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Important Information
Our complete Service Provider Terms are contained after this section, but we have highlighted some important points for your information.
About Us
We are Homebox, a trading name of Billing Better Limited (Company number: 10444812).
Homebox provides a utility billing service to the landlord or property manager (Property Manager)  of residential apartment buildings.
Your relationship with Homebox
Your agreement is with the Property Manager only, not Homebox. We act on behalf of the Property Manager who have appointed us as a billing agent for for any utilities that are supplied by or resold by the Property Manager.
We act as a billing agent on behalf the Property Manager for any utilities that are supplied by or resold by the Property Manager. The service we provide to you is based upon our agreement with the Property Manager. This typically includes:
  • Issuing bills for utilities you have used at the property
  • Collecting monthly payments from you and allocating these payments against your usage
  • Providing initial customer support for any questions you may have about your bills
Homebox is a billing agent only. We are not a utility supplier or a payment service provider, nor do we set the cost of your utilities.
How to contact us
You can contact us through one of the following options during business hours
Post: Homebox, PO Box 1404, Crawley, RH10 0SY
Email: support@homebox.co.uk
Phone: 020 8106 1894
Fees and charges
Except where agreed, we will collect payments from you on monthly basis by direct debit which we deposit into a household e-money account. This payment is not directly a fee or charge, and may vary depending on the cost of your bills at the property or any one-off charges.
From your household e-money account we will allocate payments against your different utility services and disburse these funds to your Property Manager.
All fees and charges are dependent on your agreement with the Property Manager. Homebox will charge a fixed service fee to your Property Manager on a per property basis. We may collect our agreed service fee when payments are allocated, this does not change the cost to you.
Your tariffs (may vary)
Your tariffs are set and agreed by the Property Manager.
For utility services that are resold by the Property Manager, the tariff you are charged may vary at any time, and retrospectively, dependent on how much the authorised/licenced supplier has charged the Property Manager. Any water tariffs will increase in April each year, and fuel costs may vary based on how much and at what time fuel has been used across the whole site.
The amount you are charged for resold utility services is the same as the amount paid by the Property Manager, except for a very small administration charge permitted for water (2.5p per day)..
 
Complaints and legal
You can find a copy of our complaints procedure on our website at help.homebox.co.uk/complaints
Where your utilities include the heating of hot water or a heat network you may be entitled to escalate your complaint to the Energy Ombudsman. You will require a final response from the Property Manager, not Homebox. You can find more information here: https://www.energyombudsman.org/how-we-can-help/heat-networks

Service Provider Terms

1. Our Terms

1.1
What these Terms cover: These Terms outline the service we provide to You on behalf of the landlord or property manager (Property Manager). You are not entering into an agreement with Homebox and these terms do not supersede your tenancy, leasehold or separate utility agreement (Residential Agreement) you have entered into with the Property Manager.
1.2
How to contact us: If you think that there is a mistake in these terms, have a complaint or require any assistance, please contact us to discuss (using our contact details which you can find above in the Important Information).
1.3
The utility billing service is provided by Billing Better Limited, a company registered in England and Wales at 124 City Road, London, England, EC1V 2NX with company registration number 10444812 (We, Us or Our) and you, together the Parties and each a Party. We operate from Magellan Terrace, Crawley, RH10 9PJ.
1.4
You means the person or bill payer responsible for paying the utility bills at a property where the Property Manager has appointed Us at the Billing Agent..
1.5
We may amend the information contained within these Terms at any time. Where any change puts you at a disadvantage we will provide you with reasonable written notice unless the change is required by law. At no point can changes to these Terms  enter you into an agreement or supercede the Residential Agreement with the Property Manager.

2. Homebox Service

2.1
We provide a utility billing service to the Property Manager of residential apartment buildings. We act as a billing agent on behalf the Property Manager for any utilities that are supplied by or resold by the Property Manager. The service we provide to you is based upon our agreement with the Property Manager.

This typically includes: :
● Issuing bills for utilities you have used at the property
● Collecting monthly payments from you and allocating these payments against your usage
● Providing initial customer support for any questions you may have about your bills
2.2
To help manage your bills, Homebox provides an online account (Platform) where you can view visibility of your the utilities at your property and payments we have collected from you.
2.3
Homebox is not the supplier for any utilities. Your utilities will typically be provided by the Property Manager, which will be confirmed on your bills. We do not set the rates for your utilities or provide any payment services.

