Terms of Service

This site is operated by Asanji-Ventures ("we", "us", "Asanji-Ventures"), a company registered in the Republic of Cameroon in the Trade and Personal Property Credit Register (RCCM) under number [RCCM number to be completed], taxpayer number (NIU) [NIU to be completed], whose place of business is [address to be completed].

You can write to us at [email to be completed], call or message [telephone to be completed], or use the contact form on the site. We answer complaints in the order they arrive and aim to reply within five working days.

These terms are published in English and in French. Cameroon has two official languages and both versions carry the same meaning and the same force. If a genuine difference of meaning arises between them, the version in the language you accepted is the one that applies to you.

These terms form a contract between you and us. They apply whenever you use the site, whether or not you create an account, and whether you are in Cameroon or abroad.

You accept them by ticking the box when you create an account, or by continuing to use the site if you do not have one. If you do not accept them, do not use the site.

You must be at least 18 years old and legally able to enter a contract. If you use the site for a company, you confirm you are authorised to bind that company, and "you" then means both you and the company.

Some parts of the site have their own terms which sit alongside these: the auction terms apply when you bid, and the service terms apply when you order a check or book a guide or a driver. Where a specific document says something different from this one, the specific document applies to that activity.

We run a marketplace where people advertise property, land, vehicles, businesses and short stays, and a paid service that checks documents and carries out enquiries on request.

We are not, and do not act as:

• the owner, seller, landlord or host of anything advertised by another user;
• a notary, a lawyer, a surveyor or a valuer, and nothing on this site is legal advice;
• a bank, a payment institution or a deposit taker, except that we receive fees for our own services and, where a listing says so, a deposit that we hold and pass on or return;
• a party to any sale, lease, booking or transfer agreed between two users.

A contract for a property, a vehicle, a business or a stay is made between the buyer or guest and the seller, landlord or host. We introduce the parties, publish the advertisement, and where you pay us for it, check documents. We do not sign that contract and we do not take on the obligations of either side.

Where we describe a partner as checked, approved or verified, that describes the work we did on the date stated. It is not a recommendation, a warranty of their work, and it does not make us responsible for what they do.

The details you give us must be true and kept up to date. Registering under a false name, or as somebody else, is a breach of these terms and may be an offence.

You are responsible for your password and for what is done through your account. Tell us at once if you think somebody else has access to it.

One person, one account. We may refuse or close duplicate accounts, and accounts opened to get around a suspension.

We may suspend or close an account where we reasonably believe it is being used unlawfully, to defraud or mislead another user, or in breach of these terms. Where we can do so without frustrating the purpose, we tell you why and give you a chance to answer.

You may close your account at any time from your account settings or by writing to us. Closing it does not cancel obligations you have already taken on, such as a winning bid, a confirmed booking or an unpaid fee.

You may only advertise something you own, or something you are authorised in writing by the owner to advertise. We may ask you to show that authority and may withdraw the advertisement until you do.

Everything in a listing must be accurate: the price, the location, the condition, the papers held, and the photographs, which must be of the actual thing advertised and recent.

You must not advertise:

• land or property you do not own or are not authorised to sell or let;
• anything already sold, let or under an exclusive arrangement with someone else, unless you say so plainly;
• anything whose sale needs a permission you do not hold;
• stolen goods, or vehicles whose customs or registration position you have misstated;
• anything unlawful in Cameroon.

Advertising the same thing more than once to gain prominence, or listing at a price you will not honour in order to attract enquiries, is not allowed.

We may edit a listing for spelling, formatting or category, refuse it, ask for evidence, or withdraw it. We do this to keep the site usable and honest, and doing it does not make us responsible for the listing.

Listing fees, where they apply, are shown before you commit. A fee paid for a listing that we later withdraw for breach of these terms is not refundable.

Where a listing or a report says something has been checked, it means that on the date shown we carried out the enquiries described on our verification page, on the documents and information available to us at that time, and recorded what we found.

