Verka terms of use

These terms govern the use of the verka.is website, the Verka app and the Verka service (together, the “service”). Verka is not a company but a service operated jointly by two individuals: Brynjar Már Sigurjónsson, kennitala (ID number) 260502-2470, and Sigurður P. Ndaw Sigursteinsson, kennitala 010202-2640, with their address at Skólagerði 10, 200 Kópavogur (together, the “Verka operators”, “Verka” or “we”).

By creating an account or using the service, you enter into an agreement with the Verka operators on the basis of these terms and accept them. If you do not accept them, you should not use the service. Verka’s privacy policy forms part of the terms.

Verka is a marketplace that connects customers and tradespeople: customers post jobs, tradespeople send quotes and customers choose between them. On the platform, users can also communicate with each other, finalise their choice of quote and write reviews once the work is completed.

Verka itself provides no trade services, performs no work, does not intervene in how work is carried out, and is neither the employer, agent, contractor nor subcontractor of any user.

Verka sends notifications relating to the use of the service on the platform and, if you have registered an email address, by email, for example about new quotes, a quote being accepted or declined, new messages, quote requests and invitations to join a company. Tradespeople also receive one email a day listing new jobs posted in their trade and in their area, only when there is something new. On the Settings page you choose which notifications you receive by email, and every such email contains a link to unsubscribe from them; the link in the daily email about new jobs unsubscribes you from that email only. Verka does not send marketing material without your consent. Notices of changes to the terms and other important information about your account may be sent to you electronically.

Verka may change, add or discontinue individual features of the service. Should the operators decide to stop operating the service, users will be notified at least 30 days in advance and may, during that period, download a copy of their data on the Settings page.

• Sign-in is by electronic ID. Each individual can hold only one account, as the account is tied to their kennitala. Reviews you have received follow you if you delete your account and register again within three years.
• Accounts are tied to individuals, and a legal entity does not receive an account of its own. An individual who is authorised to act on behalf of a legal entity may, however, register a company on the platform and act there in its name, see section 4. A tradesperson who works through a company that is not registered on the platform uses the service in their own name and is personally responsible for the account and all use of it, irrespective of any agreement between them and the company.
• Users must be of legal age (lögráða), 18 years or older, and have the legal capacity to enter into binding commitments.
• You warrant that the information you register is correct and that it is kept up to date, and you are responsible for all use of your account.
• You may not hand your electronic ID over to anyone else or allow anyone else to use your account. You must take care that unauthorised persons do not gain access to devices on which you are signed in, and notify Verka without delay, at the email address in section 17, if you suspect that your account has been misused.

Companies and institutions can appear on the platform under their own name and kennitala, send quotes in their own name, post jobs in their own name and have a public page. The company nevertheless never has an account of its own: no one signs in “as a company”; instead, individuals act on its behalf, each with their own electronic ID and on their own account.

• Only an individual who is authorised to act on behalf of the legal entity may create a company on the platform — such as an owner, board member, managing director or holder of procuration (prókúruhafi), or a person who has been given authority by such a person. The person who creates the company warrants to Verka that they have this authority and that the company’s name and kennitala are correctly registered. If it turns out that the authority did not exist, that person is personally liable for the use made of the company and for any loss or damage resulting from it.
• Before a company can send quotes or post jobs in its own name, Verka carries out a check of whether the company’s kennitala is registered in the Register of Enterprises (fyrirtækjaskrá) and whether the person who registered it may act on its behalf. The check is an automatic lookup in the Register of Enterprises, and if that does not confirm the authority, a manual check is carried out — a simple review of public information and, where appropriate, a conversation with the person who registered the company. The verification does not constitute a guarantee by Verka of that person’s authority or of the company or its activities, nor any assurance that the registered information is correct or up to date, and it does not constitute an endorsement by Verka.
• The person who manages the company on the platform invites other users to become members by entering their kennitala, and each invitee decides for themselves whether to accept the invitation. A member who is authorised to quote acts as the company’s agent when sending a quote in its name; the quote is then the company’s quote and not the member’s own, and the member who sent it remains the customer’s point of contact. The same applies on the customer side: a member who is authorised to post jobs acts as the company’s agent when posting jobs and accepting quotes in its name, and binds the company in the same way, but remains the tradesperson’s point of contact. The company is responsible for whom it grants this authority and must remove members who leave its service.
• A tradesperson’s licence is tied to the individual, and Verka always verifies licences against an individual’s kennitala, never against a company’s kennitala. The company itself — not Verka — is responsible for ensuring that those who carry out work on its behalf hold the licences, permits and insurance the work requires, and for complying with the laws and regulations that apply to its activities. If a customer has restricted a job to tradespeople licensed in the trade, a company can only send a quote for it if at least one of its members has a verified licence in that trade or a related trade, see section 6.
• A company may display on its page work that it states it has carried out. Such work is labelled as information from the company (“According to the company”), Verka has not verified it, and the company warrants that it carried out the work and is entitled to publish photos and descriptions of it. Signed-in users outside the company may report such work to Verka, and Verka may remove it, see section 8.
• A job posted in the name of a company belongs to the company. If the member who posted it deletes their account, the job is transferred to the company’s owner. If the company is deleted, whether by its owner or as a result of the deletion of the owner’s account, open jobs posted in its name are cancelled and unanswered quotes for them are declined. The same applies to open quote requests that only the company could see.
• Verka may refuse to register a company, restrict its access to the service or close it temporarily or permanently, including where the authority to act on behalf of the company is called into question, where information proves to be incorrect or where these terms are breached. The principle of proportionality shall be observed, see section 13.

