Terms & Conditions

TERMS AND CONDITION OF WEBSITE USE AND ONLINE MEMBERSHIP

The www.hobanz.org.nz web site (the “Site”) is an online information and education service provided by the Home Owners and Buyers Association of New Zealand Inc (HOBANZ).  HOBANZ is an incorporated society and not-for-profit organisation based in and governed by the laws of New Zealand. 

In order to obtain full access to certain features and areas of the Site the user must register as an Online Member.  By accessing or using the site, or registering as an Online Member, you agree to be bound by the terms and conditions set forth below.  If you do not wish to be bound by these terms and conditions, do not access or use the site or register as an Online Member.  HOBANZ may modify these terms and conditions at any time, and such modifications shall be effective immediately upon posting of the modified terms and conditions in this space. You agree to review the terms and conditions periodically to be aware of such modifications and your continued access or use of the site shall be deemed your conclusive acceptance of the modified terms and conditions.

1.    Definitions:

1. A “user” is someone who is a registered Online Member or who accesses, browses, crawls, scrapes, or in any way uses the Site. The terms “you” and “your” refer to you, as a user of the Site. The terms “we”, “us”, “our” refer to HOBANZ and “Site” refers to HOBANZ’s web site www.hobanz.org.nz.
2. “Content” means text, images, photos, video, material and all other forms of data or communication.
3.  “Your Content” means Content that you submit or transmit to or through the Site, such as your experiences, reviews, questions, and any other information that you post on the Site from time to time.  This does not include any personal information such as your name, address or contact details which are otherwise subject to the HOBANZ privacy and security of information policies.
4. “Site Content” means all of the Content that is made available on the Site, including but not limited to Your Content and Third Party Content.

2.    Online Membership.

Some features and certain areas of this Site are restricted to Online Members only, so you must register as an Online Member and you agree to provide information about yourself in order to use those features and have full access to the Site.  In creating an Online Membership profile you are required to provide complete and accurate information about yourself.  You must not impersonate anyone, create an account using a false name or pseudonym, or for anyone other than yourself, or provide an email address, address or telephone contact details other than your own.

Unless you expressly opt out when registering as an Online Member you unreservedly grant us permission to use your email address to send you correspondence, information bulletins or offers from our affiliates, partners, sponsors or supporters.  You are able to opt out by un-checking the ‘tick’ box during the registration process.

Online Membership does not confer any other class of HOBANZ membership, nor does it confer any rights or benefits otherwise provided to Associate Members, Guardian Members or any other class of membership that may be created by HOBANZ from time to time.

3.    Use of the Site.

We grant you permission to use the Site and to become an Online Member subject to your acceptance of these terms and conditions.  You access and use the Site at your own risk.  You are hereby advised to seek professional advice and any Content in this Site will not substitute or intends to substitute professional advice given in the subject matter covered herein.  Although HOBANZ has conducted thorough research to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in the Site, neither HOBANZ or any of its officers, employees or contractors assume any responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions or any other inconsistency herein.

The Site does not intend nor infer to give any legal advice.  All information provided on the Site or through correspondence are suggestions and advice based on personal experiences and information obtained by HOBANZ.  For questions and/or concerns of a legal nature consultation with a lawyer specialising in the areas of concern should be sought.

HOBANZ does not endorse the use of any product, manufacturer, builder, contractor, tradesman, or professional or service provider related or otherwise to the construction industry that may be featured from time to time on the Site as a contributor, supporter, sponsor or donor.  Accordingly users are advised to undertake their own due diligence.

4.    Restrictions on Use.

You agree that you will not, and will not assist or enable others to:

1. remove or modify any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notice on the Site or on any materials printed or copied off of the Site
2. use the Site to violate any third-party right, including any breach of confidence, copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, moral right, privacy right, right of publicity, or any other intellectual property or proprietary right
3. use the Site to post any Content that contains in part or whole, any virus or malware code, or is false, defamatory, unlawful, tortuous, defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, impersonal, profane, ethnically and/or sexually objectionable or threatening, or to post any advertisement, material harmful to minors, chain letters, solicitation or other commercial message, or to post material that is illegally invasive of another person’s privacy.
4. use the Site in a manner that may create a conflict of interest, such as trading reviews with other business owners or writing or soliciting shill reviews;
5. use the Site in violation of the terms and conditions or any applicable law.

5.    Permission to Use Your Content.

You hereby irrevocably grant us permission to use Your Content for any purpose, including but not limited to advertisements and other works, creating derivative works, promoting and distributing it.  You also irrevocably grant the Site’s users the right to access Your Content in connection with their use of the Site.  Finally, you irrevocably waive, and cause to be waived, any claims and assertions of moral rights or attribution with respect to Your Content.

