1.  Contract
When you submit a booking via our online reservation system you will receive an automatically generated booking summary by email to the email address you provide in the booking form. This does not form a contract with you, the "Hirer" and East Ruston Cottages Limited ("ERC")  A contract shall only arise when your booking is subsequently confirmed by payment of the deposit and confirmed by email. (or post if no email is available).  The contract is for the hire of the property for short term holiday letting and will be formally entered into between the owner of the property booked "Property Owner" and the Hirer.

All bookings made through the bookings system are provisional until confirmed by ERC.

2.  Payment terms 
A deposit of 25% of the total cost is required to secure the booking and needs to be made within FIVE (5) days of the date the booking is confirmed by ERC. The booking will be held for that time but not fully secured until the deposit is received at which point the contract (above) will commence. The balance of the total will be due for payment SIX (6) weeks before the start of the holiday and a reminder email will be sent to the hirer from ERC prior to this. If the booking is made within six weeks of the start of the holiday the full amount for the booking must be paid within 5 days.  A booking admin fee - £20 - is payable on all bookings.

If the deposit is not paid within 5 days ERC will contact the Hirer to establish if the booking is still required.  No response from the Hirer will result in the booking automatically being forfeited and cancelled for a rebooking.

Failure to make full payment of the balance in the time period stated above will result in the booking being cancelled and the deposit being forfeited unless pre-arranged between the Hirer and ERC.

All payments will be acknowledged by ERC and payment reminders sent by email only.

3. Payment methods/currency
Payments to be made by credit/debit card or bank transfers and only in £ Sterling.  All necessary payment details will be supplied when the contract is confirmed.

Card payments - these are taken via a secure online system.  A deposit payment made by card allows the balance to be taken from this same card.  In this case balance payments will be taken by ERC on the day they are due UNLESS advised otherwise.   ERC will check with the Hirer prior to taking a balance payment to ensure the same card can be used.  No card payments can be taken over the telephone as there is no secure payment option by telephone.  All card payments online are via a fully secure card processing system.

Bank transfers - details for the account to pay into will be on the bottom of the confirmation email sent shortly after a booking is placed

4. Security Deposit 
An additional and fully refundable bond of £200 is also required. Should any damage to the property or contents, beyond reasonable wear and tear, be incurred by the Hirer or excessive additional cleaning be required, the cost of this will be advised to the Hirer after the booking is complete and taken from the bond with proof of damage and costs supplied where possible.

The Security Deposit will be pre-authorised to be held against the card 7 days before the booking and automatically released, if not required, 7 days after the booking has ended.  This is a PRE-AUTHORISATION only.  No payment will be deducted from the card unless required to cover damages etc (see above) and the amount of the deduction will be advised to the Hirer before deduction.

Should the Hirer not have a valid credit card in place at the time of the pre-authorisation they must contact ERC to give details of the new card OR pay the security deposit by bank transfer (to be refunded 7 days after the end of the booking).

5. Cancellation
The Hirer should notify ERC as soon as possible should a booking need to be cancelled by email.

Cancellations as a result of "Government Order, Direction or Advice or a Change in Law" (for example COVID-19 reasons), excluding weather-related advice, will receive a full refund or can be rescheduled for a later date. So if Lockdown or Tier changes mean your holiday has to be cancelled you can receive a full refund or a transfer of the full amount to a future booking date.

Cancellations for any other reason will be subject to our standard cancellation terms as follows.

If a Hirer cancels their booking for reasons other than those above, we will endeavour to re-let the dates.  This includes the lead booker or a member of the booking party falling ill with Covid19 or needing to self-isolate.  Should we be successful in securing a replacement booking, we will refund the amount from any replacement booking (which may be less than already paid e.g. if the replacement booking price was discounted or only some of the days are re-let) minus an administration fee of £50 and the booking fee paid at the time. If we are unable to re-let the cancelled booking, the Hirer remains responsible for the rental and there will be no refund.  Hirers are STRONGLY advised to have cancellation/travel insurance in place.  We are unable to recommend any insurance products but there are many out there able to cover for multiple cancellation reasons.

Should it be necessary for ERC to cancel any bookings the only liability we have will be to return any payments received from the Hirer in full.

6. Hirer's Responsibilities - The Hirer is responsible for the property hired and is expected to leave all equipment and utensils, fixtures and fittings etc and the property itself in the same order in which it was presented.

It is ESSENTIAL part of the Contract that all damages/breakages/problems should be reported as soon as they occur to the owner of the property or ERC.  This will enable the owner to attend to the problem during the stay or plan for repairs/maintenance/replacement during the changeover at the end of the booking. Problems that are not reported during the booked period will have no validity after the booking period.

