Plain-English Key Terms Summary
This summary is for guidance only and does not replace the full Terms:
What We Do - Build, host and support websites for estate and letting agents.
Fees & Payments - Subscriptions are billed monthly in advance. Template builds: build fee invoiced upfront, subscription starts when we begin work. Custom builds: 50% deposit upfront, balance due at launch with subscription starting. Powered-By Attribution is included as standard; removal at your request incurs an additional monthly Attribution Removal Fee. Anything outside your agreed scope is quoted separately and charged at our standard rate. Invoices are due within 28 days. Late payments may incur interest charges and service suspension. Cancelling before launch: £60/hr for work completed to date. Stock imagery/video charged separately.
Ghost Policy - Projects dormant for more than 90 days may be invoiced up to the full remaining project fee and placed on hold. Restarting requires a new quotation and settlement of original fees.
Termination & Final Billing - Either side can terminate with 30 calendar days’ written notice. Subscriptions are billed monthly in advance. Any invoice issued before or during the cancellation notice period remains payable in full. We do not provide pro-rata refunds, reductions or credits for unused portions of a billing period. Immediate termination may apply for breach or non-payment.
Liability - Capped at the lesser of 3 months’ fees or £1,000. No personal liability for our directors, employees or contractors.
Support - 1-3 hours/month included depending on subscription tier. Urgent issues acknowledged within 4 working hours, medium within 1 business day, low within 3 business days. Response time means acknowledgement, not guaranteed resolution. Bugs in our work are fixed free of charge.
Intellectual Property - You own your content. We retain ownership of our platform and license it to you during your subscription.
Your Responsibilities - You are responsible for all activity under your user accounts. Notify us of breaches. No unauthorised third-party access. You provide legal, accurate content and confirm you have permission to use it. You follow all applicable data protection laws.
Project Review & Schedule - Timelines start once onboarding information/assets are provided. You must supply content/feedback within 8 weeks. After 4 weeks we may revise the balance due. After 8 weeks the project may be terminated and the full fee invoiced. Inactive projects may also fall under the Ghost Policy.
Data - You are the controller, we are the processor. Our DPA forms part of these Terms.
Marketing - We may use your company name/logo for marketing unless you opt out via email.
Property Portals - You are responsible for checking that property data uploads and displays correctly.
Disputes - If there’s a problem, we’ll try to resolve it by talking. If unresolved within 14 days, it will be referred to an independent mediator. If that fails, it may be referred to the English courts.
Terms - Continued use of our service or paying an invoice means you accept our Terms.
Final Notes - The signed proposal plus these Terms form the full agreement. If it’s not written here or in the proposal, it’s not part of the deal.
Terms of Service & Onboarding Pack
Last updated: 30/08/2026
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern the services provided by Darknight Designs Ltd (trading as Estate Apps) (“we”, “us”, “our”) to the client (“you”, “your”). By engaging our services, you agree to these Terms.
1. Scope of Services
We provide website design, development, hosting, support and associated digital marketing services mainly for, but not limited to, estate and letting agents. The full scope is set out in your signed proposal.
2. Proposals & Acceptance
Your signed proposal, together with these Terms, forms the full agreement between us.
By paying any invoice issued by us, you are deemed to have accepted these Terms in full, even if you have not signed them separately.
You acknowledge that you have not relied on any statement, promise or representation not expressly set out in the proposal or these Terms.
3. Fees & Payments
- Subscriptions: Start on the date we begin work for template projects or on the date of launch for custom builds. Billed monthly in advance unless otherwise agreed.
- Custom builds: 50% deposit upfront, balance due at launch along with subscription starting.
- Template builds: Any agreed build fee invoiced upfront, subscription starts when we begin work.
- Invoices: Due within 28 days. Overdue invoices may incur interest at 4% above the Bank of England base rate and service suspension until settled.
- Cancellation before launch: £60/hour will be charged for time spent to date.
- Extras: Stock imagery or video purchased on your behalf is charged separately.
