Terms & Conditions

CONTRACT
The Contract for a short-term holiday rental will be between Birdforth Hall Holiday Cottages trading as Birdforth Hall Holiday Cottages (referred to as “us” or “we”) and the person making the booking (lead booker). The laws of England & Wales will govern the Contract. The contract of hire is not effective until we have confirmed the booking, received and processed the deposit. 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 between us. A contract shall only arise when your booking is subsequently confirmed by email. The contract will be subject to these booking conditions and must be complied with.
The lead booker must be at least 25 years of age at the time of booking and the names, addresses, contact details and ages of all members of the party must be shared with us on request. Maximum occupancy per cottage must not be exceeded – the number you have booked for is detailed on your booking confirmation.
The lead booker agrees to take full responsibility for ensuring that all of the following Terms and Conditions are adhered to by ALL the people they invite to share the holiday with them and they must stay at the accommodation throughout the holiday period unless agreed beforehand.

PAYMENT
Bookings are provisional until confirmed by us after receipt of the booking form and payment of the deposit of 30% of the holiday cost. The deposit must be paid with 48 hours of booking, you are committing at booking to make the full payment for the holiday.
The balance of the rental will be due for payment 45 days before the start of your holiday.  We reserve the right to cancel a holiday where payment has not been received 45 days before the commencement date in which case the deposit is forfeit.
If the booking is made within 45 days of the holiday start date, then payment will be due in full at the time of booking. No entry to properties will be allowed without payment, in full, being cleared beforehand. If you make a late booking & payment by card you will need to sign a booking form and provide both the card used and photo id (passport/driving license) on arrival.

CANCELLATION
You are strongly recommended to take out UK travel insurance to cover your break – it is your responsibility to ensure that you have cover. Policies are now available that cover for Covid-19 related issues. If you choose not to take out UK travel insurance then you accept responsibility for any loss that you may incur due to your cancellation.
Cancellations must be immediately notified to us. Please call the office on 01845 421182 and we will confirm the procedure, written confirmation will be required by email. Please ensure you get an acknowledgement and get in touch if you do not hear from us within 24hrs to ensure that the cancellation has been processed.
Our cancellation terms have varied over time – you can check the date your booking was placed by referring to your booking confirmation. The original booking date is detailed on the left of the booking confirmation form.

When we accept a booking from you we exclusively reserve the cottage(s) selected for the dates requested and decline future booking requests for these dates. Most people book well ahead and it can be difficult to find a new booking at late notice, particularly for the larger cottages.

Covid lockdown Guarantee
In the event of a lockdown that covers the date of the booking and requires us to close by government order or the UK postcode related to the lead booker provided on the original booking is subject to a lockdown. We do not cover overseas government’s actions.
You can rearrange your dates, if the rearranged dates cost less the difference will be deducted from your booking total, if they cost more it will be added to your booking total. The full value of the amount you have paid will be applied to the new booking dates.
If we can’t find a suitable date we will refund what you paid.
We strongly recommend that you take out UK travel insurance to cover you for cancellation related to illness including Covid-19, self-isolation, travel quarantine or other reasons. If you choose not to take out travel insurance for your UK break then you accept responsibility for any loss that you may incur due to your cancellation.

General Cancellation
1. Cancelling 4 months plus before planned arrival date
You can rearrange your dates, if the rearranged dates cost less the difference will be deducted from your booking total, if they cost more it will be added to your booking total. The full value of the deposit paid will be applied to the new booking dates.
OR
We will refund your accommodation deposit less £100 administration fee. You will be reimbursed at time of cancellation onto the original payment source.
2. Cancelling between 7 weeks – 4 months before planned arrival date
Up to 7 weeks before planned arrival you can rearrange your dates, if the rearranged dates cost less the difference will be deducted from your booking total, if they cost more it will be added to your booking total. The full value of the deposit paid will be applied to the new booking dates. No further changes will be possible for a rearranged booking.
OR
We will try to re-book the dates for you, if we are able to re-book we will refund you all or part of the sum you have paid, depending on the value of the replacement booking(s) and less the administration fee £25. This may be less than you paid eg if the final letting price was discounted or only some of the days/cottages are re-let. We will not refund you more than you have paid less the administration fee. You will be reimbursed between the check-in date & check out date of the original booking onto the original payment source.
We will not hold you liable to the balance payment that you contracted to pay on booking.
3. Cancelling between 0 – 7 weeks before planned arrival date or if your dates have been previously re-arranged
At this stage you will have paid in full.
If you need to cancel we will try to re-book the dates for you, if we are able to re-book we will refund you all or part of the sum you have paid, depending on the value of the replacement booking(s) and less the administration fee of £35. This may be less than you paid eg if the final letting price was discounted or only some of the days/cottages are re-let. We will not refund you more than you have paid less the £35 administration fee.
In the event that we cannot re-book the dates you will be entitled to a refund comprising of 15%  of accommodation costs.
You will be reimbursed between the check-in date & check out date of the original booking onto the original payment source.

