CROCKHAM HILL VILLAGE HALL
TERMS OF USE
It is important that you take the time to read this document carefully. It sets out your legal rights and obligations and those of the trustees of The Crockham Hill Village Hall Trust, registered no. 1044489 (the “Trustees”) in connection with your use of Crockham Hill Village Hall (the “Hall”).
The opening hours of the Hall are from 08.00 to midnight Monday to Saturday and 08:00 to 23:00 on Sunday.
If you have any comments or queries about this document, please contact the Hall Manager.
- GENERAL
1.1. These terms are the ‘Terms of Use’ published on the Hall’s website, www. crockhamhillvillagehall.co.uk (the “Website”) and as updated from time to time. They are to be read in conjunction with the Booking Confirmation referred to in clause 2.4 and any variations agreed in writing with the Hall Manager.
1.2. These Terms of Use apply to all bookings and use made of the Hall by any persons (“Hirer”), irrespective of whether a fee is charged for use.
- BOOKINGS
2.1. All requests for bookings must be made using the Website and must be for a minimum period of one hour.
2.2. The Hirer must be at least 21 years of age.
2.3. A booking is for all or part of the Hall, its grounds and car park as set out in the booking confirmation (the “Booking Confirmation”).
2.4. All bookings are provisional until:
• a Booking Confirmation has been emailed to the Hirer by the Hall Manager, and
• all applicable fees due have been received in cleared funds by the Hall Manager.
2.5. A provisional booking or request for a booking may be rejected at any time by the Hall Manager or the Trustees without giving a reason.
- LICENCES
3.1. Sevenoaks District Council has licensed the Hall for plays, indoor sporting events, live music, recorded music and performances of dance, and the provision of facilities for the making of music and for dancing.
3.2. The Hall is licensed with the Performing Right Society (“PRS”) for the performance of copyrighted live music controlled by the PRS.
3.3. Where a licence fee is payable for the public performance of recorded music (e.g. CDs, mp3s, streamed music, records, tapes etc), the Hirer is responsible for obtaining the necessary licence from Phonographic Performances Limited.
3.4. The Hall is not licensed for any of the following:
• the showing or recording of films, by whatever means:
• the showing or recording of TV programmes, by whatever means; and
• the sale of alcohol.
3.5. It is the Hirer’s responsibility to obtain licences and insurance cover additional to those already held for the Hall, should the nature of the event, activity or function for which the Hall has been hired (the “Booked Event”) so require, and the costs involved in doing so are for the Hirer’s account.
- INSURANCE
4.1. The Hall has hirers’ liability insurance that can be extended to Hirers. As of 1 January 2024, the indemnity limit of this cover is £5 million, with an excess of £250.
4.2. The Hall’s own hirers’ liability cover for Hirers will ONLY apply to those individuals and organisations:
• who are bona fide proposing to use the Hall for non-commercial purposes; and
• who do not already have available to them public liability cover for the Booked Event.
4.3. Given the importance of ensuring that public liability cover is in place for all functions, the Website booking form contains a declaration that the Hirer must sign if the Hirer is seeking to have the benefit of the Hall’s insurance cover. If the declaration is not ticked, the Hirer thereby assumes responsibility for ensuring that public liability cover of no less than £5 million is/will be in place for the Booked Event.
- CANCELLATION OF BOOKINGS, REFUND OF CHARGES
5.1. The booking will be liable to cancellation (without notice) if:
• any applicable fees are not received in full in cleared funds by their due date; or
• the Hirer fails to ensure that all necessary licences and insurance cover required have been obtained and will be in force throughout the period of usage booked.
5.2. The Hirer may cancel the booking at any time by notifying the Hall Manager to that effect in writing.
5.3. The Trustees may cancel the booking at any time by written notice having immediate effect if:
• any of the information supplied at the time of booking is incorrect, incomplete or misleading in any respect which the Trustees consider renders it inadvisable to allow the booking to go ahead; or
• if the Trustees (directly or through the Hall Manager) are not satisfied that the Hall insurance declaration was true and accurate in all respects when signed, or consider that it has ceased to be true and accurate in all respects; or
• if the Hall is needed for electoral use or to cope or assist with emergencies; or
• if the Hall becomes unavailable on health and safety or other grounds, irrespective of whether the unavailability is attributable to circumstances within or beyond the control of the Trustees.
5.4. Where a booking is cancelled under this clause 5, any monies already paid by the Hirer for the booking will be refunded in full by the Trustees as soon as practicable (without interest) unless the Hirer cancels the booking within 14 days of the Booked Event taking place, when no refund will be given.
- FEES
6.1. The Hirer must pay the applicable fees in full in cleared funds no later than their due date(s), as specified in the Booking Confirmation. Failure to do so will render the booking liable to cancellation (see clause 5.1).
6.2. The fees payable are those set out on the Website at the time of the booking, together with details of when payment is due and how payment may be made.
6.3. Favourable charging arrangements will ordinarily apply to individual Hirers and to bodies and organisations that are bona fide resident within the parish of Crockham Hill.
6.4. Any Hirer who seeks to secure favourable charging arrangements for themselves or any other person or organisation when the true circumstances of the booking do not, or will not, give rise to any such entitlement will render the booking liable to cancellation without notice. The Hirer will also be personally liable on demand to pay the full amount of the charges properly due. For this purpose, the Trustees (directly or through the Hall Manager) may make such enquiries as they think fit.
- THE HIRER’S USAGE
7.1. The Hirer will be held responsible for:
• looking after the fabric of the Hall and all its furniture, fittings, fixtures and
equipment; and
• the behaviour of all persons in and about the Hall, its grounds and the car park, and their compliance with these terms of use throughout the hours of usage and the associated arrivals and departures.
