Privacy Policy

Last Updated: October 2026

This Privacy Policy describes how Houski Inc. ("Houski") may collect, use, and share information when you use our website, application programming interfaces (APIs), data, and any other products or services we provide (the "Services"). The Services are provided as is and at your own risk. By using the Services you agree to this Policy and to the indemnification and liability terms below. If you do not agree, do not use the Services.

Houski Inc. decides how and why the personal information described in this Policy is used, and is responsible for it (in United Kingdom data protection law, Houski Inc. is the controller). You can reach us about anything in this Policy at hello@houski.ca. If you are in the United Kingdom, the section 'United Kingdom Residents' below applies to you as well.

Scope of Personal Information We Hold

Our property data is about properties, not about people. We do not include the name, phone number, email address, or mailing address of any private individual from any source record. Where a government record carries such a column, we leave it out before the data reaches the Services, and we remove telephone numbers, email addresses, and the owner and contact lines of private individuals from record text before it is served, marking each removal in the text as [contact removed] or [name removed]. The names that remain in permit and licence data are those of contractors, builders, licensed trades, and other businesses acting in a professional capacity. The personal information we hold therefore relates almost entirely to user accounts on our website, described in 'Information We May Collect' below.

Some building permit and business licence records have a person's name written by the issuing authority into the free text of the record, and a contractor, builder, or licensee may trade under a personal name. Where that information forms part of a public record made available by the issuing authority, it may appear through the Services in substantially the same form as in the source record, in reliance on the publicly-available information exceptions in applicable privacy law. In Canada those exceptions include the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), the Personal Information Protection Acts of Alberta and British Columbia, and Quebec's Law 25. In the United States those records are open by operation of state and municipal public records law, and information lawfully made available from federal, state, or local government records is excluded from the definition of personal information under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and from the equivalent definitions in the other state comprehensive privacy laws.

Information We May Collect

If you create an account, we may collect and store:

• Email address and a hashed password (required), and, if you choose to provide them, first name, last name, phone number, and an account picture.
• Communication preference flags.
• Stripe customer and subscription identifiers needed to bill you. Credit card numbers are entered directly into Stripe and are not stored on our servers.
• Usage information tied to your account, including saved searches, favourite properties, properties you mark as your own, properties you add, property fields you edit, application programming interface (API) keys, request counts, the maximum monthly API spend you set, Automated Valuation Model (AVM) and dataset purchases, and downloads.
• Content you voluntarily submit, including your account picture, property field edits, and properties you add.
• Server logs, including internet protocol (IP) address, browser, and device type.
• Cookies, described under 'Cookies, Advertising Measurement, and Do Not Track' below.

If you use the Services without creating an account, we may collect only server-log information, the cookies described below, and the advertising measurement information described below.

If you send a message through our contact page, we receive the name, email address, phone number, subject, and message you enter. The message is checked by a spam filter and delivered to us by email.

How We May Use Information

We may use information for any lawful business purpose in our sole discretion, including to operate, secure, personalize, monetize, and improve the Services, to prevent fraud or abuse, to respond to your requests, to send transactional and operational messages, and to comply with law or any government or legal request.

How We May Share Information

We may share information:

• With vendors and service providers performing work on our behalf, including payment, hosting, storage, and email providers.
• With Google, through the Google Ads tag described under 'Cookies, Advertising Measurement, and Do Not Track' below, to measure whether our advertisements lead to sign-ups and purchases. Google processes that information under restricted data processing, as a service provider to us.
• Where disclosure is required, permitted, or appropriate to comply with law, legal process, or government or regulator request, or to enforce our rights or agreements.
• In connection with a sale, merger, financing, acquisition, restructuring, insolvency, or other transaction involving all or part of our business or assets.
• In de-identified or aggregated form.

Data You Input

Property data and any other content you input through the Services may be used by us for any purpose permitted under our Terms of Service.

Cookies, Advertising Measurement, and Do Not Track

Our own pages set these cookies, and no others:

• houski_session keeps you signed in. It is set only when you sign in, it is encrypted, scripts on the page cannot read it, and it expires one hour after your last request while signed in.
• houski_logged_in records only that you are signed in, so the page header can show your account menu. It is set and expires with houski_session.
• dataset_download_done is set for two minutes when a dataset download you started is ready, so the page can tell you it has finished.
• houski_api_doc_language, houski_property_type, houski_model_type, and houski_price_estimate_closed remember a choice you make: the code language in our documentation, a property type, a valuation model type, or that you closed the price estimate box on a property page. Each is set only when you make that choice. If you do not want them, do not make the choice, or clear them in your browser at any time, which costs nothing and returns the site to its defaults.
• houski_ad_measurement_consent remembers whether you accepted or rejected Google Ads cookies in the cookie choice box described below. It is set only when you choose, and lasts 182 days, after which we ask again.

None of these cookies are used for advertising or to follow you across other websites. Our pages keep nothing in your browser's local storage, except that the library that displays formulas saves its own display settings there if you change them through its menu.

On the pages where you add a payment card or confirm a payment, we load Stripe's payment script. Stripe sets its own cookies on those pages to prevent fraud and keep the payment secure. Stripe's privacy policy at stripe.com/privacy describes them.

