What rules apply when I book a cottage or flat?
General conditions for renting cottages and flats

adopted by the Swedish Tourism Trade Association on 29 May 1990 following discussions with the National Board for Consumer Policies. If the landlord applies special conditions, these are printed in italics below

Who is responsible?
The responsible landlord is:

DESTINATION ROSLAGEN / STUGOR I UPPLAND

Box 79 - S-742 21 Östhammar / SWEDEN

As landlords we are obliged to ensure that:

• you receive written confirmation of your booking,.
• you receive documentation and details of where to pick up the key in good time, but not necessarily more than 30 days before the agreed day of arrival.
• the cottages/flat agrees with the description. We are not responsible for any promises the owner or his contact person my have made directly to you without our knowledge and which we were not aware of or ought to have been aware of. (Try to obtain promises in writing for safety's sake)
• you are informed of any important changes concerning your booking.
  you may use the cottage/flat from 3 pm on the agreed day of arrival until 11 am on the day of departure, unless otherwise confirmed.

If you are not satisfied with the cottage/flat, you should contact us. See below.

When does my booking become binding?
You and we are bound by the lease as soon as we have confirmed you booking and you have paid the application fee (or all the rent).

When should I pay?
If you booked earlier than 60 days in advance the application fee is 500 SEK/week, but no more than 20% of the rent. The application fee should be paid within 10 days of the date on which we sent the confirmation to you. It will be deducuted from the rent. The rest of the rent should be paid no later that 60 days before the agreed day of arrival.

If you booked later than 60 days in advance, all the rent should be paid at the latest within 10 days, but no later than [the day before arrival day].

If you booked a longer period than 30 days, you do not need to pay for the following 30 -day periods before the last bank day before the start of each subsequent 30-day period.

What happens if I don't pay on time?
If you don't pay the application fee on time, we have the right to cancel your booking. I you fail to pay the rent this is counted as a cancellation on your part and in that case the rules for cancellation apply.

What are the rules if I want to cancel?
You can cancel verbally or in writing through us or through the place that took your booking. Cancellation is not valid if it takes place through another party or is sent to the cottage/flat. We are obliged to confirm your cancellation in writing.

If you cancel more that 40 days before agreed arrival, you do not need to pay more than a service charge of 500 SEK.

If you cancel 40 days or later before agreed arrival, you will have to pay 90% of the rent.

If you have already paid more than you are obliged to, the difference will be reimbursed by the party to whom it was paid.

If we manage to rent the cottage/flat to someone else, we will reimburse you with the amount equivalent to the rent paid by the new tenant, with a deduction for a service fee of 500 SEK.

What if something happens to me?
You can protect yourself against the cost of cancellation by purchasing cancellation protection. It costs 250 SEK per cottage/flat and means that under certain circumstances you can cancel up to and including the day before agreed arrival [against a cancellation fee of 250 SEK per cottage/flat resp without any charge).

Cancellation protection applies, under the following circumstances, of which you were not aware when you booked:

a) death, illness or accident of a serious nature, affecting you personally, your spouse, partner, family or travelling companion,
b) call-up to the armed forces or civil defence,
c) the occurrence of a serious event outside your control which you could not foresee when you booked and which means that it is unreasonable to demand that you honour your booking, e.g. extensive fire or flood damage to your home.

You must have a certificate to prove the reason for cancellation, issued by a doctor, public authority, insurance company or similar. The certificate should be sent to us as soon as possible, preferably within one week from the date of cancellation.

The cost of cancellation protection is not reimbursed on cancellation.

What are my rights?
If we do not provide the cottage/flat in the promised condition or at the right time and cannot offer you another cottage/flat that differs so little from the one you booked that this is of no significance to you, you are entitled to cancel the lease. In this case we have to reimburse everything you have paid us and compensate you for your proved and reasonable costs, with a deduction for the benefit you may have had from the cottage/flat.

Instead of cancelling the lease, you may demand reduction of the rent.

If you have any complaints they should be communicated to us as soon as possible, preferably within 3 days from the day of arrival. Any defects which occur during your stay should be reported immediately, so that we have the opportunity to rectify them.

You are entitled to put another person in your place and we have to accept that person unless we have special grounds for refusing. If you intend to do so you must inform us before the date of taking possession. [The fee for changing the reservation is 200 SEK.]

What are my obligations?
You must take good care of the cottage/flat and follow the rules and regulations which apply. You are personally responsible for any damage that occurs to the property and its contents through your own negligence or that of someone in your party.

You must not use the cottage/flat for any purpose other than what was agreed at the time of booking (normal leisure purposes) and you must not allow more people to stay overnight in the cottage/flat or in its grounds than you stated on booking.

You must clean properly before you depart. I you fail to do so we will do the cleaning at your expense. [You will have to pay a deposit of 300 SEK upon arrival, which will be returned to you on your departure day, after the cottage/flat has been inspected and the cleaning approved.]

War, natural disasters, strikes, etc.
You and we have the right to depart from the lease if the cottage/flat cannot be supplied owing to military operations, natural disasters, labour-market conflicts, protracted interruptions in the supply of water or energy, fire or other similar major occurrences, which neither you nor we could have foreseen or influenced. Under such circumstances we are obliged to reimburse what you have paid with a deduction for the benefit you may have had from the cottage/flat.

What happens if we don't agree?
Tell us about any complaints immediately. Bear in mind that your chances of obtaining redress may diminish if you delay in making your complaint. If we don't agree, you can contact Allmänna Reklamationsnämnden (the National Board for Consumer Complaints) which consists of an impartial chairman and a number of representatives of travel organizers and consumers. The address is: Box 174, S-101 23 Stockholm, Sweden. (www.arn.se)