7.2. The Hirer must:
• adhere to the hours of usage booked including all set up and clear down;
• use the Hall for no more than the number of persons set out in the Booking Confirmation and only for the purpose specified in the Booking Confirmation;
• ensure that the minimum of noise is made on arrival and departure;
• comply with these Terms of Use (including any special terms relating to additional Hall equipment/facilities that the Hirer may have booked) and ensure that all persons attending also comply;
• comply with all fire, safety and other notices and instructions in the Hall, including those as to:
o no smoking or vaping within the Hall or immediately outside the access doors;
o use of heating and lighting;
o use of kitchen equipment and other equipment in the Hall;
o disposal of rubbish; and
o locking up and securing the Hall;
• leave the Hall locked and safe;
• put all equipment and furniture back where it was when the Hirer’s period of booking for the Booked Event began ;
• use the wheeled trolleys for moving tables and chairs to prevent damage to the floors; and
• leave the Hall, its grounds and the car park in as clean and tidy a state as they were in when the Hirer’s period of booking for the Booked Event began.
7.3. The Hall Manager’s written permission must be obtained before goods or equipment are left or stored at the Hall for any period exceeding one night (a storage fee may be payable). For overnight storage verbal approval from the Hall Manager is sufficient. The Trustees reserve the right to dispose of any goods and equipment not collected within seven days after the Booked Event, as they deem fit. This may be at the cost of the Hirer for larger items, at the Trustees’ discretion.
7.4. All vehicles are parked at the owner’s risk. The Hirer must comply with all instructions as to vehicular entry into, parking in and exit from the Hall’s grounds, whether the instructions are of general application or specific to the booking. Vehicles shall not be parked so as to cause an obstruction at the entrances to or exits from the Hall. Parking is permitted overnight, following a Booked Event, but vehicles should be removed promptly the next day.
7.5. Disabled parking restrictions must be adhered to.
7.6. Note that all car park activity is recorded on CCTV.
7.7. No vehicles above 7.5 tonnes gross are permitted in the car park.
- HIRER PROHIBITIONS
8.1. The Hirer must not bring into the Hall, its grounds or the car park:
• any animal (except guide dogs) or any illicit or dangerous or flammable materials or substances; or
• any electrical or other equipment, or any furniture, except where previously approved by the Hall Manager.
8.2. Any electrical equipment brought to the Hall by the Hirer must have a current safety certification, be in good working order and used in a safe manner.
8.3. The Hirer must not offer or expose for sale or exchange any alcohol other than strictly in accordance with the terms of any alcohol licence that may be obtained by the Hirer for the purposes of the Booked Event. If the Hirer is unsure as to whether such a licence is needed for the Booked Event, the Hirer must contact Sevenoaks District Council.
- TRUSTEES’ OBLIGATIONS
9.1. The Trustees will make the Hall available to the Hirer in accordance with the details on the Booking Confirmation and these Terms of Use.
9.2. The Trustees will not accept responsibility for damage to, or the loss or theft of any items or personal effects, from the Hall, its grounds or the car park.
9.3. The Trustees make no representation or give any warranty as to the suitability of the Hall, its grounds or the car park for the Booked Event. This is a matter for the Hirer to be satisfied about, by personal inspection, explicit written enquiry of the Hall Manager or otherwise.
9.4. All representations and warranties, other than those explicitly set out herein, which might be implied with respect to the Hall, its grounds and car park are hereby excluded to the fullest extent allowed by law.
9.5. For the avoidance of doubt nothing in these terms of use excludes or restricts the Trustees’ liability for death or personal injury caused by their negligence.
- TRUSTEES’ RIGHTS TO ASSESS COMPLIANCE
10.1. The Hall Manager or Trustees may demand the timely presentation of documentation applicable to any Hirer obligations set out herein.
10.2. The Trustees, themselves or by the Hall Manager or other person acting under their authority, may enter the Hall without notice at any time during use to assess compliance with the terms of use and, in the event of non-compliance, then or at any time thereafter terminate such use, give instructions or impose conditions on the Hall’s continued use, in each case on such terms as the Trustees think fit.
- HIRER’S INDEMNITY
11.1. The Hirer shall indemnify and keep indemnified each of the Trustees and their employees, volunteers, agents and invitees against:
• the cost of repair of any damage done to any part of the Hall including the curtilage thereof and the contents of the Hall;
• against all actions, claims, and costs of proceedings arising from any breach of these Terms of Use;
• 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 Hall (including the storage of equipment) by the Hirer; and
• all costs and expenses incurred by the Trustees in enforcing and obtaining recovery under this indemnity.
- HIRING BY OR IN THE NAME OF AN ORGANISATION
12.1. Any person who books or purports to book the Hall on behalf of an organisation will be held fully and personally liable for any breach of these terms of use as if the booking had been made for that person’s exclusive use and benefit.
12.2. Notwithstanding the above, the Trustees will be entitled to claim against the organisation, its office holders and members in respect of any such breach separately or together with the person making or purporting to make the booking.
- SAFEGUARDING
13.1. The Hirer must ensure that any activities for children, young people and adults at risk are only provided by fit and proper persons in accordance with the Children Act 1989 and 2004, the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006 and all other related legislation for the time being in force. When requested, the Hirer must provide the Trustees with a copy of the Hirer’s safeguarding policy and evidence that the Hirer has carried out all relevant checks through the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) and any other necessary screening services.
13.2. The Hirer must take all reasonable steps to prevent harm and to respond appropriately when harm does occur. Relevant concerns must be reported without delay to the Hall Manager, without prejudice to any other safeguarding requirements the Hirer may have as to notification of harm or risk.
7 March 2024
Email:enquiries@crockhamhillvillagehall.co.uk