change in the free of charge policy, any Lease Agreements that they have entered into will remain valid as per section 17.
4 On the Relationship between you and NRC – NRC’s SOLE Role as a Facilitator
The Pacto application only functions as a facilitator in the establishment of relationships between Tenants and Property Owners. This means that when you make or accept an offer to rent a home through the Pacto application, you enter into a contract directly with the other User party. NRC does not become a party to or other participant in any contractual relationship between the Tenant and a Property Owner, and we cannot guarantee that the information on the Pacto application submitted by other Users is correct. Claims regarding the Lease Agreement, including e.g. claims towards Tenants as to lack of rent or utility bills payment or towards Property Owners as to defects on the property, cannot be directed to NRC.
5 On the Relationship Between the Tenant and the Property Owner
Any lease agreement that is entered into between Users of the Pacto application shall be based on the NRC Pacto Lease Agreement templates and shall be electronically signed through the Pacto application. These templates are in-line with local and national legislation and have been validated by NRC legal teams in the country for which they are specified.
We take no legal responsibility for any amendments to the template, any customized fields completed by Users, or any customized annexes on e.g. housing rules or other clauses entered into between the Tenant and the Property Owner. Any customizations must not conflict with the base terms of the template nor violate any local, regional or national legislation concerning tenancy law.
Disagreements and disputes between Tenant and Property Owner shall be handled in accordance with the principles in section 10.
6 On the payment tracking service
The Pacto application does NOT include services to directly manage financial transactions within The Pacto application.
RECOMMENDATION: The Pacto application includes a payment tracking functionality for Users to record transactions that have occurred outside of The Pacto application. This payment tracking system requires that a User describe payment type, amount of payment and payment date and submit the payment information to the receiving party in app. The receiving party will then confirm receipt of payment which will be timestamped and recorded as completed in app. This payment-receipt confirmation can be utilized by either party as a receipt of payments. NRC strongly recommends that Users use this feature to document payments made in relation to the terms of the Lease Agreement.
7 Specific Terms if you are a Tenant
When renting a property, you must comply with the entered-into Lease Agreement. By entering your information into the Lease Agreement, you certify that all information is valid and correct.
You are responsible for reading and understanding the information included by the Property Owner in the Lease Agreement before entering into the Lease Agreement. If you have questions or concerns in relation to the terms of the Lease Agreement, you must raise these issues directly with the Property Owner.
You are not allowed to sublet the property to another party unless you have explicit consent from the Property Owner to do so. This permission must be included by the Property Owner as an additional term within the signed Lease Agreement.
RECOMMENDATION: It is STRONGLY recommended that you invite your spouse or partner as a co-signer to any Lease Agreement made with a Property Owner through the Pacto application. By doing so, you ensure that the rights of your co-signer and those of the other designated occupants of the housing unit are protected should an unforeseen event occur.
In cases where a co-signer is included, only the primary account will be able to engage in the negotiation of the terms of the Lease Agreement and validation of the information provided by the Property Owner.
In cases where there is a co-signer and where both parties have access to the Pacto application, both of the registered Users associated with the Lease Agreement will have access to the communication, issue reporting and payment tracking services and history.
8 Specific Terms if you are a Property Owner
When listing your property on the Pacto application, you must ensure that the information you provide in the home listing is correct. This includes, but is not limited to, information about the property and yourself. By listing your property, you certify that you have the legal right to lease the property. You may be requested by NRC to provide proof of your legal right to rent the property. If you are uncertain of your rights to rent, you can find an FAQ here on the local legal requirements which are required to validate your rights to rent your property. Home listings containing incorrect information could be removed immediately without notice.
You are not allowed to make more than one listing of the same property, except in cases where the property is divided into separate Tenant living spaces, with private or shared bathrooms and/or kitchen and other shared common areas. This division of the property into living spaces must be explicitly stated in the property description.
Your property must comply with the relevant property law and any other applicable regulation where the property is situated including but not limited to planning permissions, quality of construction, compliance with restrictions on the title, and certification of occupancy.
Prices must be real and reasonable and must comply with any limitations on the maximum periodic rental price increases allowed by local, regional and/or national legislation or policy.
