1.1. What these terms cover. These are the terms and conditions on which we provide our online booking and tenancy application processing services to you. We provide an online booking service for use by prospective tenants of residential properties to secure, subject to these terms, the properties shown as available on our Site (as defined below) (subject to completion of our tenancy application process, as detailed in these terms). Once you have completed your online booking and tenancy application in accordance with these terms you will be required to enter into a separate tenancy agreement in respect of your chosen property with the landlord of such property.

1.2. Why you should read them. Please read these terms carefully before you complete your online booking with us. These terms tell you who we are, how we will provide our services to you, how you and we may change or end our contract with you, what to do if there is a problem and other important information. If you think that there is a mistake in these terms, please contact us by using the details below to discuss.

1.3. There are other terms applicable to your booking. In addition to these terms, your online booking will also be subject to our Privacy & Cookies Policy and any other terms notified to you from time to time or as set out in these terms.

1.4. You should print a copy of these terms for future reference. These terms will continue to apply regardless of your entry into any tenancy agreement. You should print or save a copy for future reference.

2. Information about us and how to contact us

2.1. Who we are. We are M-Apartments Limited a company registered in England and Wales. Our company registration number is 12599656 and our registered office is at 60 Oxford Street, Manchester, England, M1 5EE. Our registered VAT number is 260269216. We operate the website mapartments.co.uk (Site).

2.2. How to contact us. We try to make our online booking and tenancy application process as simple as possible. You can contact us by telephoning our customer service team on 0161 228 6633 or by writing to us at hello@mapartments.co.uk.

2.3. How we may contact you. If we have to contact you, we will do so by telephone or by writing to you at the email address or postal address you provided to us as part of our online booking process.

2.4. “Writing” includes emails. When we use the words “writing” or “written” in these terms, this includes emails.

3. Our contract with you

3.1. The online booking process. Once you have found a property on our Site that you are interested in renting, you will be able to follow the links on our Site to view the details of, and example pictures of that property. From this page, you will be able to follow a link to begin your online booking and will be invited to submit your details to us and pay the relevant initial holding fee in order to complete your offer for an online booking.

3.2. How we will accept your online booking. Once you have completed the steps set out at paragraph 1 above, our acceptance of your online booking will take place when we email you to accept and confirm it, at which point a contract will come into existence between you and us on the basis of these terms and the relevant property will be reserved for you for a maximum of 28 days in accordance with and subject to these terms.

3.3. If we cannot accept your online booking. If we are unable to accept your online booking, we will inform you of this by email and will not charge you the initial holding fee or if you have already paid such fee, we will refund this to you within 7 days. We may not be able to accept your online booking for one of the following reasons:

3.3.1. another person completed the last available online booking for the same property before we were able to remove the property from the Site or mark it as unavailable on the Site.

3.3.2. technical issues with the Site mean we were unable to remove a property which was unavailable (or mark it as unavailable).

3.3.3. due to unforeseen circumstances beyond our reasonable control, the property becomes unavailable.

3.4. Your booking number. We will assign a booking number to your online booking and tell you what it is by email when we accept your online booking. It will help us if you can tell us the booking number whenever you contact us about your booking.

3.5. You are confirming that you are in a position to complete your online booking and tenancy application process. By accepting these terms and completing your online booking, you confirm that you are over the age of 18 and in a position to complete and (to the best of your knowledge) meet the requirements of our tenancy application process (as set out below) in a timely manner.

4. The Services

4.1. We are an online booking and tenancy application processing service. We provide an online booking and tenancy application processing service, and these terms govern this service. We are not a landlord and will not enter a tenancy agreement with you directly.

4.2. You will need to complete a further process. You will be required to enter into further agreements and pass further checks (as set out at paragraph 5 below) before you are able to begin your tenancy of the property in respect of which you have submitted an online booking.

4.3. Property images and details are for reference purposes only. The images (including computer generated images) and details of the properties (and any communal or otherwise available areas) we make available on our Site are illustrative and are representative and for guidance purposes only. Individual properties may therefore differ. Please check with your lettings agent in the respect of individual properties. All images, photographs and dimensions are not intended to be relied upon for, nor to form part of, any contract unless specifically incorporated in writing into the contract. Although we have made every effort to display and detail the properties carefully and in a way which is not misleading to you, we cannot guarantee their accuracy and by completing your online booking you agree that you accept the status of such images. You can view individual floorplans for apartments here.

