Terms & Conditions

Updated July 2006

CHOICE COTTAGES ("we/us"), act as booking agents for the owners of accommodation let for holidays ("the owner"), making booking contracts between you, the customer, ("you"), and the owner of the property you have requested for your holiday. Our fee for making such contract and for providing the information and advice to help you choose the property for your holiday is included in the overall price for the holiday. We will use our reasonable endeavours to resolve any problems, which may arise, but any dispute relating to the holiday itself will be a matter directly between you and the owner.

Our Terms and Conditions of Business are as follows: -

1. Bookings

1.1 Your booking must be on our Booking Form and sent to us with a booking fee and a deposit of one-third of the total holiday letting fee. COMPLETION OF THIS FORM AND ITS SUBMISSION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A BOOKING UNTIL (A) YOU HAVE RECEIVED A BOOKING CONFIRMATION FROM US AND (B) WE HAVE processed and cleared PAYMENT FROM YOU BY cheque , CREDIT OR DEBIT CARD. You will be sent a VISITOR BOOKING NOTICE confirming the booking. The balance of the letting fee must be received by us, acting as agents for the owner, not later than eight weeks before the beginning of your holiday. In the event of a visitor cancelling and if the property cannot be re-let you will have to pay the whole quoted price for the period booked (hence the need to insure) (See Condition 10).

2. Occupying the property

2.1 Properties are, unless otherwise stated in the property's description, available for occupation from 4 p.m. on the first day of your holiday and must be vacated by 10 a.m. on the last day. The licence from the owner shall permit you and the members of your party as named on the booking form only (no-one else) to occupy the property for holiday purposes only. For the avoidance of doubt, you may invite friends over to visit but the number of people in the property must at no time exceed the amount of people we have stated the property 'sleeps' in the brochure, unless you have the owner's prior consent. No one other than those on the Booking Confirmation form may sleep at the property. Failure to observe these rules is likely to be a serious breach (see Condition 8). You may not sub-let the property.
2.2 You must also comply with any reasonable 'rules of the house' laid down by the owner, which have been made to improve the use and enjoyment of the property for all concerned. If the owner does not communicate any such rules to you, you must assume that "normal" rules (such as consideration for neighbours) apply. For example, if you would like to throw a party you must obtain the consent of the owner in advance. The owner and/or the agent reserve the right to enter the property at any reasonable time provided reasonable notice is given to you.

3. Damage Deposit

3.1 You must leave the property clean and in good order as you found it. You will be responsible for any breakages. The owner shall be entitled to claim from the Damage Deposit the cost of remedying any breach of these obligations together with the cost of any service or goods provided to or for you and for which you have not paid. The amount of the Damage Deposit may vary. We accept the Damage Deposit as agent for the owners and therefore we cannot act on your behalf in any dispute between the owner and yourself concerning it. Such disputes should be settled directly with the owner.
3.2 The damage deposit cheque will be returned if a SAE has been provided, otherwise it will be destroyed following the end of the letting if the all clear has been given to Choice Cottages by the owners, (as set out in Condition 3.1) In any other circumstances, your cheque will be banked and the balance after any deductions will be sent to you in due course, once the final amounts owing has been established.

4. Descriptions and changes

4.1 We have carefully inspected all of the properties and the information on our leaflets is believed to be true and accurate as at the time of going to press. Whilst all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that descriptions and other information given to you in relation to a particular property are accurate, we cannot accept responsibility for errors contained on our leaflets/website, or of any mis-description made by us as a result of inaccurate information given to us by an owner or modifications made by the owner to a particular property since our last inspection. In any event, you acknowledge that differences may arise between the photographs, illustrations, tariff and descriptions of a particular property as described on the leaflet/website and the actual property.
4.2 Although we inspect the property and take seriously any complaints we receive from customers, we cannot accept responsibility for the failure of the owner to keep the property clean, dry, in good repair and well maintained, and the contents in good and working order. Whilst we are happy to assist, you acknowledge that the owner is ultimately responsible for resolving any difficulties, which you may experience with the property you have booked.

