Terms & Conditions

1. Who we are and when these terms apply

“Cheshire Housekeeping Services”, “we”, “us” and “our” refer to the housekeeping business providing the service. “You” and “customer” mean the person who books or is responsible for paying for the service. “Property” means the home or other premises where the service is provided.

These terms apply to domestic housekeeping and related services booked with us. A quotation, booking confirmation or agreed service schedule may contain additional details specific to your booking. If there is an inconsistency, we will explain which term applies before work begins.

Supplier: Cheshire Housekeeping Services Ltd, company number 17452885, registered office 88 Wistaston Road, Crewe, Cheshire, CW2 7RE. Email: info@cheshirehousekeepingservices.co.uk. Telephone: 0755 254 0201.

2. Our services and quotations

We provide only the tasks agreed with you. A quotation may be based on information you provide, a visit to the property, photographs or an agreed specification. Please tell us if the condition, size, access arrangements or required work changes materially.

If we arrive and reasonably find that the work is substantially different from what was described, we will discuss the options with you. We will not deliberately carry out material additional chargeable work without your agreement, except where immediate action is reasonably necessary to protect people or property and it is not practicable to contact you.

Unless specifically agreed, our standard housekeeping service does not include specialist biohazard cleaning, pest or infestation treatment, hazardous waste, needles/sharps, hoarding clearance, personal care or medication, specialist restoration, unsafe work at height, exterior high-level window cleaning or work requiring a licence or specialist qualification.

3. Standard of service

We will perform our services with reasonable care and skill and within the agreed time or, where no time has been fixed, within a reasonable time. Nothing in these terms removes or reduces rights that consumers have under applicable law.

Housekeeping is a practical service and results can depend on factors such as the condition and age of surfaces, staining, wear, available time and whether an item can safely be treated. We will not promise a result that cannot reasonably be achieved without risking damage.

4. Bookings, prices and payment

Your booking is confirmed when we accept it and provide the agreed service details and price or pricing basis. Prices may be hourly, visit-based or fixed for an agreed scope. Any deposit or advance payment will be identified before you book.

Payment is due in accordance with the booking confirmation or invoice. We will tell you before booking about any material additional charge that could reasonably apply.

For private/domestic customers, invoices are normally due within 3 calendar days unless the booking confirmation states another due date. Payment may be made by bank transfer, card payment or another payment method agreed with CHS. Card payments may be processed using our third-party payment provider, SumUp. Payment remains subject to the due date shown on the booking confirmation or invoice. A deposit or advance payment will apply only where it is clearly stated and agreed before booking. CHS is not currently VAT registered and VAT is not added to our charges. If our VAT status changes, applicable VAT will be clearly shown on quotations and invoices.

If a domestic payment is late, we will normally contact you and give a reasonable opportunity to pay before taking further recovery action. We will not apply commercial statutory late-payment interest to a consumer debt.

5. Consumer cancellation rights for distance and off-premises bookings

If you are a consumer and enter into an eligible service contract online, by telephone or away from our business premises, you may have a statutory 14-day cancellation period beginning after the contract is made, subject to legal exceptions.

If you expressly ask us to start providing the service during that cancellation period, we may ask you to confirm that request. If you then exercise a statutory right to cancel after work has begun, you may have to pay a proportionate amount for services properly supplied up to cancellation. Where the service has been fully performed during the cancellation period following the legally required request and acknowledgement, the statutory cancellation right may end.

Where these statutory rights apply, we will provide the required cancellation information and method/form as part of the booking process. Nothing in our ordinary cancellation policy overrides a statutory cancellation right.

If you want us to begin work during an applicable 14-day statutory cancellation period, we will ask for your express request before the service starts. A model cancellation form is available on our Cancellation page.

6. Cancelling or rescheduling a visit

Please tell us as soon as possible if you need to cancel or rearrange a visit. Where a cancellation causes us a direct loss that we cannot reasonably avoid—for example, because the allocated working time cannot reasonably be rebooked—we may make a reasonable cancellation charge. Any charge will be intended to reflect our actual or reasonably estimated direct loss and will take account of costs saved and our ability to reallocate the time. It will not be used as a penalty.