3. Sign Up

3.1
Except where agreed, to enable us to collect payments, you will need to sign up to our Platform and create an account (Account). If you sign up over the phone our agents will talk through this information with you and send you a confirmation email containing the key information following the phone call.
3.2
On sign-up, we will confirm the monthly cost for each utility service which and set-up a direct debit for payments.
3.3
Where you live with any other Bill Payers (Residents) and you sign up for an Account, you can invite the other Residents at the Property to sign up for an Account. You will need to confirm the number of bill payers at the property and send them an invite to your Household account. By adding other Bill Payers, you can split the monthly cost evenly across all Resident.
3.4
Following sign-up we will send you with a welcome pack which will include important information about our service. Where possible we ask that you provide us with a photograph of the meter readings that have been taken on your move in date.

4. Suppliers

4.1
Except where stated otherwise, for any bills issued by Homebox, the utilities will be supplied by the Property Manager.

Utilities may include:
● Hot water / heating, supplied through a Heat Network by the Property Manager (authorised and regulated by Ofgem);
● Electricity sold or resold by the Property Manager as an exempt supplier, where the electricity has been supplied an Ofgem authorised electricity supplier and/or generated on site;
● Gas resold by the Property Manager as an exempt supplier, where the gas has been supplied by an Ofgem authorised gas supplier;
● Water and/or sewage supplier, resold by the Property Manager where the water services have been supplied by an Ofwat licenced water supplier;
4.2
Where utility services are resold to you, your agreement is with the Property Manager only. You will not have any agreement with the authorised/licenced supplier and they will be typically unable to provide you with any support directly.

Your tariff for resold utility services is variable and is dependent on the amount paid by the Property Manager to the authorised/licenced supplier. The relevant regulators set a maximum resale price for each utility which is currently set to the amount paid by the Property Manager and a 2.5p per day administration for any resold water . Your tariff may be changed without notice, and retrospectively, where the authorised/licenced supplier has increased the price, or to comply with the maximum resale price rules.

5. Responsibilities

5.1
To help us deliver our service to you, please make sure You:
  1. provide us with regular meter readings where requested ideally monthly, but no less than every 3 months by taking a photo and uploading this to the Platform. (Except for readings we receive automatically from the Property Manager)
  2. promptly pay any invoice, typically by monthly payments through direct debit. All payments are processed by a third-party provider, Lettspay  and deposited to a  household e-money account, Where a direct debit fails you must promptly contact us to arrange alternative payment;
5.2
We will as part of our service:
  1. issue you with bills electronically, at least quarterly, which will be based on actual readings at least annually;
  2. request monthly payments from you, which will be disbursed to the property manager on receipt;
  3. respond to any queries you may have about your utility bills;
  4. providing the Platform and promptly uploading all bills we issue to your Account;
5.3
The Property Manager is responsible for
  1. the agreement with you, which may be included in your tenancy or leasehold agreement or as a separate utility agreement;
  2. setting the utility rates;
  3. registering with Ofgem as a heat network operator and/or supplier where required;
  4. settling any refunds which may be due to you;
  5. appointing and providing instructions to us or any billing agent;
  6. the accuracy of any meter readings they provide to us directly or through a third-party data provider

6. Payment and fees

6.1
You will make payment to Homebox on a monthly basis by direct debit or other payment methods which we make available. Homebox is not a payment service, All payments are processed by and deposited directly into a Household e-money account (e-money account) held with our partner Lettspay, an e-money agent of Modulr FS Limited. This payment is not directly a fee or charge, and may vary depending on the cost of your bills at the Property.
6.2
We will use the balance from your e-money account to allocate payment across your utility bills and disburse the payment to the Property Manager. All disbursed payments are held by the Property Manager, they are not held in the e-money account or by Homebox.
6.3
For each Property we will estimate the average monthly household costs taking into account all bills and fees. This is then divided across all liable Residents as the monthly payment due from You and/or each Resident. We periodically revise the estimate of your household costs and update the monthly payment amount accordingly. Where the payment amount increases we will provide you with reasonable notice of the increase.
6.4
You may request a refund of any credit in your household e-money account or held by the Property Manager which exceeds your monthly payment amount, after considering all outstanding bills for that period. We reserve the right to refuse any request where we believe the credit balance is necessary for any seasonal changes in energy usage or anticipated tariff increases. The Property Manager must agree and process any refund request.

