Terms of Engagement
Every clause below appears twice on purpose: once in plain words, once in full. They say the same thing — the plain version exists so you never sign something you haven't actually understood. If a plain-words summary and its full clause ever diverge, the reading more favourable to you applies. Published before you pay a cent. Privacy is on its own page.
Last updated: July 2026 · Provenance Diligence — Grigorii "Grig" Kochedykov, sole trader (empresário em nome individual), Torres Vedras, Portugal · NIF 313485402.
You're buying my written opinion on the risks of one deal, based on public records.
1.What this is
Provenance Diligence provides an independent, buyer-side commercial risk screen: a desk-based, pre-purchase review of one business you are considering in Spain or Portugal, delivered as a written memo; Deal Screen and Reality Check memos are personally signed by me. The service consists of research into publicly available records and, at the relevant tier, review of documents you supply.
I'm not your lawyer, accountant or valuer — and the memo is never "buy" or "don't buy".
2.What this is not
The service is not legal, tax, accounting, investment or financial advice; not an audit or a valuation; not brokerage, intermediation or negotiation on your behalf; and not a recommendation to buy or not to buy. It does not replace a licensed lawyer (abogado/advogado), accountant or gestor, or an on-site inspection. I am not a regulated professional firm and my work does not carry legal privilege.
The memo covers what the chosen tier covers, as of its date — and analyses only the documents listed in your evidence-base confirmation (the email you get before the clock starts). Documents sent after that confirmation are not added to the running order: they start an upgrade, with your earlier fee credited per the Pricing page. I read the past record carefully; I don't predict how the business will do, and that was never part of what you're buying.
3.Scope, the point-in-time rule, and one evidence base per order
Work is limited to the tier you purchased and to the sources reasonably reachable within its turnaround. The memo reflects the records as they stood on the retrieval dates stated in it; registers change, and the memo does not update itself. Some facts cannot be verified from a desk: the memo names what was checked and what was not. A "no public-record blocker found" result means exactly that — it is not a clearance and not a statement that the business is safe.
What the service is, and what it is not. This is a desk-stage review of past records. Reading records is a duty of care and effort, not a promise of a particular finding: I undertake to search the sources your tier covers, competently and honestly, to report what those sources show, and to name the ones they could not reach. The service does not predict, guarantee or evaluate the future performance of the business, or any outcome of a purchase you may make — that is outside what you are buying, at every tier and at every price.
One evidence base per order. Required start inputs are the information needed to begin the service (clause 6). The evidence base is the within-scope inputs and documents received and listed in the evidence-base confirmation I send you before the delivery clock starts; the memo's engagement block repeats that receipt. Material not listed in that confirmation, or sent after it, is not analysed and does not amend the delivered memo — it can only support a new order: an eligible upgrade or a fresh engagement. Upgrade credit applies to the net fee actually paid and retained for the earlier order (excluding refunded, charged-back or discounted amounts), within 30 days from delivery of that order, at the public prices in force when the upgrade is requested — currently: the Quick Scan fee credits toward a Screen, and a Screen upgrades to a Reality Check for the price difference, as stated on the Pricing page. At the Quick Scan tier, private seller documents are outside scope and are not analysed even if provided. At the Reality Check tier, if no seller documents are received by the evidence-base confirmation stage, the order is delivered as a Screen plus a Document Request Pack, with the price difference credited per the Pricing page.
You give me accurate inputs, and you do the on-site and document follow-up with your own professionals. Papers that came from the seller are taken as they are — checking whether they're genuine isn't part of this service. No verdict of mine is a reason to skip your own lawyer and accountant.
4.Your responsibilities
You provide accurate information and any documents you hold. Documents originating from the seller are treated as unverified information: authenticating, auditing or confirming the accuracy of seller-supplied documents is not part of the service.
Before signing anything or paying any deposit, you carry out the on-site checks and obtain the certificates and documents the memo tells you to demand, with your own local lawyer and accountant. The memo is an input to that process, not a substitute for it — no verdict it can carry, including "no public-record blocker found", is a reason to skip independent legal and accounting advice. If you sign or pay a deposit before those checks are complete, you are acting on matters this desk review has not tested; nothing here removes any mandatory right you have if I fail to perform the service I agreed to provide. The purchase decision is yours alone.
The memo is for you, for this one deal. Nobody else may rely on it or republish it.
5.Personal use, no third-party reliance
The memo is prepared for you, the named client, for the named deal only. You may share it with your own advisers and co-deciders, and you may use it in legal, tax, regulatory or dispute-resolution proceedings relating to this transaction — nothing here limits your remedies. What is not permitted: republication, resale, marketing use, or reliance by any person other than you. Drafts, emails and chat messages are not the deliverable and may not be relied on.
Order by form; pay by card via Stripe after I confirm it's a fit. Payment alone does not start the delivery clock: it starts only after payment, the required inputs and in-scope evidence for your tier, and my evidence-base confirmation are all in place.
6.Ordering, payment and turnaround
You submit a deal through the form. If I confirm it's a fit, you receive a Stripe card-payment link; if not, I tell you plainly and nothing is owed. The fee shown is the final price — no VAT is added, as I operate under the Portuguese small-business exemption (art. 53.º CIVA); your invoice carries my NIF and the corresponding exemption note. The price is fixed at the moment I confirm your order; should my VAT status change, that affects only orders confirmed after the change, never yours. Mandatory consumer protections apply whenever the law says they do. The stated turnaround (24h / 48h / 3–5 days by tier) is counted in working days, Lisbon time, and begins only when payment has been confirmed, all required start inputs and in-scope evidence for the selected tier have been received, and I have sent the evidence-base confirmation listing exactly what will be analysed. For a Quick Scan, the start inputs are the listing and enough identifying detail to run that tier's identity and tripwire checks. A Deal Screen requires the exact legal identity and location, or equivalent identifiers, needed to search the covered public records. A Reality Check additionally requires the seller-document set described in clause 3; without it, the order follows the Screen-plus-Document-Request-Pack rule in that clause. If any required item arrives late, the clock does not start until the three conditions above are met. If I ever cannot meet a deadline, I tell you before it passes and you may cancel for a full refund at that point. You receive a copy of these terms and your order confirmation by email (durable medium).