CHANGES TO YOUR HOLIDAY & RE-ARRANGED DATES
Holiday dates may be changed once, for new dates at Birdforth Hall Holiday Cottages, provided the Property is available for the new dates, if the changes are agreed more than 45 days before the start of the original holiday dates and if any additional charges due to change of date or cottage are made.
If we are unable to honour your booking or part of your booking due to the property being withdrawn from the collection or by a Force Majeure Event (please see definition below), Birdforth Hall Holiday Cottages may, at its sole discretion, offer you: a full or partial refund; or alternative holiday dates; or such other remedy as Birdforth Hall Holiday Cottages considers appropriate with regard to the circumstances.
In this contract, a Force Majeure Event means any of the following circumstances which may hinder or prevent the performance of the contract, including but not limited to:  acts of God, flood, drought, earthquake or other natural disaster; epidemic or pandemic; terrorist attack, civil war, civil commotion or riots, war, threat of or preparation for war, armed conflict, imposition of sanctions, embargo, or breaking off of diplomatic relations; nuclear, chemical or biological contamination or sonic boom; any law or any action taken by a government or public authority, including without limitation imposing a restriction, prohibition, or failing to grant a necessary licence or consent; collapse of buildings, fire, explosion or accident; any labour or trade dispute, strikes, industrial action or lockouts; non-performance by suppliers or subcontractors; and interruption or failure of utility service.
This will be the full extent of our liability.  No additional compensation, expenses or costs will be payable.

VOUCHERS
Vouchers may be issued as full or part refund for a variety of reasons. These vouchers have no cash value, they are not transferable and must be used by the person named on the voucher.
The person named on the voucher must be resident at the property for the duration of the booking. The voucher must be used by the expiry date – the expiry date is for the last date staying at the property not the date of booking.  A minimum night stay may be specified on your voucher.