4.4. The properties listed on our Site are non-specific. Many of the properties displayed on our Site are part of developments owned by landlords which contain many similar properties which may be available to let from time to time. Completing your online booking in accordance with these terms secures you a property in that development (in terms of rental price, specification, floor level (if any is specified) and number of rooms) equivalent to the property details in respect of which your booking is made but it does not secure you a specific identifiable property. We will determine the specific property available for your tenancy application based on availability, demand, and related factors. If you are unhappy with the property, we have booked for you, you may cancel your online booking but would not be entitled to a refund of any holding fees paid (in accordance with paragraph 9). Any reference to a “property” in these terms will be a reference to an equivalent property (as set out above) to the property details in respect of which you placed your online booking.

4.5. Furnishings. The images of properties available on our Site may show various fixtures, furnishings, and fittings. Such images are illustrative and for guidance only and we cannot guarantee that your property will include the fixtures, fittings and furnishings shown in any images (although we will use reasonable efforts to ensure such fixtures, furnishings and fittings are broadly similar). Please note that decorative accessories are not included with any of our apartments as standard, including and not limited to bed linen, rugs, plant pots and photo frames. All images, photographs and dimensions are not intended to be relied upon for, nor to form part of, any contract unless specifically incorporated in writing into the contract.

5. The Online Booking and Tenancy Application Process

5.1. Your online booking secures your right to start the tenancy application process. Following completion of your online booking as set out in these terms, we will promptly mark the relevant property as unavailable or take it off our Site and nobody else will be able to submit an online booking or otherwise make an offer in respect of that property (subject to these terms). Your online booking alone does not secure you a right to rent the property. To do this you will need to complete our tenancy application process (as detailed below) and enter into a tenancy agreement with the relevant landlord.

5.2. Further steps you will need to take before you will be able to rent the property. After we have accepted your online booking, you will need to take the following steps before you will be eligible to enter into a binding tenancy agreement in respect of the property:

5.2.1. you will need to pay the outstanding holding fee (as detailed in our online booking guide) to secure your online booking, within 1 week of completion of your online booking.

5.2.2. you will need to provide details of a suitable guarantor and arrange for your guarantor to enter into our standard form guarantee agreement in respect of the rent payable under our tenancy agreement. Please note that all tenants require a guarantor unless the rent for the full term of the tenancy agreement is paid upfront before your tenancy agreement begins.

5.2.3. you will need to complete our application form and provide the requisite proof of identification.

5.2.4. you will need to sign a tenancy agreement with the landlord of the property (a sample copy of which is available here).

5.2.5. you will need to set up a standing order to pay your rent and, if not included, the utilities package.

5.2.6. you will need to pay your first month’s rent in respect of the property in full (which will be the amount stated on our Site or as notified to you),

Our team will contact you following acceptance of your online booking to arrange completion of these steps.

5.3. When you need to complete the next steps. You have 28 days (or 1 week in the case of paragraph 2.1) from receipt of our email confirming acceptance of your online booking to complete the steps set out in paragraph 5.2. If you do not complete the steps within this period, or do not, in our reasonable opinion, engage with the tenancy application process (which includes failing to respond to our attempts to contact you and/or failing to complete and return any requisite documentation within a reasonable period of time) we are entitled to forfeit the holding fee you have paid (which includes the initial holding fee paid on completion of your online booking plus any balance paid) and market the property to the public again.

5.4. The sample tenancy agreement is for reference only. The sample tenancy agreement available on our Site is provided for guidance purposes only and we cannot guarantee that the actual tenancy agreement will be the same as the sample as each agreement is subject to the relevant landlord’s specific requirements.

6. Your right to make changes

If you wish to make a change to your online booking, please contact us and we will let you know if this is possible. If the change is possible, we will let you know about any change to the amount of the initial holding fee, the rent and/or utilities package, the timing of completion of your application process or any other charges which are necessary as a result of your requested change. We will ask you to confirm whether you wish to go ahead with the change. If we cannot make the change or the consequences of making the change are unacceptable to you, you have the right to end the contract (see paragraph 8 below).

7. Provision of our services

7.1. When will the application process begin. The application process will begin (subject to paragraph 3 below) on the date you receive an email from us confirming that your online booking has been received and accepted.

7.2. We do not make any guarantees as to when your property will be available. We will ask you to confirm your preferred moving in date during the application process, but we cannot guarantee that we will be able to meet this and will not be responsible for any loss you suffer as a result of this.

