Refund and Cancellation Policy

1. Overview

This policy forms part of the Terms of Service and describes when fees paid through RoomNearMe are refunded. RoomNearMe facilitates connections between tenants and landlords. Rent, deposits and other amounts paid directly to a landlord are not processed or controlled by RoomNearMe and are not covered by this policy.

2. Fees

• Listing fee (R10, landlords): paid to publish a room listing for 30 days.
• Tenant Pass (R20 first year, then R50 per year, tenants): a 12-month pass that includes unlimited contact with landlords on any listing. There is no per-contact or per-unlock fee.
• Marketplace adverts (no fee): publishing a Marketplace advert is free. An active Tenant Pass is required in order to publish one, but no advert fee is charged at any point. A seller with 100 or more successful Marketplace sales can also apply for Verified Seller status free of charge.
• Verification fee (R50, tenants): paid to apply for the Blue Tick identity verification badge.
• Seller verification fee (R100, marketplace sellers): paid to apply for the Verified Seller badge, or free of charge once the seller has completed more than 100 successful Marketplace sales.
• Featured listing fee (R20, client listings): paid to feature an administrator-published client listing for 30 days.

3. When You Get a Refund

We refund fees paid on the Platform in the following circumstances:

• Rejected listing: if a listing is rejected by moderation before it is published, the R10 listing fee is refunded in full. No refund is given when a listing is rejected because the photos uploaded are not of an actual room (for example stock images, screenshots or unrelated photos).
• Rejected client listing: if an administrator-published client listing is rejected before it goes live, the R20 featured listing fee is refunded in full. No refund is given when a client listing is rejected because the media uploaded is not of an actual room.
• Removed listing: if RoomNearMe removes a live listing for a breach of our moderator policy and the listing had more than half (15 days) of its 30-day validity remaining, we refund R5 (50%) of the listing fee. No refund is given for listings removed for fraud, illegality or prohibited content.
• Failed verification: if a tenant's verification application is rejected, the R50 verification fee is refunded in full.
• Failed seller verification: if a marketplace seller's paid Verified Seller application is rejected, the R100 seller verification fee is refunded in full. No seller verification fee applies to the free route (available once a seller has completed more than 100 successful Marketplace sales), so nothing is refunded or charged on that route.
• Technical failure: if a fee is charged but the corresponding service (paid listing, Tenant Pass, verification, or seller verification) is not provided because of an error on our side, we refund the full amount.

4. Cooling-Off Right

Under section 44 of the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act 25 of 2002 (ECT Act), a consumer may have a right to cancel an electronic transaction within 7 days of the transaction and claim a refund, without penalty, where the supplier has not already performed the service in full. Because a listing is published immediately and a Tenant Pass is activated immediately on confirmed payment, these services are performed in full at the moment of payment. The cooling-off right therefore does not apply to the listing or Tenant Pass services once the transaction has been completed, except where required by the Consumer Protection Act or other applicable law. We will honour a clearly expressed request to cancel within 7 days where the service has not yet been fully provided.

Cancelled or expired Tenant Passes: cancelling or letting a Tenant Pass lapse ends the entitlement to open new contacts and ends the ability to publish new Marketplace adverts as at the expiry date. It does not withdraw contact a tenant has already established with a landlord on a specific listing, and it does not remove any advert that was already approved and published. Renewing before expiry extends the existing expiry date rather than discarding any remaining time.

5. How to Request a Refund

To request a refund, contact our support team at Roomnearmesa@gmail.com with your registered email address, the payment reference, and the reason for the request. We will respond within 5 business days. Approved refunds are processed back to the original payment method and may take up to 10 business days to reflect. We will never ask you for your card details or for payment by email.

6. Disputes

If you believe a refund decision is incorrect, you may contact the National Consumer Commission (www.thencc.gov.za) for assistance, or refer the matter in accordance with the dispute resolution clause in our Terms of Service.