TurnkeyDoor Tenant Terms of Service

Last updated: 2026-05-06 (Sprint 35 Stage 2 — C-59 dual-track ToS final text per Codex Phase B C-59 memo)

Audience: Tenants, prospective tenants, rental applicants, and other consumer users

Status: [DRAFT — counsel redline pending per C-85]

What this is. These are the consumer (tenant) track Terms of Service for TurnkeyDoor's rental search, application, showing-scheduling, and tenant-facing surfaces. Landlords use a separate B2B contract at /legal/frbo-terms.

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NJ-specific framing. New Jersey choice of law. Bergen County forum. Mandatory FAA arbitration for individual disputes after a 30-day informal-resolution window. Class-action waiver enforced per Pace v. Hamilton Cove, 258 N.J. 82, 317 A.3d 477 (2024). CFA + TCCWNA rights expressly preserved to the extent they cannot be waived under Spade v. Select Comfort, 232 N.J. 504 (2018) and TCCWNA (N.J.S.A. 56:12-14).

1. Who this contract is between

These Terms are between TurnkeyDoor LLC ("TurnkeyDoor", "we") and you, a person who uses TurnkeyDoor as a tenant, prospective tenant, applicant, visitor, or other consumer user. You are using the platform in your personal, non-commercial capacity.

If you are a landlord, property manager, or anyone using the platform to advertise or manage rental real estate, stop here and read /legal/frbo-terms instead.

2. What TurnkeyDoor does for you

TurnkeyDoor is a rental search and application platform for Bergen County, NJ (with TX + FL expansion gated). We provide:

• Rental listing discovery (/listings, town pages at /towns/[slug])
• Tenant-side application submission with FCHA Phase 1 enforcement — landlords cannot ask about criminal history at this stage (N.J.S.A. 46:8-52)
• Showing scheduling with fraud-framing verification (no advance fees, no deposit-before-showing, no emergency-contact collection)
• Plain-language compliance facts (Section 8 acceptance under NJLAD, $50 application fee cap under P.L. 2025 c.405, security-deposit limits under N.J.S.A. 46:8-21.2)

What TurnkeyDoor is not. We are not a real estate broker, not your attorney, not a tenant-screening agency, and not an escrow holder. We never collect rent or deposits on a landlord's behalf. We never charge tenants for listing access or application submission beyond the statutory $50 cap (which is paid to the landlord, not us — we only validate the cap).

3. Your rights as an NJ consumer

You retain every right NJ consumer law provides, including:

• NJLAD protections — 17/18 protected classes including Section 8 source-of-income protection
• NJ FCHA — no criminal-history inquiry before conditional offer (N.J.S.A. 46:8-52); §46:8-56 lookback limits; §46:8-56(c)(3) six-factor individualized assessment requirement; §46:8-56(d) records-request right; DCR complaint route
• §50 application fee cap (P.L. 2025 c.405; effective May 1, 2026; 1-2 family exempt)
• Security-deposit protections — 1.5× cap (N.J.S.A. 46:8-21.2), FDIC interest-bearing account requirement (§46:8-19), 30-day return + double damages (§46:8-21.1), criminal liability for diversion (§46:8-25)
• Anti-Eviction Act — good cause required (N.J.S.A. 2A:18-61.1)
• Plain-language lease statute
• Electronic-payment-optional — landlord cannot require online-only rent (N.J.S.A. 46:8-49.1)
• Lead-safe rights (§52:27D-437.16)
• CFA — Consumer Fraud Act (N.J.S.A. 56:8-1 et seq.) for misrepresentation, knowing concealment, and unconscionable practices
• TCCWNA — Truth-in-Consumer Contract Warranty and Notice Act (N.J.S.A. 56:12-14 et seq.) — protects against contracts that violate clearly established legal rights

Nothing in these Terms waives any consumer right that cannot be waived under New Jersey law. This includes (but is not limited to) the rights under NJLAD, FCHA, CFA, TCCWNA, Anti-Eviction Act, and security-deposit statutes.

4. What you agree to

You agree to:

• Use the platform only for legitimate tenant-side rental search and application activities
• Provide accurate identity, contact, and rental-history information when you submit an application (consistent with FCHA Phase 1 — no SSN/DOB collected by TurnkeyDoor at this stage)
• Acknowledge the fraud-framing notice before scheduling showings: TurnkeyDoor never asks for deposits or rent before keys are exchanged; any request to do so is a fraud signal
• Treat application output and adverse-action notices as starting points — not legal advice. If a landlord denies your application or withdraws a conditional offer, the notice will explain your rights to records, appeal, and DCR complaint; you can also consult NJ counsel.

5. Data + privacy

We process your personal information per the Privacy Policy. Highlights:

• We do not sell tenant data.
• We process applicant info on the landlord's behalf (the landlord is the controller; we are a processor) per NJLAD-recordkeeping requirements + FCHA recordkeeping.
• Hash-at-ingest audit logs (MCP-2) are retained per the per-class retention schedule. Tenant-side data lives in app_2y or fh_3y (NOT pay_7y, which is narrowed to payment-instrument data only per Sprint 35 amendment).
• You can request access to or deletion of your data per NJ Data Privacy Act / CCPA. Contact privacy@turnkeydoor.com.

6. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, TurnkeyDoor's aggregate liability under these Terms shall not exceed $500 OR the fees you paid TurnkeyDoor in the 12 months preceding the claim, whichever is greater. We are not liable for indirect, consequential, special, or punitive damages, except where such limitation is barred by NJ law.

This cap does NOT apply to:

• Claims under NJLAD, FCHA, CFA, TCCWNA, or any statute that does not permit such caps
• Our gross negligence, willful misconduct, fraud, or fraudulent misrepresentation
• Statutory damages (e.g. CFA treble damages, TCCWNA $100 minimum, FCHA $1K-$10K)
• Equitable relief

7. Dispute resolution

7.1 Informal resolution first (30 days)

Before either party files in court or arbitration, we will attempt to resolve the dispute informally. You contact us at legal@turnkeydoor.com (or by mail at the address in Section 11) with a written description of the dispute. We have 30 days from receipt to respond. The arbitration / litigation path below opens only after that window closes without resolution.

7.2 Mandatory individual arbitration (FAA)

If informal resolution fails, you and TurnkeyDoor agree to resolve the dispute through individual binding arbitration under the Federal Arbitration Act (9 U.S.C. § 1 et seq.). Arbitration will be administered by JAMS or AAA (your choice) in Bergen County, New Jersey, applying NJ substantive law. Either party may elect a single neutral arbitrator. The arbitrator's award is final and enforceable in any court of competent jurisdiction.

7.3 Class-action waiver

You and TurnkeyDoor each waive the right to participate in class actions, class arbitrations, collective actions, or representative proceedings, except (a) representative actions seeking only public-injunctive relief under McGill v. Citibank as adopted by NJ courts, where applicable, and (b) any waiver invalid under NJ law.

This class-action waiver is enforceable per Pace v. Hamilton Cove, 258 N.J. 82, 317 A.3d 477 (2024), which upheld class-action waivers in New Jersey consumer arbitration agreements that meet specified procedural-conscionability requirements (clear notice, separate-from-mandatory-arbitration treatment, opportunity to opt out where statutory).

7.4 Small claims carve-out

Either party may bring an individual claim in small-claims court (in Bergen County, NJ) for any matter within that court's jurisdictional limit. Small-claims actions are not subject to the arbitration agreement above.

7.5 Public-injunctive relief

Nothing above prevents you from seeking public-injunctive relief in a court of competent jurisdiction, to the extent NJ law preserves such relief.

7.6 30-day opt-out from arbitration

If you do not want to be bound by Section 7.2 (mandatory arbitration), you may opt out by sending a written notice within 30 days of first accepting these Terms (or your first use of the platform after these Terms become effective) to legal@turnkeydoor.com with subject line "ARBITRATION OPT-OUT" and including your account email. Opt-out does not affect any other Term.

8. Choice of law + forum

These Terms are governed by New Jersey substantive law, without regard to conflict-of-laws. Any non-arbitrable claim (small claims, public-injunctive relief, statutory claims that cannot be arbitrated) is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state or federal courts in Bergen County, New Jersey. The forum-selection clause does not strip you of any unwaivable NJ statutory right (NJLAD, FCHA, CFA, TCCWNA, etc.).

9. CFA + TCCWNA preservation clause

Nothing in these Terms is intended to:

• Waive or release any CFA (N.J.S.A. 56:8-1 et seq.) right or remedy
• Violate TCCWNA (N.J.S.A. 56:12-14 et seq.) by including any provision that violates a clearly established legal right of an NJ consumer
• Limit any NJLAD (N.J.S.A. 10:5-1 et seq.) remedy
• Reduce any FCHA (N.J.S.A. 46:8-52 et seq.) protection

If any provision of these Terms is interpreted to do any of the above, the provision is severed to that extent and the rest of the Terms remain in force. Spade v. Select Comfort, 232 N.J. 504 (2018) is acknowledged: TCCWNA requires actual harm; the inclusion of preserved-rights language above is intended to ensure that no consumer is misled about rights they actually retain, regardless of waiver attempts.

10. Updates to these Terms

We may update these Terms; the changelog lives in this repo's git history (src/legal/tenant-terms.mdx). Material changes ship with at least 30 days' notice via account email or in-product notice. Continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance, except for changes to Section 7 (arbitration + class waiver), which require an affirmative re-acceptance.

11. Contact

• General: hello@turnkeydoor.com
• Privacy / data requests: privacy@turnkeydoor.com
• Legal notices: legal@turnkeydoor.com
• Mailing address: TurnkeyDoor LLC, [Bergen County, NJ — to be filled per LLC formation runbook]

You can also file:

• A DCR complaint with the NJ Division on Civil Rights for NJLAD or FCHA matters (1-833-NJDCR-4U / NJCivilRights.gov)
• A HUD Fair Housing complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (1-800-669-9777)

[DRAFT — counsel redline pending per C-85.] Verify against current NJLAD / FCHA / CFA / TCCWNA / NJDPA surfaces before customer-facing lock.

Equal Housing Opportunity. Section 8 housing-choice vouchers always accepted under NJLAD. TurnkeyDoor is not a real estate broker, not your attorney.