Welcome to Holiday Houses. By accessing and using this website and the services it provides ("Holiday Houses"), you agree to these terms and conditions . If you do not accept these terms and conditions, you must refrain from using the website and the services.
Holiday Houses is operated by Trade Me Limited ("Trade Me", "us", "our").
1.1 As Trade Me operates in a changing commercial, technological and regulatory environment, we may amend these terms and conditions from time to time. Unless otherwise stated, amendments will be effective immediately when we post them on this website. You are responsible for ensuring you are familiar with the latest terms and conditions. Your continued use of the website and/or services represents your agreement to be bound by the latest terms and conditions as amended.
These terms and conditions were last updated 5 November 2018.
2.1 You may only use Holiday Houses if you can form a legally binding contract that is enforceable against you. You must be at least 18 years old.
2.2 You agree to provide complete, accurate and current information when listing or booking accommodation. We use and store your information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
2.3 We reserve the right at our discretion to cease or decline to provide you with any or all of the services we offer at any time without entering further discussions with you. Any such refusal or termination shall not affect any right or remedy to which Trade Me may be entitled.
2.4 You acknowledge that Trade Me will send you emails relating to your transactions and other activities on the website.
2.5 You acknowledge that Trade Me may also send you regular electronic newsletters. Newsletters will comply with the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 and you can opt out of receiving them at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link provided.
3.1 The Holiday Houses website is provided to connect owners with renters. You must not use the Holiday Houses website for any other purpose without our express permission in writing.
3.2 We put homeowners (or their agents) ("owners") in touch with short term holiday renters ("renters"). Our service is not for the use of long term renters or those looking for permanent accommodation.
3.3 Holiday Houses provides a venue to introduce potential holiday house renters to house owners or agents. We are not the agent of any owner listed on www.holidayhouses.co.nz, or of any renter, including where the online booking system is used. We do not endorse any owner or any property, and we have no control over the suitability, quality or rental price of anything anyone advertises on our site.
3.4 With the exception of when we facilitate a payment by the renter via the credit card facility on the Holiday Houses site, we are not a party, either ourselves or on behalf of any owner or the renter, in any transaction resulting from use of the site, or any dispute arising from any such transaction. Owners and renters contract directly with each other and should communicate and deal with each other directly to resolve any problems or disputes.
3.5 If a rental arrangement proceeds, and the renter has not paid via the credit card facility on the Holiday Houses site, it is up to the renter and the owner/agent to finalise rental terms and complete all financial transactions. We provide a template agreement on our site that owners and renters can choose to use for short term holiday rental. But we offer no guarantee that it is suitable for your purposes. We are not responsible for any use of that agreement that you make. We recommend obtaining legal advice if you are unsure about the effect of the agreement.
3.6 Transactions and all other contact between you and any other Holiday Houses user are conducted entirely at your own risk. Without limiting any other clause of these terms and conditions, you acknowledge that Trade Me takes no responsibility or liability for any misconduct of any of its members including, without limitation, misrepresentation of properties and fraudulent behaviour and that Holiday Houses gives no undertakings, representations, or warranties in relation to the accuracy of information on the website.
3.7 You must only make a booking that you intend to use and pay for. You must not use the website or helpline to make speculative, false or fraudulent bookings or enquiries.
3.8 Trade Me reserves the right to amend or remove information published on or through the website if Trade Me considers it incorrect or misleading, or if Trade Me considers your action towards renters is inappropriate.
3.9 If you register with Holiday Houses, you are responsible for keeping your login information, including your email address and password, secret and secure. Without limiting the foregoing, you agree:
4.1 Your use of the Holiday Houses website and/or services is at your sole risk.
4.2 The website and services are provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis.
4.3 Trade Me does not give any warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, in relation to the website, the service provided by the website, or your use of the website and/or service, including (without limitation) the availability, accuracy or completeness of the website and the information on it, or the quality or suitability of any accommodation, product or service featured or made available on the website.
4.4 Trade Me may modify or discontinue this website without notice to you.
5.1 To the maximum extent permitted by law, Trade Me disclaims any and all liability to you, under any circumstances (including, but not limited to, negligence), for any direct or indirect loss or damage (including, but not limited to, general, consequential, special or incidental loss or damages, loss of profits, loss of savings, loss of opportunity, or personal injury and damage to property) suffered by you, or anyone else, arising from the direct or indirect use of the Holiday Houses website and/or any services provided by Trade Me or from the use of, or inability to use, any accommodation, product or service booked or paid for using the website and/or services, even if Trade Me has been advised of the possibility of such loss or damages. If, notwithstanding these terms and conditions, Trade Me is held to be liable then you agree that Trade Me's total liability to you and those claiming through you under any and all causes of action, whether in contract, tort or otherwise, shall not exceed the amount actually paid by you to Trade Me for your use of the Holiday Houses website and/or services.
6.1 All property listings, and all communications made through or in relation to Holiday Houses shall be made in good faith.
6.2 You must not damage, interfere with or harm the website or services, or any network, or system underlying or connected to them, or attempt to do so.