5. Complaints, difficulties and maintenance

5.1 If you have any difficulties with a property, or require maintenance or have any complaints, please immediately notify the agent in the first instance. Because of the difficulties in investigating the validity of any complaint once you have departed from the property, the agent can only investigate those complaints, which are notified to them promptly (and in any event before the end of the holiday) and endeavour to put it right on the same day. If not, complaints must be submitted in writing to be forwarded to the owners for a final resolution.

6. Unavailability of the property

6.1 The owner may cancel a booking already made if the property becomes unavailable for reasons beyond the owner's reasonable control. Examples of such reason (although these are not exhaustive) may include flooding, fire, and other significant damage to the property or failure of utility services to the property. If this happens we will either try to find you an appropriate alternative property or, at your option, refund to you any sums you have paid, but neither we nor the owner shall have any other liability to you.

7. Our liability to you

7.1 We will not be liable for any loss or damage suffered by you or any member of your party or to your or their property, except where such loss or damage is due to our negligence. If we are negligent, our liability to you will be limited to the loss or damage, which was a foreseeable result of such negligence. Except in the case of death or personal injury resulting from our negligence, the total liability of us to you in respect of any breach of these Our Terms and Conditions or tort or other act or omission by us in connection with this contract shall be limited in the aggregate to the price agreed to be paid by you for the right to use the property for the period agreed.
7.2 Where you are a customer acting in the course of a business, this Condition 7.2 shall apply instead of Condition 7.1. We do not accept liability to customers acting in the course of a business for losses of profits, business, contracts, goodwill, anticipated savings, expenses, consequential losses or other similar losses, for any reason whatsoever. To the extent permitted by law and except in the case of personal injury or death resulting from our negligence, the maximum limit of our liability to business customers, whether in contract, tort, negligence, breach of statutory duty or otherwise shall be the price agreed to be paid by you for the right to use the property for the period agreed.
7.3 We do try to help to ensure that you have chosen the right (i.e. the most suitable) property for you; however this is ultimately your responsibility and if you are unsure about an issue, please telephone us for advice. If you do not give us opportunity to help, we cannot help you choose a property suitable for you. We reserve the right to refuse to accept bookings at our absolute discretion.

For clarity, we would be likely to exercise that discretion where we believe that the property will not be suitable for you or where we have reasonable grounds to believe that accepting your booking be likely to risk the goodwill of the owner, other holidaymakers or neighbours of the property in question.
7.4 Please note that swimming pools offered for use as part of a property are NOT supervised. You agree to ensure that children or those who are not confident swimmers are supervised at all times.

8. Termination of your holiday

8.1 If you commit a serious breach of these Our Terms and Conditions the owner or his agent will have the right to terminate your booking and, if you are already at the property, the owner may require you to vacate it at once. A serious breach of these Our Terms and Conditions may include failure to comply with rules of the house or health and safety advice or circumstances where your behaviour, or that of your guests, is likely to have a significant adverse effect upon those staying or living nearby the property. Owners will always try to act reasonably and will usually give a warning but if, in the owner's reasonable judgement, you or your guests' behaviour has made the possibility of your stay continuing untenable, you may be asked to leave immediately. Unless we or the owner are able to find someone else at short notice to rent the property for the remaining period, no refund of the fees you have paid will be returnable to you.

9. Changing dates

9.1 Once dates of a booking have been confirmed in writing to you, they can only be changed with the owner's agreement or, of course, if you wish to claim under the Cancellation Insurance (examples of valid reasons are set out in Condition 10 below) you have taken out. Where the owner agrees to a change in the dates of your holiday other than for reasons covered by the Cancellation Insurance, we reserve the right to make an administration charge of £25.