7.3. We are not responsible for delays outside our control. If our supply of the online booking services or application process is delayed by an event outside our control, then we will contact you as soon as possible to let you know and we will take steps to minimise the effect of the delay. Provided we do this we will not be liable for delays caused by the event, but if there is a risk of substantial delay you may contact us to end the contract in accordance with paragraph 8.

7.4. What will happen if you do not give required information to us. We will need certain information from you so that we can supply the services to you, as set out in our online booking guide. We will contact you to ask for this information. If you do not give us this information within a reasonable time of us asking for it, or if you give us incomplete or incorrect information, we may either end the contract (and paragraph 11 will apply) or make an additional charge of a reasonable sum to compensate us for any extra work that is required as a result and any loss of rental income we have suffered as a result of such delay. We will not be responsible for any delays or loss of the property if this is caused by you not giving us the information, we need within a reasonable time of us asking for it (which may be before expiry of the 28-day period set out above if you do not take reasonable steps within this period to complete the tenancy application process).

8. Your rights to end the contract (and cancel your online booking)

8.1. You can always end your contract (and cancel your online booking) with us. Your rights when you end the contract will depend on what you have bought, whether there is anything wrong with it, how we are performing and when you decide to end the contract:

8.1.1. If you want to end the contract (and cancel your online booking) because of something we have done or have told you we are going to do, see paragraph 2.

8.1.2. If you have just changed your mind about the online booking, see paragraph 3. You may be able to get a refund if you are within the cooling-off period (and have not waived your cooling-off rights);

8.1.3. In all other cases (if we are not at fault and there is no right to change your mind), see paragraph 9.

8.2. Ending the contract because of something we have done or are going to do. If you are ending the contract (and cancelling your online booking) for a reason set out at paragraphs 2.1 to 8.2.3 below, the contract will end immediately, and we will refund you in full for any holdings fees paid and you may also be entitled to compensation. The reasons are:

8.2.1. we have told you about an upcoming change to the property in respect of which you have placed an online booking or to these terms which you do not agree to.

8.2.2. there is a risk that supply of our services may be significantly delayed because of events outside our control (see paragraph 3).

8.2.3. you have a legal right to end the contract because of something we have done wrong.

8.3. Exercising your right to change your mind (Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013). Pursuant to the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, you have a right to cancel this contract (and receive a full refund) within 14 days following our acceptance of your online booking and may do so by sending an email attaching your online booking confirmation to hello@mapartments.co.uk. We cannot provide our services to you during this period unless you confirm to us when completing your online booking that you agree to us doing so and are aware that, by confirming this, you will lose your right to cancel under the Consumer Contracts Regulations (and by completing your online booking you are confirming to us that you agree to this). If you do not agree to us providing our services immediately, we will not be able to mark the property as unavailable to the public or remove it from our Site or begin processing your application until the expiry of the 14-day period (and others may complete an online booking in respect of the property during that period).

9. Ending the contract where we are not at fault and there is no right to change your mind.

Even if we are not at fault and you do not have a right to change your mind (see paragraph 1), you can still end your contract with us at any time before you enter into a tenancy agreement, but you will not be entitled to a refund of any part of the holding fee you have paid (which includes the initial holding fee and any balance payment). If you want to end your contract where we are not at fault and you do not have a right to change your mind, just contact us to let us know and we will let you know whether such cancellation is possible and, if it is possible, will let you know any consequences of such cancellation.

9.1 The Initial Holding Deposit is refundable in full in the following circumstances:-
o The Proposed Landlord withdraws the Property and cancels the reservation OR
o Where all parties have taken all reasonable steps to enter into a Tenancy Agreement but did not sign the Tenancy Agreement by the deadline for agreement OR
o Where the Proposed Tenant/s* provided accurate information to the Proposed Landlord or Agent and the Proposed Landlord declines to enter into a Tenancy Agreement prior to the deadline.
In all of the above, the Initial Holding Deposit will be refunded in full to the Proposed Tenant within 7 days of the deadline for agreement, or within 7 days of the Proposed Landlord’s decision if it is before the deadline for agreement.

9.2 The Proposed Landlord does not have to refund any of the Initial Holding Deposit in the following circumstances:-
o Where the Proposed Tenant/s* provide false or misleading information that the Proposed Landlord may reasonably believe impacts on their decision whether to offer a Tenancy Agreement to the Proposed Tenant OR
o Where the Proposed Tenant/s* cancel their reservation prior to the deadline for agreement and the Proposed Landlord and/or Agent have acted in a reasonable manner towards the Proposed Tenant/s* OR
o Where, prior to paying the Initial Holding Deposit, the Proposed Tenant/s* have confirmed to the Proposed Landlord or their Agent that they have sufficient proof to establish permanent or time limited right to rent in England, and subsequent checks reveal this is not the case OR
o Where the Proposed Landlord and/or Agent have taken all reasonable steps to enter into a Tenancy Agreement by the deadline for agreement and the Proposed Tenant does not take all reasonable steps to enter into a Tenancy Agreement.
Examples of the parties taking reasonable steps include, but are not limited to, providing sufficient information to collect references, contacting all referees in a timely fashion to allow for responses, performing credit checks, attending an appointment to verify the Proposed Tenant’s right to rent status, providing the security deposit and rent no later than the deadline for agreement.

10. How to end the contract with us (including if you have changed your mind)

10.1. Tell us you want to end the contract. To end the contract with us and cancel your online booking, please let us know by calling our team on 0161 228 6633 or email us at hello@mapartments.co.uk. Please provide your name, home address, details of the online booking (including your booking number) and, where available, your phone number and email address.

10.2. How we will refund you. Where you are entitled to a refund, we will refund you the amount you paid for the holding fee, by the method you used for payment. However, we may make deductions from this amount, as described below.

10.3. Deductions from refunds if you are exercising your right to change your mind. If you are exercising your right to change your mind (and you have the right to change your mind) we may deduct from any refund an amount for any services (including administrative services) we have provided to you before you notified us that you wanted to change your mind. The amount (if any) will be in proportion to what has been supplied, in comparison with the full provision of the online booking and application processing service.

10.4. When your refund will be made. We will make any refunds due to you as soon as possible and, in any case, within 14 days of your telling us you have changed your mind.

11. Our rights to end the contract

11.1. We may end the contract (and cancel your online booking) if you break it. We may end your contract at any time by writing to you if:

11.1.1. you do not make any payment to us when it is due, and you still do not make payment within 7 days of us reminding you that payment is due: or

11.1.2. you do not complete the tenancy application process detailed in paragraph 5 within 28 days of our acceptance of your online booking.

11.2. You must compensate us if you break the contract. If we end the contract in the situations set out in paragraph 1, we will not be required to refund any part of your holding fee to you although may do so in our absolute discretion and as a goodwill gesture.

If there is a problem with the online booking or the services we provide:

12.1. How to tell us about problems. If you have any questions or complaints about our services, please contact us. You can telephone our customer service team at 0161 228 6633 or write to us at hello@mapartments.co.uk.

12.2. Summary of your legal rights. We are under a legal duty to supply our services to you in conformity with this contract. See the box below for a summary of your key legal rights in relation to your online booking. Nothing in these terms will affect your legal rights.

Summary of your key legal rights

This is a summary of your key legal rights. These are subject to certain exceptions. For detailed information please visit the Citizens Advice website www.adviceguide.org.uk or call 03454 04 05 06.

Our provision of our online booking and tenancy application processing services to you is a service. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 says that you can ask us to repeat or fix a service if it’s not carried out with reasonable care and skill or get some money back if we can’t fix it.

If you haven’t agreed a price beforehand, what you’re asked to pay must be reasonable. If you haven’t agreed a time beforehand, it must be carried out within a reasonable time.

13. Price and payment

13.1. The initial holding fee. The initial holding fee (which includes VAT) will be the amount indicated on the online booking page when you submit your online booking. We take all reasonable care to ensure that the initial holding fee of the property advised to you at this time is correct. However please see paragraph 2 for what happens if we discover an error in the amount of the initial holding fee displayed at the time you submit your online booking.

13.2. What happens if we got the price wrong. It is always possible that, despite our best efforts, some of the initial holding fees in respect of properties we make available may be incorrectly detailed. We will normally check your initial holding fee before accepting your online booking so that, where the initial holding fee is less than our stated price at your order date, we will charge the lower amount. If the correct initial holding fee at your order date is higher than that stated to you, we will contact you for your instructions before we accept your online booking. If we accept and process your online booking where a pricing error is obvious and unmistakeable and could reasonably have been recognised by you as a mispricing, we may end the contract, refund you any sums you have paid and cancel your online booking.