If your browser reports a time zone in Canada or the United States, most pages also load the Google Ads tag to measure whether our advertisements on Google lead to sign-ups and purchases. If it reports a time zone in the United Kingdom, the European Union, the European Economic Area, or Switzerland, the tag loads only after you choose Accept all in the cookie choice box that opens over the page on your first visit. Choosing Essential only takes one click, just like Accept all, and gives you the whole site, and nothing from Google loads unless you choose Accept all. You can change your choice at any time with the Cookie settings link in the footer of our pages, and choosing Essential only takes effect from the next page you open. Google cookies already set stay in your browser until they expire or you clear them. For any other time zone the tag never loads, and it never loads on property or location pages anywhere. Where it loads, the tag sets Google cookies in your browser and sends Google your internet protocol (IP) address, browser details, the page you visited, and any Google advertising click identifier attached to your visit. We enable Google's restricted data processing for every visitor, so Google processes that information only to measure conversions on our behalf and does not use it to add you to remarketing or similar-audience lists or to personalise advertising to you. We do not use it to show you advertising on other websites. You can block the tag with a browser extension, and you can control how Google personalises advertising to you at adssettings.google.com.

Some pages fetch files from other servers, which then see your internet protocol (IP) address and the page that asked for the file: a content delivery network serves the library that displays formulas, and a map tile server serves the map images on the map page. Neither sets a cookie through our pages.

We do not respond to browser Do Not Track signals.

Geographic Scope

The Services are directed at users in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom. We do not market or direct the Services to users in the European Economic Area, Switzerland, or any other country. If you access the Services from any other country, you do so on your own initiative and at your own risk.

International Transfers

Our servers, and the cloud storage and email service we use, are in Canada. Our service providers, including our payment processor, may process information in the United States and in other countries where they operate. If you are in the United Kingdom, the section 'United Kingdom Residents' below explains how your information is protected when it leaves the United Kingdom.

Retention

We may retain personal information for as long as we determine necessary in our sole discretion, including to provide the Services, comply with legal, tax, and accounting obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and for any other legitimate business purpose. De-identified or aggregated data may be retained indefinitely.

Security

No method of transmission or storage is fully secure. You provide information at your own risk. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Houski accepts no liability of any kind for any unauthorized access, loss, alteration, or disclosure of any information, whether arising from our negligence or otherwise.

Privacy Officer

For the purpose of applicable privacy legislation that requires designation of a privacy officer or similar contact (including PIPEDA), our Privacy Officer is reachable at hello@houski.ca.

Your Rights Under Applicable Law

Where applicable law provides you with rights of access, correction, portability, deletion, withdrawal of consent, opt-out, or similar in respect of your personal information, those rights apply only as and to the extent required by that law. To submit a request, email hello@houski.ca. We may require identity verification and may decline any request to the extent permitted by law, including where the request is manifestly unfounded, excessive, would adversely affect the rights of others, or relates to data we are required or permitted to retain (such as tax, accounting, audit, or fraud-prevention records), de-identified or aggregated data, or copies already shared with third parties.

Quebec Residents

If you are a resident of Quebec, the rights granted by the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector ("Law 25") apply by operation of law. Submit any request to hello@houski.ca. We use machine-learning models to generate property estimates and predictions. These are not decisions made about you personally based solely on automated processing.

California Residents

If you are a California resident, the rights granted by the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA"), as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act ("CPRA"), apply by operation of law. Categories of personal information we may collect: identifiers (email, optional name and phone, account identifier, internet protocol (IP) address), commercial information (purchase history), internet or network activity (searches, clicks, requests), approximate geolocation derived from IP, and user content (property field edits, properties you add, and your account picture). Sensitive personal information may include the hashed password used to access your account. Sources: directly from you, automatically from your device, and from service providers. Houski does not sell personal information and does not "share" personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising as defined by the CPRA. The Google Ads tag described under "Cookies, Advertising Measurement, and Do Not Track" runs under Google's restricted data processing, so Google acts as our service provider for conversion measurement. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16. You will not be discriminated against for exercising any of your rights. Submit rights requests to hello@houski.ca. Authorized agents may be required to provide proof of authorization and identity verification.

Residents of Other States

If you are a resident of any other United States state that has enacted a comprehensive consumer privacy law, the rights granted by that law apply by operation of law. Submit any request to hello@houski.ca. If we decline a request, you may appeal by replying to our response. We will answer the appeal in writing, and if we deny it we will tell you how to contact your state attorney general.

United Kingdom Residents

If you are in the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018 apply to your personal information. This section applies to you, and where it differs from anything else in this Policy, this section controls. Nothing in this Policy limits your rights under that law.

Who is responsible. Houski Inc. is the controller of your personal information. Contact us at hello@houski.ca, or by post at Houski Inc., 9714 104 Street, Grande Cache, Alberta, Canada.