7. Platform Terms

7.1
Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a personal, non-exclusive, royalty-free, revocable, worldwide, non-transferable licence to use our Platform in accordance with this Agreement. All other uses are prohibited without our prior written consent.
7.2
When using the Platform, you must not do or attempt to do anything that is unlawful or inappropriate, including: a. anything that would constitute a breach of an individual’s privacy (including uploading private or personal information without an individual's consent) or any other legal rights; b. using the Platform to defame, harass, threaten, menace or offend any person, including using the Services to send unsolicited electronic messages; c. tampering with or modifying the Platform (including by transmitting viruses and using trojan horses); d. using data mining, robots, screen scraping or similar data gathering and extraction tools on the Platform; or e. facilitating or assisting a third party to do any of the above acts.
7.3
We agree to use our best endeavours to make the Platform available at all times. However, from time to time we may perform reasonable scheduled and emergency maintenance, and the Platform may be unavailable during the times we are performing such maintenance.
7.4
Should you be unable to access the Platform, or should you have any other questions or issues impacting on your use and enjoyment of the Services, you must place a request via the chat function on our website, via email or by calling us. We will endeavour to respond to any support requests in a reasonable period.
7.5
You acknowledge and agree that the Platform may be reliant on, or interface with third party systems that are not provided by us (for example, utility supplier websites, cloud storage providers, email clients, CRM systems, and internet providers) (Third Party Services).
7.6
You acknowledge and agree that data loss is an unavoidable risk when using any software. To the extent you input any data into the Platform, you agree to maintain a backup copy of any data you input into the Platform.
7.7
You must provide basic information when registering for an Account, including your business name (if applicable), contact name and email address and you must choose a password.
7.8
All personal data you provide to us will be treated in accordance with our privacy notice. You can find our privacy notice at homebox.co.uk/privacy-policy
7.9
You agree to provide and maintain up to date information in your Account and to not share your Account password with any other person. Your Account is personal and you must not transfer or provide it to others.
7.10
You are responsible for keeping your Account details and your password confidential and you will be liable for all activity on your Account, including purchases made using your Account detail. You agree to immediately notify us of any unauthorised use of your Account.
7.11
You acknowledge and agree that any Intellectual Property or content (including copyright and trademarks) available on the Platform, the Platform itself, and any algorithms or machine learning models used on the Services (Our Intellectual Property) will at all times vest, or remain vested, in us.
7.12
We authorise you to use Our Intellectual Property solely for your personal use. You must not exploit Our Intellectual Property for any other purpose, nor allow, aid or facilitate such use by any third party. You may only access Our Intellectual Property on your personal device, and you may not use Our Intellectual Property for any commercial purpose
7.13
You must not, without our prior written consent:
  1. copy, in whole or in part, any of Our Intellectual Property;
  2. reproduce, retransmit, distribute, disseminate, sell, publish, broadcast or circulate any of Our Intellectual Property to any third party; or
  3. breach any intellectual property rights connected with the Services, including (without limitation) altering or modifying any of Our Intellectual Property, downloading Our Intellectual Property, causing any of Our Intellectual Property to be framed or embedded in another website, or creating derivative works from any of Our Intellectual Property.
7.14
Nothing in the above clause restricts your ability to publish, post or repost Our Intellectual Property on your social media page or blog, provided that:
  1. you do not assert that you are the owner of Our Intellectual Property;
  2. unless explicitly agreed by us in writing, you do not assert that you are endorsed or approved by us;
  3. you do not damage or take advantage of our reputation, including in a manner that is illegal, unfair, misleading or deceptive; and
  4. you comply with all other terms of this Agreement.
7.15
The clauses in this section will survive the termination or expiry of our serice
7.16
We warrant to you that the Services will be provided using reasonable care and skill; however you acknowledge we provide our service to the Property Manager, not You directly.
7.17
You represent, warrant and agree that:
  1. you will not use our Platform or Services, including Our Intellectual Property, in any way that competes with our business;
  2. there are no legal restrictions preventing you from entering into this Agreement;
  3. all information and documentation that you provide to us in connection with this Agreement is true, correct and complete; and
  4. you have not relied on any representations or warranties made by us in relation to the Services (including as to whether the Services is or will be fit or suitable for your particular purposes), unless expressly stipulated in this Agreement.