TERMS OF RENTAL
The number of people occupying the premises shall not exceed the number stated on the booking form.  Breach of this rule will terminate the contract without recompense.
You may access the property from 3pm on the day of arrival (earlier arrivals are by arrangement only).  Please note that departure is by 10am on your final day (again, later departures are strictly by arrangement only). We need this time to ensure that the cottage is ready for your arrival after the previous guest’s departure.
You must not use the property except for the purpose of a holiday during the holiday period, and not for any other purpose or longer period. The agreement to stay in the property for the holiday period does not create the relationship of Landlord and Tenant between the parties. You shall not be entitled to a new tenancy, or to any assured short hold or assured tenancy or any statutory protection under the Housing Act 1988 or other statutory security of tenure now or at the end of the Holiday Period.  On departure, you are requested to leave the accommodation in a clean and tidy condition.
You agree to vacate the hired premises without demand at the termination of the period of hire.  We have the right to enter the property at any reasonable time for the purpose of inspection or repair work and you undertake to leave the premises secure if left unoccupied during the period of your holiday.
All properties and immediate areas are totally non-smoking and non-vaping.
You agree to supervise children at all times and note that no access is permitted Birdforth Hall and it’s private gardens unless under the supervision of Birdforth Hall Holiday Cottages staff.
You undertake to relieve Birdforth Hall Holiday Cottages of any liability for damage, accident or injury to/by any member of his/her party occurring at the premises save where the accident or injury is as a result of the negligence or wilful misconduct of the company. You must take all necessary steps to safeguard yourselves and your property.
The lead booker should not engage any third party to provide any service at the property without the consent of the owner (and where relevant the owner’s insurers). In making a request for consent the guest should provide written details of the service provider and the service to be provided, this must include details/evidence of the third party suppliers insurance cover. Birdforth Hall Holiday Cottages do not accept liability for the activities of third party suppliers. Where we make a suggestion or recommendation of a particular third party supplier it will be based upon our genuine belief and experience/ or feedback from other guests or contacts. Birdforth Hall Holiday Cottages shall not be liable for the failure of a particular service provider to properly perform the relevant services, this being a matter between the guests and the relevant third party service provider/supplier. Provision of a recommendation/suggestion does not alleviate the requirement to seek consent.
The lead booker should not engage or permit any in their party to engage in dangerous activities.
Car parking for 2 cars per cottage available we cannot accept any liability for Guests vehicles. Electric Vehicles – outside 3 pin socket can be available.  Please ask before use and leave a sum to cover the cost of power used.
Wi-Fi/internet access is provided for your use. You agree to reasonable and lawful usage of this service. We cannot guarantee internet access but have a contract for prompt repair in place should remedial action be required. We do not warrant that the service is fault free or fit for any particular purpose, or that our system is secure. You use the system at your own risk.
Use of the wi-fi is subject to a fair use policy, examples of unacceptable use include (but not restricted to) large file downloads/uploads, setting up a dropbox or similar, using BitTorrent, downloading rather than streaming movies and music, accessing undesirable sites etc.
Web traffic is managed, we do not track your specific usage but we do monitor devices you have connected and the bandwidth used.  In using the service you acknowledge that you will only use it for lawful purposes. You agree to compensate us fully for any claims or legal action made or threatened against us by someone else because you have used the service in breach of these terms and conditions
Care of the property. You are responsible for the property and are expected to take all reasonable care of its furniture & fittings. You must leave them in the same state of repair and in the same clean and tidy condition at the end of the rental period as at the beginning. You must not use the properties for any dangerous, offensive, noxious, noisy, immoral activities or be a nuisance or annoyance to the owner or other neighbouring properties.  You are legally bound to reimburse us for replacement, repair or extra cleaning costs on demand (although we would not charge you for the odd glass or plate).  Lost keys are charged at £10 to cover the replacement cost.
Dogs are welcome by arrangement in The Granary & The Stables. We only allow small/medium sized dogs, and only when have they been booked in and paid for, no puppies permitted. Charged at £25 per dog (depends upon cottage booked), per week or part week/per cottage entered. Maximum of 2 dogs per booking. Dogs must be well behaved, house-trained, kept under proper control and not allowed on the furniture, in the bedrooms & bathrooms, nor left unattended in the property. Dog waste must be collected and disposed of. Dog owners will be held responsible for any damage caused to the property, contents or garden by their dog and for any extra cleaning required. When outside of the property or walking within the grounds you must ensure that dogs are kept on a lead and under close supervision. They must not be allowed to disturb livestock, deer or game birds. We reserve the right to seek details of any dogs in advance and to refuse permission for them to be brought to the accommodation for any reason, including if they are considered unsuitable in character, size or behaviour, or liable to be a nuisance or danger to other guests.

DISCLAIMER
The Owner has taken every care to ensure the accuracy of property descriptions and all information is provided in good faith and believed to be correct. In the event that any individual term or clause stated in this Contract is not permissible by law, the remainder of the Contract shall remain valid. This Contract is governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England & Wales. This does not affect your statutory rights.

COMPLAINTS
Every effort is made to ensure that you have an enjoyable stay. However, if you have any problem or cause for complaint, it is essential that you contact us immediately to give us the chance to resolve it. We value your custom and want you to enjoy your stay and return. We are on site and will do our best to resolve any problem. Issues must be raised before you leave.
Children, our website is not targeted at children but in any event personal information will not knowingly be collected from children under fourteen years without parental consent.

These Terms and Conditions were made on 1st January 2022 and will be applied to all bookings made from this date.