If we have to cancel a visit, we will give as much notice as reasonably possible and will normally offer to rearrange it. If we cancel a prepaid service and cannot provide a suitable alternative, the amount paid for the unprovided service will be refunded.

Our normal request is at least 48 hours' notice to cancel or rearrange a booked visit. Where less notice is given, we may charge only a reasonable amount reflecting the direct loss caused by the cancellation, less any costs we save or amount we are able to recover by reallocating the time. Any such charge will not exceed the price of the cancelled visit.

7. Access to the property

You must provide safe and timely access at the agreed time, including any keys, key-safe instructions, alarm information or authorised person required for entry. If we cannot gain access through no fault of ours, we will try to contact you. A reasonable charge may apply where booked working time is lost and cannot reasonably be reallocated.

Please ensure that utilities and facilities reasonably needed for the agreed work, such as safe running water and electricity, are available unless we have agreed otherwise.

8. Keys, key safes and alarm information

Where we agree to hold a key, we will use reasonable security procedures. Keys should be coded rather than labelled with the full property address wherever practicable, and access information should be limited to people who need it to provide or manage the service.

You must tell us promptly if alarm codes, locks, key-safe codes or authorised access arrangements change. We will not copy a customer key except with authority or where reasonably required under an agreed key-management procedure.

When keyholding ends, we will agree a reasonable method of returning the key. We may require identity or authority to be verified before releasing a key to someone other than the customer.

We will only accept customer keys or ongoing access information where the arrangement falls within our current key-management procedure and insurance cover. We may decline a keyholding arrangement if we cannot manage it safely or appropriately.

9. Home & Away service

Home & Away consists only of the scheduled checks and tasks stated in your booking, which may include agreed activities such as collecting post, putting bins out or in, watering plants, feeding pets and carrying out pre-return housekeeping.

It is not continuous house-sitting, security guarding, property management, veterinary care or a guarantee against burglary, leaks, utility failures, plant deterioration, illness or other events occurring between visits.

You must give us an emergency contact who can make decisions about the property and, where pet care is agreed, provide accurate feeding/care instructions, veterinary contact details and relevant behavioural or safety information. We will follow reasonable agreed instructions, but may take proportionate action in an apparent emergency where it is not reasonably possible to contact you or your emergency contact.

Any third-party emergency expense (for example an emergency locksmith or veterinary charge) remains your responsibility where reasonably incurred for your property or pet, unless the expense arose because of our breach of contract or negligence.

Home & Away tasks are accepted only where they fall within our current service scope, operating procedures and insurance cover. We may decline or limit a requested task where the property, absence period, animal-care requirement or access arrangement falls outside that scope.

10. Pets

Please tell us before a visit about pets at the property and anything relevant to safe access or working. Unless pet care is expressly included in a Home & Away booking, our responsibility is limited to taking reasonable care while working around pets present at the property.

We may ask for an animal to be secured or separated if we reasonably consider this necessary for the safety of the animal, our housekeeper or the work being carried out.

11. Your responsibilities and property information

Please tell us about known hazards, delicate or specialist materials, unstable fittings, damaged items, valuable collections, surfaces requiring specialist treatment and anything that should not be moved or cleaned. Items of exceptional financial or sentimental value should be secured or specifically brought to our attention before work begins.

You are responsible for ensuring that equipment or products you specifically require us to use are safe, suitable and in reasonable working condition. We may decline to use a product, appliance or method we reasonably believe could be unsafe or cause damage.

12. Products and equipment

The booking confirmation will state, where relevant, whether we or you provide products and equipment. We will use products according to their instructions and our working procedures. Please tell us about relevant allergies, sensitivities or surface-care requirements before the visit.

13. Damage, breakages and pre-existing defects

Our housekeepers are expected to take reasonable care of your property. If we become aware that we have caused damage, we will report it and investigate. If you believe damage has occurred during our service, please tell us as soon as reasonably possible and provide information that will help us investigate.

We are not responsible for deterioration caused solely by ordinary wear and tear, pre-existing damage, inherent defects, unstable or improperly fitted items, or a customer's failure to disclose a known specialist care requirement, except to the extent that we nevertheless failed to exercise the care required by law.

Nothing in these terms excludes or restricts liability where doing so would be unlawful, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence or a consumer's statutory rights.

