Terms of service

1. About these terms

These terms are a contract between you and Apps.London Ltd, trading as CleanApp, a company registered in England and Wales with company number 10466871 and its registered office at 4 Brigade Court, 40 Errington House, London SE1 0GN. In these terms, "CleanApp", "we" and "us" mean Apps.London Ltd.

They apply to this website, the CleanApp app for customers and the CleanApp for Cleaners app. By creating an account or using either app, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

Our privacy policy explains how we use your personal data. It forms part of these terms.

2. The service and the two apps

CleanApp is a marketplace that connects people who want their home cleaned with self-employed cleaners. Customers use the CleanApp app. Cleaners use the CleanApp for Cleaners app.

We provide the technology: matching requests to cleaners, scheduling, arrival updates, messaging, payment processing and support. We do not carry out cleaning ourselves. Each clean is performed by a cleaner under a contract between that cleaner and the customer, which is formed when the cleaner accepts the booking in the app.

Customers do not choose a specific cleaner. Each request is offered to the nearest available cleaner who has passed our verification checks. If that cleaner declines or does not respond, the request is offered to the next.

The service is currently available in London. We may expand or reduce the area we cover at any time.

3. Your account

To use either app you must be 18 or over and create an account with accurate, up-to-date information. You may hold one account of each type. Keep your login details safe. You are responsible for everything done through your account unless you have told us it has been compromised.

Cleaners must also, before accepting any job:

• verify their identity and age through Stripe Identity, part of our payments provider;
• confirm that they have the right to work in the UK on a self-employed basis, and provide evidence if we ask for it;
• complete Stripe onboarding so that we can pay them; and
• agree to keep the information in their profile accurate.

We may refuse to open an account, or suspend or close one, for the reasons set out in section 11.

4. Bookings

InstaClean

An InstaClean is a request for a clean as soon as possible. When you submit one, we offer it to cleaners near you. Your booking is confirmed when a cleaner accepts it, and you can then see their first name, photo, rating and estimated arrival time. If no cleaner accepts within a reasonable time, the request expires and you are not charged.

Scheduled

A Scheduled clean is booked for a date and time you choose, up to 60 days ahead. Your booking is confirmed when a cleaner accepts it. That may happen shortly after you book or closer to the date. If we cannot find a cleaner for your slot, we will tell you as early as we can and you will not be charged.

What a booking includes

• The minimum booking is one hour. If you need more time than you booked, book another clean in the app.
• The price includes standard cleaning products and equipment, which the cleaner brings. If you would prefer the cleaner to use products you already have at home, say so in the booking notes.
• A booking covers domestic cleaning inside the home. It does not cover work at height on the outside of a building, the removal of hazardous or biological waste, heavy lifting, pest control, or anything that needs a specialist.

Access to your home

You must make sure the cleaner can get into your home at the booked time, that there is running water and electricity, and that the home is safe to work in. Tell us about pets and any hazards in the booking notes.

Every booking has a four digit start code that only you can see in the app. Your cleaner asks for it at your door and cannot start the clean without it, which confirms they are at the right home and records when the clean began. Do not share the code before your cleaner arrives.

If your cleaner is at your address 15 minutes after the start time, has messaged you in the app and still cannot get in, they can report a no-show. We then treat the booking as cancelled by you under section 6, and the cancellation charge applies.

5. Pricing and payments

Prices are shown in the app before you confirm a booking. The price is the hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours booked, with a one hour minimum. Rates start from £25 per hour and include VAT where it applies. We may change our rates, but a change never affects a booking you have already confirmed.

If your cleaner finishes early, you pay only for the time they were there, counted from when you gave them your start code and rounded up to the next 15 minutes, with a one hour minimum. You never pay for more than you booked, and your cleaner is paid for the same time.

All payments are made in the app through Stripe, our payment provider. You must have a valid payment card on your account to make a booking. We never handle cash.

Authorisation hold

When a cleaner accepts an InstaClean request, we place an authorisation hold on your card for the value of the booking. For a Scheduled clean, we place the hold 48 hours before the start time. A hold reserves the amount but does not take it. If the hold fails, we will ask you to update your card, and we may cancel the booking if the problem is not fixed before the clean.

Charged on completion

Your card is charged when the clean is marked complete in the app. If a cancellation charge applies under section 6, it is taken from the same card. You receive a receipt in the app.

Tips

After a clean you can add a tip in the app, up to 14 days later. Tips are optional. The whole tip goes to your cleaner: CleanApp keeps none of it and pays the card processing fee itself. A tip is charged to the card on your account.

Paying cleaners

Cleaners receive £19 for each hour of cleaning, and CleanApp keeps the remainder as its fee for providing the marketplace. Cleaners are paid through Stripe Connect. Each clean is paid into the cleaner's Stripe balance when it is completed, and Stripe pays it out to their bank account automatically on its payout schedule. Tips are paid to the cleaner in full. CleanApp collects payment from the customer as the cleaner's commercial agent, and a customer's payment to CleanApp discharges their debt to the cleaner for that clean.

Failed payments

If a payment fails, we may retry it, restrict your account until it is paid, and recover the amount by other lawful means.

Promotions

Discounts, credits and referral rewards may have their own conditions, which we will show you when you receive them. They have no cash value and cannot be transferred.

