Terms & Conditions
OneCall Home Assist Terms & Conditions
Our General Terms and Conditions
Our terms and conditions are stated clearly allowing you to properly understand your agreement.
One Call Trade Services Ltd (hereinafter referred to as “One Call”) offers maintenance contracts known as Property Care packages (hereinafter called “Service packages”). One Call Property Care packages are intended to provide a service to maintain properties available for let. This is a service to maintain and carry out general repairs to let properties and to offer a service to Landlords to remove the responsibilities of general maintenance including emergency call outs. The service packages are not intended to and do not include the costs of betterment or improvement of properties under cover. The service packages only apply to a single property (hereinafter referred to as the “property covered”) and are not transferable. One Call Property Care packages are available for residential properties only including properties rented out for domestic purposes to third parties by commercial organisations. One Call property care packages do not cover commercial properties.
“The agreement will be between One Call and /……………………………. the letting agent for ………………………… /………………………… and the owner of the property. The agreement cannot be assigned or transferred without consent of One Call Trade Services Ltd.”
It should be understood that while One Call are in a contractual agreement with the Landlord they reserve the right to exclude maintenance, repairs, callouts from third parties where One Call, at their sole discretion, assess that any incident results from lack of care, malicious or reckless damage. In that event One Call shall have no obligation to carry out any service.
The agreement provides for a maintenance service as defined in our 7 Property Care packages and does not cover any repairs out with these packages. Any additional work out with the scope of the said packages will be liable to additional charge over and above the monthly/annual charge payable for the said packages.
Each Property Care package lasts for one year from date of commencement. Payment of the annual charge must be made by one annual payment or twelve equal monthly instalments. We reserve the right to cancel this agreement for non payment. No warning of non payment will be issued. We will notify you annually of any changes to our terms and conditions including costs. If you do not terminate this agreement by giving us 30 days written notice we will assume the agreement is to be continued and the new premiums would remain due for the term of the agreement
We will always endeavour to carry out our obligations under the Packages in full but we will not be held responsible when we are prevented from doing so through events and actions by others, out with our control. We reserve the right at our sole discretion to define an event or action by another out with our control and for which we will not be liable.
When we have to order part(s) or materials for replacement in a system or property which are not readily available from our wide range of suppliers we will not accept responsibility for any loss or damage caused in the meantime as a result of the delay and delivery of the part(s) or materials.
We will not put at risk the health and safety of our employees or others in carrying out any works and would include not putting trade operatives onto roofs in inclement weather conditions. We reserve the right to assess the health and safety of our employees or others when carrying out any works.
Emergency
One of our Packages aims to provide a 24hour /7days per week, 365 days of the year property emergency service. To ensure this works efficiently we define an ‘emergency’ as follows, when the Property has:
1) No heating.
2) No electrical power.
3) No lighting.
4) No cold or hot water.
5) Blocked drainage.
Notwithstanding the above, we will require full disclosure of the circumstances leading to any of the above and reserve the right not to respond as an ‘emergency’ when we consider lack of care, negligence or malicious damage has been involved.
2-hour response Guarantee
For all of the emergency incidents that we define under these Terms and Conditions we will attempt to arrive at your property within 2 hours of receiving your initial emergency telephone call. If however we fail to arrive within this time, and providing, the delay has not been caused by any matter out with our control, all as contained in our terms and conditions, and we receive a report detailing the damage we will within 30 days refund to you a sum equal to one payment of a monthly subscription. Refund of a sum equal to one payment of the monthly subscription shall not be deemed to be an acceptance of fault on the part of One Call. We shall not be liable for any loss or damage resulting from a delayed response to an emergency call out.
Making Payment
Payment is made in advance either monthly or annually by cheque, credit/debit card or by 12 direct debit payments within the year of cover. Policy commencement date will be the date of payment of the premium or first instalment although cover will not commence until the survey is carried out or 21 days has expired.
You can pay the annual premium by one payment or monthly via any of the above methods, in 12 equal instalments (hereinafter referred to as the “the instalment”), first payment due on completion of application and eleven payments every 30 days thereafter (hereinafter referred to as “the payment dates”)on the date of commencement (see above for definition). Any monthly premium is an advance part payment only and covers you only for the month which the payment is made.