We do not use a blanket exclusion of liability. Any claim will be considered in light of the circumstances, applicable law and any relevant insurance arrangements.

14. Quality concerns and complaints

If you are unhappy with an agreed task, please contact us promptly after the visit with enough detail for us to investigate. Where appropriate, we may ask for photographs or arrange an inspection. If the service has not been performed with reasonable care and skill, we will deal with the matter in accordance with your legal rights, which may include repeating the relevant service where appropriate or providing an appropriate price reduction.

Our aim is to resolve genuine concerns fairly. Raising a complaint does not affect your statutory rights.

Complaints may be sent to info@cheshirehousekeepingservices.co.uk or by post to 88 Wistaston Road, Crewe, Cheshire, CW2 7RE. We aim to acknowledge a complaint within 2 working days and, where reasonably possible, provide a substantive response within 10 working days. If the matter cannot be resolved at first response, it will be reviewed by a director or senior manager who has not handled the complaint initially where practicable.

15. Our housekeepers, continuity and cover

Your agreement is with Cheshire Housekeeping Services rather than with an individual housekeeper. We may allocate or change the person attending your property to manage sickness, holidays, training, availability or operational requirements. We will aim for reasonable continuity where practical but cannot guarantee that the same person will attend every visit.

Housekeepers working for us must follow our applicable working, confidentiality, access and customer-care procedures.

16. Direct engagement of our employees

Please do not knowingly use our introduction to bypass Cheshire Housekeeping Services and privately engage an employee assigned to you in a way that breaches a lawful agreement with us. We would prefer any request to employ or engage a member of our team directly to be discussed with us first.

17. Health, safety and unacceptable conditions

We may pause, refuse or stop work where we reasonably believe continuing would create a material risk to health or safety, expose a housekeeper to abuse or harassment, involve undisclosed hazardous substances or waste, aggressive animals, unsafe equipment or conditions outside the agreed service. Where practical, we will explain the problem and give you an opportunity to remedy it.

Serious threats, violence, harassment or an immediate safety risk may result in the visit ending immediately and may justify termination of future services.

18. Photographs and confidentiality

Our staff should respect the privacy of your home. We will not use photographs of your property for advertising or social media without appropriate permission. Photographs may be taken where reasonably necessary for an operational purpose—for example, recording pre-existing damage, documenting an incident or resolving a complaint—and will be handled in accordance with our privacy procedures.

Personal information is handled in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

19. Regular services and ending the arrangement

Unless a specific minimum term has been expressly agreed, regular domestic housekeeping will operate on the schedule confirmed with you until either party ends it on reasonable notice. We may end or suspend services for serious or repeated non-payment, serious safety concerns, abusive behaviour, material misuse of the service or another serious breach, subject to applicable law.

If circumstances beyond our reasonable control prevent us from providing a visit, we will communicate with you and seek a fair solution, such as rearranging the visit. We will not charge for a service we permanently cancel and do not provide where you are not at fault.

Unless a different period is agreed in writing, either party may end a regular domestic housekeeping arrangement by giving at least 14 days' notice. This does not prevent either party ending or suspending the arrangement sooner where there is a serious breach, immediate safety concern or other lawful reason.

20. Events outside reasonable control

Neither party will be responsible for failing to perform an obligation where performance is genuinely prevented by circumstances outside reasonable control, but this does not remove rights that cannot legally be excluded. Examples may include severe weather, major transport disruption, emergency closure or other exceptional events. We will take reasonable steps to minimise disruption and keep you informed.

21. Changes to these terms

The version accepted when a booking or continuing arrangement is made applies to that agreement unless a change is agreed or is reasonably necessary because of law or another legitimate reason. We will not rely on this clause to make an unexpected material change to an existing consumer contract without appropriate notice or agreement.

22. Business customers

These customer terms are primarily written for domestic consumers. Offices and other commercial customers may receive a separate service specification or business contract covering matters such as authorised contacts, site rules, access, risk information, invoicing, recurring schedules and termination.

Business customers are subject to our separate Business Customer Terms unless we expressly agree otherwise in writing.

23. Governing law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you are a consumer, this clause does not remove any mandatory rights you may have concerning where a dispute can be heard.