Terms & Conditions

1. Introduction & Acceptance

Welcome to CastleEx (the "Platform"), an online real-estate ecosystem that connects property buyers with verified real-estate professionals and listings across the UAE and Africa, and provides related tools, workflows, and services.

The Platform is owned and operated by CastleEx Limited ("CastleEx", "we", "us", "our"). Certain brokerage activities on or through the Platform may be carried out by an affiliated operating company (e.g. Castle Real Estate LLC) or by independent third-party professionals; where that is the case it is identified at the point of the transaction.

By creating an account, accessing, or using the Platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms & Conditions (the "Terms") and by our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Platform. You must affirmatively accept these Terms at registration; continued use following any update (see §20) constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

2. Definitions

• User — any person or entity that accesses the Platform.
• Account Types / Roles — Buyer, Homeowner, Agent (internal or external), Agency, Developer, Lawyer, and Affiliate, each with distinct features and obligations.
• Verified Professional — an Agent, Agency, or Developer who has completed CastleEx's identity-verification process (see §5).
• Listing — a property advertisement submitted to the Platform.
• Lead — a buyer enquiry or requirement made available to professionals through the Platform, including via the capability-gated distribution described in §8.
• Operating Company — an entity licensed by CastleEx to operate the Platform (or a territory of it) and/or to provide brokerage services.
• Content — any text, images, documents, or data submitted to the Platform.

3. Eligibility & Registration

You must be at least 18 years old and legally capable of entering into a binding contract. You agree to provide accurate, current, and complete information and to keep it updated. You are responsible for all activity under your account and for safeguarding your credentials. Where required for your role, you must enable and maintain two-factor authentication (2FA/MFA) — you may not share, transfer, or sell your account.

4. Account Types & Professional Obligations

Different roles carry different obligations. In particular, Agents, Agencies, and Developers represent and warrant that they hold any licences, registrations, and authorisations required to conduct real-estate activity in their jurisdiction, that they are authorised to market each property they list, and that they will deal honestly with buyers and with CastleEx. Homeowners represent that they own, or are authorised to offer, the properties they submit. CastleEx may require evidence of any of the foregoing at any time.

5. Identity Verification & KYC/AML

CastleEx is a Designated Non-Financial Business or Profession ("DNFBP") and is subject to UAE anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing ("AML/CFT") obligations — including Federal Decree-Law No. (10) of 2025 and Cabinet Resolution No. (134) of 2025 (and their successors) — and to applicable UAE, UN, US, EU and UK sanctions regimes. Accordingly, you agree that we may:

• collect and verify identity information and documents (which may include a passport copy, a national identity document (e.g. NIN, Ghana Card, Huduma), and bank/financial verification);
• conduct customer due diligence, screening (including sanctions/PEP screening), and ongoing monitoring;
• request the source of funds or additional information for any transaction;
• retain records for the period required by law (see Privacy Policy); and
• refuse, suspend, freeze, delay, or report any account or activity where we suspect fraud, money laundering, sanctions exposure, or other illegality, and to notify competent authorities where required, without liability to you and, where the law requires, without notifying you.

Identity documents are treated as sensitive and access-restricted (see Privacy Policy).

6. Nature of the Platform — Introductions, Not a Party to Transactions

Except where an Operating Company is expressly acting as your broker in a given transaction, CastleEx provides a technology platform that facilitates introductions and workflows between buyers and independent real-estate professionals. CastleEx is not a party to, and does not guarantee, any property sale, purchase, lease, valuation, or other transaction agreed between users. We do not own the listed properties, we do not hold, manage, or process client or third-party funds and do not act as an escrow agent (any escrow or fund-holding, where offered, is provided by a separately licensed third-party provider, not by CastleEx), and we do not provide legal, tax, financial, valuation, or investment advice. You are responsible for your own due diligence and for engaging your own professional advisers.

7. Listings & Content

You are solely responsible for Content you submit and represent that it is accurate, lawful, non-misleading, and that you have the rights and authorisations to publish it. Prohibited Content includes (without limitation): properties you are not authorised to market; fraudulent, duplicate, or misleading listings; content that infringes third-party rights; and unlawful, discriminatory, or harmful material. CastleEx may review, moderate, edit, reject, or remove any Content, and may apply verification markers (e.g. a "Seal of Authenticity"), but is not obliged to verify all Content and does not warrant its accuracy.

8. Leads, Contact Information & Anti-Circumvention

Buyer contact details are a protected asset of the Platform. You agree that:

• buyer contact information may be masked and released only through the Platform's rules, including the capability-gated process (a professional may be required to demonstrate matching inventory before a buyer's contact is revealed);
• you will not scrape, harvest, bulk-export, or misappropriate leads, contact data, or listings;
• you will not solicit users to transact off-Platform to circumvent fees, the commission-lock, or these Terms; and
• lead theft, poaching, or misuse of another user's leads or clients is strictly prohibited and may result in immediate termination and legal action.

CastleEx may monitor lead handling and transfers for compliance.

9. Fees, Subscriptions & Commissions

CastleEx may offer paid subscription tiers, deal-based commissions, affiliate commissions, and territory-licensing arrangements. Applicable fees, tiers, and commission terms are presented before you incur them.

Subscription, platform-service, and licensing fees — what you pay to use the Platform — are received by CastleEx Limited and processed through licensed payment providers; this is CastleEx's own service revenue for use of the Platform. Deal commissions on deals registered through the Platform are payable to and received by the relevant licensed operating company acting as broker of record (e.g. Castle Real Estate LLC), which then settles the agreed share with the agents involved (internal or external).

