TERMS & CONDITIONS FOR HOSTS
Version: January 2024
1. Preamble
ims media gmbh (hereinafter referred to as „ims media gmbh“) is the operator of the online platform www.apartment.at (hereinafter referred to as „platform“) providing customers with an advertising platform for residential leases. It is an Internet service partly for free and partly based on fees. Both, corporate and individual clients can provide and look through the advertisements on the platform.
ims media gmbhdoes not provide a guarantee for the correctness and completeness of the information provided by its clients. The advertisements for the respective objects are solely created according to the landlords’ declarations.
Users of the platform declare their consent to our General Terms and Conditions, the price list and our Data Privacy Statement, which are all an integral part of the present General Terms, and Conditions. They can be retrieved at: www.apartment.at.
2. Scope of application
(1) The subsequent General Terms and Conditions (hereinafter referred to as “GTC”) provide the basis for all commercial contracts between the landlords and ims media gmbh.
(2) They apply in the valid version of the time, when the contract was concluded, in addition to the applicable law for the current and prospective business relation between ims media gmbhand the respective landlord, even if they were not explicitly stipulated once again.
(3) Divergent general terms and conditions of the landlord are not accepted, unless an explicit, written agreement has been reached to the contrary.
3. Object of agreement
(1) The object of agreement is the provision of the online platform for advertising and leasing holiday accommodations including the opportunity of the landlords to receive bookings by potential leaseholders and to be contacted by them in general.
(2) The ims media gmbhis not the contracting partner in the lease contract or hosting contract itself. It only provides the platform to arrange the residential leases between the landlords and the leaseholders.
4. Costs
(1) The services of ims media gmbhare chargeable for landlords. There is an option to choose between a commission model and a tariff model with a fixed annual payment.
(2) At the commission model the landlord has the obligation to pay a commission to ims media gmbhfor every reservation that has been concluded between the landlord and a leaseholder on an object offered on www.apartment.at. This commission amounts to a percentage, the amount of which is evident from the current price list, which is regularly published to the landlord, of the payment that the landlord and the leaseholder have agreed on plus 20% VAT. ims media gmbh will charge the leaseholders credit card immediately upon booking with the full amount of the apartment and will abolish the rental fee in a fiduciary manner. 3 days after the arrival of the leaseholder the rental price minus the commission plus 20% VAT is transferred to the landlord.
If the landlord cancels a reservation for whatever reason, a cancellation fee of € 100 will be charged plus 20% VAT, which will be billed immediately upon cancellation by ims media gmbh to the landlord and is payable by the landlord within the stated payment period. This fee covers the expenses incurred by ims media gmbh in connection with the cancellation and other expenses and losses and is not subject to any moderation.
(3) Instead of the commission model, every landlord has the right to choose the tariff model with a fixed annual payment. This fixed amount, according to the current price list plus 20% VAT, has to be paid in advance. This payment model is referred to as the tariff model.
The landlord has to declare a change from the commission model to the tariff model in a written form with a lead time of at least 30 calendar days and accepts the obligation to pay the annual fee in advance within 14 days after invoicing. The change of model applies to all contract closings after the declaration and payment. When choosing this model the landlord is bound until the expiration of the contract according to point 5. A change back to the commission model is only possible after the expiry of the contract. With the tariff model there are no additional fees or commissions that the landlord has to pay, but already existing bookings are still billed at the time of the changeover according to the commission model.
5. Duration of contract, termination
(1) The advertising space on the platform for the tariff model is booked for a time period of 12 months unless otherwise agreed in writing. The contract expires with the end of this period automatically and the advertisement will be set offline, if the landlord does not choose to extend the contract for another year. Any special discounts that were possibly allowed at the time of conclusion of the first contract will generally not be allowed again when the landlord decides to extend the contract.
(2) The contract based on the commission model is concluded for an indefinite period. It can be terminated at any time. Contracts between landlords and leaseholders that were concluded until the termination of the contract get still passed to account. The same applies to contract closings after the termination of the contract in case they were concluded due to the advertisement on the platform.
