Above Grade Brief

Terms

Terms of Service

1. Who these terms are between

These terms govern your use of Above Grade, an independent real estate intelligence publication. Above Grade is published by Above Grade AI, Inc., an Ontario corporation with its registered office at 5-201 2600 Skymark Avenue, Mississauga, Ontario, L4W 5B2, Canada. Above Grade is distributed through the website at `abovegrade.ai`, the weekly Tuesday Brief email, and any portal account you create on the site.

When you read the Brief, visit the site, or sign in to the portal, you are agreeing to these terms. If you do not agree, please don't use Above Grade. You can unsubscribe at any time using the link in any email.

In these terms, "Above Grade," "we," "us," and "our" refer to Above Grade AI, Inc. "You" and "your" refer to anyone reading, sharing, or otherwise using Above Grade.

2. Above Grade is journalism, not advice

Above Grade publishes editorial reporting and analysis on Canadian housing markets, real estate regulation, mortgage trends, and adjacent topics. We write for working professionals — primarily realtors and mortgage brokers — and we try to make every issue useful.

Nothing in Above Grade is:

  • Legal advice. Reading Above Grade does not create a solicitor–client relationship between you and any lawyer or law firm, including Treadstone Law (described in §7 below). If you have a specific legal question, retain counsel.
  • Financial, investment, or mortgage advice. We cover markets, rates, and policy. We do not recommend specific transactions, properties, or financial products. Decisions about buying, selling, lending, borrowing, or advising clients are yours to make with appropriate professional input.
  • A substitute for your own diligence. Numbers, forecasts, and analysis we publish can be wrong, can become out-of-date quickly, or can be revised by the originating source. Verify before you rely on them in a transaction.

3. AI-assisted drafting, human editorial review

Above Grade uses AI tools in our drafting workflow. A research pipeline reads public housing coverage from Canadian government sources, industry releases, and major media, then produces candidate articles. Our human editor reviews, selects, rewrites where needed, and signs off on every word that we publish.

We describe this workflow in detail on our Editorial Policy page. By using Above Grade, you acknowledge that our content is produced through an AI-assisted but human-edited process. Errors, omissions, and limitations inherent to AI-assisted journalism may sometimes occur despite our editorial discipline. We correct errors openly when we find them or when readers point them out.

4. Your account

Some Above Grade features — the portal, where Strategy pieces and Reads reviews live — require a free account.

Account sign-in uses a magic link sent to your email. We do not store passwords. Anyone with access to your email inbox can sign in to your Above Grade account, so keep your inbox secure.

You agree to:

  • Use a real email address that belongs to you.
  • Not share your magic links with others, or use someone else's link.
  • Not use the account for any purpose other than reading Above Grade content for your personal or professional use.
  • Tell us promptly if you believe your account has been accessed by someone else.

We may suspend or terminate accounts that violate these terms or that are used in ways that harm Above Grade, other readers, or our service providers. We will tell you the reason where we can.

5. What you can do with our content

You may:

  • Read Above Grade for your own use.
  • Share Above Grade — forward the Brief to a colleague, link to articles on social media, quote a sentence or two with attribution.
  • Cite Above Grade in your own work, conversations with clients, presentations, or training materials, with attribution to Above Grade and a link to the original article where possible.

You may not, without our written permission:

  • Republish Above Grade content in whole or in substantial part on another website, newsletter, blog, social-media account, internal newsletter, or any other publication.
  • Train an AI model on Above Grade content. Our articles are not licensed for AI training.
  • Strip our attribution, advertiser disclosures, or source links when sharing or quoting.
  • Use Above Grade content for advertising another product or service without our prior written consent.
  • Scrape or harvest the site at scale.

Our content is original journalism. Stripping it, repackaging it, or feeding it into a model erodes the work and the discipline behind it.

6. Third-party content and links

Above Grade extensively links to and cites third-party sources — CREA, CMHC, the Bank of Canada, OREA, TRREB, RBC, Globe and Mail, Financial Post, and others. Those links go to those organizations' own websites. We do not control, endorse, or warrant the content on third-party sites. When you click out, you are subject to that site's terms.

