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General terms

Version 1 in force from 21 October 2026

Permanent address of this version: houstie.fi/en/terms/v1/

This is a translation for convenience. If the versions differ, the Finnish version prevails. The Finnish version

These terms apply to the Houstie service. A published version is never changed: a change is made as a new version and notified to customers as set out in section 16.

1. Parties and definitions

Houstie is Kaupunkilounaat Oy (business ID 3273666-1), which uses the name Houstie for the service.

The Customer is a company, an association or another organisation that has made a contract with Houstie. The service is intended for business and organisational use, and the Finnish Consumer Protection Act does not apply to it. A Finnish business ID (Y-⁠tunnus) is required to make a contract.

The Service means making a website, taking care of its server and technical maintenance, and providing the admin (admin.houstie.fi) in which the Customer updates the site’s content itself.

The Contract means the service contract between the Customer and Houstie, or an order placed through houstie.fi and confirmed by Houstie, together with these general terms (the Terms) and the price list at houstie.fi/en/price-list (the Price List).

2. How the contract is made and the order of precedence

The Contract is made when the parties have signed the service contract or when Houstie has confirmed an order placed through houstie.fi.

If the contract documents conflict, they apply in this order:

  1. the service contract and the terms and prices specifically agreed in it,
  2. these Terms,
  3. the Price List.

The Contract is governed by the version of the Terms and the Price List in force from time to time, once a change has been notified as set out in section 16. Every version can be read at its permanent address (for example houstie.fi/en/terms/v1/).

3. The Service and the plans

The Service has three plans: Lite, Basic and Business. The plans’ monthly fees, contents and limits, the website build prices by scope, and the prices of extra services are in the Price List.

  • Publishes. A publish means that changes go live on the public site; one publish can contain many changes. The number of publishes per calendar month (Finnish time) is as set out in the Price List. A scheduled publish counts when it is scheduled. A cancelled schedule and a publish that does not go through give the publish back. Going back to an earlier version and publishes made by Houstie do not use up publishes. When the limit is reached, new publishes can be made from the start of the next month, or the plan can be raised.
  • Users. The Customer’s account can have the number of users set out in the Price List (open invitations included). If the account has several sites, the limit follows the highest plan.
  • Editable content. On every plan the Customer updates the site’s texts, images and contact details. On Basic and Business the Customer can also add, change and remove larger wholes, such as blog and news posts, events and subpages, in the sections built for them. The editable content is agreed when the site is made.
  • Fair use. The number of change requests (chat messages) has a fair-use limit that prevents misuse and that normal use does not reach. The limit is not a billable unit.
  • Forms, languages and other features are as set out in the Price List. The language options are Finnish, Swedish and English; a language beyond the plan’s languages is charged at the Price List’s monthly extra language fee.

A limit only prevents adding something new: nothing already made is removed.

4. Changing the plan

The Customer can raise or lower the plan. The new monthly fee applies from the start of the next calendar month; the new plan’s limits apply at once.

Lowering the plan removes none of the site’s content. If the site has more forms, or the account more users, than the new plan includes, the Customer chooses which ones stay, at the latest when the new plan’s monthly fee begins. Otherwise Houstie may take the extra users and forms out of use, the most recently added first. Responses already received by a form taken out of use are kept. Languages the new plan does not include stay and are billed as extra languages.

5. The Customer’s responsibilities and content

The Customer

  • gives Houstie the information and material needed to make the site,
  • makes sure that the admin’s users are authorised by the Customer and that the e-⁠mail addresses used to sign in are under the Customer’s control,
  • is responsible for the content published on its site and for having the right to all material it uploads or supplies, such as images, texts and logos; if identifiable people appear in an image, the Customer must have their consent to publish it,
  • makes sure that the content is not unlawful and does not infringe the rights of others, and
  • is responsible, as the controller, for the lawful processing of personal data collected through its site (section 13).

As a rule, the Customer approves publishes itself. Houstie may also publish a change at the Customer’s request or as agreed with the Customer. The site’s content is the Customer’s responsibility also when Houstie has written, edited or published it on the Customer’s behalf, and Houstie is not responsible for the accuracy of the content. If a change made by Houstie contains an error, Houstie corrects it free of charge; Houstie has no other liability for the error. Houstie may remove, or decline to publish, content that is manifestly unlawful, and tells the Customer.

6. Houstie’s responsibilities, support and availability

Houstie makes the site to the agreed scope and takes care of its server, security, backups and technical maintenance with professional skill. Houstie may use subcontractors and is responsible for their work as for its own.

Answering support requests is part of every plan. The support team usually answers within the same working day; this is a target, not a response-time commitment. Business support requests are handled before those of the other plans, and the plan includes the monthly amount of support work set out in the Price List. Support work means work Houstie’s staff do on the site at the Customer’s request. Other support work is billed according to the Price List, with an estimate before the work starts.

