Escrow Policy

Escrow means we hold your payment rather than passing it straight to the provider. The provider can see that the money is committed, which is what gets work started; you keep the ability to stop it being released if the work is not done.

Every payment for services, goods and property on this platform goes through escrow. A provider who asks you to pay outside the platform is asking you to give up this protection, and we may suspend them for it.

Escrowed money is held by Urban Solution Ltd on your behalf. It is not a bank deposit, does not earn interest for you, and is not covered by deposit insurance.

A project is divided into milestones agreed when the bid is accepted. You fund the escrow, the provider works, and each milestone is released separately.

The provider marks a milestone as submitted. You review it and either approve it or raise a complaint. Approval is what releases the money for that milestone — nothing releases automatically on a project milestone while a complaint is open.

Our commission is deducted at the point a milestone is approved, at the rate recorded against the project when the bid was accepted. A later change to our published rates does not affect a project already running.

A contribution to the guarantee fund (section 7) is also taken at release.

When you buy from the shop, your payment is held until the order is complete. The vendor marks the order shipped; you confirm receipt when it arrives, and that releases payment to the vendor.

If you neither confirm nor raise a problem, payment releases automatically after a set period. This exists so a vendor who has delivered is not left unpaid because a buyer forgot to press a button. The deadline that applies to your order is shown on the order itself, and we send a reminder before it passes.

Raising a problem before the deadline stops the automatic release.

Viewing fees are held, not paid to the agent on booking. They release after you confirm the viewing took place, or automatically after the confirmation window on the payment shown.

Bookings release from check-in, not from payment. A shortlet booked weeks ahead does not pay out weeks early.

Reservation deposits are held on the terms agreed and recorded with the payment, including what happens if the sale completes, if the buyer walks away, or if the seller withdraws.

Prices shown to clients already include our commission. You are not charged a separate platform fee on top of a quoted price.

VAT is calculated at the statutory rate and shown as its own line before you pay. The rate and amount are recorded against your transaction, so an order remains reconcilable years later even if the statutory rate changes.

Delivery on goods is charged per vendor and passes to the vendor in full — we do not take commission on delivery.

Raise a complaint through the platform before the release deadline. We will review the milestones, the message thread and any evidence both sides provide.

We may then: release in full; release part and refund the rest; refund in full; or hold the funds while the parties resolve it.

Refunds go back to the original payment method. How long that takes after we approve it is up to your bank and card scheme, not us.

Once money has been released to a provider it has left our control. At that point a refund depends on the provider agreeing, or on the guarantee fund, or on a claim you pursue yourself. This is the reason the release deadline matters and why we send a reminder before it.

A small percentage of each release is set aside into a guarantee fund. Where a client suffers a loss through a verified provider’s conduct and escrow does not cover it, we may compensate from that fund.

It is discretionary and capped. It is not insurance, it does not cover a change of mind, and it does not cover a loss arising from a transaction arranged off the platform.

A payment only counts once our payment provider confirms it to us. If you have been charged but the platform still shows your payment as pending, contact us with the payment reference shown on your receipt and we will trace it.

We will not release funds against a payment we cannot confirm, and we will not keep money for a transaction that never completed.

This policy forms part of our Terms of Service. Where the two differ on how money is handled, this page governs.