(3) The booking period for the first advertisement space at the tariff model begins with the receipt of payment by ims media gmbhs. If the upload of the advertisement gets delayed for more than a month since the conclusion of contract due to reasons within the sphere of ims media gmbh, it is the right of the landlord to claim an aliquot credit note regarding the abbreviated period of time provided that he has chosen the tariff model before.
(4) If the landlord does not make use of his advertisement space on the platform provided by ims media gmbhand he has chosen the tariff model before, it is still his obligation to pay the amount of money mentioned-above.
(5) If the landlord does not make use of his advertisement space on the platform provided by ims media gmbh, it is the right of ims media gmbhto retain the advance payment.
6. Rights and obligations of ims media gmbh
(1) ims media gmbhis providing the access to the platform www.apartment.at and its data capacity. It ensures the advertising on the platform for the respective period of time. In order to enable the landlord to promote his holiday accommodations, ims media gmbhprovides him with an online form that enables him to upload texts and pictures.
(2) ims media gmbhhas the right to organise and design the online platform and is allowed to change its available features, insofar as its purpose and function are not affected and it is necessary for maintaining the interests of ims media gmbhand deemed acceptable to the landlord.
(3) ims media gmbhattempts to keep the platform on the current state-of-the-art. For this purpose it is necessary to perform maintenance work that can occasionally lead to restrictions of the functionality of the platform. If possible, ims media gmbhwill give notice before such an incident occurs and will try to arrange the maintenance work for times, when the interests of the landlords are the least affected.
(4) ims media gmbhalso provides a request form that can be used by the landlords and the potential leaseholders for contacting. It cannot be ruled out (and the landlord is aware of it) that third parties could misuse the system and possibly read or intercept messages that were not dedicated to them.
(5) ims media gmbhneither proves the identity of the landlord nor if he is entitled to lease the respective object. It also does not check the identity of the leaseholder. Should the suspicion arise – in particular due to information from a leaseholder – that the description or other information provided by the landlord are wrong, it is the right of ims media gmbhto prove the identity of the landlord. Upon request of ims media gmbh, the landlord is obliged to provide proof of his identity as well as of his entitlement to lease the object.
(6) ims media gmbhcomplies with the legal requirements of data protection law. The landlord hereby agrees that his contact data – in particular his phone number – gets passed on to the potential leaseholder. More detailed information can be retrieved from the Data Privacy Statement.
7. Rights and obligations of the landlord, design of the offer
(1) The landlord is obliged to provide true information on his personal identity, the offered objects and the payment data. In particular it is his obligation only to offer objects he is authorized to dispose.
(2) The forms provided by ims media gmbhmay only be used to the designated extent. In particular the landlord must not promote several accommodations within one offer or change the offer in such a manner that more than one accommodation is offered.
(3) The landlord is aware of his obligation to make sure that all information – in particular regarding the provided information on the accommodation in his offer – is correct and complete. If there is a translation involved, the landlord is also obliged to comply with the regulations and legal requirements for (free) texts and has to ensure a correct and precise translation. It is not allowed to provide information that is misleading in general or disguising the origin of the information.
In the event of non-compliance ims media gmbhhas the right to delete the respective text passages or the advertisement space as a whole.
(4) The landlord commits himself to comply with all legal information obligations.
(5) The landlord is further obligated to conceal his login-data to his user profile and is not allowed to pass them on to third parties. ims media gmbhwill not request this data from the landlord except from the login on the page www.apartment.at itself. If the landlord gets contacted and asked by third parties to provide his data, it is not allowed to provide the information and the landlord is obliged to inform ims media gmbhimmediately. If the landlord finds out or suspects that his user profile is used by a third party, he has to report ims media gmbhimmediately and must change his online user name and the corresponding password.
(6) Furthermore the landlord commits himself to comply with the requirements of data protection law – in particular to fulfil possible obligations to instruct towards the leaseholders and to comply with the legal requirements regarding the collection, storage and usage of data.
(7) It is prohibited to misuse the email system and the internal messaging system of the provider. This includes the prohibition to pass on information that was sent to the landlords internally or to other landlords not listed on the platform. Emails – also recommendations of the website via the function “Recommend this website” – are only allowed to be sent with the consent of the recipient.