Houstie aims to keep sites available at all times and carries out maintenance so that it does not cause disruption. The Service runs on Amazon Web Services infrastructure in the EU, and the sites’ published versions are kept so that a site can be restored. Houstie does not guarantee uninterrupted availability. The availability targets are on the service level page; they are targets and do not entitle the Customer to compensation unless the service contract says otherwise.

Houstie may develop the Service and change its technical implementation. A change that materially reduces the content of the Service is made as set out in section 16.

7. Prices, billing and payment terms

Prices are as set out in the Price List unless the service contract says otherwise. A service contract can agree, for example, to waive the one-off fee, a monthly fee that differs from the Price List, or that the domain is included in the monthly fee. Prices exclude VAT, and VAT at the rate in force is added to the invoice.

  • When billing starts. The monthly fee and the website build fee start only when the Customer approves the site’s first publish. Changes and previews before that cost nothing, and no new domain is registered before the Customer has approved the first publish, unless the service contract says otherwise (for example when a domain included in the monthly fee is reserved straight away; it is connected to the site only after the Customer’s approval).
  • The monthly fee is per site and is billed per calendar month. The first month is billed from the publishing day to the end of the month.
  • The website build is a one-off fee that depends on the site’s scope and is billed with the first publish. The price of a large site is agreed by quotation before the work starts. If the website build has been confirmed as free of charge in the order or the service contract (for example as a campaign’s launch offer), it is not billed later.
  • Extra services, such as extra languages, support work, DNS changes and business e-⁠mail setup, are billed according to the Price List unless they are included in the plan.
  • A domain’s yearly fee is billed on registration and yearly after that, unless the domain is included in the monthly fee (section 11).

Invoices are sent by e-⁠mail or as e-⁠invoices. The payment term is 14 days net. Late payments bear interest under the Finnish Interest Act. Any objection to an invoice must be made before its due date.

8. Late payment and suspension

If an invoice is more than 30 days overdue, Houstie may, after a reminder, suspend editing of the site, having told the Customer at least 7 days in advance. The site stays online during the suspension. Editing is restored once the overdue invoices have been paid.

If an invoice is more than 60 days overdue, Houstie may terminate the Contract with immediate effect as set out in section 9.

9. Term and notice

The Contract is in force until further notice unless the service contract sets a fixed term. Either party may give notice by e-⁠mail. The notice period is one calendar month: the Contract ends on the last day of the calendar month following the notice. For example, if the Customer gives notice in October, the Contract ends on 30 November and November is the last month billed. The final invoice includes the monthly fees for the notice period and the extra services ordered during it.

If the Customer gives notice before the site’s first publish, nothing is billed unless the service contract says otherwise.

Either party may terminate the Contract with immediate effect if the other party materially breaches it and does not remedy the breach within 14 days of a written notice. Houstie may also terminate the Contract as set out in section 8, or if unlawful content is published on the site despite a notice.

10. When the contract ends

When the Contract ends, Houstie delivers the site’s content (texts and images) to the Customer on request in a commonly used format free of charge.

On request, Houstie also delivers the site as ready static files (HTML, CSS, images and content) that work on any web server. The files are free of charge if the Customer has paid for the website build, or if the site was built free of charge under the launch offer and the Contract has been in force for at least 12 months. Otherwise the Price List’s price is charged for the files. Forms, visitor statistics and other features that run through Houstie’s server stop working when the Contract ends. Houstie’s editing system and platform are not part of the delivery.

Requests are best made during the notice period. Houstie deletes the site, its content and the form submissions from the Service no later than 90 days after the Contract has ended, unless the law requires them to be kept. Billing and accounting records are kept as the Finnish Accounting Act requires.

11. Domains

A domain registered by Houstie. Houstie registers a new domain ordered for the Customer’s site in its own name (Kaupunkilounaat Oy), and Houstie’s details are entered in the domain registry. The Customer has the right to use the domain while the Contract is in force, and Houstie does not use it for anything else. The same applies to a domain the Customer has transferred to Houstie’s management.

Yearly fee. A domain’s yearly fee is as set out in the Price List. If the service contract says that the domain is included in the monthly fee, its registration, transfer to Houstie and yearly renewal are not billed separately. This applies only to the domain named in the service contract; moving a domain away from Houstie and DNS changes are billed according to the Price List.

Transfer when the contract ends. At the Customer’s request, Houstie transfers the domain to the Customer or to a provider the Customer names, for the Price List’s transfer handling fee. A transfer can also be requested while the Contract is in force. If the Customer has not requested a transfer by the time the Contract ends, Houstie keeps the domain until the end of the current registration period and still transfers it on request during that time. After that, Houstie may let the domain lapse.

The Customer’s own domain. A domain in the Customer’s own name stays with the Customer, and the Customer is responsible for renewing it. When the domain is connected to the Service, Houstie manages its name service (DNS), and changes are made at the Customer’s request.