6.3 You may not use a robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the website or information featured on it for any purpose without our express permission.
6.4 You must list your accommodation prices in New Zealand dollars and include GST in the price. You acknowledge that your tax obligations are your responsibility.
7.1 You must comply with all laws relevant to the short term rental of the properties you advertise on our site. All information about your property and rates must be accurate at all times.
7.2 You will only list a property for rent if you are authorised to do so. If you are a co-owner of a property, you must ensure that all other co-owners agree to you renting out the property.
7.3 Each property you register on Holiday Houses must represent an individual physical property.
7.4 You agree to respond to enquiries and online booking requests in a timely manner.
7.5 Holiday Houses relies on availability information from your calendar for availability based search. You agree to keep your calendar up to date. Failure to keep your calendar up to date may result in Trade Me disabling your calendar in which case your house will no longer be shown in availability based searches.
7.6 You must not place your contact details (including any contact phone numbers or email addresses), or the details of any website through which you advertise your property, in the body of your listing.
7.7 You shall receive an electronic voucher by email when notified of a confirmed booking (and any subsequent amendment) made using the online booking system. You agree to accept from any renter, a current sales voucher generated through the service, as proof that the renter has paid for the relevant accommodation.
7.8 While our site shows probable availability of some properties, it is not a guarantee that a specific property is available at a certain time. You must always check directly with the owner.
7.9 Owners may have particular requirements or restrictions on their properties. If so, these are a matter between you and the owner.
8.1 The feedback or review entries you provide on Holiday Houses about users and properties must not contain offensive, defamatory, unlawful, misleading, deceptive or inappropriate language.
8.2 Trade Me is not responsible for any of the opinions expressed in the review facility. By posting a review you agree to take full legal responsibility and liability for your statements and to indemnify Trade Me from all liability, loss, damages, costs or expenses suffered by Trade Me in connection with your review.
8.3 You may only give feedback related to a specific stay in a Holiday Houses listed on the website that was either booked through the website, or was a result of an enquiry through the website.
8.4 You must not include any personal information in the feedback or guest books including but not limited to names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.
8.5 Trade Me reserves the right to remove any reviews that it considers inappropriate or in breach of these terms and conditions.
8.6 Reviews submitted to the website are provided for the sole purpose of facilitating the operation of the website and the services. You must not market or export any reviews on the website to any other venue or website.
8.7 Any correspondence you send to a renter or owner must not contain offensive, defamatory, unlawful, misleading, deceptive or inappropriate language. You agree that if you use the Holiday House messaging function or otherwise use the contact details of a renter or owner obtained in connection with using the Holiday Houses platform, that your correspondence with the renter or owner will relate to a listing or booking on Holiday Houses. You agree to take full legal responsibility and liability for your correspondence and to indemnify Trade Me from all liability, loss, damages, costs or expenses suffered by Trade Me in connection with your correspondence.
9.1 We charge owners fees for the use of our website as a way for owners and renters to contact each other and to facilitate online bookings ("fees"). Our current fees are listed on our fees and charges page.
9.2 If you are a renter, you do not pay us for the standard enquiry service we provide.
9.3 If you are the owner, you must pay us the fees associated with your advertising on our site. If you choose to offer online payments through the website, these payments will incur a commission payable to Trade Me, as detailed on our fees and charges page.
9.4 We may change the fees charged for services at any time. In the event that we introduce a new service, the fees for that service are effective at the launch of the service, unless otherwise stated.
9.5 If you do not pay our fees or charges, we can charge you interest on any amount unpaid from the due date until the date we receive payment, at a daily rate based on our main bank's business overdraft rate plus 2%, and we can charge you any costs that are reasonably incurred in recovering money you owe or in exercising our other rights. If we have received money from a renter on your behalf for another property you have listed through Holiday Houses, we may retain that money (or part thereof) to offset any unpaid fees or charges (including interest and other costs described above).
9.6 Our fees are shown in New Zealand dollars and are inclusive of GST (unless we indicate otherwise).
10.1 Some listings provide for online payments (in addition to booking enquiries). Owners can choose to provide instant confirmation for online payments, or can choose to view and then confirm online booking requests. Payment will only be charged once a booking is confirmed.
10.2 For online payments, owners can choose to require full payment, or just a deposit, to be made by credit card at the time of booking. If only a deposit is charged initially, full payment will subsequently be deducted from the renter’s credit card 10 days before the rental commences.
10.3 Renters are responsible for ensuring they have read the owner's terms for rental prior to making a booking.
10.4 We will email renters a booking confirmation, reference number and booking voucher for each confirmed online booking.
10.6 Renter payments for bookings will be received by credit card transaction through Trade Me’s online booking system. Trade Me will hold the money received from buyers on trust, in a non-interest bearing account until payment is made to the owner. Trade Me is authorised to deduct its fees. The owner will not earn interest on monies held by Trade Me.
10.7 Payment of a renter’s payment from the Trade Me bare trust account to the owner will be by electronic transfer to the owner’s nominated New Zealand bank account, less any fees and commissions payable, on the first Thursday after the renter has checked in. You are responsible for maintaining your bank account details and notifying Trade Me if they change. You agree to indemnify Trade Me against any bank charges or other costs that Trade Me may incur as a result of incorrect or out of date bank account information.
