Terms & Conditions

The deal

Forum Costa is free. You get guides, forums, the map and a business card at no cost. In return you agree to these terms, which exist to keep the site useful and honest for everyone.

Your account

One account per person, under your real name. You are responsible for what you post. You must be 16 or older. We can suspend accounts that break these terms, and you can delete yours anytime from Account & privacy. Your public name on Forum Costa is your real first and last name, or the real name of your business if you join as one. It is set at signup and not editable afterwards. We choose accountability over anonymity: no nicknames, no anonymous accounts, and accounts with invented names can be removed.

What you post

Your words stay yours. By posting you give us a licence to display them on the site and app, which is what posting means. Reviews and recommendations must reflect your genuine experience. No spam, no advertising disguised as advice, no harassment, no illegal content. Businesses may not review themselves or their competitors.

Recommendations and reviews

Everything on the site is community opinion, not professional advice. A five-star review means members liked a business, not that we certify it. Check credentials yourself before hiring anyone, especially for legal, financial and construction work.

The guides and tools

Guides are written from real experience but laws, taxes and prices change. The mortgage calculator, currency converter and similar tools give estimates, not financial advice. Confirm numbers with your lawyer and bank before signing anything.

Business cards and listings

Free, and moderated. We can decline or remove any listing that misrepresents itself, collects fake recommendations, or receives repeated credible complaints. Being listed is not an endorsement by Forum Costa.

Moderation

The forum structure is fixed and posts belong in the right town and category. Moderators may move, edit for placement, or remove content that breaks these terms. Serious or repeated violations end in suspension. We aim to be light-handed and consistent. There is no tolerance for hate speech, threats, doxxing or sexual content: that content is removed and the account banned, first offence included.

If we remove something

If we hide or remove something you posted, or suspend an account, we tell you and we say why. If you think we got it wrong, reply and a person will look at it again.

Liability

We provide the site as-is. We are not liable for decisions made based on community content, for third-party businesses you hire, or for temporary outages. Nothing in these terms limits rights that Spanish and EU consumer law grants you regardless.

Hosting-provider status

Forum Costa is an intermediary hosting service under Spanish Law 34/2002 (LSSI) and the EU Digital Services Act. Opinions in posts, reviews and recommendations belong to their authors, not to ForumHub SL. We do not pre-screen content and are not liable for it until we have actual knowledge that specific content is unlawful, at which point we remove it promptly. That is exactly what the Report system is for.

Reviews are opinions

A review on Forum Costa is a member's personal experience, protected as opinion. Businesses that disagree with a review may respond publicly on their listing or report it if it is factually false or fake. We remove reviews proven false, and we equally do not remove honest negative experiences under pressure. Legal threats about a review go to the author, not the platform, per the hosting-provider rules above.

Changes

If these terms change materially, you get an email and the changes take effect 30 days later. Continuing to use the site after that means you accept them.

User content and the app stores

Forum Costa hosts user-generated content, and we follow the rules Apple and Google require for it: there is no tolerance for objectionable content or abusive users. Every post, review and card has a Report button. Reported content is reviewed within 24 hours and removed if it breaks these terms, and the authors of flagged content can be blocked by any member (Profile → Block) so you never see them again. Repeat offenders lose their accounts.

Copyright

Only post photos and text you have the right to share. If you believe content on Forum Costa infringes your copyright, email filip@forumcosta.com with the link and proof of ownership; infringing content is removed promptly. Repeat infringers lose their accounts.

Indemnity

If your content or conduct on the site causes a third party to bring a claim against ForumHub SL, you agree to cover the reasonable costs of dealing with that claim. This is standard, and it will never apply to anyone using the site honestly.

Law and venue

Spanish law applies. Disputes go to the courts of Marbella, Spain, unless consumer law gives you the right to your local courts.

Businesses on the map

The map and directory list businesses using information that is publicly available: name, category, address, phone and similar details, together with what members honestly say about them. A listing is not an endorsement and does not require the business’s permission. If a listing is yours, write to filip@forumcosta.com to correct it or claim it. If you would prefer not to be listed, tell us and we will review the request. We decide such requests case by case and may update, keep or remove a listing at our discretion, while always correcting information that is shown to be wrong.