8. Limitations

8.1
Neither Party may benefit from the limitations and exclusions set out in this section in respect of any liability arising from its deliberate default.
8.2
The restrictions on liability in this section apply to every liability arising under or in connection with this Agreement including liability in statute, contract, equity, tort (including negligence), misrepresentation, restitution, indemnity or otherwise.
8.3
Nothing in these Terms limits any Liability which cannot legally be limited, including Liability for: a. death or personal injury caused by negligence; b. fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; c. breach of the terms implied by section 2 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 (title and quiet possession); and d. defective products under the Consumer Protection Act 1987.
8.4
If the Services is defective and it damages a device or digital content belonging to you and this is caused by our failure to use reasonable care and skill, we will either repair the damage or pay you compensation.
8.5
Subject to clause 8.1 (no limitation in respect of deliberate default), clause 8.4 (damage caused by defective digital content) and 8.3 (liability which cannot legally be limited), but despite anything else to the contrary, to the maximum extent permitted by law:
  1. we will not be liable for, and you waive and release us from and against, any Liability caused or contributed to by, arising from or connected with any aspect of your interaction with a Supplier, including their provision of their utility services;
  2. if you are not a consumer, neither Party will be liable for any Consequential Loss;
  3. if you are a consumer, we only supply the Services for domestic and private use. If you use the Services for any commercial, business or re-sale purpose we will have no liability to you for liability involving any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity;
  4. a Party’s liability for any Liability under this Agreement will be reduced proportionately to the extent the relevant Liability was caused or contributed to by the acts or omissions of the other Party (or any of its Personnel), including any failure by that other Party to mitigate its loss;
  5. if you are a consumer, if either Party fails to comply with these terms, neither Party will be responsible for any losses that the other Party suffers as a result, except for those losses which are a foreseeable consequence of the failure to comply with this Agreement; and
  6. if you are not a consumer, our aggregate liability for any Liability arising from or in connection with this terms will be limited to us resupplying the Services to you or, in our sole discretion, to us repaying you the amount of the Price paid by you to us in the 6 months prior to the time at which the Liability arose.
  7. to the fullest amount permitted by law, we are liable only to the Property Manager and not to you directly. No consumer contract exists between You and Us, and any amounts we may agree to pay to you are completely without our discretion.
9.6
We have given commitments as to the compliance of the Services with this Agreement and applicable Laws in section 8. In view of these commitments, the terms implied by sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 are, to the maximum extent permitted by law, excluded from this Agreement.
8.7
The clauses in section will survive the termination or expiry of our service.

Definitions

 
Consequential Loss includes any consequential loss, indirect loss, real or anticipated loss of profit, loss of benefit, loss of revenue, loss of business, loss of goodwill, loss of opportunity, loss of savings, loss of reputation, loss of use and/or loss or corruption of data, whether under statute, contract, equity, tort (including negligence), indemnity or otherwise.
 
Intellectual Property means any copyright, registered or unregistered designs, patents or trade marks, business names, get-up, goodwill, domain names, know-how, inventions, processes, trade secrets or confidential information, circuit layouts, software, computer programs, databases or source codes, including any application for registration of, and any improvements, enhancements or modifications of, the foregoing, and any right to apply for and be granted, renewals or extensions of, and rights to claim priority from, such rights and all similar or equivalent rights or forms of protection which subsist or will subsist now or in the future, including in respect of the foregoing.
 
Liability means any expense, cost, liability, loss, damage, claim, notice, entitlement, investigation, demand, proceeding or judgment (whether under statute, contract, equity, tort (including negligence), misrepresentation, restitution, indemnity or otherwise), howsoever arising, whether direct or indirect and/or whether present, unascertained, future or contingent and whether involving a third party or a party to these Agreement or otherwise.
 
Property means the address of a premises or dwelling, that you have provided to use, for the purpose of benefiting from the Services.
 
Resident includes any individual residing at or occupying the Property for residential purposes, or who is otherwise liable for the relevant utility bills at the Property.
 
Authorised / licensed supplier means the undertaking supplier who are permitted to supply a relevant utility to a central meter point at the site.
 
Supplier means the Property Manager or a third-party they appoint to supply or resale utility services. Homebox is not a supplier.