3.1 Attribution Credit & Removal Fee
Our standard service includes a "powered by Estate Apps" or "crafted by Estate Apps" credit on all public pages delivered as part of the services.
If you request removal of the attribution credit, you agree that an additional monthly Attribution Removal Fee of £30.00 (GBP) excl. VAT will apply in addition to your standard subscription charges. This fee will be invoiced in the same billing cycle as your subscription and will continue monthly until attribution is reinstated or your subscription terminates.
By requesting removal of the attribution credit, you confirm you have accepted the applicable Attribution Removal Fee as part of the agreed Services and Fees.
4. Ghost Policy (Dormant Projects)
If a project becomes dormant, meaning no meaningful progress, response or client engagement for a continuous period of 90 days or more, we may invoke our Ghost Policy.
Under this policy:
- The project will be classed as ghosted and placed on indefinite hold.
- We may invoice up to 100% of the remaining project fee, regardless of stage of completion, to cover resources already committed.
- Any further work to reactivate the project will require a new quotation and may be charged at updated rates.
- Original fees must be paid in full before recommencement.
This policy ensures projects do not remain indefinitely inactive, tying up resources that could otherwise be allocated to active clients.
5. Term, Termination & Final Billing
Either party may terminate any service with 30 calendar days’ written notice.
The notice period begins on the date we receive the written cancellation request.
Subscriptions are billed monthly in advance.
Giving notice does not cancel, reduce or invalidate an invoice already issued. Any invoice issued before or during the 30-day cancellation notice period remains due and payable in full.
Where a further subscription billing date falls during the 30-day notice period, the applicable invoice may still be raised and will remain payable in full.
We do not provide pro-rata refunds, reductions or credits for unused portions of a monthly billing period.
Choosing not to use some or all of the services during the cancellation notice period, or during a billing period that has already been invoiced, does not remove the obligation to pay the applicable fees.
We may terminate immediately if you fail to pay on time, misuse or abuse the services, or breach these Terms and fail to remedy the breach within 7 days of notice.
Upon termination:
- All outstanding fees become payable immediately.
- Services cease following completion of the applicable notice period and any final invoiced billing period, or immediately where terminated for cause.
- You may request a final data export before closure, but this is limited to data entered into the CMS (content management system).
- Provisions relating to Intellectual Property, Data Protection, Liability, Indemnity and Governing Law survive termination.
6. Intellectual Property
You own all data, files and logos you supply, and grant us the right to use them to perform our services. You confirm you hold all necessary permissions and indemnify us against infringement claims.
We own all IP in our platform, codebase, design, templates and proprietary tools. We license their use to you only for the duration of your subscription and only for your project.
You may not copy, resell, transfer or reverse engineer our platform without our written consent.
We reserve the right to limit some software features to different subscription tiers. To access these features, you may be required to upgrade your subscription.
All rights, including trade mark rights, in the name “Estate Apps” and any associated logos, icons, trade dress or branding elements are owned by Darknight Designs Ltd.
“Estate Apps” is a registered trade mark of Darknight Designs Ltd. Any unauthorised use of this trade mark may constitute an infringement of intellectual property rights.
7. Data Protection & Privacy
You are the data controller; we are the data processor.
You must maintain an accurate GDPR-compliant privacy policy, obtain valid consents and notify us of any data breaches affecting the platform.
Our Data Processing Addendum (DPA), which forms part of these Terms, sets out sub-processors, security measures, breach notifications and retention policies.
8. Liability & Indemnity
We exclude all liability for indirect, incidental or consequential losses, including lost profit, revenue, goodwill or data.
All services are provided on an “as is” basis without warranties or guarantees of any kind, except as expressly stated in these Terms.
Our maximum aggregate liability is capped at the lesser of (a) the total fees paid in the 3 months before the claim or (b) £1,000 (GBP).
Nothing excludes liability for fraud, death, personal injury or any liability that cannot be excluded by law.
