This agreement governs the commitment you assume when you accept being Neighbor Backer of another neighbor's reservation on VAKA. Read it in full before consenting: being a Neighbor Backer is a real, voluntary financial commitment limited to an exact amount that you decide to accept. This agreement is part of the Terms and Conditions; the practical explanation, with frequently asked questions, is at /fiador.

1. What it means to be a Neighbor Backer

A neighbor with little history on VAKA can ask another neighbor to back one of their reservations. The Neighbor Backer is a personal, voluntary guarantee between neighbors, facilitated by the platform: you lend trust to someone who hasn't yet built it within VAKA. Your backing has two effects:

• it lets the backed neighbor complete reservations with a reduced security deposit (the current percentages are in the Payment Terms);
• it makes you the second source of payment for a possible claim, after the backed neighbor's deposit and up to the amount you consented to (Claims Policy).

Being a Neighbor Backer is free and voluntary: VAKA neither charges you for it nor pays you for it. The exact legal classification of this commitment is defined according to the law of each country where VAKA enables operations.

2. Who can be a Neighbor Backer

Only neighbors who meet the history and rating criteria defined by the platform can back. Values in effect as of this document's date (the app verifies your eligibility automatically and may be updated):

• average rating of 4.7 or higher;
• at least 15 completed rentals on the platform;
• a maximum of 3 simultaneous active backings per neighbor — the limit exists so that no one commits more than they can answer for.

You also need a valid payment method in your name, which the platform validates at the moment of consenting (section 4).

3. Express consent and maximum amount

• Each backing is for a specific reservation. Before consenting you see: whom you back, which item, which dates and, above all, the exact maximum amount of your responsibility.
• Your backing arises solely with your express consent within the platform. No one can register you as a Neighbor Backer without your acceptance, and you can decline the request with no consequences.
• The platform sets a maximum cap per backing (currently USD 2,500 or its equivalent in local currency; it may be adjusted). The amount that governs for you is always the one you consented to, visible in your account.
• Your responsibility never exceeds the consented amount: neither for interest, nor for process costs, nor for accumulation with other items of the same reservation.

4. Payment method validation and charge authorization

• Upon consenting, the platform validates your payment method (a verification that the card exists and can operate). That validation is not the backing charge.
• The actual charge, if it ever occurs, is automatic (without any further action from you) on your saved payment method, and occurs only when a claim on the backed reservation is resolved against the backed neighbor and their deposit isn't enough(Claims Policy).
• By accepting this agreement you expressly authorize that automatic charge, up to the maximum consented amount and only in that scenario.
• During the claim process you receive the case notifications, so you know what is happening before any charge.

5. When you respond and when you don't

You respond only if all these conditions are met:

• the reservation you backed ended in a claim opened within the 48-hour window;
• the claim was resolved, fully or partially, against the backed neighbor;
• the backed neighbor's security deposit was not enough for the resolved amount;
• your backing was active when the claim was opened.

And you respond only for the difference between the resolved amount and the deposit, with your consented amount as the absolute ceiling. Examples:

• Claim resolved for USD 300; backed neighbor's deposit USD 200; your consented amount USD 500 → you are charged USD 100.
• Same case, but your consented amount was USD 50 → you are charged USD 50 and the rest (USD 50) remains the backed neighbor's debt.
• Claim resolved for USD 150 and deposit of USD 200 → the deposit is enough: you are charged nothing.
• The rental ends with no claim → your backing is released and you pay nothing.

You do not respond for: the backed neighbor's rental charges, their extensions, their cancellations, other reservations of theirs that you did not back, nor any amount above what you consented to.

6. What the Neighbor Backer is not

• It is not insurance or a policy. It is a personal guarantee between neighbors. VAKA is not an insurance company and does not share your responsibility: VAKA does not cover the cost of damages with its own resources nor reimburse you for it. The Neighbor Backer is one of the mechanisms of the process-based protection system VAKA Shield.
• It is not an investment and generates no return. You receive no payments, interest or commissions for backing.
• It is not a general guarantee. You back a specific reservation for a specific amount, not the person in everything they do.

7. Withdrawal and termination of the backing

• Before consenting: you can decline the backing request, with no consequences. Unanswered requests expire.
• While it is active: you can withdraw your backing from the platform. The withdrawal operates going forward: it does not release you from a claim opened before the withdrawal nor from obligations already arisen under this agreement. When a backing is withdrawn, the platform recalculates the backed neighbor's conditions for future reservations (their deposit returns to the level applicable to them without backing).
• Automatic termination: your backing ends when the backed rental is completed with no claim (the 48-hour window closes), when the claim is resolved and what is due is executed, or when the reservation is canceled.

8. If the charge fails or you don't pay

If the authorized charge cannot be processed, we will ask you to update your payment method and the platform may retry the charge. The obligation you consented to does not disappear because the charge fails: as long as the debt exists, VAKA may apply measures to your account in accordance with the Terms (including suspension and loss of eligibility to back) and the publishing neighbor retains any applicable legal actions. Disputing with your bank a charge you authorized under this agreement is treated as an improper chargeback(Payment Terms).

9. Your right against the backed neighbor

If you paid as a Neighbor Backer, you have the right to recover that amount from the backed neighbor, in accordance with the law of your country; the exact scope of that right is defined by the legislation of each country where VAKA enables operations. That recovery is between you two: VAKA does not mediate that recovery nor guarantee it, although the platform's records (reservation, claim, resolution and charge) remain available as evidence for you.

10. Information you see and privacy

To decide with information, before consenting you see the data of the reservation and of the neighbor asking you to back, and during a claim you see the case notifications. That information is to evaluate and follow up on your backing; its handling is governed by the Privacy Policy.

11. General provisions

• This agreement is integrated with the Terms and Conditions, the Payment Terms and the Claims Policy. As regards the Neighbor Backer's commitment, this agreement prevails.
• Changes to this agreement do not affect backings already consented to: for an active backing, the version you accepted governs.
• The applicable law and jurisdiction are governed by the per-country annex of the Terms and Conditions.
• Questions or problems with a backing: the Help Center or /contact.