Home Tales

Acceptable Use Policy

Last updated: 1 October 2026

This policy sets out what you may and may not do on Home Tales. It applies to everything you post or send, including profiles, photos, listings, pet profiles, messages, sit updates, reviews and forum posts. It forms part of our Terms of Service. How hosts and sitters should treat each other is covered in our Code of Conduct.

1. Be real

  • Use your own identity. One person, one account.
  • Do not impersonate anyone or misrepresent your relationship to a home or pet.
  • Only list homes and pets that are yours, or that you have permission to list.
  • Use real, recent photos of yourself, your home and your pets.
  • Do not submit someone else's ID or false information for verification.

2. Content you must not post

  • Anything illegal, or that encourages illegal activity.
  • Harassment, threats, bullying, or hateful content about any person or group.
  • Sexual or sexually suggestive content, or nudity.
  • Violent or graphic content, including content showing cruelty to animals.
  • Other people's personal details (such as addresses or phone numbers) without their permission.
  • Content that infringes someone else's copyright, trademark or other rights.
  • False, misleading or defamatory statements, including fake reviews.
  • Spam, chain messages, or advertising for other businesses or services.
  • Links to malware, phishing or scam websites.

3. Things you must not do

  • Use Home Tales to scam, defraud or exploit anyone.
  • Ask for or offer payment for a sit outside the platform, or ask for bank or card details in messages.
  • Offer or advertise anything other than genuine house and pet sitting.
  • Contact members for reasons unrelated to a sit, or keep contacting someone who has asked you to stop.
  • Swap reviews, pressure anyone over a review, or offer anything in return for one.
  • Cheat on course tests, share test answers, or use bots or scripts to take tests.
  • Scrape, copy or harvest data from the site, including member profiles or listings.
  • Try to access accounts, data or parts of the system you are not allowed to.
  • Interfere with the site's security, overload it, or get around rate limits or bot checks.
  • Sell, transfer or share your account.

4. Forum

  • Keep posts on topic and respectful. Disagree with ideas, not people.
  • Do not post private messages or details from a sit without the other member's agreement.
  • Advice in the forum comes from other members. For anything about a pet's health, speak to a vet.

5. Reporting

If you see something that breaks this policy, use the report option on the profile or forum post, or email [email protected]. If someone is in danger, call 999 first. Please do not misuse reports to target other members.

6. What we do if this policy is broken

We review reports and may remove content, give a warning, restrict features, or suspend or close an account. How we respond depends on how serious the breach is and whether it has happened before. We may pass information to the police or other authorities where the law requires or someone may be at risk.

7. Contact us

Questions about this policy? Email [email protected].