Terms and Conditions for Homestay accommodation

Important note - The terms and conditions set below are for accommodation booked with a homestay or host family and not in a self-contained room in a Student Residence.

Accommodation referred to within these terms and conditions is with Home from Home Student Services Ltd (company number 07332845). References in these terms and conditions to “We”, “Us” or “Our” include our representatives and employees.

Governing law and jurisdiction
These Terms and Conditions are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales. You agree to submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the English courts, as do we.

Booking

• To book your homestay accommodation/home tuition course please complete the online booking form.
  When we receive your booking we will email you to tell you if we can or cannot meet the requirements specified. This will normally happen within 2 working days.
• If you have not received an answer within 3 working days there is a chance that we have not received your booking so please email us at info@londonhomestays.com (Working days exclude Saturdays, Sundays & Public Holidays)
• All payments are invoiced in UK pound sterling and must be paid in UK pound sterling. All bank charges that are incurred must be paid for by the guest. The receiving banks charges are much higher and if not paid these would have to be charged to your outstanding total. Paypal payments are subject to a 4.5% surcharge to cover the costs we have to pay.
• All bookings are subject to a non-refundable booking fee (as stated in our rates)

Booking Confirmation

• Bookings can only be guaranteed after payment has reached our bank account. We reserve the right to cancel any booking for any reason with a full refund. We will also cancel any reservations for which we have not received payment by the due date.
• We can only confirm the period of stay that we have received payment for.

Arrival Time

• When booking accommodation/home tuition, you must inform the homestay host of your estimated arrival time at least 3 days in advance of your arrival in UK. This is to ensure that someone is at home when you arrive. Failure to do this may result in you having to wait for the arrival of the host. We will not be held responsible for hosts not being at home if students fail to advise the host in advance of their arrival time, nor will we pay for any expenses incurred by students as a result.
• Unless special arrangement has been made and agreed with your host prior to arrival, the following check in and out times apply:
  
  Weekend arrivals
  Check in is always after 14:00 and before 20:30
  Check out is before 10:00 am
  
  Week day arrivals
  Please note that most hosts will be at work during the day time so unless prior arrangement has been agreed all week day arrivals must be after 18:00 and before 20:30.

Extensions of Stay

• If a student wishes to extend their stay beyond the booked leaving date, they should contact Home from Home as soon as possible to request an extension by emailing info@londonhomestays.com. Extensions are subject to availability. If an extension is not possible, we will endeavour to find you a similar alternative.

Visa Students

We are pleased to assist visa applications by issuing a letter, which can be submitted to the British Consulate in your country. This letter will confirm that you have booked and paid for accommodation/home tuition with Home from Home Student Services Ltd.

Visa letters are only issued after accommodation/course has been paid for and only for the dates confirmed and paid for. We are unable to issue letters for unconfirmed/unpaid for lengths of stay. 

To ensure that you do not incur cancellation charges (detailed below in Cancellation Policy for Homestay, Home Tuition, Private Home and Hostel Bookings), you are advised to allow sufficient time between your visa application, your interview date and your arrival date in the UK . This will allow us sufficient notice of your cancellation/change or arrival date and for you to avoid cancellation charges.

If you wish to change or postpone your arrival date as you have been asked by the British Consulate to return for a further interview, we will re-book your accommodation, subject to our cancellation charges (detailed below in Cancellation Policy for Homestay, Home Tuition, Private Home and Hostel Bookings). All changes are subject to a £50 administration fee.

More information is available on our Visa Guidelines page. 

Cancellation Policy for Homestay, Home Tuition, Private Home and Hostel Bookings

Accommodation/Home Tuition, once paid for, is subject to the following cancellation charges:

• If you cancel your accommodation/Home Tuition 30 days or more prior to the booked arrival date we will refund your fees in full, minus the Booking fee.
• If you cancel your accommodation/home tuition from 29 days - 8 days prior to the booked arrival date we will refund your fees, minus one week’s accommodation/home tuition fees and the booking fee.
• If you cancel your accommodation/home tuition from 7 days – 3 days prior to the booked arrival date we will refund your fees, minus 2 weeks accommodation/home tuition fees and the booking fee.
• If you cancel your accommodation/home tuition from 2 days or less prior to the booked arrival date or if you “no show” (fail to advise us that you will not be arriving) we will refund your fees, less 4 weeks accommodation/home tuition fees and the booking fee. There will be no refund if you have not paid for more than 4 weeks accommodation/home tuition.

In the event of an emergency, Home from Home reserve the right to cancel accommodation/home tuition or tuition without prior notice, or to change the accommodation or tuition without prior consent. Home from Home also reserve the right to change the allocated host family or teacher before or during the course if this becomes necessary.

Cancellation requests must be received during Home from Home office hours, which are from 09.30 – 18.00 (London time) Monday through Friday. Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays (including the days between Christmas and New Year) are excluded.

Refunds

• In the unlikely event of a student being dissatisfied with their accommodation or their tuition, complaints must be made during the stay, at the time either of the problem becoming known, by the student directly, or through their agent. We cannot accept any retrospective claim or complaint from a student or their agent.

• Refunds are made through the same means by which they are received (this is in line with UK money laundering laws). Fees paid by bank transfer from overseas will be refunded by bank transfer to the bank account in the country from which they were received. Credit card payments will be refunded to the card from which payment was taken and only cash payments can be refunded in cash. We will refund fees only and cannot refund bank charges or the surcharge added to credit card payments. Any bank charges levied by the UK and/or foreign bank when refunding fees will be deducted from the refund by the banks in question and not paid for by Home from Home.

Curtailment

If you have to cut short your stay, accommodation/home tuition charges, once paid for are not refundable. In the case of your accommodation/home tuition being unsuitable, we will make every effort to supply you with a suitable alternative.

YOU ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO PURCHASE TRAVEL INSURANCE (WHICH WILL COVER YOU FOR LOSS OF STUDY COURSE, ACCOMMODATION/HOME TUITION & TRANSPORTATION CHARGES AS WELL AS INJURY)

Liability

• Our liability is no more than the money we have received from you.

• Home from Home Student Services Ltd only acts as agent between its students, travel organisations, and any accommodation or courses it offers, including but not limited to homestays/home tuition. Under no circumstances can they be held responsible for any injury, damage loss, misadventure, delay or accident which may happen during the student's stay in their accommodation/course, or as a result of activities they take part in during their stay, or whilst travelling to and from the student's home or their accommodation or loss of property.

Students should also take out their own insurance policies on their personal property, i.e. laptops, jewellery and other expensive items; as these may not be covered under the host families insurance policies.

• All damages and breakages caused by the guest must be paid for by the guest directly.
• Students must not pay the family directly, the families do not accept cash payments, this breaks the terms and conditions set out for the family and may cause confusion at a later date.
• Reasonable behaviour is expected at all times during your stay with the host family accommodation. Home from Home reserves the right to remove any guest whose conduct is unsatisfactory. Refunds or alternate accommodation/home tuition will be offered at our discretion.
• We believe the information provided to you regarding the host family at the time of booking is correct and is provided in good faith. However, we are not responsible for any inaccuracies that may result in any change of circumstances of the host family or their home environment that have not been relayed to us.

Home Tuition

In the unusual event of a host tutor not being available, we reserve the right to recommend a homestay with one family and lessons with an outside teacher if a host teacher cannot be found.

Students are fully responsible for their own attendance. Home From Home cannot be responsible for any missed lessons due to illness, absence or any other reason and no refund will be made for lessons missed.

In the unlikely event of the teacher being unable to teach the student due to an emergency or illness, it is the student’s responsibility to inform Home from Home immediately, which will then make alternative arrangements to rearrange the lessons missed or find an alternative host tutor.