Homestay Terms & Conditions

Important note: The terms and conditions set below are for individual accommodation (not groups) booked with a homestay or host family and not in a self-contained room in a Student Residence, or a Guardianship booking.

For Guardianship booking terms and conditions, please click here.
For Group homestay booking terms and conditions, please click here.
For Student residence booking terms and conditions, please click here.

We operate VAT under the Tour Operators Margin Scheme and therefore VAT on our services are not claimable.

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. References in these terms and conditions to “You” or “Your” refers to the paying customer.

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.

• To book your homestay accommodation, 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. Credit card payments are subject to a surcharge to cover the fees charged by the payment gateway provider.
• All bookings are subject to a non-refundable booking fee (as stated in our rates). Rooms booked in homestays for extra days, over and above the weekly period, will be pro-rated up to 3 extra nights and a full week will be charged for 4, 5, 6 and 7 extra nights thus charged accordingly.

• 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.

• When booking accommodation, 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 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:

Check in is always after 14:00 and before 20:30. Check out is before 10:00 am

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.

If you are booking an airport transfer through our agency, please ensure you have provided us your correct flight information (including airport and terminal of arrival, arrival time, carrier and the mobile phone number you will be using upon arrival/departure) at least 1 week prior to the date of the requested airport transfer. We cannot be held responsible if the correct details have not been provided within this timeframe. Please note for cancellations of airport transfer, there will be a £20 admin fee up to 48 hours of the booked airport pick-up time. For cancellations (or no-shows) of less than 48 hours prior to airport transfer, the full amount will be payable.

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.

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, 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,  Private Home and Hostel Bookings). All changes are subject to a £50 administration fee.

More information is available on our Visa Guidelines page.

Accommodation once paid for it is subject to the following cancellation charges:

• If you cancel your accommodation 30 days or more prior to the booked arrival date we will refund your fees in full, minus any booking/instalment/banking fees.
• If you cancel your accommodation from 29 days – 8 days prior to the booked arrival date we will refund your fees, minus one week’s accommodation fees and any booking/instalment/banking fees.
• If you cancel your accommodation from 7 days – 3 days prior to the booked arrival date we will refund your fees, minus 2 weeks accommodation fees and any booking/instalment/banking fees.
• If you cancel your accommodation 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 fees and any booking/instalment/banking fees. There will be no refund if you have not paid for more than 4 weeks accommodation.

In the event of an emergency, we reserve the right to cancel accommodation without prior notice, or to change the accommodation without prior consent. We also reserve the right to change the allocated host family before or during the course if this becomes necessary.

In the unlikely event of a student being dissatisfied with their accommodation, complaints must be made during the stay, at the time either of the problem becoming known, by the student directly, or through their agent, and must adhere to the complaints procedure featured on the following link (click here). We cannot accept any retrospective claim or complaint from a student or their agent.

Cancellation requests must be received during Home from Home office hours, which are from 10.00 – 18.00 (London time) Monday through Friday. Saturdays, Sundays and national holidays (including the days between Christmas and New Year) are excluded.

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 Student Services.

If you have a special request for something that is not automatically part of a ‘regular’ homestay booking (e.g. an all vegetarian household, you require a ground floor bedroom, you have an allergy etc), please make the request at the time of booking. We can then pass your request on to the relevant accommodation provider/host to ask if they can meet your requirements. Special requests are not guaranteed to be met – even if we’ve made a note of your request on your invoice. That just means we’ve received the request and have passed it on to the supplier. We will not pay compensation or give any refund for failing to meet a special request unless we’ve confirmed separately in writing to you that the request will be met. When you make a special request, you agree that any personal data you provide including sensitive personal data, has to be passed to the relevant host/accommodation provider to fulfil that request, and you consent to this happening. Please see our Data Protection and Privacy Policy for more information.

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)

• Our liability is no more than the money we have received from you.
• Home from Home Student Services only acts as an agent between its students, travel organisations, and any accommodation or courses it offers, including but not limited to homestays. 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, 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.

• Any travel information given including nearest stations, information on buses/trains, walking times and distances are given in good faith and are approximations based on information provided by http://www.tfl.gov.uk and http://www.bing.com. Postcodes are provided in the homestay confirmation and it is the responsibility of the student or their agent to check location before arrival. We cannot be liable for any complaint of location/distance/travel zone after arrival. We believe the information provided to you regarding the homestay host 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 homestay host or their home environment that have not been relayed to us.

• Food allergies: Please note that hosts are not professional chefs and are unlikely to have undertaken any training or have qualifications in the preparation of food. They are preparing meals for themselves and their families and you will be joining them. Their meals may contain products with peanuts, tree nuts, soy, milk, eggs and wheat. Even if it is not clearly obvious that the food contains any of these ingredients, there may have been cross-contamination somewhere in the production or the preparation of their meals. If you have a food allergy we strongly recommend that you choose a meal plan such as self-catering that enables you to be responsible for what you eat and how your food is prepared. Home from Home Student Services accepts no liability for anyone who has a food allergy but chooses to ignore this advice and stays with a host on a meal plan in which food is provided. Please see more information here.
• All damages and breakages caused by the guest must be paid for by the guest directly.
• Guests must not pay the host directly. Hosts do not accept cash payments, this breaks the terms and conditions set out for the host and may cause confusion at a later date.
• Guests are staying with the host on a host/guest basis and do not have a tenancy. We therefore ask guests not to open bank accounts, apply for credit/credit cards or register their national insurance to the host’s address. Guests staying on a longer stay basis (6 months or longer) may register for a bank account or national insurance number if given written permission by their host.
• Please note that all guests should be either studying or attending an internship and are therefore expected to vacate the homestay between the hours of 10:00 and 16:00 between Monday and Friday to attend their course/internship (good health permitting).
• Reasonable behaviour is expected at all times during your stay with the host in their accommodation. We reserve the right to remove any guest whose conduct is unsatisfactory. Refunds or alternate accommodation/home tuition will be offered at the discretion of Home from Home Student Services.
• The booking is only valid for the person/persons named in the confirmation document. Bookings are not transferable and guests should not invite other people into the host’s accommodation without first being given permission in writing. Overnight guests are strictly prohibited without prior written permission. If you would like to apply to have a guest visit, please do not ask your host directly, instead please email our agency.
• Guests are subject to the host’s house rules and should respect them at all times. Guests should not smoke or bring alcohol into the host’s accommodation without first receiving their permission.