Venue Hire - Desposit Refund

Ciderdrinker

Hi,

Wonder if someone could advise?

I recently paid a deposit to hire a venue for a private party. I have now had to cancel due to a number of guest now not able to attend. I emailed (please see my email below) my intent to cancel four days ago enquiring if an email is sufficient notice of cancel and can the advise of any charges and kindly return my deposit.

Four had days passed and I had not had a reply, so I phoned them this morning and asked if they had received my email. I was told that they had not checked their emails yet. She then said that the deposit was none refundable. I had questioned this because no where in the T&Cs say that it was a none-refund deposit. I will post the two points from the T&Cs which cover cancellation and deposit. My question is am I right to pursue for a full, or partial refund?

T&Cs

1. The member will be charged at the rate of £100 plus VAT for the room hire. A deposit of £50 is to be sent with the application form and the balance of the fee is payable at least three weeks before the due date of the event. Any bar extension past 11pm will be charged at the rate of £25 per hour. A SURETY of £50 must be lodged with the final payment, which will be returned after the function providing that all the facilities are left in the condition they were found. (Any retention of deposit will be at the discretion of the Committee, to cover excessive breakages, damage or cleaning. Any damage caused in excess of the Surety of £50, the hirer will be invoiced for the balance.)
2. Members should also be aware that they could forfeit the deposit to cover costs incurred due to a late cancellation.

They have not defined what counts as a "late cancellation". The venue is the main bar and hall of a club of which I am not a member.

Thank you in advance...


My Email to them
"Dear xxxxxx,

Due to unforeseen circumstances it is with regret that I need to cancel the venue hire on 17 November 2012. I cannot see a minimum cancellation period in the terms and conditions but hope 10 days is sufficient notice of cancellation with out incurring any charges.

If you require a written letter for a cancellation please let me know and I can deliver one to you tomorrow.

Can you please advise on any costs occurred and arrange for my deposit to be returned?

Please accept my apologies for any inconveniences. "

miduck

I would say that a late cancellation is a period so short that they are unable to let the venue to anyone else. You will be lucky to get a refund at such short notice.

Ciderdrinker

The venue is the main part of a golf club. The main bar and hall would have been closed to the members which would have normally used them.

They have not defined a cancellation period?

Forwandert

I think the chances of them finding someone else to use the booking for next weekend are slim, When did you book this? if the deposit is £50 I would expect £0 back at this late stage. If they had read your email when you sent it I still wouldn't expect to see my deposit back.

Ciderdrinker

Its was booked less than a month ago. booked on 14/10/2012.

arcon5

because no where in the T&Cs say that it was a none-refund deposit.

Where though does it say the deposit is refundable? I deposit is left as security/display of commitment when you enter in to a contract.

As a result of your anticipatory breach of contract they are entitled to deduct from this their provable losses. Or if the cancellation is so late they could have grounds to reject the cancellation.

If they find somebody else to rent it out or open it up to others (who are therefore spending money they otherwise wouldn't be doing) then you may have grounds to get some money back.

When it was booked isn't really relevant... it carries no legal or contractual cooling off period.

System

The T&c's say you had to pay the balance at least 3 weeks before the date of your party. So looking at the dates mentioned you had already breached them yourself.

You won't get any money back for this

Ciderdrinker

So that fact they do not define what "late cancellation" means they could actually make it up after a contact has been entered into?

Similarly if what you say is true "Or if the cancellation is so late they could have grounds to reject the cancellation." And this has not been specified in the T&Cs they could make it up?

To be honest £50 I can forget about, it just an interesting topic. The absence of details in T&Cs can give one party more rights than the other?

wealdroam

Ciderdrinker wrote: »

The absence of details in T&Cs can give one party more rights than the other?

Indeed it can.

Also, without explicit terms in a contract, the parties should fall back to 'implied terms'.

An implied term could be something like "if you break the contract, you must cover my costs".
Which, in my view, is not unfair... it works both ways.
What do you think?

bris

You don't need T&C's, contract law applies, your late cancellation may not give them enough time to mitigate their losses so you won't get your deposit back.
Contracts are formed in different ways, having T&C's is just one of those ways, but the principal is the same with any form the contract takes.

miduck

Ciderdrinker wrote: »

So that fact they do not define what "late cancellation" means they could actually make it up after a contact has been entered into?

Similarly if what you say is true "Or if the cancellation is so late they could have grounds to reject the cancellation." And this has not been specified in the T&Cs they could make it up?

To be honest £50 I can forget about, it just an interesting topic. The absence of details in T&Cs can give one party more rights than the other?

They cannot "make it up", but they (indeed, both parties) can interpret the ambiguous wording as a reasonable person would. Ultimately it would be for a court to decide how a reasonable person would interpret it, but in place of a judge a majority consensus seems a fair means of interpretation.

(Apologies for the interpreting overkill!)