10.8 When a booking is confirmed Trade Me will provide a booking confirmation and receipt to the renter on behalf of the house owner.
11.1 Listings may operate on a Pay For Performance basis, where the subscription listing fee is waived and you are charged 9% of the booking total for Classic packages, 12% of the booking total for Silver packages, and 15% of the booking total for Gold packages (the Commission). Commission will be charged on all accepted booking requests.
11.2 You may either accept or decline Pay For Performance booking requests. If you decline the request, no confirmation of booking will be sent to the renter. Commission will not be charged on booking requests that are declined or cancelled before the date of the stay. Trade Me has the discretion to refund Commission charged on bookings on a case by case basis.
11.3 Commission will be calculated based on the applicable published rental rate on Holiday Houses at the time the booking request is placed.
11.4 Repeated failure to respond to booking requests may result in the removal of your listing.
11.5 Holiday Houses may keep listings with unpaid subscription advertising fees online. Renters may still make enquiries on these houses, but Holiday Houses will not forward these enquiries to you until you either purchase a new subscription listing, or select a Pay Per Booking option. You may remove your listing from Holiday Houses at any time.
11.6 If you accept a booking for your property off the Holiday Houses website (e.g., where a person contacts you directly after seeing your listing on Holiday Houses), commission for accepted, or deemed accepted, booking requests will be invoiced at the end of the month in which the stay occurred. This invoice must be paid within 30 days following the date of the invoice. Any disputes relating to Commission charged must be raised within 15 working days of the booking request being sent.
12.1 Cancellation policies are specific to each owner and may be viewed through a link from the payment confirmation page prior to final booking confirmation. A non-refundable fee of NZD$75 applies to all cancellations regardless of the owner’s cancellation policy. Where you are entitled to a refund, the refund will be made to the same credit card that you used to confirm the booking.
12.2 Renters should contact the owner directly to discuss any desired cancellations, changes or refunds. Additional charges, or a refund, may apply depending on the nature of the booking amendment.
12.3 Cancellations prior to booking confirmation do not incur fees.
12.4 If an owner cancels a confirmed booking, Holiday Houses may impose a cancellation fee of $75 (NZD). Holiday Houses may waive the cancellation fee at its sole discretion, if it considers the cancellation has been made under exceptional circumstances.
13.1 Trade Me uses fraud detection techniques that are designed to protect owners. As a result, Trade Me will sometimes hold or reverse payments or take other steps to prevent credit card fraud. While Trade Me has systems in place to reduce the risk of credit card fraud, Trade Me is not responsible for protecting the owner from credit card fraud or chargebacks.
14.1 In the event of a chargeback, Trade Me will provide reasonable evidence to the bank about the transaction. The owner may also be asked to provide additional information.
14.2 Trade Me has the right to, and may, reverse the full booking payment made to the owner should a chargeback, incorrect or other erroneous payment occur. Trade Me also has the discretion, when presented with appropriate evidence, to refund the renter if the renter can show a reasonable case for a legitimate refund request.
14.3 If Trade Me cannot reverse the booking payment made to the owner, or if a refund, as per Trade Me’s discretion noted in clause 14.2, is required to be made to the renter, Trade Me will debit the booking amount so that the amount is deducted from the owner’s next payment. Alternatively, Trade Me may invoice the owner for the full amount of the booking payment, which will be payable within 30 days of invoice.
As Trade Me is not a party to any rental transaction between you and another member, you agree not to involve, or attempt to involve, us in any dispute or in the resolution of disputes that arise between you and another member as a result of the Services provided.
Trade Me has no liability for any lack of performance, unavailability or failure of the services or the website, or for any failure of Trade Me to comply with these terms and conditions where the same arises from any cause reasonably beyond the control of Trade Me.
If we do not exercise or enforce any right available to us under these terms and conditions, it does not constitute a waiver of those rights.
If any provision of these terms and conditions becomes or is held to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, and in any respect, that provision shall be severed from the remaining terms and conditions, which shall continue in full force and effect.
These terms and conditions are governed by the laws of New Zealand. You submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of New Zealand.
Trade Me (and its licensors or suppliers, as the case may be) owns all proprietary and intellectual property rights in the website (including text, graphics, logos, icons and sound recordings) and the software and other material underlying and forming part of the services and the website.
You may not without our prior written permission, in any form or by any means:
These terms and conditions supersede all previous conditions, understandings, commitments, agreements and representations whatsoever whether oral or written, and constitutes the entire agreement, between the parties, relating to the subject matter of these terms and conditions.
Trade Me collects personal information about you through your use of the services and the website, including:
22.1 You agree that Trade Me may use your personal information as described in our privacy policy.
22.2 We may release account and other personal information in accordance with our privacy policy (for example, to authorities or other entities where necessary to uphold the law or our terms, or to our service providers, to help us provide and manage our services)
Trade Me may allow you to provide property updates via an XML data feed. If we approve you for this service you agree to: