TERMS & CONDITIONS OF HIRE

BOOKING AGREEMENT

By proceeding with your booking you are deemed to have accepted the following terms and conditions for the hire of the Centre.

TERMS & CONDITIONS OF HIRE

Agreements with the Board of The Melville Centre for the Arts Centre (“the Centre”) for the hire of The Centre or any part thereof (“the Premises”) are subject to these Terms and Conditions of Hire (“the Hire Conditions”).

Undertaking of the Hirer

The Hirer undertakes to ensure that they have an understanding of the Hire Conditions for the time being in force.

Supervision by the Hirer

The Hirer undertakes to be present, or arrange for sufficient adult representatives to be present, throughout the hiring to ensure compliance with the provisions and stipulations contained or referred to in these Hire Conditions and any relevant licenses.

Responsibility of the Hirer

The Hirer shall be responsible during the period of hire for:-

• Being familiar with, and complying with, the guides provided for the use of the Centre which will be provided upon submitting a booking
• Supervision of the use of the room/rooms and the care of its fabric and contents
• Ensuring that the purpose and conduct of the hire does not disrupt the use of any other room hired by other persons
• Ensuring that the Premises (including foyer, kitchen, kitchen appliances and toilets as appropriate) are left clean and tidy with rubbish removed from the site at the end of the hire
• Ensuring that the Premises are cleared of people, all lights switched off, and the room/rooms secured, except for any facilities or room or public area in use by another continuing hire
• Ensuring that any temporary fittings and fixtures comply with Health and Safety guidance, and in particular ensuring that any decorations used are not a fire hazard
• Ensuring that any equipment or electrical appliances brought onto the Premises and used there shall be certified safe and in good working order, and used in a safe manner (there may need to be a discussion related to PAT Testing etc)
• Ensuring that no animals (including birds), except assist dogs are brought into the building, without written permission of the Centre on the occasion of a special event or hire agreed to by the Centre
• Ensuring that NO animals whatsoever enter the kitchen at any time
• Ensuring that no Barbeques, LPG appliances or highly flammable substances are brought onto the Premises
• Ensuring that they and their attendees recognise the fact that the Premises are situated in a residential neighbourhood and conduct themselves accordingly by, for example, taking care not to slam car doors, especially late at night, and not playing music or making other sounds at inappropriate levels
• Conforming with the Centre’s policies re the use of external areas of the site and any outdoor structures e.g. marquees, and confirming to the Centre that they have appropriate public liability insurance.
• Bookings which may be refused

The Centre booking administrator, on behalf of the Board of Directors, has the right to refuse any booking for whatever reason, including concern over potential noise levels and other nuisances especially to neighbours.

Deposit

A 50% deposit is required for all events and parties.  If the room is not left in an acceptable state deductions will be made before the deposit is returned.
Arts and crafts workshops require a 25% deposit.

Cancellation

1. No charge if cancelled 4 weeks or more before your confirmed booking date
2. 50% of booking charge is due if cancellation is between 4 and 1 weeks before your confirmed booking date
3. 100% of booking charge is due if cancellation is 1 week or less before your confirmed booking date
4. NB these charges are not applicable in the case of government restrictions due to a pandemic or other emergency.

Payment terms

1. For a single booking, payment is due before the event, except by agreement
2. For any single booking open to the public, which covers its costs by ticket sales or other fund-raising activities at the event, payment is due within 30 days of the date of the invoice.
3. When an event, open to the public and covering its costs by ticket sales, requires additional bookings for rehearsal or setup time, then payment for those additional bookings is also due within  30 days of the date of the invoice.
4. For a series of bookings, payment is due 30 days after the date of invoice of each event, except by agreement at the time of the initial booking
5. When a discount for payment in advance has been applied to a series of bookings, payment is due before the first event in the series.

Fire Regulations

The Hirer shall:

• Ensure that the “Emergency Exit” signs are kept illuminated
• Ensure that the Fire Brigade is called to any outbreak of fire, however slight, and details given to the Centre
• Prior to the start of an event indicate the fire exits and Assembly Meeting Point to the persons attending the event
• Ensure that all fire exits are kept clear at all times and that doorways are not obstructed.
• Ensure that the entrances are not blocked with items such as buggies, wheelchairs or mobile scooters

The Assembly Point  is in the car park by the railings by the main gates, away from the Centre. No person may re-enter the Centre without the permission of the Fire Brigade.

Use of Premises

The Hirer shall not:-

• sub-let or use the Premises for any purpose other than that described in their Booking Application
• use the premises or allow the Premises to be used for any unlawful purpose or in any unlawful way
• do anything or bring onto the Premises anything which may endanger the Premises or render invalid any insurance policies in respect thereof
• allow the use of illegal drugs on the Premises
• allow smoking anywhere on site.

Car Parking

Vehicles are parked at owner’s risk, and may be parked only in the designated  spaces.