A check is not:

• a guarantee that a title is valid, that it will remain valid, or that it will not be challenged;
• a guarantee that the seller owns what they are selling, or that they will complete;
• a survey, a valuation, a structural report or a mechanical inspection, unless we say we did one;
• legal advice, or a substitute for your own notary or lawyer.

Records in Cameroon can change, and a document that is in order today can be overtaken tomorrow. A check speaks as at its date. Where a check is older than the period shown on our verification page, treat it as out of date and ask for it to be repeated.

We strongly recommend that you instruct your own notary before you pay any substantial sum, whatever a check says. A check is there to help you decide whether a transaction is worth taking further, not to replace the professionals who complete it.

The limits of our responsibility for a paid check are set out in the service terms and in section 14 below.

When contact details are released through the site, we record it. That record is how we establish that an introduction came from us.

Where you list as an agent, a realtor or a company, you agree that a transaction concluded with a person introduced through this site is subject to the commission published on the site at the time of the introduction, whether the transaction completes on the site or away from it.

Taking an enquiry off the site in order to avoid a fee is a breach of these terms. We may suspend the account and claim the fee that would have been due.

Nothing in this section makes us a party to the transaction or entitles us to act for either side in it.

Prices and fees on the site are in CFA francs (XAF) unless stated otherwise. Where another currency is shown, it is a convenience conversion at an indicative rate and the XAF figure is the one that counts.

Payments to us are made only to the accounts published on our official payments page. We will never ask you to send money to a personal mobile money number, to a member of staff, or to any account not on that page. If anyone asks you to, it is not us. Stop, and tell us.

A payment counts when we have confirmed it against our records, not when you send it or send us a screenshot. We confirm as quickly as we can and tell you when we have.

Where you pay another user directly, that is between you and them. We are not holding that money, we cannot recover it for you, and a screenshot of a transfer is not proof to us that anything was agreed.

Mobile money and bank charges are yours unless we say otherwise. Refunds, where due, are made by the route the payment came in by, less any charge we were actually made to pay.

Where a deposit is taken and held by us, it is held on the terms of the listing or the auction it relates to, and returned or applied in line with those terms.

A viewing request is a request. It is confirmed when the other side accepts it, and either side can change or cancel it. Meet in daylight, in a public or occupied place where you can, and tell somebody where you are going.

For a short stay, dates are held for the period shown once you book, and the booking is confirmed when the deposit is confirmed. If the deposit is not confirmed within that period the hold is released and the dates go back on sale.

Cancellation, changes and refunds follow the rules published on the listing. Read them before you pay, because they differ between hosts.

The host is responsible for the property, its condition, its safety and its legality, and for honouring the booking. If a host does not honour a confirmed booking we will help you recover what you paid through us, but we are not the host and we do not guarantee the stay.

Auctions are subject to the separate auction terms, which you accept when you register for a sale.

In short, and without limiting those terms: a bid is a binding offer, it cannot be withdrawn, the highest bid above any reserve wins, deposits are returned to bidders who do not win, and a winner who does not complete may lose their deposit.

Lots are sold on the basis of the condition report published with them. Inspect what you can before you bid, because a lot is sold as it stands.

Document checks, due diligence, market research, attendance on your behalf, video viewings, guides and drivers are supplied under the separate service terms.

We quote before we start. Work begins when the quote is accepted and the fee confirmed. Timescales are our honest estimate and depend on offices and registries we do not control.

Guides, drivers, notaries, surveyors and other partners engaged through us are independent. We choose them with care and check what we say we check, but they are not our employees and we are not answerable for their acts beyond the care we took in choosing and instructing them.

Use the site lawfully, honestly, and in a way that does not damage it or spoil it for others.

You must not:

• post anything false, misleading, abusive, obscene, threatening, or that incites hatred or violence;
• impersonate anyone, or claim a qualification, licence or approval you do not hold;
• use the site to defraud, to launder money, or to advance any other unlawful purpose;
• collect other users' details for your own marketing, or scrape, copy or republish the site's content in bulk;
• interfere with the site, test its security without our written permission, or try to reach parts of it you are not authorised to reach;
• upload anything containing malicious code.