You must comply with the terms of the entered-into Lease Agreement. If you are found to have materially breached the terms of any Lease Agreement entered into via the Pacto application, you and your properties may be banned from any future use of the Pacto application and its associated services. You will remain legally bound to fulfil the terms of any previously entered into Lease Agreement/s.
You may not decline to rent to a prospective tenant nor impose any discriminatory terms and conditions for the rental because of the tenant's race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, or marital status. It is not a discrimination for you (Property Owner) to take special measures in good faith to alleviate demonstrable disadvantage/s suffered by a group of people with a particular attribute, for example, reducing rent for refugees facing humanitarian needs.
You may not post or make any statement in your property listing or Lease Agreement proposal that discourages or makes a preference for or against any potential tenant based upon race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age or marital status. Anyone found to be engaging in discriminatory practices will be banned from use of the PACTO application and its services.
We expect you to respect other people’s rights when making a house listing. This means inter alia that in such a listing, you warrant that you have the right to use the photos, text or other elements in the listing.
You are responsible for validating the information included by the Tenant in the Lease Agreement before entering into the Lease Agreement. If you have questions or concerns in relation to the information provided by the Tenants, you must raise these issues directly with the Tenant.
You are responsible for ensuring that you and/or your property are insured against damage, injury, accidents, and theft and that your coverage meets or exceeds the minimum requirements as set forth in any local, regional and/or national legislation. NRC will not be liable for damage, injury, accident, or theft and does not provide any type of insurance for property owners, tenants, properties or third parties.
9 Governing law of the Lease Agreements
Lease Agreements made within the Pacto application are governed by the local, regional and national legislation of the location in which the property is located. The Support section of the Pacto application includes FAQs on the rights and obligations of both tenants and property owners under national law.
10 Communication between tenants and Property Owners
RECOMMENDATION: For all communication between Users of the Pacto application (Tenant and Property Owner), it is strongly recommended that all communication should be done through the communication/issue reporting module in the Pacto application. If communication occurs outside the Pacto application, it is strongly recommended that the parties document or replicate that communication in The Pacto application as soon as possible so that a record can be maintained. This makes it easier for all parties to document incidents where there have been any issues or misunderstandings.
We have no access to the specific communication between you and other Users, unless: i) you or the party you are communicating with consent, ii) either of you flags an issue with the communication, iii) we suspect that our application is being misused, or iv) if we receive a formal legal request by competent authorities/court. We do maintain access to the metadata in relation to complaints and issues that have been tagged as belonging to a pre-defined category of issue.
11 Disputes between Tenants and Property Owners and Policy on information concerning abuse
NRC strongly encourages Users to seek to resolve disagreements or disputes which may arise in relation to the Lease Agreement – either during the lease period or following its conclusion - amicably between themselves.
For those that are unable to resolve their disputes and request to NRC for specific support in its resolution, NRC will seek to provide advice on a case by case basis, or – with the Users’ permission – refer the case to a third party for supporting the successful resolution of the dispute. In such cases, Users agree to cooperate with and assist NRC and/or the third party in good faith, and to provide the reasonably requested information. NRC does not guarantee that it will be able to offer support to all cases raised nor that it will be able to successfully resolve the disagreement.
If you find yourself in a situation where you fear for your personal well-being or are being threatened with violence or harm, NRC STRONGLY recommends that you contact the appropriate local authorities. Contact information to the appropriate local authorities is provided in the Pacto application. However, such information is publicly available, and the provided information is not meant to take the place of the original source of information. While NRC will do its utmost to ensure that information is up-to-date, NRC is not liable for any harm that may come to an individual or property as a result of the information not being accurate.
If NRC receives any information concerning any abuse of the Pacto application or other Users, and NRC deems the information likely to be truthful, the User may lose access to The Pacto application and risk his/her behavior being reported to the relevant local authorities. The User may also be listed for exclusion for later re-registration. For cases of serious abuse, NRC can also provide referral services to competent professionals with the training and expertise to appropriately handle the case.
