Trust & safety
A safer property marketplace by design.
This page is maintained by ByHomeOwner to answer common trust and safety questions. It describes controls that are enabled today and is not a certification.
Automated fraud checks
Before any listing goes live we check the seller's identity, their entitlement to advertise, address checks, and a wording and duplicate screen.
Duplicate detection
We use perceptual image hashing (pHash) to detect stolen or reused photos across the marketplace. Matches are held for manual review.
Report a listing
Any user can report a listing from the property page. Our team reviews every report; confirmed violations are removed and refunds handled per our Terms.
How we handle reports
A member of our team looks at each report, decides whether the listing breaks our rules, and removes it if it does. Owners can appeal a removal and a different reviewer looks at it again.
Disputes
Owner ↔ buyer and agent ↔ client disputes route to trust@byhomeowner.ai. We mediate on marketplace conduct only; contractual disputes remain between the parties.
How free verification works
Every listing is verified before it goes live
Automated stages run first; anything unclear goes to a trained reviewer. Nothing goes live until the seller's identity and right to advertise have passed. The same standards apply in every market we operate in.
- 1
Email confirmed
We confirm the email address on the account.
- 2
Phone confirmed
We confirm a working phone number for the advertiser.
- 3
Identity document
A government ID is matched to the account holder.
- 4
Liveness check
A short selfie check confirms the document belongs to the person submitting it.
- 5
Entitlement to advertise
One document per property showing you may advertise it.
- 6
Address & location
The address is checked against mapping data and the pin position.
- 7
Listing details complete
The information buyers and renters rely on must be present.
- 8
Wording & duplicate screen
We scan for misleading claims and adverts that duplicate an existing listing.
- 9
Decision & review
Clear cases pass automatically; anything doubtful is decided by a trained reviewer.
- 10
Still available?
We ask you to confirm availability regularly so search results stay honest.
Rooms and houseshares: a room goes live only after the advertiser's identity check has passed and our team has approved the room.
Collaboration is our anti-scam strategy
Scams thrive in fragmented markets where owners, agents, developers and service pros compete for the same lead in the dark. On ByHomeOwner they work together on one shared network — so buyers and renters get more options, faster answers and a clear audit trail. When everyone is on the record, bad actors have nowhere to hide.
Shared responsibility
ByHomeOwner provides the marketplace controls above. Owners, agents and developers are responsible for the accuracy of their content and their own conduct. Buyers and tenants should independently verify property details, tenancies and payments before transacting.
Suspect a listing? Email trust@byhomeowner.ai or use the "Report this listing" button on the property page.