Personal Liability: No director, officer, employee, agent or contractor of Darknight Designs Ltd (trading as Estate Apps) shall have any personal liability for any act or omission in connection with these Terms. All obligations and liabilities are those of the company only.
You agree to indemnify and hold us harmless against all claims, damages, losses or expenses, including legal fees, arising from your misuse of the services, your breach of these Terms or content/data you provide.
This includes any claim arising from our acting on your instructions, or from any integration, configuration or third-party service you have requested or provided.
9. Service Levels & Support
Support Hours: Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm (UK).
Channels: [email protected] (preferred) or +44 20 3086 8206 during office hours.
Response Times:
- Urgent: Within 4 working hours (site down/critical failure)
- Medium: Within 1 business day (major issue)
- Low: Within 3 business days (minor tweaks)
Response times mean acknowledgement, not resolution. If an issue cannot be resolved immediately, we will provide an indicative timescale where possible.
Subscriptions include 1, 2 or 3 hours per calendar month depending on your subscription tier for amendments to existing content/features.
Hours are “use it or lose it”.
Additional work is charged at our standard rate. New requests are quoted separately. Bugs in our work are fixed free of charge.
Our Service Level Agreement (SLA), which forms part of these Terms, sets out detailed commitments around service availability, maintenance, exclusions and remedies.
10. Service Modifications & Third-Party Dependencies
We may add, update or retire features with notice.
Security, bug-fix and performance updates may be applied automatically.
We are not liable for downtime, feature loss or costs caused by third-party integrations, APIs or services, for example CRMs, property portals, payment providers or mapping services.
We have no obligation to replace or replicate lost functionality if a third party changes or withdraws its service, policy or API access.
11. Your Responsibilities
You are responsible for all activity occurring under your user accounts (logins).
You must notify us immediately of any unauthorised use of any password or account or any other known or suspected breach of security.
You may not allow any unauthorised third party access to our platform.
12. Project Review & Schedule
- Timelines: Our delivery timeline starts once we have received the required onboarding information, assets and approvals that allow us to begin work.
- Template projects: Subscription begins when we start work. Any agreed build fees are invoiced upfront.
- Custom builds: 50% deposit invoiced upfront. Balance due and subscription begins at launch.
- Launch targets: We aim to launch by the date agreed, or within 12 weeks of starting work if no date is specified, unless a delay is agreed. Delivery is heavily reliant on your timely provision of content, feedback and approvals.
- Content deadlines: You must provide all required content and feedback within 8 weeks of our request. If content is not provided within 4 weeks, we may revise the balance due. If content is not provided within 8 weeks, the project may be considered in default, terminated and the full fee invoiced.
- Restarting: At our discretion, a terminated project can be restarted under a new quotation once original fees are paid.
- Dormant projects: If deadlines are missed and the project remains inactive, our Ghost Policy (Section 4) may also apply.
13. Property Portal and Website Uploads
You, and not us, are responsible for checking the property listing data received from your CRM and displayed on your website.
We cannot be held responsible for the effects of data not being received or displayed correctly where this results from data supplied, omitted or changed by your CRM or another third-party service.
14. Marketing
From time to time, we may use your company details and logo for marketing purposes.
If you do not wish your logo or project details to be used, you must notify us via email.
We will not pass your information or logo to third parties for their own marketing purposes without consent.
15. Suspension of Service
We may suspend services if payment is overdue, you breach these Terms or your use threatens other clients or system integrity.
We will notify you before suspension where reasonably possible.
Suspension of a service does not cancel your subscription or remove your obligation to pay fees falling due under these Terms.
16. Force Majeure
Neither party is liable for delays or failures caused by events beyond reasonable control, including strikes, natural disasters, power failures, pandemics or government action.
Affected parties must notify the other promptly and take reasonable steps to mitigate.
If a force majeure event continues for over 60 days, either party may terminate on 30 days’ written notice.
17. Dispute Resolution
If a dispute arises:
- The parties will attempt to resolve it through good-faith negotiation.
