RECRON CONDITIONS
Holiday residences
These RECRON conditions for land recreation were drafted in April 1997 in consultation with the Consumers Union and the ANWB (Dutch Touring Club) within the framework of the Coordination Group for Self-Regulating Management of the Social-Economic Council and become effective per January 1, 1998. These conditions are applicable to all contracts relating to the use of holiday residences.
Article 1: Definitions
In these conditions, the following shall be understood:
a. holiday residence: bungalow, summerhouse,etc;
b. proprietor: the company, the establishment or the association that makes the lodgingavailable;
c. visitor: the person with whom the proprietor enters into an agreement regarding the holidayresidence;
d. substitute visitor: a visitor found to be acceptable by the proprietor, who is prepared to enter into a new contract concerning the same holidayresidence;
e. season: a period of at least three months and at most eight months of the calendaryear;
f. rules of conduct: rules regarding the use of and the stay at the recreation facility, the pitch and the holidayresidence;
g. Arbitration Board: Arbitration Board of Recreation in Den Hague, organised by the ANWB, Consumers Union and RECRON.
Article 2: Contents of this Agreement
1. The proprietor agrees to make available to the visitor, for recreational purposes only and not permanent accommodations, the contracted holiday residence for the contracted period oftime.
2. The agreement shall be concluded based on information, folders and/or other advertisements provided by the proprietor to thevisitor.
Article 3: Quality and safety
1. The proprietor has the right to inspect, or have inspected, said holiday residence for quality and safety of the electrical, gas and waterinstallation.
2. The proprietor guarantees the quality and safety of the holiday residence, unless he can show circumstances beyond his control or that the disturbances are the result of the installations for which the visitor isresponsible.
3. The visitor is not permitted, in any way, to have a LPG- installation that has not been officially approved for motor vehicles by the Ministry ofTransport.
Article 4: Maintenance and installation
1. The proprietor is responsible for keeping the recreation grounds in goodstate.
2. It is not permitted for the visitor to dig holes on the grounds, to cut trees or prune bushes, to lay-out gardens, plant bulbs, place aerials, build fences, partitions or verandas, to tile terraces or to add construction of any kind, near, on, under or around the holiday residence unless having received prior written permission from theproprietor.
Article 5: Price
1. The contracted price is inclusive of the costs of the use of gas/electricity/water/drainage and other attached costs with the exception of tourist tax, unless otherwise agreed upon in advance.
2. If, after the price has been established, the proprietor is subject to a rate increase resulting from a change in taxation, levies or other expenses that also concern the visitor, these can be passed on to thevisitor.
Article 6: Price changes for agreements entered into for longer than one season
1. Without prejudice to specifications in article 5 par. 2, the proprietor has the right to change the contracted prices no more than once a year. The visitor will be notified, in writing, of the change in prices, at least one month before the end of the calendar year.
2. With price changes other than those on the grounds of article 5 par. 2, the visitor can cancel the contract within 30 days of having been notified thereof. This cancellation takes affect on the date the new rates becomevalid.
Article 7: Payment
1. The visitor shall make the payment in euros unless another arrangement has been made, with due regard to the terms asagreed.
2. If the visitor, despite previous written reminders, does not fulfil the terms for payment, the proprietor has the right to immediately effect termination of the contract, taking into account that which is specified in par. 3 and4.
3. If the proprietor cancels the contract, he must notify the visitor, in writing, either by registered mail or personally hand delivering the letter, apprising him/her as to the means to take to reverse the cancellation by completing the payment within 10 days of the dated written cancellation or to refer the dispute to the Arbitration Board of Recreation or to a competent civiljudge.
4. If the visitor disregards the possibilities as offered in par.3, the proprietor has the right to deny the visitor and his family, guests, visitors and any other users entrance to thegrounds
Article 8: Cancellation and premature termination
1. Should the visitor cancel or prematurely terminate the contract, he/she is still obligated to pay the full for the agreed period (exclusive the costs of gas/electricity/ water/drainage) unless the visitor is able to find a substitute, acceptable to the proprietor who is willing to take over the holiday residence and there are no other similar holiday residences on the grounds. If the proprietor were to have already found a substitute visitor willing to take over the use, the latter will be given priority. In both cases, new calculations will be made, whereby the proprietor is entitled to charge administrative costs amounting to 5% of the agreed price, with a minimumof
€ 27,50 and a maximum of € 55,-.
2. Concerning the cancellation of a holiday residence contracted for a shorter period of time than one season, the visitor shall forfeit a fixed compensation fee. This amountto:
- 15% of the agreed price if the cancellation occurs up to 3 months before the commencingdate;
- 50% of the agreed price if the cancellation occurs up to 2 months before the commencingdate;
- 75% of the agreed price if the cancellation occurs up to 1 month before the commencingdate;
- 90% of the agreed price if the cancellation occurs within 1 month of the commencingdate;
- 100% of the agreed price if the cancellation occurs on the commencingdate.
3. The compensation fee will be proportionately refunded after deduction of the administrative costs, if the holiday residence is reserved by a third party for the same period of time or portion thereof and there are no similar holidayresidences
available in that period.
The administration costs shall amount to 5% of the agreed price, with a minimum of € 27,50 and a maximum of € 55,-.
4. If the proprietor raises the prices within three months of the ending date of the agreement, the visitor can immediately terminate the contract, in which case, par. 1 and 2 of this article are not applicable unless the increase is the result of circumstances such as those described in article 5,par.2.
