Terms of Service

Effective October 15, 2026 · Last updated October 15, 2026

1. Agreement

These Terms of Service ("Terms") are a binding agreement between you and Sam Guardians Corp, a corporation with its principal office at 160 E 46th St, Brooklyn, NY 11203 ("ViolationNow", "we", "us" or "our"). They govern your use of the ViolationNow web app, the ViolationNow iOS app, our alerts, this help site and related services (together, the "Service").

By creating an account, accepting a team invitation or using the Service, you agree to these Terms and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. If you use the Service for a company or other organization, you agree to these Terms on its behalf and confirm that you have authority to do so; "you" then includes that organization. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

2. The Service

ViolationNow monitors public New York City records for the buildings you add, such as Department of Buildings (DOB) violations, complaints and permits, ECB/OATH summonses and hearings, and Fire Department (FDNY) violations. It shows their status, suggests general next steps, and alerts you when something changes. The data comes from NYC Open Data and NYC Planning, published by the City of New York.

Information only, not advice

• The Service is informational. It is not legal, engineering, architectural, expediting or compliance advice, and using it does not create an attorney-client or other professional relationship. We are not a law firm, an expediter, a registered design professional or a government agency.
• Nothing in the Service is an official City notice or record. ViolationNow is not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting for the City of New York or any of its agencies.
• City data can be delayed, incomplete, inaccurate, duplicated or temporarily unavailable. The City publishes changes on its own schedule, and we check its data periodically, so hearing dates, penalties, balances and statuses can change before they appear in the Service.
• Guidance features, such as "what needs to happen next", process stages, suggestions of who to hire and plain-English explanations of codes, are general summaries based on public sources. Stages are estimates. For violations, the link to a job at the same building is inferred, because the City does not publish that link. Stages marked "Inferred" are our estimate and were not confirmed against an official source.

You are responsible for confirming important information with the issuing agency (such as DOB, OATH or FDNY) and for meeting every hearing date, deadline and payment. A missed or late alert, or an inaccurate record, is not a defense with the City. Do not rely on the Service as your only way of tracking legal deadlines. For advice about a violation, penalty, hearing or compliance question, consult a licensed attorney, registered design professional or licensed expediter.

3. Eligibility and accounts

• You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract.
• Give us accurate information, keep it up to date, and confirm your email address.
• Keep your password confidential and do not share your sign-in. You are responsible for activity under your account. Tell us promptly at support@violationnow.com if you believe someone has used your account without permission.
• Accounts are created and subscriptions are managed in the web app. If you already have an account, you can also sign in with the iOS app.

4. Team accounts

• Account owner. The person who subscribes and pays is the account owner. The account owner is responsible for everyone they invite (admins, members and viewers), for what those people do in the Service, and for deciding which addresses and information to share with whom. We are not responsible for what an account owner chooses to share.
• Invitations. An invitation is sent to one email address, can be used once, and expires after 7 days. It can be accepted only by a signed-in user whose confirmed email address matches the invitation.
• Billing. Only the account owner's addresses count toward the subscription. Admins, members and viewers do not pay.
• Access. Viewers see only the addresses shared with them, and see internal notes and billing amounts only if the account owner or an admin turns those on. The account owner can remove people at any time. Content a member added to the owner's buildings, such as notes, stays with the owner's account.

5. Your buildings and content

• Add only buildings that you own, manage or work on, or are otherwise authorized to monitor. An account can monitor up to 500 active addresses.
• You keep ownership of the content you add, such as notes, tasks, labels and assignments ("Your Content"). You give us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, copy, process and display Your Content only as needed to provide, secure and support the Service, including showing it to the team members you share it with.
• You are responsible for Your Content and for having the right to include any personal information about other people in it, such as the names of handlers or contacts.
• If you send us suggestions or feedback, we may use them without any obligation to you.

6. Subscriptions, billing and cancellation

Price

ViolationNow is a paid monthly subscription priced per address. The per-address price depends on the total number of active addresses in your account (volume tiers), and the price for your tier applies to all of your addresses. Current prices are shown in the web app before you subscribe and on your invoices. Prices are in US dollars, and applicable taxes may be added where required by law.

Payment

Subscriptions are purchased and managed only in the web app, and payments are processed by Stripe under Stripe's terms. You enter your payment details directly with Stripe; we never receive your card number. The iOS app does not sell subscriptions and has no in-app purchases.

Automatic renewal

Your subscription renews automatically every month until you cancel. You authorize us, through Stripe, to charge your payment method at the start of each monthly billing period for your active addresses at the price then in effect.

