Dating agency rules by country: cooling-off, licences and contracts

A dating agency is a business that, for a fee, introduces you to people from its own list of clients; a matchmaker does the same with more personal searching. Wherever you live, the agency writes the contract. What the law adds on top differs sharply: a licence in one place, a three-day cooling-off in another, nothing specific at all in a third. This page puts the rules side by side and points you to the full guide for each country.

It is general information, not legal advice. Each country guide lists the laws and official pages we read, and the date we read them.

The rules side by side

We haven't yet covered Canada or the other US states. If you live there, your provincial or state consumer protection office can tell you what applies.

The same thing, by different names

Laws use their own words for dating agencies and for the ways they sell, which can make the rules hard to find. These are the terms to search for in each place:

• Introduction agent (Queensland and Victoria): the legal name for a dating agency or matchmaker, and the person who needs a licence in Queensland.
• Dating service (California): any business offering dating, matrimonial or social referral services, including introductions at its office and social events it runs.
• Social referral service (New York): any fee-based service that matches people for dating or social contact.
• Dating referral service (Illinois and Arizona): the term both states' laws use for the business and its contracts.
• Distance and off-premises contracts (UK and Ireland): contracts made online, by phone or email, or away from the business's own premises. These are the ones with a 14-day right to cancel.
• Uninvited direct sale (New Zealand) and direct marketing (South Africa): sales that start with the business approaching you, which is when those countries' cooling-off rights apply.

Three ways the law protects you

Across these countries, agency clients are protected in three broad ways. Knowing which your country uses tells you where to be most careful.

1. A cooling-off period on every contract. Queensland, Victoria and the four US states we checked give you about three business days to change your mind, however and wherever you signed. It is short, so take the contract home and read it the same evening.

2. A cooling-off period only for some ways of selling. The UK and Ireland give a generous 14 days, but only if you agreed the contract online, by phone or away from the agency's office. New Zealand, the rest of Australia and South Africa give a right mainly when the agency approached you uninvited. In all of these, signing in the agency's own office can leave you with only the contract's terms.

3. Limits on the deal itself. A few places cap what you can be asked to pay or how long you can be tied in: Queensland and Victoria limit upfront payments to 30% above set thresholds, New York caps most contracts at $1,000 and two years, California limits payments to two years, and South Africa lets you leave a fixed-term agreement early on notice.

What applies everywhere

A few points hold in every country here, even where nothing is written specifically for agencies:

• The service must be done with reasonable care and skill, and match what you were told. That is why promises about the number, age range and area of introductions belong in writing.
• Bad terms are easier to refuse than to fight. In the UK an unfair term may not bind you, but anywhere it is far easier to question a clause before you sign than to challenge it afterwards.
• Romance fraud is a crime everywhere, and every country has a place to report it. Our guide to how romance scams work lists the signs, and our safety guide gives the reporting lines for the UK, Australia and the US.

Dating sites work differently

Online dating sites and apps are usually sold as subscriptions rather than fixed-term agency contracts, so the questions change: how long the subscription runs, when it renews and how to cancel the renewal. On our own dating site, joining, creating a profile and browsing are free; reading and replying to messages needs a paid membership, which renews until you cancel it in My profile › Membership and billing. Our prices page shows the current amounts in pounds and dollars.

Your checklist, whatever the country

1. Find out where and how you're signing, because in most places that decides whether you can cancel.
2. Ask whether the agency needs a licence where you live, and check it if so.
3. Get the numbers in writing: price, payment dates, number of introductions, the period, the age range and area.
4. Read the cancellation, refund and renewal clauses before you pay.
5. Take the contract home. Any agency that won't let you is telling you something; see warning signs when choosing a dating agency.
6. Bring our questions to ask a dating agency to the first meeting, and read what dating agencies cost before you compare prices.

If you'd rather not sign a long contract at all, dating agency, matchmaker or dating site compares the three routes, including our own online dating site, which is free to join, with paid memberships that renew until you cancel.