TERMS OF SERVICE

Introduction and Agreement. This website (the "Site") is owned and operated by Apartments.com, a division of Classified Ventures, LLC ("Apartments.com"). These Terms of Service apply to the national version of the Site, located at www.apartments.com and including www.movingcenter.com, as well as to any publicly available versions of the Site that Apartments.com offers or co-brands with its newspaper and broadcast affiliates and other distribution partners (collectively, "Affiliates"). Any individual who uses any version of the Site is a ?User? for purposes of these Terms of Service. You may have arrived at a version of the Site from an Affiliate's website, in which case, that Affiliate will be identified at the top of this page. By using the Site, you hereby agree that you are at least eighteen (18) years of age and bound by all of the following provisions of these Terms of Service. Click here to review the Privacy Statement.

Apartments.com is an Advertising and Research Service. Apartments.com operates the Site as an online advertising and research service for apartment hunters, dwellers and landlords. Apartments.com does not broker, lease, or sublease apartments directly and is not a party to any transaction between landlords (including, as applicable, property management companies and/or property managers) and renters. As a result, Apartments.com does not (a) guarantee or ensure any apartment or any transaction between a renter and landlord, (b) collect or process payment or execute any lease or sublease documentation on behalf of renters or landlords, or (c) broker, lease, or sublease or offer to broker, lease or sublease, or own any apartments. You are strongly encouraged to personally inspect any apartment advertised for rent prior to: signing any lease documentation; providing personal information such as a social security number on a lease application; or wiring or otherwise sending money for any deposit, rent payment or application fee.

Site Content. All information and content available on this Site (collectively, "Content") is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. The Content is owned by Apartments.com, its Affiliates, and/or their respective licensors and suppliers (collectively, "Licensors"). The Content is intended for personal and noncommercial use only. While you may interact with or download a single copy of any portion of the Content for your personal and noncommercial entertainment, information or use, you may not reproduce, sell, license, publish, distribute, modify, display, perform, re-post or otherwise use any portion of the Content in any other way or for any other purpose without the prior written consent of Apartments.com. Requests regarding use of the Content for any purpose other than personal, noncommercial use should be directed to Permissions, Apartments.com, 175 W. Jackson Blvd., Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60604.

Third-Party Sites. During the course of your visit to the Site, you may be taken to third-party websites to fulfill certain site features and functionality (e.g., if you choose to view community information or check availability of a certain apartment unit). You agree that when visiting third-party websites (e.g., websites not containing www.apartments.com or www.movingcenter.com in the URL) you are subject to the privacy policy and terms of service, if any, of that third-party website, which may differ from those of Apartments.com. By selecting links to such third-party websites, you agree that you will be leaving the Site and that Apartments.com has no responsibility or liability whatsoever in connection with your use or your exchange of any information with such third-party websites. Apartments.com and its Affiliates do not endorse, sponsor or guarantee these linked websites and are not responsible in any way for any advice, content, information, practices, products or services related to or made available through such linked websites.

Copyrights and Copyright Agents. It is the policy of Apartments.com to respond to claims of intellectual property infringement. Apartments.com will promptly process and investigate notices of alleged infringement and take appropriate actions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, Title 17, United States Code, Section 512(c)(2) ("DMCA") and other applicable intellectual property laws. Pursuant to the DMCA, notifications of claimed copyright infringement should be sent to a Service Provider's Designated Agent. Notification must be submitted to the following Designated Agent for this Site:

Classified Ventures, LLC
Attn: Chief Legal Officer
175 W. Jackson Blvd. Suite 800
Chicago, IL 60604 USA
Phone: 312-601-5000
Fax: 312-601-5755
Email: legal@classifiedventures.com

To be effective, the notification must be a written communication that includes the following:

  1.  A physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed;
  2.  Identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed, or, if multiple copyrighted works at a single online site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works at that site;
  3.  Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of infringing activity and that is to be removed or access to which is to be disabled, and information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to locate the material;
  4.  Information reasonably sufficient to permit the service provider to contact the complaining party, such as an address, telephone number and, if available, an electronic mail address at which the complaining party may be contacted;
  5.  A statement that the complaining party has a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and
  6.  A statement that the information in the notification is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Trademarks. You acknowledge that the Content includes certain trademarks and service marks owned by Apartments.com, Affiliates, Licensors and others. You agree not to copy, use or otherwise infringe upon or dilute these trademarks or service marks. You further agree that you will not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from any copies of the Content. The "Apartments.com" name and logo are trademarks of Classified Ventures, LLC. Other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Software. Please note that all software programming, including without limitation all HTML and other code contained in this Site (collectively, "Software"), is owned by Apartments.com and/or its Licensors and is protected by copyright laws and other intellectual property laws, as well as international treaty provisions. Any unauthorized access to, reproduction, redistribution, publication, display or other use of the Software is expressly prohibited by law and may result in severe civil and/or criminal penalties. Violators will be prosecuted to the maximum extent possible.

