1. Agreement - The agreeement is for the hire of the property for short term holiday letting and will be formally entered into between East Ruston Cottages Ltd (ERC) and the Hirer when the required deposit payment has been received.

2. Payment terms - A deposit of 25% of the total cost is required to secure the booking and needs to be made within seven days of the date the booking is acknowledged by ERC. The booking will be held for that time but not fully secured until the deposit is received. The balance of the total will be due for payment six weeks before the start of the holiday and a reminder email will be sent 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 7 days. A booking admin fee of £15 is payable on all bookings. A fully refundable bond is also to be paid at the same time as the balance (see below).

If the deposit is not paid within 7 days the booking will automatically be forfeited.

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.

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

3. Payment methods/currency - Payments can be made by bank transfer, cheque or credit/debit card and only in £ Sterling. All necessary details will be supplied by email. Credit/debit card payments are via the WorldPay website and a separate link to pay these online will be sent if you on request. No card payments can be made over the telephone.

4. Refundable Bond - An ADDITIONAL fully refundable bond of £100 is also required.* This is to be paid at the time of the balance (ie 6 weeks before the booking commences) and will be returned in full within 7 days of the end of the booking. However, 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.

*NB For RUNNING HARE BARN and THATCHERS the refundable bond amount is £200.

5. Cancellation - The Hirer should notify ERC as soon as possible should a booking need to be cancelled. We are unable to offer refunds or changes of dates if you find you are unable to take the holiday you have booked, therefore HOLIDAY INSURANCE IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. If you are unable to make your holiday please inform us immediately so that we can provide you with any written evidence required to enable you to make a claim on your holiday insurance.

Hirers are strongly encouraged to have holiday insurance to cover this eventuality.

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

6. Hirer's Responsibilities - The Hirer is responsible for the property hired and is expected to take care of it. All equipment and utensils, fixtures and fittings etc, and the property itself to be left clean and tidy at the end of a stay.

It is essential that all damages/breakages/problems should be reported as soon as they occur to the owner of the property or ERC. This may enable the owner to attend to the problem during your 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 serious 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, the Small Claims Court may be used to recoup these.

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 Agreement and ERC has the right to terminate the Agreement 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 property howsoever arising. You must take all necessary steps to protect and safeguard your personal property.

7. Owner's/Manager's Responsibilities - The owner/manager is responsible for ensuring the property is supplied to the Hirer clean, warm and with all appliances/devices/furniture in proper working order. The owner/manager is also responsible for dealing with any problems, equipment malfunction etc as they occur 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 using the contact information also in the information folder.

8. Arrival and Departure - Arrival details will also be sent by email approx. 2 weeks before the commencement of the booking unless the booking commencement date is less than 2 weeks when the arrival details will be sent when full payment has been made.

The properties will be ready for your arrival after 4pm and need to be vacated by 10am on your day of departure to allow for a full clean and changeover, unless otherwise agreed with ERC. Earlier arrivals and later departures are sometimes possible but this will depend on adjacent bookings and is at the discretion of the owners. We reserve the right to charge for an extra night or part thereof if the extention 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 guest in the original booking confirmed by ERC cannot be exceeded without notification to ERC before the commencement of the hire period.

10. Keys and Directions - Key and arrival arrangements will be provided by ERC to the Hirer approximately two weeks before the commencement of hire period.

11. Fuel and Electricity - Electricity charges are included in the cost of renting all the properties (with the exception of Patikipa and Milldene where a £1 coin meter is used for electricity). 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 wth 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 as soon as possible 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 guests 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 12% commission per commission booking with the balance being paid to the owner of the property booked. A number of bookings made will be dealt with by the owners direct with ERC receiving a flat rate Finders Fee.

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

Registered address:

Gothic Cottage
Mill Road, East Ruston
Norfolk NR12 9HS