Terms of Service
1. Agreement
By creating an account or using Top Hat, you agree to these Terms. If you use Top Hat on behalf of an organization, you confirm you are authorised to bind it.
2. The service
Top Hat is a software tool that helps property owners track rent, maintenance, leases, documents, and property risk, and lets invited tenants view their tenancy and submit repair requests. Top Hat is a system of record and workflow tool. It is not a bank, payment processor, accountant, lawyer, or property manager, and it does not provide financial, legal, or tax advice.
3. Accounts
- Owners register and are responsible for the accuracy of the data they enter and for the activity in their organization.
- Tenants access Top Hat only by invitation from an owner.
- You are responsible for keeping your credentials secure and for activity under your account. Notify us promptly of any unauthorised use. We recommend enabling multi-factor authentication.
4. Acceptable use
You agree not to: break the law; upload malware or attempt to breach security or access data that is not yours; reverse engineer or disrupt the service; upload content you have no right to share; or use Top Hat to infringe others' rights. We may suspend accounts that violate these Terms.
5. Customer data and ownership
- You retain ownership of the data and documents you put into Top Hat ("Customer Data").
- You grant us a limited licence to host and process Customer Data solely to provide and support the service.
- You are responsible for having the right to upload the data you provide (including any personal data about tenants) and for complying with applicable laws when you do so.
- Data-protection roles. For your own account data, Top Hat is the controller. For the tenant personal data you enter, you, the owner, are the controller and Top Hat acts as a processor on your behalf, processing that data only to provide the service.
- Our handling of personal data is described in the Privacy Policy.
6. Payments and rent records
At launch, rent payments are recorded manually by owners; Top Hat does not process, hold, or move money, and does not verify that recorded payments actually occurred. Any future integrated payment features will be provided through third-party payment processors under their own terms, and card/bank details will be handled by those processors, not stored by Top Hat. Top Hat is not responsible for disputes between owners and tenants regarding payments.
7. Risk indicators are guidance, not advice
Top Hat surfaces risk indicators and alerts (overdue rent, aging maintenance, lease expiry, missing documents, etc.) derived from the data you enter. These are decision-support signals only. They are not legal, financial, or professional advice, and you are responsible for the decisions you make. Accuracy depends on the data you maintain.
8. Third-party services
Top Hat relies on third parties (e.g. Supabase, Vercel, Resend, Sentry). We are not responsible for their acts or outages, though we choose providers we consider reputable. The current list of sub-processors is in the Privacy Policy.
9. Fees
- Founding Member Programme (current phase): members of the founding cohort use Top Hat under the Founding Member Programme Terms, which govern their free period, conversion to a paid plan, and lifetime founding price lock.
- Paid subscriptions: subscription pricing, billing cycle, and payment method will be stated at sign-up or conversion. Prices exclude applicable taxes. Fees are billed monthly in advance; no refunds for partial months except where required by law.
- We will give at least 30 days' written notice of price changes; founding-member price locks are honoured per their terms.
9a. Beta and early-access features
Features labelled beta or early access (and the whole service during the Founding Member Programme) are provided with reduced availability and stability expectations. The disclaimers in sections 10–11 apply fully to beta functionality.
10. Availability
We aim for high availability but provide the service "as is" and "as available" without guarantee of uninterrupted or error-free operation. We may modify or discontinue features with reasonable notice.
11. Disclaimers and limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, Top Hat is provided without warranties of any kind, and our aggregate liability arising from the service is limited to the total fees you paid us in the 12 months before the claim (which, during any free or beta period where you paid nothing, may be zero), subject to any minimum that applicable law requires. We are not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, or for loss arising from your data entry, your decisions, or disputes with tenants or owners.
12. Indemnity
You agree to indemnify Top Hat against claims arising from your unlawful use of the service or your violation of these Terms or others' rights.
13. Termination
You may stop using Top Hat at any time. We may suspend or terminate access for breach or where required by law. On termination you may export your data for a reasonable period, after which it may be deleted subject to the Privacy Policy and legal retention requirements.
14. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms; material changes will be notified with reasonable notice, and continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance.
15. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of Trinidad & Tobago, and the courts of Trinidad & Tobago have jurisdiction over any dispute.
16. Contact
Edward Inglefield (Top Hat / Silk Cotton Studios), Trinidad & Tobago. Postal address available on request. Email: support@silkcotton.co.