Terms of Service

Our terms of service form part one of three key things that you need to know when using abitat ops.

1. Terms of Service (this document) describes our service and sets up expectations for both sides
2. Data Licence describes what you can and can’t do with abitat ops data
3. Privacy Policy describes how we handle your privacy

abitat ops is a separate product from abitat intel. If you also use abitat intel, those terms apply to that product; these apply to abitat ops.

Introduction

These terms are about the relationship between you, “the user”, and us, “abitat”. By using abitat ops, “the service”, you’re agreeing to abide by these terms. If you don’t agree, don’t use it - simple!

What abitat ops is

abitat ops is a stock management tool for BNG habitat-bank operators. It helps you record the habitats on your sites (your “stock”), record the in-flight commitments you’ve made to developers (“reservations”), and see what’s still available to sell.

A few words we use throughout:

• a reservation is your own working record that a slice of a habitat is promised to a developer. It is not a confirmed sale.
• an allocation is the confirmed sale recorded against a planning application on the statutory register. abitat ops does not make allocations - you do that on the register.
• a plan is a working surface where you decide which habitats to offer against a developer’s shortfall.

Accounts

You may need to create an account in order to access parts of the service.

Please keep your login details secure. You’re responsible for activity that happens under your account. We always recommend the use of password managers, since they drastically simplify the whole process.

If your organisation has more than one member, you’re responsible for what your members do in the service - including any reservation or plan they create. It’s up to you to manage who has access.

It is your responsibility to keep your information accurate and as up to date as possible.

Allowed Use

You’re welcome to use the platform for lawful purposes.

Please don’t misuse it. That includes things like:

• interfering with the service
• attempting to copy or reconstruct our datasets or inner workings
• using the platform to build a competing product

If we believe the platform is being misused, we may limit or suspend access.

Access to the platform is subject to fair-use and rate limits, which we may apply, vary, or enforce to protect the service and other users. We may throttle, limit, or temporarily block requests that exceed these limits, and we may change the limits over time. We’ll aim to set them at a level that supports normal use.

You must abide by the rules set out in our Data Licence.

Your Content

To use the service you’ll upload information - your site metrics, the developer metrics you’re quoting against, and the details of the reservations and plans you build. You retain ownership of that information. By uploading, you grant us the rights described in our Data Licence so we can operate the service for you.

Some of what you upload is about other people - for example a developer’s contact details or a planning application. You’re responsible for making sure you have the right to share that information with us, and you should only share what you’re entitled to. How we handle personal information is set out in our Privacy Policy.

A management aid, not a guarantee

abitat ops helps you keep track of your stock and avoid promising the same units twice. The available-to-sell figures, the checks that stop a habitat being over-committed, the unit calculations, and the trading-rule results are there to help you make decisions - they are not a guarantee, and they don’t replace your own judgement or the statutory metric.

The commercial decision to reserve, quote, or sell stock is always yours, as is the decision to record an allocation on the register. You should verify important figures - especially unit amounts and trading-rule outcomes - against the statutory metric before you rely on them. We work hard to keep the numbers right, but we can’t be responsible for a commercial commitment you make on the strength of a figure you didn’t check.

We’re not part of your deals

abitat ops is a tool you use to run your own business. We are not a broker, agent, or party to any deal between you and a developer, and we don’t take a commission on anything you sell. What we charge for is set out under Payments below, and it’s a fee for using the software - nothing more.

Payments

abitat ops is a paid product, billed on your usage.

You’re billed monthly based on the net biodiversity units of the sites you’ve switched on for ops, priced per habitat kind (area, hedgerow, and watercourse units are each priced differently). We work the quantity out from the metrics you’ve uploaded, taken as a snapshot each month. Prices are in GBP and exclude VAT and any other applicable taxes, which you’re responsible for.

Ops is billed separately from any abitat intel subscription you hold - switching one on or off doesn’t change the other.

We invoice you and payment is due within the period stated on the invoice. If an invoice isn’t paid, we may suspend access until it is. If you think an invoice is wrong, get in touch and we’ll look into it - please raise it promptly.

If we change pricing in the future, we’ll give ample notice.

Confidentiality and other operators

Other operators use abitat ops too, and some of them may be competing for the same deals as you. We keep each operator’s stock, reservations, plans, and pipeline separate and private to that operator. We won’t show your commercial information to another operator, and we don’t fold it into the market-intelligence datasets we sell through abitat intel. The full detail of how we use what you upload is in the Data Licence.

Your data and leaving

The record abitat ops keeps of your stock and commitments is important to your business, so we don’t want leaving to be painful. If you stop using the service, you can ask us for an export of your data, and we’ll help you get it out. See our Privacy Policy for how long we keep information and how deletion works.

Not professional advice

abitat ops gives you calculations, suggestions, and automated plans - including auto-fill, which proposes a mix of stock to offer against a deal. These are aids, not advice. Nothing in the service is legal, financial, valuation, or professional advice, and you shouldn’t treat it as a substitute for your own professional judgement or independent verification.

Intellectual Property

abitat ops, including the software, design, structure, and compiled datasets, is owned by us or our licensors.

You can use the platform for your internal purposes, but you may not copy, redistribute, or recreate the underlying datasets unless we explicitly agree.

Limitation of Liability

We work hard to keep the platform accurate and useful, but we can’t guarantee that all information is complete or error-free, or that the service will always be available.

As set out above, the service is a management aid. You should verify important information independently and you remain responsible for your own commercial decisions.

To the extent permitted by law, we are not responsible for indirect or consequential losses arising from the use of the platform - including lost profit, lost deals, or a commitment you made to a developer.

To the extent permitted by law, our total liability relating to the service will not exceed the amount you paid us for abitat ops in the previous 12 months.

Termination

You may stop using the service at any time.

We may suspend or terminate your access if you violate these terms, misuse the service, or don’t pay. Where we can, we’ll give you reasonable notice and a chance to export your data first.

Governing Law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales.

Any disputes will be handled firstly personally by us, but ultimately by the courts of England and Wales if necessary.