Verification Policy

A verified badge means one thing: GidaHaven confirmed the identity details a lister gave us and was satisfied they belong to a real, contactable person.

There is a single badge on GidaHaven today, shown on a lister’s profile and on their listings. To get it, a lister submits:

• their name, and the city they operate in;
• the type and number of a government-issued identity document — National Identification Number, driver's licence, international passport or voter's card; and
• optionally, a company name and Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) registration number.

There are two ways to be checked. The instant check comes first and is described below. If it cannot confirm you, cannot run, or you choose not to use it, you verify with our team instead (the manual route): you give the details above, a photograph of your ID document and a selfie, and an administrator compares them by hand, usually within 12–24 hours.

In the instant check, our verification partner, QoreID, photographs the lister’s physical ID document and reads it, and takes a live picture of their face to confirm that a real, present person is behind the request. It tells us only whether the check passed. A pass grants the badge. If it cannot confirm someone, nothing is refused by the machine: they are offered the manual route, where an administrator reviews the details and photographs by hand. That review is a human judgement based on what the lister submitted.

Verification is free while GidaHaven is in beta. When a fee applies it is a single payment, shown before you pay, and it is not repeated: it also covers resubmitting if something needs correcting. Agents who are already verified are not charged.

The fee pays for the review. It does not buy the badge: an administrator still decides, on the same basis described above, and a payment never changes what is checked or the outcome.

We would rather tell you plainly what we do not do than let a badge imply more than it should. At present we do not:

• keep copies of identity documents beyond the review: through the instant check, what a lister submits is handled by QoreID and we keep only the result; through the manual route, the ID photo and selfie are stored privately, opened only by our administrators (each view is logged), kept while the lister's account exists and for one year after it is deleted so that we can answer a request from the authorities, and then deleted. In both cases we keep only the last four characters of the document number;
• check a CAC registration number against the CAC register: it is checked for its format only;
• verify that a lister owns, or has been authorised to advertise, any particular property;
• carry out title searches, land registry searches or any check of ownership;
• inspect or visit any property;
• verify property documents such as a certificate of occupancy, deed or survey plan; or
• issue any property-level or business-level badge.

If we introduce any of these checks we will update this page first, and say which badge they apply to.

A verified badge is not, and must not be read as:

• a guarantee that the lister is honest, or will stay honest;
• a guarantee that a property exists, is available, or is as described;
• any statement about ownership, title or the right to sell or let;
• confirmation that fees quoted in a listing are lawful or complete;
• a promise that a transaction will complete; or
• a recommendation or endorsement by us of the lister or of any property.

Verification reflects the information available to us at the time of the review. Information can go out of date, and a person who passed a check can still behave badly afterwards.

We may remove a badge at any time. We will normally do so where:

• information given to obtain it turns out to be false or misleading;
• we receive credible reports of fraud or misconduct;
• the account is frozen or banned; or
• we can no longer rely on the information we reviewed.

A badge does not currently expire automatically, and there is no renewal cycle. If we introduce one, we will say so here.

When applying for verification and managing property listings you must strictly comply with the following:

• Do not submit false, altered or forged information or identity documents.
• Do not submit another person's identity details or impersonate legitimate property owners.
• Do not advertise any property unless you have direct, verifiable authorization or legal mandate to represent it.
• Do not demand advance deposits, holding fees, or viewing fees before physical inspections take place.
• Do not apply for verification on behalf of someone else without official power of attorney.
• Do not copy, imitate or falsely claim the GidaHaven verified badge anywhere off the platform.

Where we find or receive credible evidence of fraudulent conduct, we may freeze or ban the account, revoke badges, keep the records we hold about it, and cooperate with law enforcement as described in our Privacy Policy. A ban also keeps the details you gave us, so that a new account or verification request that matches them is flagged for our team to review.

Identity information you send for verification is sensitive personal data. Our Privacy Policy explains how we store and use it, how long we keep it, and how to ask for a copy or its deletion. Your identity document details are never shown to other users.

Questions about verification: support@gidahaven.com.