- If unresolved within 14 days, the matter will be referred to mediation with a mutually agreed independent mediator.
- If mediation fails, the dispute may be brought before the English courts.
18. Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
The courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction for all disputes.
19. General Provisions
Entire Agreement: These Terms, together with your signed proposal, are the entire agreement and supersede all prior discussions or agreements. You acknowledge that you have not relied on any statement, promise or representation not expressly set out in the proposal or these Terms.
Severability: If any clause is unenforceable, the rest remain in effect.
Waiver: Failure to enforce any right is not a waiver of it.
Assignment: You may not assign rights or obligations under these Terms without our written consent.
Survival: Clauses relating to Intellectual Property, confidentiality, indemnity, limitation of liability and governing law survive termination.
Addendum A - Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Last updated: 30/08/2026
This SLA forms part of the Terms of Service and sets out service availability, response times, maintenance and exclusions.
1. Service Availability
- Target uptime: 99.9% monthly, measured across all hosted services.
- Excludes planned maintenance, emergency fixes, third-party failures and force majeure events.
2. Support Services
Support Hours: Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm (UK).
Channels: Email [email protected] (preferred) or +44 20 3086 8206 telephone support.
Response Times:
- Urgent: within 4 working hours
- Medium: within 1 business day
- Low: within 3 business days
Response time means acknowledgement, not resolution. If not resolved immediately, an indicative timescale will be provided where possible.
Subscriptions include monthly support time depending on tier. Bugs in our work are fixed free of charge.
3. Maintenance & Updates
- Security patches, bug fixes and performance updates applied automatically.
- Planned maintenance scheduled outside peak hours where possible.
- Features may be introduced or retired with notice.
4. Exclusions
- Issues caused by your content or unauthorised changes.
- Failures in third-party services, including CRMs, portals and APIs.
- Force majeure events.
- Out-of-scope development, which is quoted separately.
5. Remedies
If service levels are not met, remedies may include:
- Additional support time at no cost.
- A discount on the next invoice, at our discretion.
6. Review & Changes
We may update this SLA to reflect improvements. Continued use of our service or paying an invoice constitutes acceptance.
Addendum B - Data Processing Addendum (DPA)
Last updated: 30/08/2026
This DPA forms part of the Terms of Service between Darknight Designs Ltd (trading as Estate Apps) (“Processor”) and the client (“Controller”).
1. Definitions
As per UK GDPR: Personal Data, Processing, Controller, Processor, Data Subject and Supervisory Authority.
2. Scope & Roles
- Controller determines purposes/means of processing.
- Processor acts only on documented instructions except where required by law.
3. Processing Details
- Subject Matter: Hosting, support and property marketing websites.
- Duration: Term of services plus lawful retention.
- Nature/Purpose: Hosting, storage, retrieval, modification and deletion.
- Data Subjects: Visitors, applicants, vendors, landlords and tenants.
- Data: Names, emails, phone numbers, addresses and property details.
4. Processor Obligations
- Process data only on Controller’s instructions.
- Ensure confidentiality of staff.
- Maintain security measures.
- Assist with Data Subject rights.
- Support GDPR compliance.
- Delete/return data on termination unless retention is required by law.
- Provide information to demonstrate compliance.
5. Sub-Processing
- Controller authorises sub-processors, including hosting, CRMs and analytics providers.
- Sub-processors are bound by equivalent terms.
- A list of sub-processors is available on request.
6. International Transfers
Transfers outside the UK will comply with UK GDPR requirements, including appropriate safeguards where required.
7. Security Measures
- Encryption in transit and at rest.
- Access controls/authentication.
- Patching and vulnerability management.
- Encrypted backups/disaster recovery.
- Network monitoring/intrusion detection.
8. Data Breach Notification
Processor will notify Controller without undue delay and provide details required to assist with applicable reporting obligations.
9. Termination
- On termination, data will be deleted or returned unless legally required to retain it.
- Retained data remains subject to this DPA.
10. Governing Law
This DPA is governed by the laws of England and Wales with exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
