Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how TreeHaous, Inc. (“TreeHaous,” the “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) collects, uses, discloses, and protects Personal Information in connection with the Services. Capitalized terms used but not defined here have the meanings given in the Terms of Service, into which this Policy is incorporated by reference. This Policy is a disclosure and does not expand the Company’s liability beyond what the Terms provide.

Key points at a glance.The Services are intended only for users in the United States who are 18 or older.We do not collect biometric information, and we do not process payment-card data.We log interaction data (Behavioral Telemetry) for analytics, security, and product development. Today it is not used to personalize content except for the opt-in Canopy Feed signals you generate yourself.We do not sell your Personal Information for money, and we do not use automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects about you.

1. Scope; Who May Use the Services

1.1 United States Only. The Services are intended and directed solely for users located in the United States. We do not offer the Services to, or knowingly process Personal Information of, individuals in the European Union, the United Kingdom, or other jurisdictions outside the United States. We do not rely on the EU/UK GDPR frameworks and have not implemented their transfer mechanisms; if you are located outside the United States, please do not use the Services.

1.2 18 and Older. The Services are intended only for individuals who are at least 18 years old, and we do not target the Services to, or design features to attract, individuals under 18. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from anyone under 18. If we become aware that an account may belong to a person under 18, we review the matter and, where confirmed, disable the account and take reasonable steps to delete the associated Personal Information through our intake-and-deletion process. Any such deletion is subject to Section 4 (legal-and-safety disclosures) and Section 7 (retention), so that it does not conflict with any applicable legal-preservation, evidence-retention, or mandatory-reporting obligation, including any federal reporting obligation applicable to providers regarding content involving minors.

1.3 Who This Policy Covers. This Policy applies to Consumer Users, Verified Professionals, and MLS Member Users, and to visitors to our websites and apps. Additional or different terms may apply to Verified Professionals’ use of professional and CRM features, as described in Section 9 and any professional terms.

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following categories of Personal Information, depending on how you use the Services:

Category — Examples — Source

Account & Profile — Name, email address, phone number, username, password, profile photo, professional role and license details (for Verified Professionals). — From you

Content You Provide — User Content such as posts, photos and videos you upload, comments, reviews, messages, saved properties, and Collections. — From you

Search & Preferences — Search queries, saved searches, stated onboarding preferences, follows, likes, and saves. — From you

Behavioral Telemetry — Interaction signals such as clicks, dwell time, impressions, scrolling, and feature usage. Logged today for analytics, security, and product development; see Section 3.4. — Automatically

Device & Log Data — IP address, device and browser type, operating system, app version, identifiers, approximate location derived from IP, and access timestamps. — Automatically

Cookies & Similar Tech — Cookies, SDKs, and similar technologies, as described in our Cookie Notice. — Automatically

Communications — Messages and Communications you send through the Services, and your correspondence with us. — From you

2.1 What We Do Not Collect. We do not collect or process biometric identifiers or biometric information (such as face geometry, fingerprints, or voiceprints). Photos and videos you upload are stored to provide the Services and are not analyzed to extract biometric data. We also do not collect or store payment-card data, because the Services do not process payments as of the Effective Date.

2.2 Sensitive Information. We do not seek to collect Personal Information revealing protected-class characteristics. Please do not submit such information except where strictly necessary, and never in a way that would signal a housing preference or limitation (see the Acceptable Use Policy, Section 3).

2.3 Biometric Pre-Launch Gate. The disavowal in Section 2.1 reflects current practice. Before we deploy any feature that could capture, extract, or derive biometric identifiers or biometric information from uploaded photos or video — including face detection or grouping, automated tagging, image-similarity matching, or any image-processing AI feature — or before we integrate any third-party component that could do so, the feature is subject to a pre-launch biometric-privacy review under our internal compliance procedures. Whether a particular feature captures or derives “biometric identifiers” or “biometric information” is a fact-specific determination that the review must make for the specific feature; we do not assume that any given image-processing capability is, or is not, within scope. If the review determines that biometric data would be involved, the notice, written-consent, retention-schedule, and destruction requirements of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) and any analogous state law must be assessed and implemented, and this Policy updated, before the feature launches. BIPA provides a private right of action and statutory damages, which is why this gate exists and why no such feature ships without clearing it.

