Holiday Lettings - warning

Becles

I booked a short break in London for half term week to take my three children to see the tourist sights. I'm a single parent with three children, so as you can imagine money is a bit tight!

I decided to rent a flat from Holiday Lettings as I could self cater and keep the costs down by preparing our own meals. Found a flat and the owner sounded nice from the advert - said they lived in the area and would meet us and be on hand if we needed anything during our stay. Paid a deposit in August and the full balance at the end of September.

At the beginning of October, the owner emailed me to explain they would be away at the time of our visit but a lady who does their housekeeping in the flats would meet us. I was given her contact details and I sent my mobile phone number and told them to pass it on to her just in case.

Travelled down last Monday and the journey was horrendous due to the weather. We left Durham knowing there were no trains or any replacement transport going out of Peterborough, so I was a bit stressed! By the time we got to Peterborough they'd managed to organise a coach service into London so had to complete the journey by road.

I rang the lady from the coach to explain we had been delayed and to give her a new estimated time of arrival at the flat only to be told the booking had been cancelled. She said the previous tenant had asked to stay on so my booking was cancelled.

I had the mobile number of the flat owner and rang him and he said he had sent a cancellation email the previous day but I never got that. He said that the flat had a bad tenant and was no longer available.

I checked my credit card account on online banking and saw I hadn't been refunded so I rang him back to query that and in that call he said the flat was unavailable due to a legal issue and he would send the refund and I should get it within a few days.

By then it was 3.30pm and we were about 90 minutes off arriving in London with nowhere to stay. Tried various hotel sites on my phone, rang a few places like laterooms.com, and had a couple of wonderful friends checking online for me but nobody could find an affordable central hotel with family rooms available for all three nights.

Ended up staying in a hotel in north London for the Monday night, then had to move hotels and stay in Greenwich for two nights.

It's cost me quite a lot in additional accommodation charges as I've paid rack rates. I've also spent a lot more than expected on food as we've had to buy lunch and evening meals out each day. Spent four days living on sandwich meal deals and fast food as it's cheap

Pleased I had a credit card with some space on it otherwise I'd have been stranded if I didn't have cash to pay for the new accommodation and food.

I did email holiday lettings and complain, but they said it was a contact between me and the owner and nothing to do with them.

Not happy with the flat owner. You'd think if you were cancelling a booking with less than 24 hours notice, you'd make the effort and ring the person to ensure they got the message, rather than just send an email. As I didn't actually stay there, I can't leave them a review on holiday lettings.

It's the first time I've used holiday lettings and certainly won't be using the site again. It's too much of a risk if cancellations like this can happen and it's left me seriously out of pocket

bod1467

I'm not 100% sure, but it sounds like you may have a claim against the landlord for breach of contract.

If YOU were to have cancelled, how much notice would you have had to give? And what would have been the cancellation charge?

Hoof_Hearted

This sounds disgraceful. Small claims?

Becles

My cancellation details are:

If the guest cancels or the balance is not paid on time, the booking deposit (including the booking fee) cannot be refunded.

If the balance payment is not received at least two weeks before the holiday starts, the booking will be automatically cancelled.

If the guest has paid the full balance, they will receive:
• a 50% refund of the total cost (minus the booking fee of£12.00) if they cancel at least eight weeks before the start of the holiday; or
• a 25% refund of the total cost (minus the booking fee) if they cancel up to four weeks before the start of the holiday.

I haven't got an terms on my confirmation emails about if the owner cancels.

bod1467

Terms must be fair and equitable ... therefore AS A MINIMUM (in my opinion) you should be able to claim a full refund PLUS 25% of the total cost from the landlord.

If this (refund plus 25%) doesn't cover your actual accommodation costs whilst in London (assuming you were reasonable in your source of accommodation, which it seems you were), then you should be able to claim your total accommodation costs. Plus perhaps also a sum for inconvenience and stress. Plus your filing and hearing fees (small claims costs).

A Letter before Action (search for this term) to the landlord may persuade him to make an offer to compensate you. Otherwise you'd likely have to follow through with action if you wish to recover your additional expenses.