10. Cancellation insurance

10.1 You need to arrange Cancellation Insurance in order that all persons are covered under a Master Policy in respect of death, serious illness, or accident (including of/to relatives, close business associates), redundancy, summons for jury service and various other domestic disasters (such as your home being damaged by fire). It does not, please note, cover you against deciding you do not want the holiday, or cannot afford it, or divorce, or moving house, or cancellation due to an illness from which you knew you were suffering when making the booking.
10.2 In the event of a cancellation for reasons not covered under Our Terms and Conditions, the owner or we will make reasonable efforts to re-let the property (as we do with all cancellations) and if we succeed you will receive a refund. The refund will be the sum recovered by us through re-letting less the Booking deposit which will be assumed to be one third of the full letting tariff of the given week/s, plus other nominal fees such as credit card transaction fees, a £20 administration fee and any outstanding balance on your booking deposit.
10.3 However, if we are unsuccessful in re-letting, you will be liable for the full cost of the letting. In any event, the balance of any monies due must be paid to us eight weeks before the start of the holiday in the usual way, unless you have already been informed that your claim has been accepted by Insurers or the property re-let.

11. Pets

11.1 You may only bring pets where you have mentioned them on our Booking Form and we have confirmed that this is acceptable. With the exception of guide dogs, pets are only allowed at properties where mentioned in respect of that property. Where it states that a property will accept pets, there are likely to be further rules on the size and type of pet accepted and it is your duty to tell us what pets you intend to take and to gain full consent for this. Failure to follow these rules may be considered a serious breach of these Our Terms and Conditions and the owner will be entitled either to refuse to allow you to take possession of the property or to require you to vacate it at once.
11.2 Where pets are allowed there are, as you would expect, certain ground rules. You must always clear up after your pets and you must remove all trace (inside and in the garden!) of your pets having been present before you leave the property. If you do not, the owner may retain some of your Damage Deposit. It is a condition of pets staying in any property (unless the owner tells you otherwise) that pets are not allowed on furniture, in any bedrooms, in children's play areas or in swimming pools. Pets must not disturb neighbours (for example, by barking all night) and when pets are exercised within the boundaries of the property (including gardens) they must be kept on a lead. Pets must not be left on their own within the property. Once pets are outside the boundaries of the property, please make sure that they are supervised since dogs worrying farm animals are liable to be shot. Please do not assume that local beaches will allow dogs and please feel free to ask us for information on this.

12. Lost property

We cannot accept responsibility for any items left behind in your accommodation after your holiday. Choice Management will charge a £15 administration fee plus postage costs to return lost property. This will be payable prior to posting. Any unclaimed items will be disposed of after two weeks.

13. Miscellaneous

12.1 These Our Terms and Conditions and this brochure override and supersede all previous versions and any previous course of dealing between the parties.
12.2 In the event of any inconsistency between these Our Terms and Conditions and any of our other literature, whether found in our brochure or on our website or otherwise, the provisions of these Our Terms and Conditions will prevail.
12.3 When you book your holiday with us, we collect personal information such as your name, e-mail address, home address, telephone number, credit or debit card number and the card's expiry date. This allows us to book the property for you. We will also collect non-transactional data should you enter a competition, request a brochure or take part in a survey, for example. We may use the information that we collect to occasionally notify you about news and information we think you may find valuable. For example, we may send you our latest brochure, supplements, newsletters and special offers. If at any stage you decide that you would rather not receive such information, please contact us by telephone, e-mail or post. We employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf such as sending postal mail, removing repetitive information from lists of our customers, analysing data, providing market assistance and processing credit card payments. We also reveal your identity to the owner of the property you wish to let. Our contractors have access to personal information needed to perform their functions, but may not use it for other purposes.
12.4 If any provision of this agreement is prohibited by law or judged by a court to be unlawful, void or unenforceable, the provision shall, to the extent required, be severed from this agreement and rendered ineffective as far as possible without modifying the remaining provisions of this agreement, and shall not in any way affect any other circumstances of or the validity or enforcement of this agreement.
12.5 The agreements between you and us and between you and the owner are subject to English law and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts.
12.6 It is not intended that any third party (other than owners) should have the right to enforce any of these Our Terms and Conditions under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999. It is intended that owners may enforce the terms and conditions contained in these Terms of Business against you.