ERC reserves the right to charge for any damage/breakages/extra cleaning which is deemed outside the normal wear and tear and Hirers are deemed jointly and severally liable.  Hirers should not assume that the insurance policy in place at individual properties will be used to cover damage/replacement costs.  If substantial damage/repair costs are incurred which exceed the Refundable Bond amount and are not refunded by the Hirer, the Small Claims Court may be used to recoup these if necessary.

The Hirer is required to observe and adhere to the requests and instructions in the individual properties.

The Hirer must not use the property or allow its use for any dangerous, offensive, excessively noisy, illegal or immoral activities or carry on there any act that may be a nuisance or annoyance to the property neighbours. This would be deemed a serious breach of the terms of the Contract and the Property Owner has the right to terminate the Contract with immediate effect in this instance.

East Ruston Cottages and its employees and its representatives shall not be liable to the Hirer or any member of the Hirer's party for loss or damage to their property howsoever arising. You must take all necessary steps to protect and safeguard your personal property.

Electric/Hybrid Vehicle charging: No external sockets that are not specifically installed for EV charging, are to be used to charge cars at any ERC property without prior agreement with the property owner.  In some cases there will be a charge applicable to providing electric fuelling of EV/Hybrid cars; this will be advised by the property owner.  NO internal sockets are to be used for car charging.  This is an important fire risk and insurance requirement.  In the case of this being breached at the property, the owner will have the right to request immediate cessation and make a charge against the security deposit.

BOOKING PROTECT:  We are offering with all new bookings, a repayment scheme for cancellations, through our partnership with Booking Protect.  This is NOT an insurance product. This refund protection allows you to apply for a full refund on your booking should you, or anyone in your party, be unable to attend due to unforeseen circumstances. This includes injury, illness, travel trouble and other unexpected events. Full details can be found in the terms and conditions on the Booking Protect website.  The option to buy refund protection will be automatically offered at the time of booking. Please note, the cost is automatically calculated based on the total amount of your booking.  Click here if you wish to make a refund request (refunds will be issued by bank transfer regardless of how the original payment was made)

7. Owner's/Manager's Responsibilities
The owner/manager is responsible for ensuring the property is supplied to the Hirer clean and with all appliances/devices/furniture in proper working order. The owner/manager is also responsible for dealing with any problems, equipment malfunction etc and will make best efforts to remedy any problems that occur during your stay when they are advised of them. Owner/manager details are included in the information folder of each property. If you are unable to contact the owner/manager then contact ERC directly.

8. Arrival and Departure
The properties will be ready for your arrival at a time that is specified in arrival details provided before your arrival.   Departure times are also communicated in the arrival details.  The timings are to allow for a full clean and Covid compliant changeover and do please need to be adhered to for the safety of guests, owners and cleaners.  Earlier arrivals and later departures are sometimes possible but this will depend on adjacent bookings and is solely at the discretion of the owners.  We reserve the right to charge for an extra night or part thereof if the extension to either an arrival or departure time is more than an hour.

9. Numbers of people occupying a property
Under no circumstances may more people stay at each property than there are bed spaces. This is an important insurance requirement.
The number of guests in the original booking confirmed by ERC cannot be exceeded without notification to ERC before the commencement of the hire period.

10. Access and Arrival
Access and arrival arrangements will be provided by ERC to the Hirer approximately two weeks before the commencement of hire period unless the booking is made within 2 weeks of the arrival date, in which case the details will be sent when full payment is received.

11. Fuel and Electricity
Electricity charges for the domestic appliances included at the property and any reasonable number of internal personal devices (tablets, phones, hairdryers etc) are included in the cost of renting all the properties. For the wood burners/open fires please see each property details as there are different arrangements for each.

12. Complaints
In the event of a complaint or problem with the provision of the accommodation, it must be brought immediately to the attention of the owner/manager who will endeavour to rectify the problem as soon as possible, to ensure the continued enjoyment of your holiday. Should this not be possible please contact ERC immediately and in all instances before the end of your period of hire. No refunds/compensation can be made if problems/complaints are only notified after the hire period.

13.  Property rules
Each property has its own set of polite requests for hirers but all properties do not allow smoking inside.  This is an important requirement to enable the properties to comply with their Fire Hazard assessments.

14.  Owner access.
Owners and their representatives are entitled to enter their property at any time but will always endeavour to contact guests to arrange a mutually agreeable time.

15. Commission policy.
ERC will receive an amount of 13-14% commission per booking with the balance being paid to the owner of the property booked.

East Ruston Cottages Limited
Reg.No. 10048164  At Companies House, Cardiff

Registered address:
Sea Lows
Crowden Road
Eccles
Norfolk NR12 0SJ