Where a deal is sourced through a partner agent or agency (including outside the UAE), CastleEx and/or its operating company may, under agreement with that partner, receive and close the deal with the counterparty and settle the resulting payouts. Buyer purchase funds are not handled by the Platform — they are held in the developer's, bank's, or applicable regulated escrow account, not by CastleEx. Where the Platform operates a commission-lock, it governs the commission arrangement and payout logic; the movement of commission funds is carried out by the licensed operating company and/or licensed payment providers.

You agree to the applicable fees and commission arrangement. Fees are exclusive of taxes unless stated; you are responsible for your own taxes.

10. Payments & Refunds

Payments may be processed through third-party payment providers (e.g. Stripe for card and international payments, and Flutterwave for African mobile money). By transacting you agree to the applicable provider's terms. Subscription and service fees are payable in advance in the currency shown.

Refunds. Subscription and service fees are non-refundable, except (a) where a refund is required by applicable law, or (b) where a refund is expressly stated at the point of purchase. If you cancel a paid plan, you retain access until the end of your current billing period and are not charged again; partial or unused periods are not refunded. Amounts relating to deal-based or affiliate commissions are governed by the applicable commission terms rather than this refund provision. Chargebacks made in bad faith may result in suspension.

11. Acceptable Use

You agree not to: break any law; infringe others' rights; impersonate any person or misrepresent your affiliation; upload malware; probe, scrape, or overload the Platform; bypass security, access controls, or rate limits; misuse another user's data; or use the Platform to facilitate fraud, money laundering, or any prohibited transaction. You will use the Platform only for its intended, lawful purpose.

12. Intellectual Property

The Platform, its software, brand, "CastleEx" and related marks, design, and all associated intellectual property are owned by CastleEx (or the entity that owns the Platform's IP) and are protected by law. Nothing in these Terms transfers that IP to you. You retain rights in Content you submit but grant CastleEx a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, display, adapt (for formatting), and distribute that Content for the purpose of operating and promoting the Platform. Using, funding, or operating the Platform does not transfer ownership of the Platform, brand, or technology.

13. Third-Party Services

The Platform integrates third-party services (e.g. mapping, payment processing, identity/verification, communications). Your use of those services may be subject to their own terms, and CastleEx is not responsible for third-party services.

14. Disclaimers

The Platform is provided "as is" and "as available." To the fullest extent permitted by law, CastleEx disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose, accuracy, and non-infringement. CastleEx does not warrant that any transaction will complete, that any listing, valuation, professional, or user is accurate, suitable, solvent, or authorised, or that the Platform will be uninterrupted or error-free. You transact with other users at your own risk.

15. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, CastleEx and its affiliates, officers, and employees will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, goodwill, or for the acts or omissions of any user, professional, developer, or third party. CastleEx's total aggregate liability arising out of or relating to the Platform, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise, will not exceed the greater of (a) the total fees you paid to CastleEx in the twelve (12) months immediately before the event giving rise to the claim, or (b) USD 100. Nothing limits any liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law.

16. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless CastleEx and its affiliates from claims, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from your Content, your use of the Platform, your breach of these Terms, your violation of law, or your dealings with other users.

17. Suspension & Termination

CastleEx may suspend, restrict, or terminate your account and remove Content at any time, with or without notice, including for suspected breach of these Terms, fraud, security or AML concerns, or as required by law. You acknowledge that CastleEx may, for security reasons, reset the Platform and delete accounts, requiring re-registration. You may close your account at any time. Provisions that by their nature should survive termination (including §§5, 8, 12, 14–16, 19) survive.

18. Data Protection

Your personal data is handled in accordance with the Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms. By using the Platform you acknowledge that Policy, including the handling of identity documents and the AML-driven retention of records.

19. Governing Law & Jurisdiction

These Terms, and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them, their subject matter, or their formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims), are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).

CastleEx Limited is registered in the RAK Innovation City free zone, which permits its companies to elect the applicable governing law and dispute-resolution framework — either the laws of RAK / the UAE or the DIFC framework — and CastleEx has elected the DIFC. Accordingly, the parties irrevocably agree that the courts of the DIFC (the "DIFC Courts") shall have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any such dispute or claim. This election is also supported by the opt-in jurisdiction that parties may confer on the DIFC Courts by written agreement under Article 5(A)(2) of Dubai Law No. 12 of 2004 (as amended). The parties agree that the DIFC Courts are the most appropriate and convenient forum to settle any such dispute and will not argue to the contrary.

This governing-law and jurisdiction choice applies to the Platform layer — your access to and use of the Platform, its software, subscriptions, lead generation, and any escrow or processing fees. It does not, and cannot, override the mandatory local property laws of the place where a property is located: actual real-estate transactions, title and deed transfers, and landlord-tenant matters are governed by those local laws and the relevant local authority (for example, the Dubai Land Department for property in Dubai). Where the DIFC Courts have jurisdiction, disputes may be heard by the DIFC Courts, including, where appropriate, the specialised DIFC Digital Economy Court for cross-border technology and platform disputes.

Before commencing proceedings, the parties will attempt in good faith to resolve the dispute amicably. Nothing in this section limits or removes any mandatory consumer-protection rights you may have under the laws of your country of residence that cannot be excluded by agreement.

20. Changes to These Terms

CastleEx may update these Terms. When we do, we will update the version and, for material changes, require you to re-accept before continued use. The version in force is identified by the terms_version recorded against your account at acceptance.

21. Miscellaneous

If any provision is held unenforceable, the rest remain in effect. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them to an affiliate or successor (including an Operating Company). These Terms, with the Privacy Policy, are the entire agreement between you and CastleEx regarding the Platform. Notices may be given through the Platform or to your registered email.

22. Contact

CastleEx Limited, RAK Innovation City, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE — legal@castleex.com