Linking. If you operate a website and wish to link to the Site, you must link to the Site's home page unless permission otherwise has been granted in writing by Apartments.com. Apartments.com reserves the right to reject or terminate any links to the Content or the Site.

User Materials. By submitting ads, content, photos, data or other materials ("Materials") to the Site, you hereby grant to Apartments.com and its Affiliates a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, fully transferable, fully sublicenseable right and license to copy, modify, display, distribute, perform, create derivative works from, store, and otherwise use and exploit all such Materials in any form, media, software or technology of any kind now existing or developed in the future. You further grant to Apartments.com and its Affiliates a royalty-free right and license to use your name, image and likeness in connection with the reproduction or distribution of the Materials.

Interactive Forums. This Site may offer message boards, bulletin boards, chat rooms or other forums (collectively, "Forums") to give Users 18 years of age and older an interesting and stimulating forum in which they can express their opinions and share their ideas. Apartments.com and its Affiliates do not endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement or information posted on these Forums. Please use your best judgment, and be respectful of other individuals using these Forums. By posting a message in the Forum, you agree to abide by these Terms of Service. You may not use the Site's Forums to engage in any Prohibited Activities (as defined below). Uploading copyrighted or other proprietary Material of any kind on the Site without the express permission of the owner of that Material is prohibited and may result in civil and/or criminal liability.

Apartments.com Rights. Given the nature of the Site and the volume of messages and postings, Apartments.com cannot and does not monitor all of the Materials posted or transmitted by you and other third-party information providers. Apartments.com reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to monitor, refuse to publish, remove, delete, move or edit any Materials without notice, at any time for any reason. By using the Site, you expressly agree that Apartments.com (a) will not be liable for any claims, actions or judgments arising out of or related to any Materials and (b) may monitor, refuse to publish, remove, delete, move or edit any Materials without notice at any time for any reason, without liability and without providing a refund. You further expressly agree that you are solely responsible for any and all Materials you submit to the Site.

Unsolicited Materials. Apartments.com does not accept unsolicited materials or ideas for use or publication in its programming or in other digital, electronic or print media except in connection with the Forums, chat rooms and bulletin boards on the Site. Apartments.com and the Affiliates shall not be responsible for the similarity of any of its content or programming in any media to Materials or ideas transmitted to the Site.

Representations/Indemnity. You hereby represent and warrant that (a) you have all necessary authority, rights and permissions to submit the Materials to the Site, (b) the Materials do not and will not infringe or misappropriate any copyright, trademark, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property right of any third party, including any rights of privacy or publicity, and (c) the Materials do not and will not violate any applicable federal, state, or local law or regulation including, but not limited to, any fair housing laws or regulations, or cause injury to any person. You agree to release, defend, indemnify and hold Apartments.com, its Affiliates, the Licensors, and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents and contractors harmless from and against any and all claims, costs, demands or expenses, including attorneys' fees, arising from (i) any distribution, publication, refusal to publish, removal, deletion, movement, editing or other use of the Materials you provide, (ii) your use of the Site or any reliance on the Content, (iii) your breach of these Terms of Service or (iv) any actual, prospective or terminated sale, lease or other transaction between you and a third party.