If payment is not made on the required date your cover is immediately cancelled and your benefits under this agreement terminated. We are not obliged to accept you as a customer after payment default, and should we do so, the cost of any updating survey report shall be borne by you and in such circumstances we reserve the right to determine whether or not a new survey is required.
If any additional works are carried out payment is due to One Call immediately on completion of the additional works If payment is not made at that time then daily interest will run on the balance of additional amounts outstanding at the rate calculated at four per cent above the Bank of England base rate until full payment is made.
Cancellation
You have a right to cancel your agreement in writing within the first 7 days of commencement and receive a full refund provided we have not carried out any work to your property. If any work has been carried out in this period we reserve the right to charge you for said work at an hourly rate of £60 excluding VAT plus the cost of any parts and/or materials.
We will cancel your agreement immediately if you fail to make a payment on any of the payment dates. The required date depends on the care package and method of payment involved.
Where we are responsible for maintenance of a central heating system we reserve the right to cancel our agreement if during our initial survey we ascertain that your heating system is either not in a satisfactory condition (as to which we will be the sole judges) or you decline to accept our recommendations and estimate of costs to bring it up to our reasonable standard. Under such circumstances we will cancel our agreement and make no charge whatsoever without liability to you.
We reserve the right to cancel our agreement if, when carrying out our initial roof survey, (in our sole opinion) we judge your roof to be in an unsatisfactory condition. Under such circumstances we will make no charge whatsoever and not be liable to you. In these circumstances the cost of the first payment made by you will not be reimbursed
We reserve the right to cancel our agreement if after carrying out our initial roof survey together with minor repairs and gutter cleaning you do not accept our recommendations /give us your approval to carry out required roof repairs in order to bring your roof to a standard that would allow us to continue with the agreement. In such circumstances we would cancel your agreement with immediate effect. You will be liable for a charge of £60 excluding VAT plus the cost of any parts and/or materials. Premiums already paid will be deducted from this amount due.
At our sole discretion we reserve the right to cancel the agreement in the event of any unnecessary call outs.
General exclusions from the property care agreements
Consequential Loss
One Call will not be liable for any consequential loss to your property, home contents and any appliance or system and loss of income and/or rent unless it is the consequence of our negligence. If damage is caused to either your property, home contents, appliance or system(s) either through the occurrence of any emergency or action that is taken by us to address an emergency this will not be covered by your Package/ agreement. This will include consequential damage to decorations, primary flooring, pipe boxing, panelling, floor coverings, personal effects and furniture including kitchen units and worktops. We will not accept liability for consequential damage or loss to any property belonging to a third party/ or anyone not a party to this agreement.
Inclement Weather WEA
Our packages do not cover damage caused by inclement weather ( except in the case of plumbing cover under our property care package No 2 ), flooding, or roof damage caused by storms or high winds. While we will endeavour to offer assistance to our customers on a priority basis for any repair that becomes necessary following incidents of inclement weather, these may not be carried out within our normal 2 hour emergency response time. Such repairs will be carried out as soon as we can and there will be a charge for them under this agreement. We will not be liable for any loss or damage or in this event.
Accidental Damage PARTY DAMAGE
We will not cover accidental or malicious damage caused by you or a third party including Tenants.
Insured Risks INSURED RISKS
By this agreement all property owners are required to maintain full buildings insurance for the property covered. Our packages do not cover any damage arising from risks, which would normally be covered by your home insurance such as theft, fire, flooding, subsidence, lightning, earthquakes, explosions, exceptionally inclement weather including freezing conditions (except in respect to repairs to burst pipes in relation to plumbing covered under our property care package No 2)
Other Items Not Covered By Your Agreement NOT COVERED BY YOUR AGREEMENT
The necessary removal of any asbestos to facilitate a repair or any deleterious materials and reinstatement thereof.
The breaking out and subsequent making good of any concrete, wooden, tiled, solid or finished floors.
Administration
Complaints Section
One Call Trade Services Ltd values all of our customers and we will at all times use our best endeavours to provide you with a first class service. However if you think our service does not meet your expectations or you have any complaint regarding the quality of service we provide, we have a full customer complaints procedure in place. We would prefer you to put any complaint you may have in writing and send it to our Group Operations Manager, One Call Trades Services Ltd 152 Gorgie Road, Edinburgh, EH11 2NT.
