CONDITIONS OF BOOKING

These terms and conditions form a contract between HolidayCottagesCumbria.com and the guest making the booking. By renting a cottage, guests undertake to keep the property, furniture, fixtures and other items belonging to the cottage in the same state of repair/condition as found at the start of your rental period. It is now part of our conditions that guests observe the local council's requirements for household waste and recycling. These details are left in the cottage and will be very similar to the recycling rules of your own local council. A copy can be emailed to you if required.

Liability cannot be accepted for the unlikely loss or damage to you or your property whilst staying at, or travelling to and from the cottage. Guests are responsible for the safe keeping of the cottage and the contents of the garage (if the property has one), therefore, you must remember to lock all doors and windows (including the garage) and ensure the fireguard is in place if you've had a fire in last 12 hours.

Please note that smoking is not allowed in any part of any of the cottages.

Bed linen, towels, gas & electricity are all included in the price.

PAYMENT BY CREDIT & DEBIT CARDS

A 30% deposit is required to reserve the cottage unless your booking is less than 2 months away, in which case full payment will be required at the time of booking. Once the deposit is received, we will email you a receipt which will give you the details of when to send the balance, which is 1 month before your arrival. When the final payment is received, we will email you a final receipt along with directions, key details and a list of all the best places to eat, drink and buy local food, painstakingly researched by ourselves! If your final payment is not received on time, we will email you a reminder. Regrettably, if we still do not receive payment within 5 days of the reminder, the booking will be cancelled and the deposit forfeited.

A 2.5% surcharge is added for payments made by credit card. We do not charge if you pay by UK cheque or a U.K. debit card. We are unable to accept Amex, Diners Card or any business credit cards.

DAMAGES, BREAKAGES & CARE OF THE PROPERTY etc.

A £100 refundable security deposit is required for every booking and will be refunded in full within 7 days of departure if our terms and conditions are met. Guests are required to take good care of the property and its contents and leave the cottage clean_and_tidy on the day of departure. You are responsible for any damage or breakages that occur during your stay. Please let us know of any breakage or damage so that we can replace the item(s) in time for the arrival of the next guests. We do not always always charge for minor breakages if reported to us before departure. A_charge_will_be_made if the cottage is not left clean and tidy.

It is also a condition of booking that you irrevocably authorize HolidayCottagesCumbria.com to debit your credit or debit card if the amount of any damage exceeds the security deposit. Please contact us if you would like further clarification.

CANCELLATIONS

We recommend that you take out cancellation insurance. This low cost insurance will cover your booking costs & has lots of benefits too if you need to cancel your holiday. Prices start at just £8.50 and details can be found at www.cancellationplan.com or on 0845 218 7161. If you are not insured and you needed to cancel your holiday, we would endeavour to re-let the cottage and if successful in re-letting the cottage for the same amount, we will refund you the money you have paid to us less a charge of £50 for advertising and admin costs. If we are unable to re-let the cottage, we will unfortunately have to charge the full rent. We don't get many cancellations but when we do people always wish they had taken out the insurance. Most cancellations are from a group of friends, two or more separate couples or families where peoples situations change and they're no longer able to share their cost of the holiday. We urge you to protect yourself with this low cost option and give yourself peace of mind.

We would only cancel your holiday if your accommodation was unavailable for reasons beyond our control and in such an instance we would attempt to offer you alternative accommodation, however if this was not possible, or unacceptable to you, then we would refund all monies paid by you for the holiday. Our liability would not extend beyond this refund.

NUMBER OF PERSONS & PETS

The number of persons using the cottage must not exceed the maximum number stated on the website due to fire regulations. We reserve the right to refuse entry if this condition is not met.

Pets_are_only_permitted if booked and paid for before your arrival as we need to let our housekeeper know to carry out extra cleaning. We reserve the right to refuse entry if this condition is not met. Pet owners must observe the conditions outlaid in our 'pets welcome' information sheet.