(8) The landlord is obliged to verify his offers in regard to their legal admissibility before uploading them to the platform. This means in particular to prove them regarding their compliance with competition law, trademark law and others or if they could infringe third parties’ personal rights. He is obliged to maintain the rights of third parties on his own.
(9) The landlord commits himself to tax his incomes arising from the lease of accommodations according to law.
8. Release from liability
In case of the infringement of rights of third parties (e.g. personal rights, copyrights etc.) due to the contents provided by the landlord (in particular the design of the offer and the provided texts and pictures) or the acting of the landlord (in particular the sending of emails to third parties) it is the obligation of the landlord to indemnify and hold harmless ims media gmbhfrom and against claims based on the infringement.
9. Prohibited use
It is prohibited:
a) to monitor the contents of the platform www.apartment.at through robots, spiders and other automatic instruments or manual processes.
b) to use the platform for other purposes than for the offer and/or search of vacation accommodations respectively the sending of legitimate messages (in particular for sending unwanted messages, spam);
c) to upload/send contents or programs that could harm the system or platform due to their extent or nature, as well as to use devices that contain harmful contents or programs;
d) to publish contents that constitute or invoke the infringement of criminal law or others – in particular the rights of third persons such as personal rights or copyrights;
e) to use/access the platform www.apartment.at in a manner that could harm the computer system or network.
10. Right to lock or delete offers
It is the right of ims media gmbhto temporarily or permanently block or even delete offers of the landlord, if the landlord is in default of payment. The same applies to cases when third parties assert injunctive reliefs arising from trademark, copyright, competition law or general personal rights and the landlord, on request of ims media gmbh, did not immediately prove that he was entitled to publish those contents. The right to temporarily or permanently block or even delete offers also persists if the landlord, on request of ims media gmbh, can not immediately prove that he is entitled to lease the vacation accommodation or does not give evidence of his identity.
11. Rights of use of contents
(1) The landlord declares that he has the rights of use regarding the provided contents (texts and pictures) including the right of sub-licensing. Furthermore he declares to have all required permissions of the depicted persons (model release) and owners of the depicted objects (property release) for the publishing of the figures on www.apartment.at.
(2) Insofar as the contents of the landlord’s offer contain trademark rights or other rights regarding marks and signs, the landlord declares that he is entitled for usage and sub-licensing of the respective content.
(3) By submitting the contents to the provider the landlord declares his consent that the provider is entitled to use it in all aspects (in particular regarding its reproduction, publishing, distribution, provision and sending).
(4) Furthermore the landlord declares his consent in respect of the transmission of contents to the provider including their usage for object-related promotional videos (also for the purpose of presentations) and the public provision of the pictures and other provided contents.
12. Liability for damages
The landlord is obliged to make compensation for any damage or failure regarding the provider’s objects (including the impairments, failures or downtimes of the system or databases) that have occurred due to the transmitted/uploaded contents or programs provided by the landlord.
13. Notification
Reports and declarations have to be in written form or via email directed to ims media gmbh.
14. Release from liability
ims media gmbhis not liable for slightly negligent breaches of obligations insofar as it does not concern personal damages or claims arising from the Product Liability Act. In regards to entrepreneurs, ims media gmbhis only liable for intentional infringement or comparable breaches (in particular for extraordinarily gross negligence) and does not assume liability for ordinarily gross negligence or slight negligence.
15. Miscellaneous provisions
(1) It is agreed that the legal relations between ims media gmbhand the landlords shall be governed exclusively by material Austrian law, to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods.
(2) Court of jurisdiction for any disputes arising from this contract is Vienna. This is not the case if the contract partner is a consumer in terms of consumer protection law.
(3) Verbal side agreements do not exist at the time the contract is concluded.
(4) In the event of the invalidity of one or more of the provisions regulated herein, this shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of the contract.
(5) The landlord declares his consent that the General Terms and Conditions can be changed by the following means: The GTC will be communicated to the landlord. If the landlord does not object within six weeks to the terms and conditions, the amended terms and conditions are deemed to be agreed. When transmitting the new terms, the landlord gets informed of his / her right of objection.