12 Feedback and Complaints to NRC
Any complaints regarding the Pacto application or on NRC’s organizational performance will be handled in accordance with NRC’s Complaints and Feedback Policy, found here, and the Complaints and Feedback Mechanism of the NRC Country Office in the country where the property is located. Complaints will be handled in a safe and responsive manner, and the Complaint Feedback Mechanism will be accessible and transparent. You may submit feedback and complaints by emailing us, through the “Contact” section of the PACTO application, or by other means of communication.
NRC cannot guarantee a follow up on all types of feedback, but any sensitive complaints will be carefully handled in a confidential way that considers the safety of the complainant and the affected persons, as well as avoiding unwarranted consequences for any accused person(s). Sensitive complaints might include a formal process of investigation.
13 Technical Help Desk / Support
In the case of any technical problems with the Pacto application, you must make reasonable efforts to investigate and diagnose problems before contacting the Pacto team. A Frequently Asked Questions page which covers common problems and their solution is available via the Pacto application.
If you still need technical help, our support team is available through the support module. The customer support hours are between the hours of: 09:00 to 16:00 Monday through Friday.
All inquiries will be responded to and the order in which they will be handled by our team will be based upon i) the order in which they were received and ii) the criticality of the issue.
While we intend that the Pacto application should be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it is possible that on occasion it may be unavailable to permit maintenance or other development activity to take place, or because of unforeseen errors. If for any reason, we must interrupt your access to the Pacto application for a longer period of time, we will use reasonable efforts to publish the details of such activity in advance. This is, however, not to be interpreted as any guarantee for functioning hours and we take no responsibility for any down time, also cf. Section 16.
14 Intellectual Property Rights
All intellectual property rights related to the Pacto application remain vested in NRC. This includes all copyright related to the Pacto application and means that no one is entitled to download or copy the Pacto application in itself or content published in the Pacto application.
All intellectual property rights you share with NRC through the Pacto application, including your data, remain yours. However, by uploading your listing or information on your personal profile, you grant us a royalty-free and sub-licensable right to use, reproduce, modify, publish, and distribute such content in connection with the Pacto application. We emphasize that personally identifiable information will be handled in line with our Privacy Notice, see section 15, and are not part of our rights according to the last sentence.
15 User Data and Data protection
We respect your personal data and are committed in respecting your privacy. We are a Norwegian organization meaning that we are governed by European privacy regulations, but we believe that all our Users should have the same transparent privacy regulations. Please refer to our Data Privacy Notice, found here, for more information regarding our routines for personal information provided to the Pacto application.
16 Disclaimers and Limitations
To the extent permitted by law, NRC excludes all liability and responsibility to you (or any other person) in contract, tort or otherwise (excluding gross negligence or intent), for any loss or damage or personal injury resulting directly or indirectly from the use of, or reliance on, the Pacto application.
17 Duration and Termination of the Agreement
This agreement becomes effective when you accept the terms and conditions before registering for the use of the Pacto application. The agreement runs until terminated by either party.
You may terminate the agreement at any time by disabling your account on Pacto or by deleting the Pacto application. However, as we recommend that any communication concerning any Lease Agreement entered into through the Pacto application is done through The Pacto application, such termination should not be done as long as you are part of any Pacto Lease Agreements.
We may terminate your access to the Pacto application, at any time, without cause. We will notify you of the termination by sending an email to the email address you have provided us with through the Pacto application.
Termination of this agreement does not affect any Lease Agreement entered through the Pacto application. Those wishing to terminate their Lease Agreement must do so in accordance with the terms specified in the Lease Agreement and relevant local, regional or national legislation concerning tenancy law.
18 Our right to change these Terms & Conditions
We may at any time, without prior notice, modify these terms and conditions. You will be notified through the Pacto application when such changes are made, as they will be legally binding for you with immediate effect. If you do not agree to the modifications, your sole remedy is to terminate the agreement, cf. Section 17.
19 NRC’s Right of Assignment
NRC may assign or transfer our rights and obligations under this agreement.
20 Governing Law and Legal Venue of this Agreement
This agreement shall be governed by Norwegian Law and by the courts of Norway. Any disputes that may arise from this agreement, that cannot be settled by negotiations and mutual agreement, shall be referred to Oslo District Court. Any complaint or claim shall be directed to NRC in writing before initiating any court proceedings.