3. How We Use Information

We use Personal Information to:

- provide, operate, maintain, and secure the Services;

- create and manage accounts and verify professional licensure;

- display Listing Data and enable Social Features, search, Collections, and Communications;

- provide the Canopy Feed and AI Features as described in Section 3.3;

- send transactional and, where permitted, marketing Communications (see Section 6);

- analyze usage, debug, and develop and improve products and features;

- prevent fraud and abuse and enforce our Terms and Acceptable Use Policy; and

- comply with legal obligations and Real Estate Laws and MLS rules.

3.3 Canopy Feed and AI Features

The Canopy Feed is an opt-in personalization surface. It orders content using your stated onboarding preferences together with explicit engagement signals you generate — your saves, searches, listing views, and likes — applied through transparent, hand-weighted rules. The Canopy Feed does not use a machine-learning model and does not make automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you. AI Features generate informational AI Output and do not make such decisions either.

3.4 Behavioral Telemetry; Future Personalization

We currently log Behavioral Telemetry for analytics, security, and product development, and not to rank, target, or personalize content beyond the Canopy Feed signals described above. We may in the future use Behavioral Telemetry to develop and operate model-based personalization or recommendation features. Before we use Behavioral Telemetry for model-based personalization or for any automated decision-making subject to applicable Privacy Laws, we will update this Policy and provide any notice, disclosure, or choice those laws require. Activating the telemetry→ML personalization loop triggers the automated-decision-making disclosure in Section 8 and a Fair Housing review.

4. How We Disclose Information

We disclose Personal Information in the following circumstances:

- With other Users, by your action. Profile information and User Content you choose to share are visible to others according to your settings and the nature of the feature.

- Service providers. With vendors that process data on our behalf under contract (for example, cloud hosting, content delivery, email delivery, search infrastructure, and analytics), bound to confidentiality and use limits. These vendors are engaged under contracts intended to satisfy the service-provider or processor requirements of applicable state Privacy Laws, so that our disclosures to them are not treated as a “sale” or “share,” and vendor onboarding and review occur under our internal procedures.

- Sponsoring Brokerage and Agents. To facilitate interactions you initiate with licensed professionals; those parties are independently responsible for their own use of your information.

- MLS sources. As required to comply with applicable MLS rules and data licenses.

- Legal and safety. To comply with law, respond to lawful requests, enforce our Terms, or protect the rights, safety, and security of Users, the public, or the Company.

- Business transfers. In connection with a merger, acquisition, financing, or sale of assets, subject to this Policy.

- Aggregated or De-Identified Data. Which is not Personal Information and may be used and shared without restriction.

4.1 No Sale of Personal Information for Money. We do not sell your Personal Information for monetary consideration.

4.2 Sale / Share and Opt-Out-Signal Gate. Before we launch any advertising feature or integrate any analytics or advertising technology that could constitute a “sale” or a “share” for cross-context behavioral advertising under applicable state Privacy Laws, we will assess whether the activity triggers sale/share opt-out obligations, a “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” mechanism, and the mandatory honoring of the Global Privacy Control and similar opt-out preference signals in the states that require it, and we will update this Policy and implement the required controls before launch. This is the same triggering event as the Fair Housing advertising / ad-delivery review gate, and both reviews fire together. Until then, no advertising features are active and this gate is forward-looking only.

4.3 Data-Product Gate. Any future product that would license, sell, or commercially provide Personal Information or behavioral data to third parties is outside our current practice. Before any such product launches, it would require assessment under applicable data-broker registration and consumer-deletion regimes, and a corresponding update to this Policy and to the no-sale representation in Section 4.1. We make no such offering today, and this gate is forward-looking only.

5. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate the Services, remember preferences, measure performance, and improve features. For details and choices, see our Cookie Notice. You can control cookies through your browser settings; some features may not function without them. We honor browser-based opt-out preference signals, including the Global Privacy Control, where required by applicable law; the scope of that obligation is addressed by the sale/share gate in Section 4.2 as advertising or sharing activities are introduced.

6. Communications and Email

6.1 Transactional Communications. We send Communications necessary to operate the Services, such as account, security, and service notices. You cannot opt out of essential transactional Communications while you maintain an account.

6.2 Marketing Email. Where we send marketing email, we comply with the CAN-SPAM Act: such email identifies itself appropriately, includes our valid physical postal address, and provides a working unsubscribe mechanism. You may opt out of marketing email at any time using that mechanism.

6.3 No Platform-Originated Text Messages. As of the Effective Date, we do not send platform-originated SMS text messages. If we introduce SMS, we will obtain any consent required by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and applicable law before sending.

7. Data Retention and Security

7.1 Retention. We retain Personal Information for as long as needed to provide the Services, comply with legal, tax, or regulatory obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, and meet applicable MLS data requirements, after which we delete or de-identify it. Retention of Listing Data and MLS Content is additionally subject to, and will not exceed, the deletion and retention limits imposed by the applicable MLS data licenses, including any requirement to remove listing content within a defined period after a status change. This is consistent with the MLS Content handling in the Copyright/DMCA Policy.

7.2 Security. We use reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards designed to protect Personal Information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. Our incident-response practices are described in our internal Incident Response Policy. In the event of a security incident affecting Personal Information, we will provide the notifications required by applicable state breach-notification laws within the timeframes those laws require.

8. Your Privacy Choices and Rights

8.1 Choices Available to Everyone. Regardless of where you live, you can access and update your account information, control profile visibility and certain notifications, opt out of marketing email, manage cookies, and delete your account by contacting us or using in-product controls.

8.2 State Privacy Rights. Depending on your state of residence and as applicable Privacy Laws require, you may have rights to: confirm whether we process your Personal Information and access it; correct inaccuracies; delete it; obtain a portable copy; and opt out of “sale,” “sharing” for cross-context behavioral advertising, and certain profiling. We honor the rights granted by the privacy laws that apply to you. A state-specific description of rights and any required disclosures is provided in the applicable state addendum to this Policy.

8.3 How to Exercise Rights. To exercise available rights, submit a request to accounts@treehaous.com or through your Account settings or our privacy request portal. This is the sole intake channel for privacy-rights requests. We will verify your request as required by law before responding, and we will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights. You may use an authorized agent where the law permits. If we deny a request, you may appeal as described in the response and any applicable state addendum.

8.4 Automated Decision-Making. We do not currently use automated decision-making, including profiling, that produces legal or similarly significant effects about you. The Canopy Feed and AI Features inform content ordering and provide information but do not make such decisions. If this changes, we will update this Section and provide any disclosures and opt-out or appeal rights required by applicable Privacy Laws.

9. Verified Professionals and CRM Features

Verified Professionals who use CRM, contact, or outreach features may upload and process information about their own contacts. For that information, the professional is responsible for having a lawful basis to collect and use it, for providing required notices to their contacts, and for honoring applicable privacy rights and opt-outs. The Company processes that information on the professional’s behalf to provide the feature and does not use it for unrelated purposes.

10. Third-Party Services and Links

The Services may link to or integrate third-party websites and services that we do not control. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies, and we are not responsible for them. Listing Data originates from MLS and other authorized sources subject to their requirements.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will provide reasonable notice, such as by posting the updated Policy with a new “Last Updated” date or by other appropriate means. Your continued use of the Services after the effective date of an updated Policy indicates your acknowledgment of it.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions or requests regarding this Policy or your Personal Information, contact us at accounts@treehaous.com or TreeHaous, Inc., 680 N Lake Shore Dr, Suite 110-2521, Chicago, IL 60611. For privacy-rights requests, use the channel in Section 8.3.