These terms govern your use of Hearth, operated by Kamsi Anienwelu, a sole proprietor based in Ithaca, New York ("Hearth", "we", "us").
Hearth is currently a free, pre-revenue pilot. By adding a property, using the operator dashboard, or texting a Hearth number, you agree to these terms.
Hearth is a communication and coordination tool for off-campus student housing. It answers routine questions using a lease that a landlord has uploaded, escalates urgent or judgment-based matters to the landlord, tracks move-in and move-out progress, and keeps a timestamped record of communication.
Hearth is not a property manager, a leasing agent, a payment processor, a legal service, or an emergency service. We do not collect rent, hold deposits, screen applicants, sign leases, or make decisions about anyone's tenancy.
You must be 18 or older. Landlords must have the right to manage the properties they add and to share the lease documents they upload. Students and guarantors are added by their landlord and use Hearth by text message.
Hearth is deliberately constrained. It will not give legal advice, promise a repair or a timeline, waive or negotiate money owed, approve an occupant or a sublet, impose a charge, decide a deposit deduction, or claim that anyone has been notified or is on the way.
Any message Hearth composes for a landlord to send is a draft. Nothing is sent to a student or guarantor on a landlord's behalf without that landlord approving it, except automatic acknowledgements confirming a message was received.
These SMS Terms govern text messages sent by Hearth, the trading name of Kamsi Anienwelu, sole proprietor, Ithaca, New York — the registered brand behind these messages.
Program description. Hearth sends and receives text messages about your tenancy at a specific off-campus property: answers to questions about your lease, reminders about move-in and move-out requirements, and acknowledgements of issues you report. Hearth does not send marketing or promotional messages of any kind.
Who receives messages. Tenants and lease guarantors whose landlord has enrolled them for a property, using the phone number that person provided on their lease or rental application.
Message frequency. Frequency varies and depends on your own activity. Most messages are replies to messages you send. Proactive reminders cluster around move-in and move-out and are typically a handful per academic year.
Cost. Message and data rates may apply. Hearth does not charge tenants or guarantors anything.
Opt out. Reply STOP to any Hearth message to stop receiving them. You will receive one confirmation message and nothing further. Reply START to opt back in.
Help. Reply HELP for assistance, or email ka@hearthassist.com.
Carriers. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. We do not guarantee delivery — networks fail, numbers change, and messages are filtered. Do not rely on Hearth for anything time-critical.
Privacy. See our Privacy Policy. We do not sell or share your SMS opt-in data or personal information with third parties for marketing purposes.
Hearth is not an emergency service and is not monitored continuously. If there is a fire, gas leak, flood, injury, break-in, or any risk to safety, call 911 immediately. Hearth will tell you to do so and will alert your landlord, but it cannot summon help and does not guarantee anyone will see your message in time.
Hearth uses automated systems to interpret messages and produce answers from the lease you supply. These systems can make mistakes. They may misread a question, miss context, or fail to find something that is present in the lease.
Hearth is designed to escalate rather than guess when it is uncertain, but you should not treat an automated answer as authoritative. The lease itself governs. Where an answer and the lease conflict, the lease controls.
Hearth keeps a timestamped record of messages, photographs, and events for each property, and can export it. We retain that record for seven years after the lease term ends, which covers New York's six-year limitations period for contract claims including security deposit disputes. See our Privacy Policy for details and deletion rights.
This record is documentation, not legal protection. It does not resolve a dispute, does not establish liability or its absence, and does not substitute for legal advice. We make no representation that any record will be admissible or persuasive in any proceeding.
Hearth is an early pilot provided free of charge. It may be interrupted, changed, or discontinued at any time. Features shown in demonstrations may not exist yet. We will give reasonable notice before ending a pilot and will offer an export of your property record.
The service is provided "as is" and "as available", without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including fitness for a particular purpose and uninterrupted or error-free operation.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Hearth and its operator will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, lost data, property damage, disputes between landlords and occupants, or decisions made in reliance on the service.
Our total liability for any claim will not exceed the greater of the amount you paid us in the twelve months before the claim, or one hundred US dollars. During the free pilot, that amount is one hundred dollars.
Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, in which case the limitations apply to the maximum extent permitted.
If you are a landlord, you agree to indemnify Hearth against claims arising from the property information or lease documents you provide, your relationships with your tenants, or your use of the service in breach of these terms or the law.
Do not use Hearth to harass, threaten, or deceive anyone; to send marketing or unsolicited messages; to attempt to access another person's information; to interfere with the service or its security; or in any way that breaks the law, including fair housing and consumer protection law.
Fair housing obligations remain yours. Using Hearth does not transfer them to us.
You keep ownership of everything you upload. You grant us a limited licence to store, process, and display it solely to operate the service for you. We do not use your content to train artificial intelligence models and we do not sell it.
You may stop using Hearth at any time and request an export and deletion of your records. We may suspend or end access if these terms are breached, if the service is used unlawfully, or if we discontinue the pilot.
We may update these terms. Material changes will be posted here with a new date and notified to landlords by email before taking effect. Continuing to use Hearth after that means you accept the revised terms.
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to conflict of law rules. Any dispute will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Tompkins County, New York, and both parties consent to that jurisdiction.
Hearth · Kamsi Anienwelu, sole proprietor · Ithaca, New York
ka@hearthassist.com