Prohibited Activities. The following is a partial list of the kinds of activities that are prohibited on or through the Site: (a) submitting Material that is patently offensive to the online community, such as content that promotes racism, bigotry, hatred or physical harm of any kind against any group or individual; (b) engaging in activities or submitting Material that could be harmful to minors; (c) engaging in activity or submitting Material that harasses or advocates harassment of another person; (d) engaging in activity that involves the transmission of "junk mail" or unsolicited mass mailing or "spam" to Users or others; (e) engaging in activity or submitting Material or promoting information, that is fraudulent, false or misleading or promotes illegal activities or conduct that is abusive, threatening, obscene, defamatory or libelous; (f) submitting Material that contains restricted or password-only access pages, or hidden pages or images; (g) submitting Material that displays pornographic or sexually explicit material of any kind; (h) submitting Material that provides instructional information about illegal activities such as making or buying illegal weapons, violating someone's privacy, or providing or creating computer viruses; (i) engaging in activities or submitting Materials that solicit passwords or personally identifiable information for unlawful purposes from other Users; (j) engaging in commercial activities and/or sales without our prior written consent, such as contests, sweepstakes, barter, advertising and pyramid schemes; (k) using the Site's lead forms and/or toll-free numbers to advertise or promote products and services to Apartments.com advertisers or to solicit Apartments.com advertisers in any manner; (l) using any robot, spider or other automatic device, or a manual process, to monitor or copy web pages or the Content contained in the Site or for any other unauthorized purpose without our prior expressed written permission; (m) using any device, software or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site; (n) decompiling, reverse engineering, disassembling or otherwise attempting to obtain the source code for the Software; or (o) taking any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on Apartments.com's hardware and software infrastructure (collectively, "Prohibited Activities").

Compliance with Fair Housing Laws. All Material is subject to federal fair housing laws, which make it illegal to indicate in any advertisement any preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, physical or mental disability, and/or familial status. Your state jurisdiction may also prohibit any preferences based on sexual orientation, marital status, ancestry, source of income, or other criteria. If you have any question about the fair housing laws and housing discrimination in general, please call your local fair housing agency or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. For a list of all fair housing groups, go to the Housing Rights Center?s website at www.hud.gov.

For Rent By Owner Rules. By listing your apartment for rent through the Site's "For Rent By Owner" or ?FRBO? service (the "Listing Service"), you acknowledge and agree to all For Rent By Owner Terms and Conditions, which are available here: secure.apartments.com/terms.htm.

Warranty Disclaimer. YOU EXPRESSLY AGREE THAT USE OF THE SITE AND RELIANCE ON ITS CONTENT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. APARTMENTS.COM, ITS AFFILIATES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE THIRD-PARTY LICENSORS DO NOT MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND REGARDING THE SITE, THE SOFTWARE, THE CONTENT, THE MATERIALS, THE LISTING SERVICE OR THE RESULTS THAT MAY BE OBTAINED FROM USE OF ANY OF THE FOREGOING. THE SITE, THE SOFTWARE, THE CONTENT, THE MATERIALS AND THE LISTING SERVICE ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS, AS AVAILABLE" BASIS, AND APARTMENTS.COM, ITS AFFILIATES AND THEIR RESPECTIVE THIRD-PARTY LICENSORS SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND WARRANTIES OF NONINFRINGEMENT. ALL INFORMATION RELATED TO APARTMENTS AVAILABLE ON THIS SITE IS SUPPLIED BY THE LANDLORD, PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY OR OTHER THIRD PARTIES. APARTMENTS.COM AND THE AFFILIATES MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, TO ANY ACTUAL OR PROSPECTIVE RENTER OF ANY APARTMENT AS TO THE EXISTENCE, OWNERSHIP OR CONDITION OF THE APARTMENT; AS TO THE ADVERTISED RENT, LEASE TERMS, SECURITY DEPOSIT, OR APPLICATION FEES, IF ANY; OR AS TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF ANY INFORMATION ABOUT AN APARTMENT ADVERTISED ON THE SITE. APARTMENTS.COM CANNOT AND DOES NOT VERIFY OR WARRANT THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF SUCH INFORMATION. APARTMENTS.COM RESERVES THE RIGHT, IN ITS SOLE DISCRETION, TO CORRECT ANY ERROR OR OMISSION ON THE SITE OR IN THE CONTENT. ALL APARTMENTS ARE SUBJECT TO PRIOR LEASE. ANY AND ALL CONCERNS, DIFFERENCES OR DISCREPANCIES REGARDING AN APARTMENT MUST BE ADDRESSED WITH THE LANDLORD AND/OR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY PRIOR TO LEASING OF THE APARTMENT. APARTMENTS.COM DOES NOT MAKE AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES OR GUARANTEES TO YOU REGARDING THE LISTING SERVICE INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY REPRESENTATIONS, WARRANTIES OR GUARANTEES THAT YOU WILL LEASE YOUR APARTMENT, OBTAIN AN ACCEPTABLE RENT FOR YOUR APARTMENT, ONLY RECEIVE LEGITIMATE INQUIRIES OR SOLICITATIONS FROM QUALIFIED RENTERS, OR RECEIVE ANY INQUIRIES REGARDING YOUR APARTMENT FOR RENT. FOR PURPOSES OF THIS WARRANTY DISCLAIMER, "THIRD-PARTY LICENSOR" DOES NOT INCLUDE YOU. Some states do not allow the disclaimer of implied warranties, so the foregoing disclaimer may not apply to you.