13.3. When you must pay and how you must pay. We accept payment by most major debit and credit cards and payment is made through Stripe payment. Stripe may impose their own terms for use of their payment service and, if applicable, you should read and accept these before continuing to payment. You must submit your payment details to us as part of our online booking process and we will take payment of the initial holding fee on or following submission of your online booking.

13.4. You must own or have authority to use the payment card. The card you use for payment should either belong to you or you must have proper authority (prior to use) from the cardholder to make such payment.

13.5. We can charge interest if you pay late. If you do not make any payment to us by the due date, we may charge interest to you on the overdue amount at the rate of 2% a year above the base lending rate of the Bank of England from time to time. This interest shall accrue on a daily basis from the due date until the date of actual payment of the overdue amount, whether before or after judgement. You must pay us interest together with any overdue amount.

14. Our responsibility for loss or damage suffered by you

14.1. We are responsible to you for foreseeable loss and damage caused by us. If we fail to comply with these terms, we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breaking this contract or our failing to use reasonable care and skill, but we are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable. Loss or damage is foreseeable if either it is obvious that it will happen or if, at the time the contract was made, both we and you knew it might happen, for example, if you discussed it with us during the online booking process.

14.2. We do not exclude or limit in any way our liability to you where it would be unlawful to do so. This includes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence or the negligence of our employees, agents, or subcontractors; for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation; or for breach of your legal rights in relation to the services as summarised at paragraph 2.

14.3. We are not liable for business losses. We only supply our services for domestic and private use. If you use our services for any commercial, business or re-sale purpose we will have no liability to you for any loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.

15. Intellectual Property Rights

15.1. All intellectual property rights in and to the Site and used on the Site throughout the world belong to us (or our licensors) and you have no rights in and to such intellectual property rights.

16. How we may use your personal information

16.1. How we will use your personal information. We will use the personal information you provide to us:

16.1.1. to supply our services to you;

16.1.2. to process your payment for the services; and

16.1.3. if you agreed to this during the online booking process, to give you information about similar products and services that we provide, but you may stop receiving this at any time by contacting us.

16.2. We may pass your personal information to credit reference agencies. We may pass your personal information to credit reference agencies, and they may keep a record of any search that they do. We will notify you where we intend to do this.

16.3. We will only give your personal information to other third parties where the law either requires or allows us to do so.

16.4. Internet transmissions are never completely secure. You should be aware that internet transmissions are never completely private or secure and that any message or information you send using our Site (including during the online booking process) may be read or intercepted by others, even if there is a special notice that a particular transmission is encrypted.

17. Other important terms

17.1. We may transfer this agreement to someone else. We may transfer our rights and obligations under these terms to another organisation. We will always tell you in writing if this happens and we will ensure that the transfer will not affect your rights under the contract. If you are unhappy with the transfer you may contact us to end the contract within 30 days of us telling you about it and we will refund you any payments you have made in advance for services not provided.

17.2. You need our consent to transfer your rights to someone else. You may only transfer your rights or your obligations under these terms to another person if we agree to this in writing.

17.3. Nobody else has any rights under this contract. This contract is between you and us. No other person shall have any rights to enforce any of its terms.

17.4. If a court finds part of this contract illegal, the rest will continue in force. Each of the paragraphs of these terms operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any of them are unlawful, the remaining paragraphs will remain in full force and effect.

17.5. Even if we delay in enforcing this contract, we can still enforce it later. If we do not insist immediately that you do anything you are required to do under these terms, or if we delay in taking steps against you in respect of your breaking this contract, that will not mean that you do not have to do those things and it will not prevent us taking steps against you at a later date. For example, if you miss a payment and we do not chase you, but we continue to provide the services, we can still require you to make the payment at a later date.

17.6. Which laws apply to this contract and where you may bring legal proceedings. These terms are governed by English law, and you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the products in the English courts. If you live in Scotland, you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the products in either the Scottish or the English courts. If you live in Northern Ireland, you can bring legal proceedings in respect of the products in either the Northern Irish or the English courts.

17.7. Alternative dispute resolution. Alternative dispute resolution is a process where an independent body considers the facts of a dispute and seeks to resolve it, without you having to go to court. If you are not happy with how we have handled any complaint, you may want to submit the complaint for online resolution to the European Commission Online Dispute Resolution platform available at: https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr/.