Article 9: Rules of conduct
1. The visitor, his family, guests, visitors and any other users are expected to follow the rules of conduct as specified by the proprietor including the rules concerning any requirements for camping or staying documents or registration obligations.
2 The proprietor shall acquaint the visitor of the rules of conduct.
3. If the rules of conduct and/or agreements as presented by the proprietor are in conflict with these conditions and are to the disadvantage of the visitor, then these conditions prevail.
Article 10: Liability
1. The proprietor is not responsible for theft, accidents or damage on his grounds unless it is the result of a shortcoming on the part of the proprietor or of his staff members.
2. The legal liability of the proprietor shall at least comprise of a reasonable amount of liability insurance with a minimum coverage of €455.000,-.
3. The visitor is liable to the proprietor for damage that is caused by action or reaction by himself, his family, his guests, visitors or users allowed entry by him, for so far as the damage caused can be attributed to the visitor, his family, his guests, visitors orusers.
Article 11: Duration and expiration of the contract
The agreement shall automatically expire at the end of the contract period.
Article 12: Premature termination by the proprietor and eviction due to nonfulfilment
1. Should the visitor, his family members, visitors or guests not comply with the obligation made in the agreement, the conditions, the rules of conduct or the regulations of the authorities, in spite of prior warnings and to such an extent that, according to all reasonable standards of fairness, the proprietor cannot be expected to uphold the contract, the proprietor has the right to immediately terminate the agreement. After which the visitor must then vacate the holiday residence and leave the grounds immediately. A warning can, in very urgent cases, beomitted.
2. Should the visitor fail to vacate the holiday residence, the proprietor has the right to charge the visitor for the costs of evacuating thepitch.
3. If the visitor contests the cancellation, he must notify the proprietor thereof and can, within 30 days, present it to the Arbitration Board for Recreation. The visitor remains, in principal, obligated to pay the agreedprice.
Article 13: Use by third parties
Neither the proprietor nor the visitor is allowed to grant permission for use of the holiday residence or the pitch, under whatever name, to persons other than those named in the agreement, unless otherwise explicitly agreed. The conditions under which such use is permitted will have to be regulated in advance in a separateagreement.
Article 14: Payment of Charges
Extra-judicial costs incurred within reason by the visitor or the proprietor, respectively, shall be borne by the visitor or the proprietor, respectively, after a notice of default. If the total payment is not settled when due, interest of a fixed legal rate can be charged after written notification on the still outstanding amount.
Article 15: Rules regarding disputes
1. Dutch law is applicable to all disputes concerning the contract.
Only a Dutch judge or the here-named Arbitration Board is authorised to hear these disputes. Without prejudice to the stipulations in par. 3, taking into account the pitches where the conditions mention the Arbitration Board of Recreation, an appeal before a civil judge is alsopossible.
2. Disputes between the visitor and the proprietor resulting from or relating to the completion or execution of the agreements to which these conditions apply, can be submitted, either by the visitor or the proprietor to the Arbitration Board of Recreation, Surinamestraat 24, 2585 GJ, TheHague.
3. The dispute will only be handled without prejudice to the stipulations in articles 7 par. 3 and 12 par. 3, if the visitor has first made the complaint, within two months, to the proprietor. After that the dispute must be submitted by the visitor, in writing, to the Arbitration Board three months, at the most, after the complaint was presented to the proprietor clearly stating the name and address of the visitor and the proprietor and clearly describing the dispute and thedemands.
When the visitor wants a dispute handled by the Arbitration Board, the proprietor must accept the choice and a hearing by a normal judge is no longer anoption.
4. The Arbitration Board is not authorised to handle disputes regarding complaints about illness, bodily harm, death or disputes that exclusively concern non-payment of an invoice and in which there is are no material grounds for a complaint. Without prejudice to the stipulations in article 7, if the visitor does not pay the bill on time, is the proprietor authorised to ask a regular judge to hear theprocedure.
5. If the proprietor presents a dispute to the Arbitration Board, this dispute will only be handled after the visitor declares, in writing, within one month, that he/she shall submit to the decision of the Arbitration Board and has deposited the eventual (remaining) amount owed with the ArbitrationBoard.
6. If the visitor presents a complaint before the Arbitration Board, the Arbitration Board will accept this dispute only after the visitor has deposited the eventual (remaining) amount owed to the proprietor with the Arbitration Board. The visitor must deposit this amount within one month into the account designated by Arbitration Board. If the visitor does not make the deposit on time, it will interpreted that he shall not submit to the judgement of the ArbitrationBoard.
7. There is remuneration charged for the handling of adispute.
8. The handling of disputes shall be referred to the Regulations Arbitration Board ofRecreation.
Article 16: Fulfilment guarantees
RECRON will assume the obligations imposed on a proprietor towards a visitor from a binding recommendation imposed by the Arbitration Board for Recreation for consumer affairs, under the agreed-upon conditions, if the proprietor concerned does not meet those obligations within the term fixed in the binding advice; unless, that the proprietor, within two months of the date of receiving the binding advice has presented a statement before a normal judge. This guarantee is applicable only if the contracting party makes a written appeal toRECRON.
Article 17: Changes
Changes in the RECRON-conditions can only take place after consulting with the consumers organisations, the ANWB (Dutch Touring Club) and Consumers Contact.
This allows that the consumer and the proprietor can make additional individual agreements in which the benefits of these conditions to the consumer may differ.
© 1998 RECRON Service