EU consumers get 14 days to cancel — but you'll ask me to start straight away, and once the memo is delivered the cancel-right ends. Before delivery you can still cancel and pay only for work done.
7.Your EU withdrawal right (consumers)
If you contract as a consumer, you have a 14-day right of withdrawal for distance contracts, no reasons needed — a model withdrawal form is available on request and any email via the form works too. Because the service is delivered well inside that window, when you submit the service request you will be asked — in two separate, un-preticked boxes — for (a) your express request that I begin performance before the 14-day withdrawal period ends, and (b) your acknowledgment that once the service is fully performed, you lose the right of withdrawal (Art. 16(a) of Directive 2011/83/EU for service contracts, as transposed in Portugal by DL 24/2014). Performance and the delivery clock nevertheless begin only when all three conditions in clause 6 are met. If you withdraw after work has begun but before full delivery, you pay only the proportional part of the work already performed, as Art. 14(3) of the Directive provides. Business clients: the statutory withdrawal right does not apply.
If your memo is missing any of its four promised parts, I fix it fast — or you get your money back. A verdict you dislike isn't a defect, and neither is a memo that found no blocker: the promise is that the four parts are there, not that a problem exists.
8.Guarantee and refunds
Every Screen contains four named elements: the verdict · the risk finding — the deal-defining risk where the covered sources show one, or the explicit "no public-record blocker found" statement where they show none · the demand-before-deposit checklist · the source list with retrieval dates. If any of the four is missing from your delivered memo, notify me within 7 days: I will cure it within 2 working days, failing which you choose a full refund or a credit. Refunds go to your original payment method within 10 business days; credits do not expire and apply to any tier. The €99 Quick Scan additionally carries its early-stop rule: if a deal-fatal flag appears at that stage, it is reported at once and you may stop there. This guarantee covers completeness of the deliverable, not agreement with its conclusions — the verdict is independent and is not adjusted to expectations, which is precisely what you are paying for. The guarantee is in addition to, and separate from, your statutory rights (including the withdrawal right in clause 7 and conformity remedies under consumer law); where the law entitles you to a refund, a refund — not a credit — is the default.
Unhappy? Tell me first — I get 14 days to put it right. Then the official channels are open to you.
9.Complaints
If something is wrong, contact me through the form first; I will respond within 5 working days and have 14 days to resolve it. You may at any time also use the Livro de Reclamações Eletrónico (livroreclamacoes.pt) and, as a consumer, the competent consumer-arbitration entity (RAL): CNIACC — Centro Nacional de Informação e Arbitragem de Conflitos de Consumo, without prejudice to any territorially competent centre (details in the Legal notice). Nothing in these terms limits your mandatory rights.
If I get something wrong, my liability is limited to what you paid me — except for fraud or serious fault, which is never limited.
10.Liability
To the maximum extent permitted by law, my total liability for any claim arising from the service is capped at the fee you paid for it. This cap does not apply to wilful misconduct (dolo), gross negligence, fraud, personal-data breaches, your mandatory consumer-law rights, or any liability that cannot lawfully be limited — all of those remain fully outside the cap, as the law provides. Subject to that, I am not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, or the outcome of a purchase you decide to make; the memo is one input into a decision that remains yours and your advisers'.
Your data is handled as the Privacy page says — briefly: minimum collected, never sold, no trackers.
11.Data protection
Personal data is processed as described in the Privacy Notice, which forms part of these terms. In short: I collect only what the service needs, share it only with the processors that run the service — including form handling by Formspree (a processor in the United States), transactional service email by Brevo, and payment by Stripe, each under its own data-processing terms; the Privacy Notice lists the current processors — use no advertising trackers, and delete it on schedule.
The housekeeping: dated versions, what happens if one clause fails, and the engagements I refuse.
12.General
Versions: the terms in force are the ones published here on the date of your order; dated changes never apply retroactively. Severability: if any clause is held invalid, the rest stand. Force majeure: neither of us is liable for delay caused by events outside reasonable control; deadlines extend accordingly, and clause 6's cancel-for-refund still protects you. Refused engagements: I decline work that would breach sanctions, facilitate unlawful activity, or require deceptive contact with any party — and I never contact the seller or broker. Confidentiality: your deal and documents stay confidential; anonymised, non-identifiable patterns may inform my published research. Language: these terms are drafted in English; a Portuguese courtesy translation is available on request, and mandatory-language rights are unaffected.
Portuguese law applies — and nothing here removes the consumer protections your own country guarantees you.
13.Governing law and acceptance
These terms are governed by Portuguese law, and the Portuguese courts have jurisdiction — without prejudice to any mandatory consumer protections and forums available to you under EU law or the law of your habitual residence. By submitting a deal and paying, you confirm you have read and accept these terms as at the date of your order.
A note on what I can't do — kept on purpose
Some checks depend on the seller's cooperation (tax and social-security certificates, credit-liability records, the AEAT succession certificate), and a few — beneficial-ownership registries, pending first-instance litigation — are not accessible to anyone working from a desk. Where that's the case, I name it plainly in your memo rather than imply it was covered. Honesty about the limits is part of the work, and this paragraph is part of the contract.