These terms bind both the company and the individual acting on its behalf. The individual remains bound by them in respect of their own account, and by creating a company, sending quotes or posting jobs in its name, they also commit the company to comply with them.

Verka is solely an intermediary that enables users to find one another. A contract for work is made between the customer and the tradesperson, and Verka is not a party to that contract. The parties agree between themselves on the final price, the specification of work, timings, warranties, payments and other terms, and are themselves solely responsible for performance, defects, delays, loss or damage and settlement between them.

Verka does not check users’ background, competence, insurance, finances or reliability, and has no oversight of work or of communication between users outside the platform. Verka guarantees neither the quality, progress nor performance of work, nor users’ ability to pay, honesty or conduct. All transactions entered into through the service are at the users’ own risk.

The “verified licence” badge on a tradesperson’s profile is based on a match against Verka’s copy of the public registers of issued master craftsman’s certificates, journeyman’s certificates and recognised professional qualifications, which is updated regularly. If a licence is not found in the register, a user may request a manual check on the Settings page, but Verka can neither change the public register nor verify licences that do not appear in it; the person concerned must have incorrect information in the register corrected by whoever maintains it. If the register stops confirming a licence that was previously verified, the Verka operators decide, after looking into the matter, whether the badge stays or is removed. A tradesperson must notify Verka without delay if their licence lapses, is revoked or is restricted. The badge does not constitute an endorsement, a confirmation of competence or a guarantee by Verka in respect of the tradesperson concerned or their work, and Verka does not guarantee that the register is correct, complete or up to date.

• The customer describes the job in good faith and as accurately as possible. It is prohibited to post jobs that are unlawful, misleading or do not belong on the platform.
• A customer may post a job to everyone or direct it as a quote request to a particular tradesperson or company. The customer then decides whether the request is visible only to the recipient or to everyone, and if only the recipient can see it, may later open it to everyone. While a request is visible only to the recipient, no one else can send a quote for it.
• A customer may restrict quotes for a job to tradespeople licensed in the job’s trade. A tradesperson with a verified licence in a related trade can then also send a quote. On Verka, electrical machinery mechanics (rafvélavirkjun) is treated as related to electrical installation (rafvirkjun), and furniture making (húsgagnasmíði) as related to carpentry (húsasmíði); no other trades are treated as related. A quote sent by a tradesperson on the basis of a related trade is marked “Related trade” together with the job’s trade, so that the customer sees this before accepting the quote.
• A tradesperson sends a quote with a price and an estimated time, and must only quote for work that they are licensed and able to carry out. They may withdraw their quote as long as the customer has neither accepted nor declined it. Withdrawal is final, and a tradesperson who withdraws a quote cannot send a new quote for the same job. If the customer declines a quote, the tradesperson may send one new quote with an explanation while the job is still open; the earlier quote remains visible to the customer as history.
• Quotes, and the acceptance of quotes, on the platform are declarations of intent and not a binding contract. When a customer accepts a quote, a connection is established between the two parties, and they themselves conclude a binding contract between them, outside the platform and on their own responsibility. Verka recommends a written contract covering price, specification of work and timings.
• Either party may record on the platform that a job that has started has been cancelled, and must then state a reason, which is sent to the other party as a message. Reviews cannot be written about jobs that have been cancelled. Such a record has no effect on the parties’ rights and obligations under their contract.
• Once a job is completed, it may be shown to signed-in users in an overview of completed jobs, with the job’s title and description, the tradesperson’s name, the customer’s review and the price range of the accepted quote. If the quote was sent in the name of a company, the job may also be shown to everyone on the company’s page, with the job’s title and the customer’s review but without the price or description. The customer’s name and the exact price are not shown anywhere. The customer may at any time remove their completed job from these overviews on the job’s page.
• Verka does not handle payments, payment processing or the holding of funds between users.