Limitation of Liability. APARTMENTS.COM, ITS AFFILIATES, AND THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, CONTRACTORS AND THIRD-PARTY LICENSORS SHALL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR LOSSES INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, RESULTING FROM OR CAUSED BY THE SITE, THE SOFTWARE, CONTENT, THE MATERIALS, THE LISTING SERVICE, THESE TERMS OF SERVICE OR OTHERWISE (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES RESULTING FROM NEGLIGENCE). IN NO EVENT WILL THE AGGREGATE MAXIMUM LIABILITY OF APARTMENTS.COM, ITS AFFILIATES, AND THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, CONTRACTORS AND THIRD-PARTY LICENSORS FOR ANY CLAIM EXCEED FIFTY DOLLARS ($50). FOR PURPOSES OF THIS LIMITATION OF LIABILITY, "THIRD-PARTY LICENSOR" DOES NOT INCLUDE YOU. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages of implied warranties, so the above exclusion or limitation may not apply to you.

Termination of Service. You understand and agree that in Apartments.com's sole discretion, and without prior notice, your access to this Site may be terminated or suspended, and Apartments.com may exercise any other remedy available and remove any Materials, if Apartments.com believes that your use of the Site and/or any Materials you provide (a) violate (i) these Terms of Service, (ii) the rights of Apartments.com, any Affiliate or Licensor, or another User, or (iii) any law or regulation, or are otherwise objectionable or inappropriate or (b) constitute fraudulent activity of any nature. You agree that monetary damages may not provide a sufficient remedy to Apartments.com for violations of these Terms of Service, and you consent to injunctive or other equitable relief for such violations without the requirement that Apartments.com post a bond. Apartments.com is not required to provide any refund to you if you are terminated as an authorized User because, in Apartments.com's sole discretion, you have violated these Terms of Service.

Miscellaneous. These Terms of Service may be changed at any time and you will be notified of any such changes by an updated posting of the new Terms of Service on this page of the Site. Your continued use of the Site after the posting of any amended Terms of Service shall constitute your agreement to be bound by any such changes. Apartments.com may modify, suspend, discontinue or restrict the use of any portion of the Site without notice or liability. These Terms of Service will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Illinois without regard to its conflicts of law provisions. You hereby agree that any cause of action you may have with respect to the Site must be exclusively filed in the federal or state courts located in Cook County, Illinois, within one (1) year after the cause of action arises or the cause is barred. You hereby consent to personal jurisdiction in the federal and state courts in Cook County, Illinois, and waive any objection based on forum non conveniens. As a condition of using this Site, you agree that all causes of action arising out of or connected with this Site shall be resolved individually, without resort to any form of class action. If for any reason a court of competent jurisdiction finds any provision of these Terms of Service, or portion thereof, to be unenforceable, that provision of these Terms of Service will be enforced to the maximum extent permissible so as to affect the intent of the parties, and the remainder of these Terms of Service will continue in full force and effect. Failure by Apartments.com to enforce any provision of this Terms of Service will not be deemed a waiver of future enforcement of that or any other provision of these Terms of Service. This Terms of Service constitutes the entire agreement between the parties regarding the subject matter hereof. Neither this Terms of Service, nor any terms and conditions contained herein, shall be construed as creating a partnership, joint venture or agency relationship or granting a franchise between the parties. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS STATED ABOVE OR TO ANY CHANGES TO THESE TERMS OF SERVICE, PLEASE EXIT THE SERVICE IMMEDIATELY.

©2006 Classified Ventures, LLC, 175 W. Jackson Blvd., Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60604
Last updated: October 2006