We may remove content and restrict or close accounts that break this section, and we report serious matters to the authorities.

If you find a security weakness, tell us at [email to be completed] before telling anyone else. We will not pursue anyone who reports in good faith, acts proportionately and gives us a fair chance to fix it.

The site, its design, its text and its software belong to us or to our licensors. You may read and share pages normally, but you may not copy the site or any substantial part of it.

What you upload stays yours. By uploading it you give us permission, without charge, to store it, show it on the site and in our listings, adapt it technically so it displays properly, and use it to promote the listing it belongs to, for as long as the listing is published and for a reasonable period afterwards in our records.

You confirm that you hold the rights to everything you upload, including photographs taken by someone else, and that publishing it does not breach anyone's rights.

If you believe something on the site infringes your rights, write to [email to be completed] with enough detail to identify it. We will look at it promptly and remove it where the complaint is made out.

We work to keep the site available, but we do not promise it will be uninterrupted or free of faults. We may suspend it for maintenance, and we may change or withdraw features.

Where we can, we give notice of planned interruption. We are not liable for interruption caused by things outside our reasonable control, including power and network failure.

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited. Your rights under Cameroonian consumer protection law stand whatever these terms say.

Subject to that, we are responsible to you for loss you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this contract or failing to use reasonable care and skill. We are not responsible for loss that is not foreseeable.

We are not responsible for the acts or omissions of other users, for the condition, legality or ownership of anything advertised by them, for whether a transaction completes, or for money you pay directly to another user.

Where we supply a paid service, our total liability for that service is limited to the fee you paid for it, except where the law does not allow that limit. Where you have not paid us for a service, our total liability to you for anything arising out of your use of the site is limited to 100,000 XAF.

We are not liable for business losses. If you use the site for a business, we have no liability to you for loss of profit, loss of business, interruption, or loss of an opportunity.

Nothing in this section applies to a liability that arose before it did, and if any part of it is held unenforceable the rest continues to apply.

If someone brings a claim against us because of something you did on the site, including advertising something you had no right to advertise, or content you uploaded, you will meet our reasonable costs and any sum we are ordered or reasonably agree to pay.

This does not apply where the claim arises from our own breach, negligence or fault.

Tell us first. Write to [email to be completed] setting out what happened and what you want done. Most complaints are resolved this way and it is quicker for everyone.

If we cannot resolve it between us, either of us may take the matter to the competent courts of Cameroon. Where both of us agree in writing, a dispute may instead be referred to arbitration under the rules applicable in Cameroon, and we will consider any reasonable request to do so.

A dispute between two users about a sale, a lease or a stay is theirs to resolve. We will provide records we hold that are relevant, on a proper request, and we will help where we can, but we do not adjudicate between users and we are not bound by what either of them decides.

Report fraud to us at [email to be completed] and to the Cameroonian authorities. We cooperate with lawful requests from the police and the courts.

These terms and any dispute arising out of them are governed by the law of the Republic of Cameroon, including the Uniform Acts of OHADA where they apply.

If you live outside Cameroon, you keep the protection of any mandatory rules of the country you live in that cannot be set aside by agreement, and you may be able to bring proceedings there.

We may change these terms, for example to reflect a change in the law, in what the site does, or in how it is paid for.

The version and date at the top of this page tell you what is currently in force. We keep a record of the version each user accepted.

Where a change materially affects your rights or obligations, we will tell you and ask you to accept the new version before you continue to use your account. Changes that do not affect your rights take effect when published.

If you do not accept a new version you may close your account. Obligations you have already taken on continue under the version in force when you took them on.

If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.

If we do not insist on something straight away, that does not mean we have given it up.

We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another business, and will tell you if we do. You may not transfer yours without our written agreement.

These terms, together with the privacy policy, the auction terms and the service terms where they apply, are the whole agreement between us about your use of the site.

This contract is between you and us. Nobody else has a right to enforce any part of it.