• The service may only be used for lawful purposes and in accordance with these terms.
• It is prohibited to provide misleading information, misrepresent who you are, harass other users, send spam, collect data from the platform by automated means, publish content that violates the law or the rights of others, or attempt to circumvent security measures.
• In particular, it is prohibited to post jobs that there is no intention of having carried out, to send quotes for your own job or a job of a related party, to send quotes or post jobs in the name of a company without authority, to use the platform to advertise unrelated goods or services, or to use Verka’s communication channels for anything other than communication about work.
• Tradespeople are themselves responsible for their own professional licences, permits, insurance, tax returns, value added tax, workplace safety and compliance with the laws and regulations that apply to their activities.
• Tradespeople and companies that send quotes on Verka act in the course of business. Where the customer is a consumer, the parties’ contract is governed by, among other legislation, lög nr. 42/2000 um þjónustukaup (Act No. 42/2000 on the Purchase of Services) and, where applicable, lög nr. 16/2016 um neytendasamninga (Act No. 16/2016 on Consumer Contracts), including the provisions on the seller’s duty to provide information and the consumer’s right to withdraw from a contract concluded at a distance or off-premises. The tradesperson or company is solely responsible for providing the consumer with the information required by law, issuing an invoice and fulfilling the seller’s other obligations. The consumer’s rights under these Acts lie against the tradesperson or company, not against Verka. Tradespeople must also comply with lög nr. 42/1978 um handiðnað (Act No. 42/1978 on Crafts and Trades) and lög nr. 160/2010 um mannvirki (Act No. 160/2010 on Construction), as applicable.
• Customers are responsible for having the authority to have the work they request quotes for carried out, including in relation to property owners and the authorities where applicable, and for paying the tradesperson in accordance with their contract.
• Users are themselves responsible for their own conduct, whether on the platform or outside it, including for any loss or damage they cause to other users or third parties.

Content that users publish on the platform — job descriptions, quotes, messages, reviews, bios and photos — is the responsibility of the user who publishes it. Verka does not review user content before it is published, does not guarantee that it is correct and does not adopt it as its own. Reviews are the personal opinion of their author and not Verka’s assessment.

A review can only be written about a job that was agreed on Verka and has been marked as completed, and only by the parties to it: the customer can write one review of the tradesperson or company whose quote they accepted, and the tradesperson whose quote was accepted can write one review of the customer. Reviews of tradespeople and companies are public; reviews of customers are visible to signed-in users, including tradespeople considering whether to quote for that customer’s jobs.

Reviews must be based on genuine experience of dealings on the platform and be fair and relevant. It is prohibited to write a review in return for payment or any other benefit, under threat or coercion, about yourself or a related party, or for the purpose of harming a competitor, and it is prohibited to demand a positive review or to threaten a negative one. It is prohibited to publish content that is defamatory or unlawful, or that infringes intellectual property rights, privacy or any other rights of others.

Verka is a hosting provider of user content within the meaning of Article 14 of lög nr. 30/2002 um rafræn viðskipti og aðra rafræna þjónustu (Act No. 30/2002 on Electronic Commerce and Other Electronic Services). If you believe that content on the platform is unlawful or infringes your rights, you should report it to the email address in section 17, identifying the content and stating your reasons. Verka removes or disables access to content without delay after becoming aware that it is unlawful. Verka also reserves the right to remove content that breaches these terms at its own discretion, without notice.

A person who is the subject of a review may object to it on the Settings page, and the Verka operators then decide whether the review stays or is removed. The author can neither republish a review that has been removed nor write a new review of the same job. When content is removed, access is restricted or a company is closed, the person concerned is notified of the decision and the reasons for it, unless the law prevents this or notification would prejudice an investigation into unlawful conduct. A user may request reconsideration of a decision by sending a reasoned request to the email address in section 17, and will receive a response within 30 days. A decision may be changed following reconsideration, including by republishing content that was removed or reopening a company that was closed.

You warrant that you own the rights to the content you publish, including photos, or are authorised to publish it, and that people who can be identified in photos have consented to their publication. By publishing content, you grant Verka a royalty-free licence to publish, store and copy the content to the extent necessary to operate the service. The licence applies while the content is on the platform and is irrevocable only to the extent that the content remains under section 13. Your content will not be used in marketing material outside the platform without your consent. You retain your rights to the content. Reviews, photos accompanying reviews and other entries concerning other users may remain on the platform after an account is deleted, without being linked to personal identifiers, see section 13 and the privacy policy.

Use of the service is free of charge. Verka reserves the right to introduce charges at a later date, for example in the form of a subscription. Any charges will be announced at least 30 days in advance in accordance with section 15 and will never apply to services already provided. If you choose not to pay, you can delete your account at no cost.

Verka and the distinctive features of the service — including trade marks, design, software and content from Verka — are the property of the Verka operators or their rights holders. You are granted a limited, non-transferable right to use the service in accordance with these terms. It is prohibited to copy, modify or distribute the service or any part of it without written consent.