Changing the number of addresses

When you add or remove addresses, in the web app or in the iOS app, we update the number of addresses in your subscription automatically, and your per-address price follows your new tier. Stripe prorates the change for the rest of the current billing period, and the adjustment appears on your next invoice. If an update does not go through right away, we retry it, and we compare billed addresses with your active addresses every day. Contact us if you think your bill does not match your addresses.

Removing all of your addresses does not cancel your subscription: while it stays active, you are billed for one address. To stop billing, cancel as described below.

Price changes

We may change our prices. We will email the account owner at least 30 days before a price change takes effect, and the new price will apply from the first billing period that starts after that. If you do not agree to the new price, you can cancel before it takes effect.

Failed payments

If a payment fails, Stripe will retry it, and you can update your payment method in the billing portal. Monitoring continues for 7 days after a failed payment. If the payment has still not succeeded after that, monitoring and alerts stop until it does, and the subscription may be canceled if payment cannot be collected.

Cancellation

The account owner can cancel at any time in the web app under Settings > Billing & plan > Manage billing (Stripe's billing portal), or by emailing us from the account's email address. Cancellation takes effect at the end of the current billing period: monitoring and alerts continue until then, and you will not be charged again. There are no cancellation fees.

Deleting your account cancels your subscription immediately and ends monitoring at once; it does not by itself entitle you to a refund for the rest of the billing period.

Refunds

30-day money-back guarantee. If you are not satisfied, the account owner can email us within 30 days after the first payment for your first ViolationNow subscription, and we will refund that first payment in full. The guarantee applies once per customer and does not cover renewal payments or later subscriptions.

Otherwise, payments are non-refundable, and we do not give refunds or credits for partial months or unused time, except for the prorated adjustments described above and where the law requires a refund. If you believe you were charged in error, email us from the account's email address and we will review it. Approved refunds are made to the original payment method through Stripe.

7. Alerts and notifications

• You choose which alerts you receive and how: push notifications in the iOS app, email, and text messages if you opt in.
• Alerts are provided on a best-effort basis. They can be delayed, incomplete or not delivered because of City data delays, our systems, Apple, mobile carriers, email providers, your device or settings, or your connection. We do not guarantee that any alert will be sent or received, or when.
• During your quiet hours, push notifications and text messages for non-critical alerts are held and sent when quiet hours end. Emails are not held.
• Push notifications require your permission on your iPhone. Notification previews can show the building and the alert text on your lock screen.
• Text messages are sent only if you turn them on and agree to receive them. Consent is not a condition of purchase. Message frequency varies, and message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help; you can also turn text alerts off in your notification settings or ask us by email to stop. Carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages. Enter only a mobile number that you are authorized to use.
• Account emails, such as email confirmations, sign-in links, password resets and team invitations, are part of the Service and cannot be turned off.

8. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

1. add addresses you have no right or authority to monitor, or use the Service to harass, stalk or target any person;
2. use the Service or its data to discriminate unlawfully, including in violation of fair housing laws;
3. scrape, bulk-export, resell or republish the Service's data or alerts, or use them to build a competing product;
4. interfere with the Service, for example by probing or testing its security without our written permission, overloading it, getting around rate limits or access controls, or accessing another customer's data;
5. reverse engineer the Service except where the law allows it despite this restriction;
6. submit malware or unlawful content, or content you do not have the right to share;
7. share your sign-in, or misuse notification features, for example by entering a phone number that is not yours;
8. present the Service or its data as an official government source or as legal advice;
9. use automated means to create accounts or to add addresses in order to avoid paying for them; or
10. use the Service in violation of any law.

We may remove content, suspend or terminate accounts that break these rules, and report unlawful activity. Report abuse to support@violationnow.com.

9. Our intellectual property

The Service, including its software, design, text, guidance content and the ViolationNow name and logo, is owned by us or our licensors and protected by law. Subject to these Terms, we give you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to use the Service for your own business purposes while you have an active account. Public records shown in the Service remain subject to the terms of their publishers, including the NYC Open Data Terms of Use.

10. Third-party services

The Service relies on third parties, including Stripe, Apple, Twilio, Amazon Web Services and the City of New York's data services. Their services are governed by their own terms. We are not responsible for them, including their outages or changes to City data.

11. Suspension and termination

• You can stop using the Service at any time. The account owner can cancel the subscription as described in section 6. You can delete your account in the iOS app (Account > Delete account) or by emailing us from the account's email address.
• We may suspend or end your access if you break these Terms, do not pay, create a security or legal risk for us or others, or if the law requires it. Where reasonable, we will tell you first.
• If we discontinue the Service entirely, we will give account owners at least 30 days' notice by email and refund any fees paid for the period after the Service ends.
• When your access ends, we handle your information as described in our Privacy Policy. Sections 5, 6 (for amounts already owed), 9 and 12 through 18 continue to apply after these Terms end.

12. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE, INCLUDING ALL DATA, ALERTS AND GUIDANCE, IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE". TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS AND TIMELINESS. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT CITY DATA WILL BE ACCURATE OR CURRENT, OR THAT ANY ALERT WILL BE DELIVERED.

13. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, Sam Guardians Corp AND ITS OWNERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS AND SUPPLIERS WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, REVENUE OR DATA, OR FOR FINES, PENALTIES, INTEREST, MISSED HEARINGS OR MISSED DEADLINES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS, EVEN IF WE WERE ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID US FOR THE SERVICE IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM AND (B) ONE HUNDRED US DOLLARS (US$100).

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain warranty disclaimers or limits on liability. In those jurisdictions, the disclaimers and limits above apply to the fullest extent the law allows, and nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

14. Indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, you will defend, indemnify and hold harmless Sam Guardians Corp and its owners, employees and agents from claims, losses and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from your misuse of the Service, Your Content, or your violation of these Terms or the law.

15. Governing law and disputes

These Terms and any dispute arising out of or relating to them or the Service are governed by the laws of the State of New York, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. Before filing a claim, you agree to email us at support@violationnow.com and try to resolve the dispute informally for 30 days. Any dispute that is not resolved will be brought only in the state courts located in Kings County or New York County, New York, or in the United States District Court for the Eastern or Southern District of New York, and you and we consent to the personal jurisdiction of those courts.

16. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms. We will post the updated Terms on this page with a new effective date. If a change is material, we will tell account holders by email before it takes effect. If you keep using the Service after a change takes effect, you accept the updated Terms. If you do not agree, stop using the Service and cancel your subscription.

17. Apple App Store

This section applies if you downloaded the ViolationNow iOS app (the "App") from Apple's App Store. If it conflicts with the rest of these Terms for your use of the App, this section controls.

1. Parties. These Terms are between you and us only, not Apple. We, not Apple, are solely responsible for the App and its content.
2. License. Your license to use the App is a non-transferable license to use it on Apple-branded products that you own or control, as permitted by the Usage Rules in Apple's Media Services Terms and Conditions, except that the App may also be accessed by other accounts associated with you through Family Sharing or volume purchasing.
3. Maintenance and support. We are solely responsible for maintenance and support of the App, as described on our Support page. Apple has no obligation to provide any maintenance or support for the App.
4. Warranty. We are solely responsible for any product warranties, whether express or implied by law, to the extent not effectively disclaimed. If the App fails to conform to any applicable warranty, you may notify Apple, and Apple will refund the purchase price of the App, if any, to you. The App is free to download. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Apple has no other warranty obligation with respect to the App, and any other claims, losses, liabilities, damages, costs or expenses attributable to a failure to conform to a warranty are our responsibility, to the extent not disclaimed in these Terms.
5. Product claims. We, not Apple, are responsible for addressing any claims by you or a third party relating to the App or your possession and use of it, including (i) product liability claims; (ii) any claim that the App fails to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement; and (iii) claims arising under consumer protection, privacy or similar legislation.
6. Intellectual property. If a third party claims that the App or your possession and use of it infringes that third party's intellectual property rights, we, not Apple, are solely responsible for the investigation, defense, settlement and discharge of that claim.
7. Legal compliance. You represent and warrant that (i) you are not located in a country that is subject to a U.S. Government embargo, or that has been designated by the U.S. Government as a "terrorist supporting" country; and (ii) you are not listed on any U.S. Government list of prohibited or restricted parties.
8. Third-party terms. You must comply with applicable third-party terms when using the App, such as your wireless data service agreement.
9. Questions and claims. Send questions, complaints or claims about the App to the contact details in section 19.
10. Third-party beneficiary. Apple and Apple's subsidiaries are third-party beneficiaries of these Terms. Once you accept these Terms, Apple will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce them against you as a third-party beneficiary.

18. General

• Entire agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy and any terms shown to you at checkout are the entire agreement between you and us about the Service.
• Electronic notices. You agree that we may give you notices by email or in the Service, and that these satisfy any requirement that notices be in writing.
• Assignment. You may not transfer these Terms without our written consent. We may transfer them as part of a merger, acquisition or sale of assets.
• Events outside our control. We are not responsible for delays or failures caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including outages of the City's data services or of our providers.
• Severability and waiver. If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. Not enforcing a provision is not a waiver of it.
• Interpretation. Headings are for convenience only, and "including" means "including without limitation".

19. Contact us

Sam Guardians Corp
160 E 46th St
Brooklyn, NY 11203
United States
Email: support@violationnow.com