12. Ownership and rights of use

The content is the Customer’s. The Customer owns the site’s texts, images, logos and other content it has supplied, and the form submissions collected on the site.

The platform is Houstie’s. Houstie owns the site’s technical implementation, code, design and platform, including a design made to the Customer’s wishes, and the editing system. The Customer may use them while the Contract is in force. When the Customer receives the site’s ready files under section 10, it has a lasting right to use, change and publish them as its own website.

The Customer gives Houstie the right to process content uploaded to the Service to make and maintain the site – for example to compress, crop and convert images and to remove location data and other metadata – and to publish it on the Customer’s site. The right ends when the content is removed from the site or the Contract ends. Earlier versions of the site are kept so they can be restored; the Customer can ask for an image to be removed from them as well.

Houstie may mention the Customer’s name and site as a reference unless the Customer forbids it.

13. Processing of personal data

This section is a data processing agreement under Article 28 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation. The Customer is the controller of the personal data collected through its site, and Houstie processes it on the Customer’s behalf as a processor.

  • Subject matter and duration: maintaining the site and receiving and forwarding its forms while the Contract is in force and during the deletion period in section 10.
  • Personal data and data subjects: data the site’s visitors enter in forms (for example name, contact details and message), and the technical data of the visitor statistics to the extent that it is personal data.

Houstie

  • processes the data only to provide the Service and on the Customer’s instructions; the Contract and the settings the Customer chooses (for example a form’s recipients) are the Customer’s instructions,
  • ensures that the people processing the data are bound by confidentiality,
  • protects the data with appropriate technical and organisational measures and keeps it in the EU,
  • uses Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL as a sub-processor (servers, databases, e-⁠mail sending and language models within the EU), announces changes of sub-processors in advance so that the Customer can object, and binds sub-processors to equivalent obligations,
  • helps the Customer respond to data subjects’ requests and meet its security obligations,
  • notifies the Customer of a personal data breach without undue delay,
  • deletes or returns the data when the Contract ends as set out in section 10, unless the law requires it to be kept, and
  • gives the Customer the information needed to demonstrate compliance with these obligations and allows reasonable audits at the Customer’s expense.

The site automatically gets a privacy policy based on the Customer’s settings. Houstie’s own processing of personal data is described in the privacy policy.

14. Confidentiality

Each party keeps confidential the other party’s business and trade secrets and other confidential information it receives in connection with the Contract, and uses it only to perform the Contract. The obligation does not apply to information that is public or that the party has received other than from the other party. The obligation continues after the Contract has ended.

15. Limitation of liability and force majeure

Houstie is liable only for direct damage it has caused by breaching the Contract or through negligence. Houstie is not liable for indirect damage, such as lost profit, lost turnover, loss of data or third-party claims. Houstie’s total liability is limited to the service fees, excluding VAT, the Customer has paid in the three months before the damage. The limitations do not apply to damage caused intentionally or through gross negligence.

Neither party is liable for delay or damage caused by an impediment beyond its control that it could not reasonably have foreseen or avoided (force majeure), such as an extensive telecommunications or power outage, an extensive disruption at a service provider, an order of an authority or a natural phenomenon.

16. Changes to the Service, the Price List and the Terms

Houstie may change the Price List, the Terms and the content of the Service. Houstie notifies a change to the Customer’s detriment by e-⁠mail at least 30 days before it takes effect. If the Customer does not accept the change, it may terminate the Contract to end before the change takes effect by telling Houstie before the effective date; the change then does not apply to the Customer. Otherwise the change takes effect on the notified date.

A change that is not to the Customer’s detriment (for example a price reduction or a new feature), or that results from legislation or an order of an authority, may take effect at shorter notice. A change in VAT affects prices from the date it takes effect.

A price specifically agreed in the service contract applies for the agreed period; if no period was agreed, Houstie may change it as set out in this section. Every version of the Terms and the Price List is published at its own permanent address, and earlier versions remain available.

17. Notices

Notices under the Contract are given by e-⁠mail. Houstie sends notices to the owner’s e-⁠mail address given in the service contract or on the Customer’s account, and the Customer sends notices to hello@houstie.fi. The Customer tells Houstie about changes to its contact details. A notice sent by e-⁠mail is deemed received on the working day after it was sent.

18. Assignment

The Customer may assign the Contract to a third party only with Houstie’s written consent. Houstie may assign the Contract to a company in the same group, or as part of a transfer of its business, by telling the Customer. A change of Houstie’s name or company name is not an assignment of the Contract.

19. Governing law and disputes

The Contract is governed by Finnish law. Disagreements are first settled by negotiation. If that fails, disputes are resolved in the Helsinki District Court.

All versions

  • Version 1 – in force from 21 October 2026 In force