The service is provided “as is” and “as available”, without any warranty that it will be uninterrupted or error-free, that it is fit for any particular purpose, or that information on the platform — including information from users and the “verified licence” badge — is correct.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Verka is not liable for:

• the conduct, negligence, fraud or unlawful acts of users, whether on the platform or outside it;
• the performance or non-performance of contracts between users, defects in work, delays, non-payment, personal injury or damage to property occurring in connection with work;
• content published by users;
• incorrect or outdated information in the public register of licensed tradespeople or in Verka’s copy of it;
• the service being unavailable due to events beyond the operators’ control, such as failures at hosting or authentication providers, power or telecommunications outages, natural disasters or decisions of public authorities;
• indirect or consequential loss, including loss of turnover, profit or business, arising from use of the service or from its being unavailable.

To the extent permitted by law, the aggregate liability of the Verka operators to each user, for all claims arising from the service, is limited to the amount the user has paid Verka for the service in the twelve months preceding the event on which the claim is based.

Nothing in these terms limits liability for loss or damage caused by the Verka operators intentionally or through gross negligence, or liability that cannot lawfully be limited, including consumers’ rights under mandatory consumer legislation.

You undertake to indemnify the Verka operators and hold them harmless against all claims, costs, losses and expenses — including reasonable legal fees — that a third party or another user directs at them and that arise from (a) your use of the service, (b) content you publish, (c) work, quotes or contracts to which you are a party through the service, or (d) your breach of these terms or of the law. In relation to consumers, this provision applies to the extent permitted by mandatory consumer legislation.

You can delete your account at any time using the “Delete account” button on the Settings page. On deletion, your personal identifiers are removed — name, kennitala, phone number, email address, profile photo and bio — and the account is closed permanently.

Entries that concern other users remain in pseudonymised form, without personal identifiers: jobs to which quotes, messages or reviews are linked; quotes, messages, reviews and photos accompanying reviews; and photos of jobs that remain. Jobs in which no other user has been involved are deleted, but jobs posted in the name of a company, and companies that you own, are dealt with in accordance with section 4. Text and photos that you have added yourself are not redacted on deletion. This is set out in more detail in the privacy policy.

Verka reserves the right to close or restrict an account temporarily or permanently because of breaches of these terms or misuse of the service, or where required by law. The principle of proportionality shall be observed, the user shall be notified of the closure and the reasons for it, and the user may request its reconsideration, see section 8. If an account or a company has been closed, registering again is not permitted while the closure lasts.

The processing of personal data by Verka is governed by Verka’s privacy policy, which forms part of these terms.

A user who receives personal data about another user through Verka, such as a name, phone number or address, may use it only in connection with the job to which the communication relates, and is personally responsible for that processing as an independent controller. Such data may not be used for marketing or passed on to others. An exact address, phone number or other personal data must not be included in a job description that other users can see.

Verka may compile anonymised statistics from data on the platform, for example on the price ranges of completed jobs, and publish them.

Verka may change these terms, for example because of changes to the service, charges or legislation. Material changes will be announced by a notice on the website and at your next sign-in at least 14 days before they take effect. If you continue to use the service after the amended terms take effect, you are deemed to have accepted them. If you do not accept the changes, you can delete your account before they take effect. The effective date and the date of the last update are shown at the top of this page.

The Verka operators may assign their rights and obligations under these terms to a company they establish to operate Verka, or to another party that takes over the operation of the service. Users will be notified of the assignment at least 30 days in advance and may delete their account before it takes effect. An assignment does not diminish users’ rights under these terms or under data protection legislation.

The terms are published in Icelandic and English. You can save and print them from this page. Previous versions of the terms are available on request to the email address in section 17.

These terms and the use of the service are governed by Icelandic law. Disputes between you and the Verka operators that cannot be resolved by agreement shall be brought before the Icelandic courts, with venue in Reykjavík, unless mandatory rules of procedure provide otherwise.

Disputes about work between a customer and a tradesperson are to be resolved by the parties between themselves. A consumer may refer such a dispute to kærunefnd vöru- og þjónustukaupa (the Complaints Committee on the Purchase of Goods and Services). Complaints about Verka itself may be directed to Neytendastofa (the Consumer Agency), and complaints concerning data protection to Persónuvernd (the Data Protection Authority), see the privacy policy.

If any provision of these terms proves to be invalid, the other provisions remain in force. Failure by Verka to exercise its rights under the terms does not constitute a waiver of them. The provisions of sections 8, 11, 12 and 16 remain in force after an account is deleted.

Questions and notices concerning these terms may be sent to the Verka operators, Skólagerði 10, 200 Kópavogur, email: verka@verka.is.