Premises Licence and other relevant legislation

The Hirer is responsible for:

• Conforming to the terms of the Premises Licencegranted to the Centre, including, but not limited to, permitted hours for licensable activities (serving alcohol, playing live or recorded music).
• Conforming to  the MCA CIC’s PRS/PRL Policy and returning   the relevant documentation  completed  a minimum of 14 days in advance of the event.
• Ensuring that Alcohol is not served to any person under the age of 18 years.
• Ensuring no excessive noise occurs, particularly late at night or early morning, with a minimum of noise being made by any person on arrival or departure

The Hirer shall ensure that the users:

• do not contravene the law relating to gaming, betting, and lotteries
• comply with all conditions and regulations required by the Licensing Act, particularly in connection with events which include public dancing or music, or stage plays, or films, or similar entertainment taking place at the premises.

A breach of this condition may lead to prosecution by the local authority.

Compliance with legislation relating to children or vulnerable adults

For all bookings involving children or vulnerable adults, except private parties where the Hirer is a family member, the Hirer is required to have their own safeguarding policy and must ensure that those who work with young people or vulnerable adults hold a current DBS certificate.

The Hirer shall ensure that any activities at the Premises for children or vulnerable adults comply with current legislation in that regard and that only fit and proper persons have access to children or vulnerable adults.  The hirer is required to adhere to the Wales Safeguarding Procedures 2019 www.safeguarding.wales as does MCA CIC.

Indemnity (this may be a difficult one for some to meet – but I get it)

The Hirer shall indemnify and keep indemnified each of the Board of Directors of the Centre and their employees, volunteers, agents and invitees against:

• the cost of repair of any damage done to any part of the Premises including the curtilage thereof or the contents of the Premises
• against all actions, claims, and costs of proceedings arising from any breach of the Centre Conditions
• all claims in respect of damages, including damage for loss of property or injury to persons, arising as a result of the use of the Premises (including the storage of equipment) by the Hirer

As directed by the Centre, the Hirer shall make good or pay for all damage (including accidental damage) to the Premises or to the fixtures, fittings or contents and for loss of contents

Insurance

The Hirer is responsible for ensuring that any catering company or operator hired to bring equipment onto the Premises has relevant and appropriate insurance, which shall include public liability insurance

Commercial hirers must provide Public Liability insurance (£5,000,000 minimum indemnity).

Accidents and Dangerous Occurrences

The Hirer must report all accidents involving injury to the public to an authorised representative of the Centre as soon as possible, and complete the relevant section in the Centre’s Accident Book. The hirer shall ensure the appropriate medical assistance is sought, or an ambulance is called.

Any failure of equipment, either that belonging to the Centre, or brought in by the Hirer must also be reported as soon as possible.

Stored equipment

The Centre accepts no responsibility for any stored equipment or other property brought onto or left at the premises and all liability for loss or damage is hereby excluded.

No alterations

Decorations may be hung from the ornamental bosses/hooks provided on the side walls of the premises but not elsewhere. On request, Hirers must produce a certificate that the decorations are not a fire hazard.  No Blu-tack, drawing pins, adhesive tape or similar may be used.

No other alterations or additions may be made to the Premises, and no fixtures may be installed, or placards, or other articles be attached in any way to any part of the Premises without the prior written approval of the Centre.

Any alteration, fixture or fitting, or attachment, so approved, shall, at the discretion of the Centre, remain in the Premises at the end of the hiring and become the property of the Centre or be removed by the Hirer. The Hirer must make good to the satisfaction of the Centre any damage caused to the Premises by such removal.

 Interruption of Regular Bookings

There may be occasions, such as special celebrations, where the Centre may need to arrange to cancel one session out of a series. Such cancellations shall not occur more than once a month, and at least six weeks’ notice shall be given of such cancellation.

The Centre reserves the right to nominate a specified weekday evening as not being available for regular weekly bookings, so that priority can be given to monthly, or less frequent, bookings.

Cancellation by the Centre

The Centre reserves the right to cancel a hiring by written notice to the Hirer in the event of a national emergency, or similar force majeur situation that requires the Premises to be closed, or of the Premises being required for use as a Polling Station for a Parliamentary or Local Government election or bye-election or referendum or if the Centre reasonably considers that:

• such hiring may lead to a breach of the licensing conditions, or other legal or statutory requirements, or
• unlawful or unsuitable activities may take place at the Premises as a result of the hiring, or
• the Premises have become unfit for the use intended by the Hirer

In any such case the Hirer shall be entitled to a refund of any deposit or hire fees already paid, but the Centre shall not be liable for any resulting direct or indirect loss or damages whatsoever.

Acceptance

These Terms and Conditions will have been made available to the Hirer at the time of making the booking.  By proceeding with the booking the Hirer is deemed to have accepted these terms and conditions.