What we use your information for, and the legal basis for each use:

• To create and run your account, provide the Services you sign up for, take payment, and send you messages about your account and purchases. The legal basis is that we need the information to perform our contract with you. Your email address and a password are needed to create an account, and payment details are needed to buy anything. Without them we cannot provide those Services.
• To keep the Services secure, prevent fraud and abuse, limit automated scraping, keep server logs, answer messages you send us, and fix and improve the Services. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in running a secure and working service.
• To keep billing, tax, and accounting records. The legal basis is our legal obligation to keep them.
• To measure whether our Google advertisements lead to sign-ups, through the Google Ads tag described under 'Cookies, Advertising Measurement, and Do Not Track'. The legal basis is your consent, given in the cookie choice box, which you can withdraw at any time with the Cookie settings link in the footer.
• To send you optional Houski emails or text messages. The legal basis is your consent. You can turn both off at any time in your account settings or by emailing us.

Information about properties. The Services describe homes and other properties in England and Wales, including features, energy ratings, past sale prices, listing details, and estimates. We collect this from public, government, and crowdsourced data sources, most of them publicly accessible, and not from you. It contains no names or contact details of private individuals, but information about a home can relate to the people who live there. We use it to provide property information and estimates to our customers, and the legal basis is our legitimate interest, and our customers' legitimate interests, in accurate and complete property information. We keep it for as long as it describes the property.

Your right to object. Where we rely on legitimate interests, you can object at any time to our use of your information, including information about a property you live in. Email hello@houski.ca and tell us which information or property your objection concerns. We will stop unless we have compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, rights, and freedoms.

Who receives your information. Our payment processor (Stripe), our cloud storage and email provider, Google for the advertising measurement described under 'Cookies, Advertising Measurement, and Do Not Track' (which loads for a browser with a United Kingdom time zone only after you accept it in the cookie choice box), our professional advisers, and courts, regulators, and authorities where the law requires it.

When your information leaves the United Kingdom. Our servers, and the cloud storage and email service we use, are in Canada. United Kingdom law recognises Canada as giving adequate protection to personal information that commercial organisations handle under Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which applies to us. Our payment processor, Stripe, may process payment information in the United States, where it relies on the United Kingdom Extension to the European Union and United States Data Privacy Framework, and in other countries under the safeguards its own privacy policy describes.

How long we keep it. We keep your account information while your account is open. When you ask us to close your account, we delete your account information, except billing, tax, and accounting records, which we keep for as long as Canadian tax law requires (generally six years after the end of the tax year they relate to). Server logs are deleted automatically on the short rolling schedule of our server's log rotation. Messages you send through our contact page are kept for as long as we need them to answer and follow up on your message. Deleted information can remain in our backups until those backups are replaced.

Automated decisions. We do not make decisions about you that have legal or similarly significant effects based solely on automated processing. Our estimates are about properties, not people.

Your rights. You have the right to ask for a copy of your personal information, to have it corrected, to have it deleted, to restrict how we use it, to receive the information you gave us in a portable format, to object to how we use it, and to withdraw any consent you have given. To use any of these rights, email hello@houski.ca. We will answer within one month, and we may ask you to confirm your identity first. These rights are not absolute, and where we cannot do what you ask we will tell you why.

Complaints. If you are unhappy with how we handle your personal information, you can complain to us by email at hello@houski.ca. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days, look into it, and tell you the outcome. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commission, the United Kingdom's data protection regulator, which took over from the Information Commissioner's Office, at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or by telephone on 0303 123 1113.

The indemnification, disclaimer, and limitation of liability sections of this Policy do not apply to you to the extent United Kingdom data protection law or the Consumer Rights Act 2015 does not allow them.

Children

The Services are not directed to anyone under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.

Indemnification

You will indemnify, defend, and hold harmless Houski Inc. and the Houski Parties (as defined in our Terms of Service) from any and all claims, damages, losses, liabilities, judgments, settlements, fines, penalties, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) of any kind, arising out of or in any way relating to any matter connected with this Policy, the Services, or any personal information of any kind, including any actual or alleged unauthorized access, loss, alteration, or disclosure, any claim brought under any privacy or data-protection law, and any claim brought by any third party - in each case regardless of the theory of liability and regardless of whether the claim arises in whole or in part from any negligence of any Houski Party, except only for the portion of any claim that a court of final jurisdiction holds was caused by the gross negligence or willful misconduct of a Houski Party that cannot lawfully be indemnified. We may assume sole control of the defense and settlement of any indemnified matter at your expense, and you may not settle any such matter without our written consent. This obligation survives termination indefinitely. If you do not agree to this indemnity, do not use the Services.

Disclaimer and Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Houski accepts no liability of any kind for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, punitive, or exemplary damages arising out of or relating to this Policy, the Services, or any data or information. Our total aggregate liability for any claim relating to this Policy or the Services is zero dollars ($0 USD), subject only to the fallback cap set out in our Terms of Service. You are solely responsible for verifying any data or information obtained. See our Terms of Service for the full disclaimer, fallback cap, and all related limitations.

Changes

We may update this Policy at any time in our sole discretion without notice. Changes take effect on posting. Your continued use is acceptance. It is your sole responsibility to review this Policy periodically.

Contact

hello@houski.ca.