Ko helps people who have not met share a home. That only works if the rules about conduct are unambiguous. These standards are binding, and breaking them ends your access without refund.
If you are in immediate danger, call local emergency services first. Ko is a software company and cannot dispatch police, ambulances or fire services. Once you are safe, report it in the app — tap Report on any profile, message, listing or house. It reaches our admin team directly with the relevant records attached. If you cannot use the app, email [email protected].
These standards apply to everyone who uses Ko — residents, Operators, co-operators and any guest, visitor, staff member or contractor a user brings into a house booked through Ko. If you invite someone into a property, you are responsible for their conduct as if it were your own.
They apply in the property, in Ko chats and networks, at Ko events, and in any interaction that arises from meeting through Ko — including after a stay has ended.
You must not use Ko, or any property booked through Ko, to commit, plan, facilitate or conceal any criminal offence. This includes but is not limited to:
You are solely responsible for knowing and obeying the law of the place you are in. Something being legal where you live does not make it legal where you are staying.
Controlled substances are prohibited in houses booked through Ko regardless of local law, unless the Operator has expressly permitted a substance that is lawful in that jurisdiction and has stated so on the listing.
Absolutely prohibited in all circumstances, with no exception:
Many countries where Ko operates impose severe penalties, including lengthy imprisonment and in some jurisdictions capital punishment, for offences that are treated leniently elsewhere. Ko cannot and will not assist you if you are arrested. We will comply with lawful requests from authorities.
Operators must report drug manufacture or supply discovered in their property. Residents who become aware of it should leave and report it.
Prohibited without exception:
Reports of violence result in immediate account suspension pending investigation, and permanent removal where substantiated.
Sexual activity between adults requires freely given, informed, ongoing and reversible consent. Consent cannot be given by a person who is asleep, unconscious, incapacitated by alcohol or drugs, under duress, or below the age of consent.
Prohibited without exception:
Sharing a home does not imply consent to anything. Being in a shared room does not imply consent to anything.
Reports of sexual misconduct are treated as our highest priority, result in immediate suspension of the reported account, and are handled by named staff. We will support any request to involve law enforcement and will preserve records for that purpose. We will not require you to speak to the person you have reported.
Ko is for adults. You must be 18 or over to hold an account or stay in a house booked through Ko.
Any content involving the sexual exploitation of a minor is reported immediately to law enforcement and relevant child protection authorities, and the account is preserved and permanently removed. There is no appeal from this.
Operators must not accept a booking for a minor. Residents must not bring a minor into a shared property without the express written agreement of the Operator and every resident.
Prohibited: harassment, bullying, humiliation, doxxing, and repeated unwanted contact.
Operators must not decline applicants, set different terms, or treat residents differently on the basis of race, colour, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, age, pregnancy or marital status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
Operators may set legitimate criteria unrelated to protected characteristics, such as compatible working patterns, stated house rules, or a shared professional focus. Where an Operator restricts a property to a single sex for genuine shared-accommodation reasons, that must be stated on the listing and applied consistently.
Hate speech, slurs and content that dehumanises a protected group are prohibited everywhere on Ko.
Hidden cameras and recording devices are prohibited. Operators must not place any camera, microphone or recording device inside a property except:
Residents must not record other residents without consent, must not photograph anyone in a state of undress, and must not share images of others without permission.
Do not publish another resident's address, contact details, employer, immigration status or travel plans without their consent.
Report in the app. Every profile, message, listing, house and dispute channel has a Report option. Reports go straight to our admin team, and the relevant records — messages, photographs with server timestamps, booking and payment history — are attached automatically. This is the fastest route and it produces a far stronger record than an email can.
If you do not have a Ko account — you are a neighbour, a property owner, a family member, or law enforcement — email [email protected]. We treat these with the same priority.
Reports about a person are confidential. We do not tell the reported person who raised it, and we will never require you to speak to them. You may report anonymously, though it may limit what we can investigate.
Reports involving violence, sexual misconduct, weapons, drug supply or a minor are escalated immediately and are seen by a named member of staff, not an automated queue.
We do not retaliate against good-faith reports, and neither may anyone else. Retaliating against someone for reporting — including an Operator declining, removing or penalising a resident who reported them — is itself a serious breach.
Knowingly false reports made to harm another user are also a breach.
Operators who become aware of conduct that endangers a resident must report it and must not conceal it to protect a booking.
| Response | When |
|---|---|
| Warning | Minor first breach with no risk to others |
| Content removal | Listings, photos or messages that breach these standards |
| Immediate suspension | Any credible report of violence, sexual misconduct, drugs supply, weapons or threats — applied before investigation, not after |
| Removal from a property | Where a person presents a risk to others in the house. No refund. |
| Payout freeze | Where an Operator is implicated and funds are still unreleased |
| Permanent ban | Substantiated serious breach. No refund. Applies to any future account. |
| Referral to authorities | Where we believe an offence has been committed or a person is at risk |
We decide what response is appropriate at our sole discretion, on the information available. We may act on a report we cannot fully substantiate where the risk to others is serious — protecting people takes precedence over certainty.
Where we remove you for a serious breach, we may inform the Operator and residents of the property that you have been removed. We will not disclose details of a report beyond what is necessary.
We cooperate with law enforcement. We will disclose account information, communications, payment records, location and check-in data, photographs and metadata where we:
Where a serious offence is reported to us, we preserve the relevant records — messages, dispute threads, photographs with server timestamps, payment history and check-in data — and make them available to authorities on a lawful request. You consent to this disclosure.
We may report suspected offences to authorities on our own initiative, without notifying the account holder, where notification would risk harm or prejudice an investigation.
Ko is a small software company. We cannot vet anyone's character, predict who will behave badly, monitor what happens inside a home, intervene physically, provide security, or respond to an emergency. We do not conduct criminal-record checks. A verified badge means an identity document was checked and nothing more.
These standards tell you what is required and what happens when it is breached. They cannot prevent someone breaching them. Your safety in a shared home depends on your own judgement — meeting people before you commit, telling someone where you are, keeping your belongings secure, leaving a situation that feels wrong, and calling emergency services when you need them.
If you believe an Operator or resident presents a danger, tell us. We would rather investigate something that turns out to be nothing.