You will receive confirmation from us that we have received your complaint within 3 days of receipt. We will thereafter fully investigate your complaint and revert to you within a further 7 days
Data Protection Pro
We will not trade or sell any customer details and do not allow any third party access to your contact details. We will keep in touch with you throughout your contract to ensure you are happy with our service and may send you information which will help you maintain your home or improve the performance of your home systems.
These terms and conditions should be read alongside the terms and conditions of the particular care package involved and the agreement interpreted under Scots Law.
1. Complete Care
Terms and Conditions
This Package covers the complete property maintenance and repair of all working and/or moving parts of the property covered under the Package due to fair and reasonable use and fair wear and tear. Complete care includes all the other packages we offer: General property maintenance care; plumbing, drainage and electrical care; boiler and heating care; roof care; inspection and certificate care and emergency care.
At the start of your cover one of our surveyors will carry out a property condition report within 21 days of completion of application. During this period you will only have entitlement to the emergency care. If any existing problems are found during the property inspection then you will be notified of any works required to bring the property up to our standard. All such works must be completed to our sole satisfaction before this package is in effect. After 21 days or completion of all works required to bring the property up to our standard you will have full complete care cover.
We do not cover:
1) Painting and all decorative finishes (unless we have replaced a damaged part with paint attached).
2) Carpets and all finished floor coverings.
3) Structural repairs of any kind which may be caused by latent or inherent defects.
3) Items included in the general exclusions.
4) Items that are excluded in general within packages 1-7.
These particular terms and conditions should be read alongside our general terms and the agreement interpreted under Scots Law.
2. General Property Maintenance Care
Terms and Conditions
This package covers the complete property maintenance of all working and/or moving parts due to fair use and wear and tear excluding items included in the complete care package; plumbing, drainage and electrical care package; boiler and heating package; roof package and inspection and certificate package.
At the start of your cover one of our surveyors will carry out a property condition report within 21 days of completion of application. During this period you will only have entitlement to the emergency service package. If any existing defects are found during the property inspection then any works required to bring the property up to our standard must be completed to our satisfaction before you are fully covered under this package. After 21 days or completion of all works required to get the property up to our standard you will have full general property maintenance cover. General property maintenance includes any working item fixed to the building i.e doors, locks, windows, kitchen units & doors, grouting to tiles, silicon sealant, shower screens, shelves.
We do not cover:
1) Painting and all decorative finishes (unless we have replaced a damaged part with paint attached).
2) Carpets and all finished floor coverings.
3) Structural repairs of any kind which may be caused by latent or inherent defects.
4) Items included in the general exclusions.
5) Items that are excluded in general within packages 1-7.
These particular terms and conditions should be read alongside our general terms and the agreement interpreted under Scots Law.
3. Plumbing, Drainage and Electrical Care
Terms and Conditions
Plumbing and drainage
No initial survey will be required but no claims can be made in the first 21 days. Cover commences 21 days after payment of the annual premium or payment of the first instalment.
All pipe work, tanks, cylinders and drains (external drainage is covered up to the disconnecting manhole and external water service pipes to the limit of the property boundary) are fully covered against all leakages, blockages & bursts. Full 24/7, 365 days a year emergency cover is available and will be delivered within a 2 hour response time subject to our general terms and conditions.
If we have to dig up your paths or gardens to repair a drain we will not make good any surface dressings such as tarmac, paviors, slabs etc.
There will be instances where it is extremely difficult to locate, access and repair broken drains and external water pipes. Where these instances occur our liability is limited to £1500 per instance in respect to drains and £1000 in respect to external water pipes including VAT.
We do not cover:
1) Central heating controls.
2) Repairing or replacing sanitary ware.
3) Showers or baths.
4) Mixer valves.
5) Electric Showers.
6) Waste disposal units.
7) Radiators.
8) Swimming pools.
9) Garden water features.
10) Gutters and down pipes.
11) Garden taps.
12) Septic tanks and/or any private drainage system.
13) Pumped waste systems.
