Customer Terms and Conditions
House Ritual Ltd
Last updated: 9 October 2026
These terms apply when you book a clean through House Ritual. Please read them before your first booking. They do not affect your legal rights as a consumer.
1. About us
House Ritual is a trading name of House Ritual Ltd, company number 17497952, registered office 124–128 City Road, London EC1V 2NX. Email: jeremycarder@me.com.
2. How House Ritual works
2.1 House Ritual is an online platform that connects you with independent, self-employed home professionals. When a professional accepts your booking, your contract for the cleaning service is with that professional. House Ritual’s role is to run the platform, check professionals before they join, take payment, and support both of you if something goes wrong.
2.2 Before a professional can accept bookings, we check their identity, right to work in the UK, references, and public liability insurance of at least £1,000,000.
2.3 Even though the professional supplies the clean, we are responsible to you for running the platform with reasonable care and skill, and for handling your payments and complaints as these terms describe.
3. Your account
3.1 You must be 18 or over and give accurate details, including the correct address and access instructions.
3.2 Keep your login details private. You are responsible for bookings made from your account.
4. Bookings and prices
4.1 You choose your service and tasks, and the platform shows the time needed and the total price before you confirm. The price includes everything: there are no extra charges on the day.
4.2 Your booking is confirmed when a professional accepts it. If no professional accepts within 48 hours of the booking start time, we cancel the booking and refund you in full automatically.
4.3 The professional carries out the tasks you booked. Add any extra tasks through the app, either by extending the visit or booking another one. Professionals are not expected to do work that has not been booked.
4.4 Professionals bring their own equipment and products. Tell us in your booking if you would like them to use your own products, or if anyone in your home has sensitivities to cleaning products.
5. Payment
5.1 You pay the full price when you book, by card or digital wallet, through our payment provider Stripe. We hold the payment and release it to the professional after the clean is complete.
5.2 For recurring plans, we charge your card on the same date each month for that month’s visits. You can cancel a recurring plan at any time with 14 days’ notice through the app.
5.3 All payments for work arranged through House Ritual must go through the platform. Please do not pay a professional you met through House Ritual in cash or directly. If you do, we cannot protect your payment, handle disputes or support an insurance claim. Arranging off-platform payment may lead to your account being closed.
5.4 Tips given through the app go to your professional in full.
6. Cancelling a booking
Your legal right to cancel (first 14 days)
6.1 You can cancel a booking for any reason within 14 days of the day a professional accepts it, and get a full refund. If you cancel before any professional has accepted, you also get a full refund.
6.2 If you ask for a clean to take place within those 14 days, we will ask you to confirm that request when you book. If you cancel after the clean has started, you pay only for the part already carried out. Once the clean has been completed, the right to cancel ends.
6.3 To cancel, use the app or email jeremycarder@me.com. Refunds go back to your original payment method within 14 days, and usually reach your account within 5–10 working days.
After the first 14 days
6.4 These charges apply only once 14 days have passed since a professional accepted the booking, for example later visits in a recurring plan:
| When you cancel | Refund |
|---|---|
| 48 hours or more before the visit | 100% |
| 12–48 hours before the visit | 50% |
| Less than 12 hours before, or the professional cannot get in on arrival | No refund |
These charges reflect the time the professional has set aside and usually cannot fill at short notice.
How the two time limits work together. You pay a cancellation charge only if both of these apply: more than 14 days have passed since a professional accepted your booking, and you cancel less than 48 hours before the visit. The 14 days end at midnight on the 14th day after acceptance, so a booking accepted on 1 October can be cancelled free until the end of 15 October. A recurring plan is one agreement, so its 14 days run from when the plan is first accepted, not from each visit.
| Example | Accepted | Visit | You cancel | Your refund |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| One-off clean booked a few days ahead | 1 Oct | 5 Oct | 4 Oct, 20 hours before | 100% (within the 14 days) |
| One-off clean booked a month ahead | 1 Oct | 30 Oct | 29 Oct, 10 hours before | None |
| Weekly plan, third visit | 1 Oct | 22 Oct | 21 Oct, 30 hours before | 50% |
| Weekly plan, first visit | 1 Oct | 8 Oct | 7 Oct, 10 hours before | 100% (within the 14 days) |
If the professional cancels
6.5 If your professional cancels or does not arrive, you get a full refund, and we will help you rebook.
7. Access, safety and your home
7.1 Make sure the professional can get in at the booked time. They will wait 15 minutes and may then leave; section 6.4 then applies.
7.2 Tell us in advance about pets, alarms, fragile or valuable items, and anything else the professional needs to know. Please keep pets secure if they might be a risk.
7.3 Please put away valuables, cash and items of sentimental value before the visit.
7.4 Professionals must be safe in your home. They may leave if they feel unsafe, or if they are harassed or asked to do something unsafe or unlawful. If that happens because of conduct in your home, you will not receive a refund.
7.5 Any keys or access codes you give us are shared only with the professional booked, kept securely, and deleted when they are no longer needed.
8. If something is not right
8.1 The clean must be carried out with reasonable care and skill. If something is missed or not done properly, report it through the app, with photos if you can. If possible, please do this within 24 hours, so we can look into it while details are fresh. Reporting later does not remove your legal rights.
8.2 We review the booking, the task record, any photos and both sides’ accounts. We aim to give you an outcome within 72 hours. Depending on what went wrong, this may be a free return visit to put it right, a partial refund or a full refund.
8.3 We hold the professional’s payment while a complaint is open.
9. Damage and loss
9.1 If something is damaged during a clean, tell us through the app as soon as possible, with photos. Every professional holds their own public liability insurance, and claims are made through that insurer. We will provide the booking records and evidence the insurer needs and keep you informed.
9.2 If you think something has gone missing, contact us and, where appropriate, the police. We will cooperate fully with any investigation.
10. Our responsibility to you
10.1 Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not allow us to limit.
10.2 We are responsible for losses you suffer that were foreseeable at the time you booked and that result from our failure to follow these terms. We are not responsible for business losses.
10.3 We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as severe weather or a major technology outage. If that happens, we will refund any visit that cannot go ahead.
11. Reviews
You can rate and review your professional after each visit. Reviews must be honest and based on your own experience. We publish reviews in full, whether positive or negative, but may remove any that are abusive, discriminatory or contain personal information.
12. Treating professionals with respect
Discrimination, harassment or abuse towards a professional or our team will lead to your account being closed.
13. Closing your account
You can close your account at any time. We may suspend or close your account if you seriously breach these terms. If we do, we will explain why and refund any future bookings.
14. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms, for example when the law or our service changes. We will tell you about significant changes at least 30 days before they take effect. Bookings already confirmed stay under the terms in force when you made them.
15. Law and complaints
15.1 These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also bring proceedings in your local courts.
15.2 If we cannot settle a complaint, you can take it to court.