Where we display third-party content (a book cover from OpenLibrary, an editorial image from Unsplash, a chart sourced from an originating release), we attribute the source per our Editorial Policy. If you believe we have used your content without proper attribution, contact us and we will correct it promptly.

7. Advertisers, sponsors, and Treadstone Law

Above Grade carries advertising. Advertiser placements within any issue or on any page are clearly marked SPONSORED, POWERED BY, or ADVERTISEMENT, in line with CASL and Competition Bureau disclosure standards. Editorial content and advertising are visually and structurally separate.

Advertisers do not approve story selection, dictate angles, or review issues before publication. Where a topic intersects with an advertiser's commercial interests, we disclose the relationship in that issue.

Treadstone Law's role. The "Powered by Treadstone Law" marking that appears in our masthead and footer reflects Treadstone Law's role as a marketing partner and information resource for Above Grade. Treadstone Law sponsors a portion of our work and serves as a subject-matter reference for legal and regulatory questions that arise in our reporting. Treadstone Law does not own, operate, or publish Above Grade. Treadstone Law has no editorial control over Above Grade's content, no access to subscriber data, and no role in the Above Grade product, sales, or publishing operations. Above Grade AI, Inc. is the sole publisher of Above Grade and is solely responsible for its content. Nothing in the "Powered by Treadstone Law" marking, or in any Treadstone Law advertisement appearing in Above Grade, creates any legal liability of Treadstone Law to you for any aspect of Above Grade or its content, and you agree not to assert any such claim against Treadstone Law arising out of your use of Above Grade.

8. No warranties

Above Grade is provided "as is" and "as available." We do our best to publish accurately and on time, but we make no warranties about the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or suitability of any content for any particular purpose. We do not warrant that the site will be uninterrupted, error-free, or free of viruses or other harmful components.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, we disclaim all warranties — express, implied, statutory, or otherwise — including warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, and non-infringement.

9. Limitation of liability

Above Grade is provided to you free of charge. You have not paid any consideration for the service, and Above Grade derives no direct revenue from you.

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, in no event will Above Grade, its officers, employees, contractors, advertisers, sponsors, marketing partners, or service providers be liable to you for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, or punitive damages — including but not limited to lost profits, lost business, lost data, or business interruption — arising out of or in connection with your use of Above Grade, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages.

To the extent any liability cannot be excluded by law, our total aggregate liability to you for any claim arising out of or relating to Above Grade is limited to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law and, in any event, shall not exceed CAD $0, reflecting that you have paid no consideration for the service.

Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law (for example, liability for fraud, gross negligence, or wilful misconduct, or liability that cannot be excluded under Ontario consumer protection legislation if it applies).

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Above Grade and its affiliates, officers, employees, contractors, advertisers, sponsors, and marketing partners (including Treadstone Law) from any claim arising out of your breach of these terms, your misuse of Above Grade content, your violation of third-party rights, or your violation of applicable law.

11. Changes

We may change these terms from time to time. If we make material changes — to your account rights, what you can do with content, or our liability — we will tell you in advance by email (if we have your email) and post the updated terms with a new "Last reviewed" date at the bottom of this page. Continued use of Above Grade after a change means you accept the updated terms.

12. Governing law and jurisdiction

These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada that apply in Ontario. You and Above Grade each submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Ontario for any dispute arising out of or relating to these terms or your use of Above Grade.

If any provision of these terms is found to be unenforceable, the remainder remains in effect.

13. Contact

Questions about these terms — or about content you would like to license or republish:

Above Grade AI, Inc. Attention: Terms 5-201 2600 Skymark Avenue Mississauga, Ontario, L4W 5B2 Canada

Email: newsletter@abovegrade.ai Subject line: `Terms inquiry — [your name]`

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Above Grade AI, Inc. · Above Grade · Powered by Treadstone Law Last reviewed: [DATE — set by counsel]