Terms of Service

Welcome to Cache. These terms govern your use of the Cache platform — the website, the marketplace and everything around them. By creating an account, listing a space or booking one, you agree to them. Plain English throughout; where a word has a precise meaning we say so.

1. What Cache is (and isn't)

Cache is a two-sided marketplace that matches hosts (people with spare residential space) with renters (verified businesses that need small amounts of storage nearby).

Cache acts as a marketplace agent. When a booking is confirmed, the storage contract is between the host and the renter, made on Cache's standard template. Cache is not a party to that contract, is not a warehouse operator and does not take custody of goods. We provide the platform, set the pricing, run payments, verification, scheduling and evidence tools, and administer the policies described below.

2. Accounts and verification

• You must be at least 18 and give accurate information. One person may hold both host and renter capabilities.
• Renters book on behalf of a business (a company number is optional for sole traders). Businesses go through our verification (KYB) review and cannot request bookings until verified.
• Hosts must have the right to offer the space they list (owner, or a tenant whose agreement allows it — that is the host's responsibility to check).

3. Pricing and commission

Cache sets the price. Hosts do not set rates — they decide only whether to list. Prices come from our rate cards (postcode district × access tier). Cache adds a 20% commission on top of the host rate; the renter price and the commission are both shown before anyone commits. Rates are frozen for the life of a booking when the request is made — later repricing never changes a running booking.

4. Bookings, terms and billing

• Bookings are request-to-book: the renter requests, the host accepts or declines. Requests lapse after 7 days unanswered.
• A booking takes the whole listed space and is exclusive — one renter per space.
• Terms are fixed, from 2 weeks up to 6 months (up to the maximum the host offers). Where the host offers it, a booking may instead be open-ended, ending on one calendar month's notice from either side.
• Rent is billed weekly (the monthly rate ÷ 4). The first week is paid to activate the booking; each further begun week is charged in full — no pro-rating.
• After both sides commit, the agreement (on Cache's template, with the frozen numbers) is generated and accepted electronically by both parties.

5. Deposits

The renter pays a deposit of one month's rent when activating a booking (goods value bands V1–V2). It is returned after a clean move-out, and may be applied against unpaid rent, damage or the default procedure in section 10. Deposit custody arrangements may change when full payment processing launches; the amount and the clean-move-out rule will not change without notice.

6. Access tiers, visits and missed windows

Every listing carries an access tier the host commits to: T1 (one scheduled visit a week), T2 (one a day), T3 (two a day — a morning and an afternoon window) or T4 (unscheduled come-and-go, independent access). Scheduled tiers use an agreed recurring window, with an optional agreed fallback window.

• Both sides are expected to honour agreed windows. Missed visits are recorded, the other party is notified, and repeated misses without notice can earn strikes (section 8).
• Paid extra visits: a renter can propose a one-off visit outside the booking's schedule. The price is shown up front (a percentage of the booking's monthly renter total, with a floor); the renter is charged only if the host accepts, and the host receives a share.
• Visit check-ins, check-outs and evidence photos form the record both sides can rely on in a dispute.

7. Prohibited goods

You must not store, and hosts must not knowingly accept:

• hazardous or flammable materials (fuels, gas canisters, fireworks, corrosives);
• perishable goods, food that requires temperature control, or anything that rots or leaks;
• live animals or plants;
• illegal goods of any kind, or goods you do not have the right to possess;
• weapons, ammunition or explosives;
• cash, bullion or bearer instruments;
• pharmaceuticals not registered for lawful distribution;
• lithium batteries beyond ordinary consumer quantities.

Renters declare a goods value band when booking and must stay within it. Storing prohibited goods is a material breach: the booking can be terminated immediately, the deposit may be applied to costs, and we may involve the authorities where the law requires it.

8. Strikes

Cache runs a three-strike policy on each side of the marketplace. Strikes are issued by Cache for things like missed windows without notice, misdeclared goods or unreliable conduct. One strike is a notice, two is a formal warning, three suspends that side of your account (existing bookings are honoured and wound down in an orderly way). Each strike lapses 12 months after it is issued. Strikes can be appealed to Cache and revoked.

9. Keep it on Cache (no off-platform dealing)

Taking a booking that started on Cache off the platform — paying directly, arranging storage outside the platform with a host or renter you met here, or sharing contact details to get around Cache — deprives the marketplace of its commission and strips both sides of every protection we provide. If you deal off-platform:

• you lose Cache's contract template, deposit handling, visit evidence, strikes protection and dispute support entirely — you are on your own;
• we may suspend or terminate the accounts involved.

Contact details in booking messages are hidden automatically for the same reason.

10. Non-payment and abandoned goods (default procedure)

If a renter stops paying, or goods remain in a space after the booking has ended and the renter does not respond, the following procedure applies (it is written into the host–renter agreement):

1. We notify the renter and attempt to collect payment or agree collection of the goods.
2. If that fails, the goods may be relocated to a commercial warehouse in the UK so the host gets their space back. Relocation and storage costs are added to the amount owed.
3. The renter is served statutory notice under the Torts (Interference with Goods) Act 1977 stating what is held, where, what is owed and the deadline to respond.
4. The renter may reclaim the goods at any point before sale by paying the arrears plus relocation and storage costs.
5. If the notice period expires unanswered, the goods may be sold; proceeds are applied to the arrears and costs, and any surplus is returned to the renter.

11. Liability

Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited under the law of England and Wales. Subject to that:

• Cache provides the platform "as is" and is not liable for loss or damage to stored goods — the storage relationship is between host and renter, supported by the deposit, evidence tools and value bands;
• Cache's total liability to you in any 12-month period is capped at the fees (commission) Cache received from your bookings in that period;
• Cache is not liable for indirect losses — lost profit, lost business or loss of goodwill.

Renters storing goods of meaningful value should insure them; a contents-insurance waiver scheme is planned and will be described here when it launches.

12. Ending your account

You can close your account whenever you like once your bookings have ended. We can suspend or terminate accounts for breach of these terms (including the strikes ladder, prohibited goods and off-platform dealing), for legal or safety reasons, or with reasonable notice if we wind down the service. Committed bookings are wound down in an orderly way, not cut off.

13. Changes and governing law

We may update these terms; material changes are notified by email and take effect no sooner than 14 days later. Bookings already running stay on the terms they were made under.

These terms, and every booking made through Cache, are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction.

14. Contact

Questions about these terms: [COMPANY DETAILS — registered name, company number, registered office and contact email to be inserted before launch].