6.    Responsibility for Your Content.
You alone are responsible for Your Content. You assume all risks associated with Your Content, including anyone’s reliance on its accuracy, completeness or usefulness, or any disclosure by you of information in Your Content that makes you personally identifiable. You represent that you own, or have the necessary permissions to use, and authorise the use of, Your Content as described herein.  You may not imply that Your Content is in any way sponsored or endorsed by HOBANZ.

You may expose yourself to liability if, for example, Your Content violates any third-party right, including any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, moral right, privacy right, right of publicity, or any other intellectual property or proprietary right; contains material that is false, intentionally misleading, or defamatory; contains material that is unlawful, including illegal hate speech or pornography; exploits or otherwise harms minors; or violates or advocates the violation of any law or regulation.

7.    Use of Content.

Although HOBANZ will attempt to delete objectionable messages posted on this Site from time to time, it operates in real time and does not necessarily review material before posting.  We may also modify or delete messages that contain Content that has personally identifiable information.  We may periodically undertake any steps at our discretion to verify and validate the accuracy of User information including information submitted during registration.  If we are unable to verify the accuracy of User information to our satisfaction, we may take precautionary measures, including, but not limited to blocking User access without need for substantiation to the User concerned.  All messages express the views of the Online Member, and neither HOBANZ, its officers, employees or contractors, nor its affiliates, partners, sponsors or supporters will be responsible for any content, any posting or any message.
The Site may display advertisements and other information adjacent to or included with Your Content on the Site and you are not entitled to any compensation for such advertisements.

8.    Copyright and License.

The entire contents of the Site are protected by copyright and trademark laws. The owner of the copyrights and trademarks is HOBANZ.  You may not modify, copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, or distribute, in any manner, the material on the site, including text, graphics, code and/or software.  You may print and download portions of material from the different areas of the Site solely for your own non-commercial use provided that you agree not to change or delete any copyright or proprietary notices from the materials.  Any use, redistribution, or reproduction of any materials herein, in part or in whole, without express written consent from HOBANZ is strictly prohibited.  Any content or materials used with permission, in part or in whole, shall give proper credit to the Site and HOBANZ News articles posted and/or links provided to articles on the Site are property of the originating site and protected by copyright laws.  Links to the originating site, publisher, and/or owner that article was obtained from shall be included. These articles are provided for informational purposes only and it is not the intention of HOBANZ to infer or imply any ownership or rights to them or an endorsement of the content.

You agree to grant HOBANZ a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual license, with the right to sub-license, to reproduce, distribute, transmit, create derivative works of, publicly display and publicly perform any materials and other information (including, without limitation, ideas contained therein for new or improved products and services) you submit to any areas of the Site (such as bulletin boards, forums and newsgroups) or by e-mail to HOBANZ by all means and in any media now known or hereafter developed.    You agree that you shall have no recourse against HOBANZ for any alleged or actual infringement or misappropriation of any proprietary right in your communications to HOBANZ.

9.    Trademarks.

Publications, products, content or services referenced herein or on the Site are the exclusive trademarks of HOBANZ except where otherwise noted. 

10.    Privacy.

For information about how we handle your personal information, please read our Privacy Policy. [read here]

11.    Site Modification.

We reserve the right to modify, update, or discontinue the Site at our sole discretion, at any time, for any or no reason, and without notice or liability.

12.    Unauthorised Access.

We reserve the right to exercise whatever lawful means we deem necessary to prevent unauthorized access to or use of the Site, including, but not limited to, technological barriers, IP mapping, and contacting your Internet Service Provider (ISP) regarding such unauthorized use.

13.    Suggestions and Improvements.

By sending us any ideas, suggestions, documents or proposals (“Feedback”), you agree that;

1. your Feedback does not contain the confidential or proprietary information of third parties,
2. we are under no obligation of confidentiality, express or implied, with respect to the Feedback,
3. we may have something similar to the Feedback already under consideration or in development, and
4. you grant us an irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, worldwide license to use, modify, publish, distribute and sublicense the Feedback.

14.    Termination.

We may terminate or suspend your account or ability to use the Site, in whole or in part, at our sole discretion, for any or no reason, and without notice or liability of any kind. For example, we may terminate or suspend your account or ability to use the Site if you misuse the Site. Any such termination or suspension could prevent you from accessing your account, the Site, Your Content, Site Content, or any other related information.
You may terminate the Terms of Use at any time by discontinuing your use of any and all parts of the Site by sending the administrator notice to that effect. You acknowledge and agree that even if you discontinue your Online Membership, we may continue to display Your Content on the Site.

In the event of any termination, whether by you or us, Sections X, X, X, X, X, X, and X of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect, including our right to use Your Content as detailed in Section X.

