Terms & Conditions
These Terms and Conditions of business are between The House Holders, its Employees and the Prospective Clients who wish to use the services described in the Proposals, Contracts and/or email or verbal communications.
1. Policy
The aim of the House Holders is to provide a unique tailored security and house keeping service to private properties which are vacant for long or short periods, or care for residents/pets who remain in situ.
2. Pricing
On receipt of an enquiry, a member of staff will either view the property, meet the client and request detailed verbal instructions. A Proposal will then be offered and our pricing will be as quoted on the Proposal. Once the Proposal is accepted by both the Client and The House Holders, it becomes a Contract.
3. Payment
For short term Contracts (one month or less), full payment is due prior to the commencement of the Contract. For longer term Contracts (longer than one month) a deposit of one month’s fees is due prior to the commencement of the Contract, and one month’s payment due in advance on the day of the commencement of the agreed Contract, and per month thereafter.
Where Emergency Services (such as Plumbers, Electricians, and Engineers) have been employed, all such fees must be paid to The House Holders immediately on request. The implementation of Emergency Services and ensuing costs will not be generated without prior arrangement and permission from the Client.
The House Holders may suspend or terminate the Services in the event of either late payment or failure to pay.
Any delay in settling due payments may incur interest charges at 4% over the current Bank Rate.
4. Methods of Payment
Payments for short term (one month or less) Contracts may be made by Cash, Cheque or B.A.C.S. Transfer and will be due prior to the commencement date of the contract. The deposit for Long Term Contracts (more than one month) may be paid by Cash, Cheque or B.A.C.S. Transfer. Subsequent monthly payments must be paid by Standing Order or Automatic Online Recurring Billing.
5. Cancellation of Booking
For bookings cancelled less than 4 weeks prior to the start of the contract, 50% of the total price will be charged.
6. Short Term House Sitting
The House Holders take great care to ensure that your assigned Sitter is present at your Property for the Contracted Hours. Please note adverse weather conditions or other events outside our reasonable control may result in a Sitter being late or even cancelling. If that is the case we will endeavour to contact you as soon as we can to discuss your ongoing requirements and you will not be charged for any part of the Contracted Hours where we are unavailable.
It is your responsibility to provide us with suitable instructions for entering and leaving your Property. We will attempt to comply with your instructions, including use of your house alarm, to the extent practically possible. Should we be unable to comply with your written or verbal instructions we will endeavour to contact you to discuss your requirements.
If you have arranged to let the Sitter into your Property at the Job Start Time it is your responsibility to ensure that an appropriate person is available at your Property at the Job Start Time to facilitate this; and if no one is at the address when the Sitter arrives and we therefore cannot fulfil our contractual duties, we are not obliged to refund any monies to you. If you have arranged to return to your Property by the Job End Time but you are unable to meet this obligation you must inform us so that we can make suitable arrangements to leave your Property, and you agree unequivocally to pay our additional charges, in line with our contracted pricing.
It is your responsibility to make any necessary arrangements with trades people, delivery people or other persons you expect to visit your Property during the Contracted Hours. We are not responsible if your trades person, delivery person or other persons you expect at your Property does not turn up on time or at all. Neither are we responsible for the workmanship or quality of work or goods provided by any tradesperson, delivery person or other person attending your Property.
Our Sitter will verify the identity of any callers at your Property and confirm that their identity corresponds with your written or verbal instructions.
Our Sitter will monitor any persons who are permitted to enter your Property to the extent practically possible. If you have requested that we contact you upon arrival of the tradesperson, delivery person or other, we will attempt to call you and/or your secondary contact using the contact details you provide. We may use your Property telephone to make any calls to you or your secondary contact should you expressly permit us to do this.
If you ask us to hold your keys for the purposes of entering or leaving your Property, we will attempt to follow your instructions to the extent practically possible. If your keys are not available at the arranged time or location, or if your keys fail to work, we will endeavour to contact you to discuss your requirements but we are not obliged to refund any monies to you.
7. Security/Insurance
The Employees and Representatives of The House Holders are carefully chosen for their professionalism, integrity, reliability and skills.
The House Holders has Public Liability Insurance underwritten by iprism Underwriting Agency Ltd.
8. Clients’ Complaints
The House Holders aim to provide a high quality service and your satisfaction is important to us. If you have a complaint please notify us promptly by sending an email to [email protected] or telephoning the office on 01980 619233. In the unlikely event that any part of our service does not meet with your reasonable satisfaction, we will promptly refund the price of the part of that service.
9. Warranty and Liability
The House Holders will not be deemed to be in breach of contract or of these Terms and Conditions as a result of any delay in our performance or failure to perform our obligations if that delay or failure to perform is due to any cause or circumstance beyond our reasonable control including, but not limited to, fire, flood and other acts of God, strikes, riot, accident, disruption to energy supplies, civil commotion, acts of terrorism or war, breakdown of equipment, road traffic or public transport problems.
10. Confidentiality
We respect your privacy. The House Holders will endeavour to keep all negotiations and any information held on the Client private and confidential.
11. General
If any of these Terms and Conditions are held by any court of competent authority to be unlawful, invalid or unenforceable, in whole or in part, this will not affect the validity of the remaining Terms and Conditions which will continue to be valid and enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law.
All copyright, trademarks and all other intellectual property rights in all material or content supplied as part of The House Holder’s Website shall remain at all times vested in us or our licensors. You are permitted to use the material data and content only for your personal use and you may not otherwise copy, reproduce, transmit, publish, display, distribute, commercially exploit, use or create derivative works of any material data and content on The House Holder’s Website without The House Holder’s prior written consent.
These Terms and Conditions will be governed by English law and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts in relation to any dispute which may arise between them.
The House Holders has the right to change all or any of the above clauses without notice. All or any changes will be made public through the website.
The Company address for The House Holders is
14 Southbourne Close
Porton
Salisbury
Wiltshire SP4 0NW