6. Cancellations

Cancelling as a customer

• A Scheduled clean can be cancelled free of charge up to 24 hours before its start time.
• An InstaClean can be cancelled free of charge within 5 minutes of being confirmed by a cleaner.
• Outside those windows, a cancellation charge of 50% of the booking value applies. The same charge applies if the cleaner cannot get into your home under section 4. The cleaner receives a share of the cancellation charge.

You cancel in the app. The time of cancellation is the time we receive it.

Cancelling as a cleaner

If a cleaner cancels a confirmed booking, we automatically offer it to other available cleaners so that the customer still gets their clean wherever possible. If we cannot find a replacement, we cancel the booking and the customer is not charged. Cleaners who cancel repeatedly, or at short notice without good reason, may have their account suspended or closed. A cleaner who does not turn up for a booking without cancelling is treated as having cancelled at short notice.

Cancelling by CleanApp

We may cancel a booking if we have safety concerns, if we suspect fraud, if a payment cannot be authorised, or if no cleaner is available. If we cancel, you are not charged for that booking.

7. Conduct

Customers and cleaners must treat each other with respect. We do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, threats or abuse of any kind, whether in person or in the app.

Everyone who uses CleanApp agrees:

• to give accurate information and keep it up to date;
• not to use the service for anything unlawful;
• not to arrange cleans outside the app with a cleaner or customer they met through CleanApp, and not to share phone numbers, email addresses, links or social media handles in chat to do so. The app is how both sides are verified, paid and protected, and messages that contain contact details are not delivered;
• not to record or photograph the other person without their consent, except that cleaners may photograph a problem they find in order to report it to us;
• not to copy, interfere with or attempt to gain unauthorised access to the apps or our systems.

Customers agree to provide a safe working environment, to secure valuables, and not to ask a cleaner to do work outside the scope of a domestic clean.

Cleaners agree to arrive on time, to do the work to a professional standard, to bring their own products and equipment, not to bring anyone else to the job, to respect the customer's property and privacy, and to report any damage or problem to us straight away.

8. Cleaners are independent contractors

Cleaners are self-employed. They are not employees, workers, agents or partners of CleanApp. Nothing in these terms creates an employment relationship.

As a cleaner, you decide when to go online, which jobs to accept and how to carry out your work, provided you meet the standards in section 7. There are no minimum hours and you are free to work for other businesses, including other platforms. You are responsible for your own tax, National Insurance, insurance and any other obligations of a self-employed person. You must not present yourself as an employee or representative of CleanApp.

The contract for each clean is between you and the customer. CleanApp acts as your commercial agent for the purpose of collecting payment, as described in section 5.

9. Ratings and reviews

After every clean, the customer rates the cleaner and the cleaner rates the customer, from one to five stars, with an optional comment. Ratings help us match people well and keep the marketplace safe. A cleaner's average rating is shown to customers once a booking is confirmed. A customer's rating is shown to cleaners when a job is offered.

Ratings must be honest and based on the clean in question. We may remove comments that are abusive, discriminatory or unrelated to the service, and we may take action on accounts whose ratings are consistently poor. A decision to suspend or close an account for that reason is reviewed by a person, and you can ask us to reconsider it.

10. Our liability

Nothing in these terms limits or excludes our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot be limited or excluded by law. If you are a consumer, nothing in these terms affects your legal rights.

We provide the service with reasonable care and skill. Because the clean itself is carried out by a self-employed cleaner under a contract with the customer, the cleaner is responsible for the quality of the clean and for any loss or damage they cause. We will help you resolve any problem. If something is damaged or goes missing during a clean, tell us within 48 hours with photos and as much detail as you can, and we will investigate with the cleaner.

Our total liability to you in connection with any booking is limited to the amount you paid for that booking. We are not liable for losses that were not foreseeable when the booking was made, for business losses, or for losses caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as a cleaner being unable to reach you because of severe weather or transport disruption.

We do not guarantee that a cleaner will always be available, that the apps will be free of errors, or that the service will be uninterrupted.

11. Termination

You can close your account at any time from the settings screen of the app or by emailing us. Any booking in progress must be completed or cancelled first, and any amount you owe remains payable.

We may suspend or close your account, with notice where it is reasonable to give it, if you:

• break these terms or the law;
• give us false information or fail verification;
• behave in a way that puts a customer, a cleaner or our staff at risk;
• repeatedly cancel at short notice or do not turn up;
• have consistently poor ratings, after review by a person; or
• have not used your account for 24 months.

Sections 5, 6, 8, 10, 13 and any other term that by its nature should continue will survive the closure of your account.

12. Changes to the service and these terms

We improve the apps all the time and may change or withdraw features. We may also change these terms. If a change is significant, we will tell you in the app or by email at least 14 days before it takes effect, unless the change is required by law or is needed to keep the service safe. If you do not agree to a change, close your account before it takes effect. Continuing to use the service after that date means you accept the new terms.

13. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. Any dispute will be dealt with by the courts of England and Wales. If you are a consumer living in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you may also bring proceedings in your local courts.

If you have a complaint, contact us first and we will try to resolve it.

If any part of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the rest continues to apply. If we do not enforce a term straight away, we can still enforce it later.

14. Contact