15.    Ownership.

We own the Site Content, including but not limited to visual interfaces, interactive features, graphics, design, compilation, computer code, products, software, aggregate user review ratings, and all other elements and components of the Site excluding User Content and Third Party Content.  We also own the copyrights, trademarks, service marks, trade names, and other intellectual and proprietary rights throughout the world (the “IP Rights”) associated with the Site Content and the Site, which are protected by copyright, trade dress, patent, trademark laws and all other applicable intellectual and proprietary rights and laws.  As such, you may not modify, reproduce, distribute, create derivative works or adaptations of, publicly display or in any way exploit any of the Site Content in whole or in part except as expressly authorized by us.  Except as expressly and unambiguously provided herein, we do not grant you any express or implied rights, and all rights in and to the Site and the Site Content are retained by us.

16.    Warranties, Disclaimers, and Limitations of Liability.

1. The site and all site content is made available to you on an “as is” basis. HOBANZ makes no warranties, representations, or conditions of any kind, express, statutory or implied as to (1) the operation and functionality of the site, (2) the accuracy, integrity, completeness, quality, legality, usefulness, safety, and ip rights of any of the site content, including but not limited to the accuracy of reviews and provider information listed on the site, and (3) the products and services associated with the site or site content, including but not limited to the products and services sold by providers listed on the site. Site further disclaims all warranties, express, statutory, or implied, including, but not limited to, implied warranties of merchantability, merchantable quality, durability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.  No advice or information, whether oral or written, that you obtain from site shall create any warranty, representation, or condition not expressly stated herein.
2. HOBANZ disclaims all liability for any (a) indirect, special, incidental, punitive, exemplary, reliance, or consequential damages, (b) loss of profits, (c) business interruption, (d) loss of or damage to reputation of any third party, or (e) loss of information or data.
3. HOBANZ further disclaims all liability for any loss or damage arising out of your use of the site and site content.  Your use of the site and site content is at your own discretion and risk, and you will be solely responsible for any resulting loss or damage, including but not limited to any loss of data or damage to your computer from viruses that may be downloaded to your computer in the course of using the site.
4. HOBANZ also disclaims all liability for any loss or damage arising out of your communications or dealings with any of the providers, advertisers, or users on the site.  Your communications or dealings with such providers, advertisers, and users are solely between you and them.
5. Your sole and exclusive right and remedy in case of dissatisfaction with the site or any other grievance shall be your termination and discontinuation of Online Membership and access to, or use of the site.

17.    Indemnity.

You agree to indemnify and hold the Site, its parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, any related companies, suppliers, licensors and partners, and the officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives of each of them harmless, including costs, liabilities and legal fees, from any claim or demand made by any third party due to or arising out of

1. your access to or use of the Site,
2. your violation of the Terms of Use, or
3. the infringement by you, or any third party using your account, of any intellectual property or other right of any person or entity.

Where the law does not recognize a cap on liability and/or indemnity obligations, you agree to hold the Site and HOBANZ harmless and be fully responsible for any loss, liability and/or legal fees that arise from the violation of the Terms of Use herein.

18.    Third Parties.

The Site may include links to other websites (each, a “Third Party Site”).  We do not control any Third Party Site, and you agree that we are not responsible for the availability of such Sites.  Links to websites outside of the Site are provided as a courtesy only and does not mean that HOBANZ has looked at, viewed, or researched all these sites, included content, or endorses the site, products, and/or services related to the site.  In the event the sites referenced herein contain material offensive to you in any manner we apologize and disclaim any responsibility of such material.  Links to legal, professional, and governmental agencies are for reference only and does not imply or infer that this site is providing any type of legal or professional advice, information or consultation on any matters contained herein.  No warranty express or implied is given by HOBANZ in respect to the accuracy or completeness of any information or content on any Third Party Site.

19.    Notice.

Any Content posted on the Site has been extracted from public domain, Provider Content or has been legally obtained from any Third Party Site.  Any objection to Site Content should be notified in writing to HOBANZ.
HOBANZ will make commercially reasonable efforts to redress all valid objections.

20.    Miscellaneous.

1.  If there is any dispute about or involving the Site, you agree that any such dispute will be governed by the laws of New Zealand.  Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to these terms and conditions, or the breach thereof, shall be settled by arbitration administered by the Auckland District Law Society and judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator(s) may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof.
2. No agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment is created as a result of these terms and conditions, and you do not have any authority of any kind to bind us in any respect whatsoever.
3. We may provide you with notices, including those regarding changes to these terms and conditions by postings on the Site.
4. These terms and conditions contain the entire agreement between you and us regarding the use of the Site and your Online Membership, and supersede any prior agreement between you and us on such subject matter.  The parties acknowledge that no reliance is placed on any representation made but not expressly contained in these terms and conditions.
5. Any failure on our part to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these terms and conditions shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.  The failure of either party to exercise in any respect any right provided for herein shall not be deemed a waiver of any further rights hereunder.
6. If any provision of these terms and conditions is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that these terms and conditions shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable.
7. Your comments or forum posts must be objective and truthful.  Comments should be detailed, and respectful.  Short or abusive comments or posts will be removed.