Electrical
We will not carry out an annual inspection but no claims can be made in the first 21 days. See above We will not bring your system up to current standards regulations . We will accept your electrical system as it stands providing it is in safe working order at the start of our agreement.
Our package covers the fixed wiring system to your property including, fuses, light switches and fittings, wall sockets and circuit breakers. It provides full 24/7, 365 days a year emergency cover for all of these elements.
All parts and labour for the above elements are included.
Where we have to replace a switch, socket or light fitting we will use standard white fittings.
We do not cover;
1) Controls
2) Timers
3) Programmers
4) Pumps
5) Domestic appliances
6) Fans
7) Detectors
8) Electric showers
9) Electric heating
10) Electric fires
11) Immersion heaters
These particular terms and conditions should be read alongside our general terms and the agreement interpreted under Scots Law.
4. Boiler and Heating Care
Terms and Conditions
Package 1 - Full Central Heating Cover
This Package is for a standard single gas central heating system and gives you full cover for all of your central heating system. Before the start of your cover one of our heating engineers will visit your property within 21 days of payment and survey your full system. During this period you will have access to our emergency service but you will need to pay for any visits made. (This is to minimise fraudulent claims and to ensure that premiums are kept to a minimum for all of our customers) Thereafter the options are as follows;
1) we will agree to fully cover your system as it stands (this is likely in most cases) or
2) we will (especially if your system is an older one) request that you have your system flushed out and we will give you a competitive cost for this. If you accept our recommendation and cost we will agree to fully cover your system. If you do not we will still offer cover to you but will exclude those parts of your system which are affected by sludge, namely radiators, pumps and valves. If you do not agree to this we will cancel your agreement and make no charge or
3) we will agree to fully cover your system if you carry out certain improvements and we will list these improvements and give you a competitive cost for them. If you do not agree to these improvements we will cancel your agreement and make no charge.
This package includes an annual performance test to your boiler carried out in accordance with the manufacturer’s printed instructions together with standard safety and performance checks. Full 24/7, 365 days a year emergency cover for any breakdown to your system delivered within a 2 hour response time subject to our general terms and conditions and a 3 day response time to repair and fix any other system failures. The system will required to be fully serviced on an annual basis in accordance with manufacturer instructions. It is recommended that the system is serviced annually. The cost of an annual service is not included in this package and will be charged separately.
All aspects of your central heating system are fully covered for parts and labour by this package including the replacement of a boiler which in the opinion of One Call (if the boiler is less than 8 years old ) cannot be replaced. If your boiler is over 8 years old we will still carry out repairs to it with no extra charge but if it cannot be repaired (at One Call’s sole discretion) One Call will advise you of this and provide you with a competitive quotation for a new boiler . One Call will not be responsible for any additional ventilation flues or any other ancillary part required to allow the new boiler to comply with current regulations due to changes in regulations since the boiler was fitted. Alll such additional costs will be the responsibility of the customer.
We do not set or reset your system controls for you. (If requested our heating engineer will explain to you how to operate your controls at his initial visit). The repair or replacement of chimneys, flues or flue liners is not included in our packages (we will highlight such work during our initial survey and will give you a quotation for any work that maybe required) however during the lifetime of our agreement these items will deteriorate. When they do we will tell you and again will give you a quotation for the work. Independent gas appliances such as fires (unless part of your central heating system) or cookers are not covered in this package but we can, if requested give you a separate quotation for cover of these items.
In the event of any changes to corgi regulations that affect the viability of your boiler and heating systems then the client shall bear the cost of any work to ensure the boiler and/or heating system is compliant with said corgi regulations.
We do not cover boilers with a greater maximum output of over 58KW (most domestic systems will be considerably under this output)
These particular terms and conditions should be read alongside our general terms and the agreement interpreted under Scots Law.
5. Roof Care
Terms and Conditions
This service provides annual external inspection of the roof tiles/slates of your property including all minor repairs, cleaning and repairing of your guttering and clearing and repairing your down pipes.
Initial Inspection
At our initial inspection and every year thereafter we will carry out an external visual inspection of your roof tiles / slates / gutters & down pipes / ridges / valleys / hips / chimney flashings and abutments. During this inspection we will carry out all minor repairs that are the result of fair wear and tear and that can be rectified within 2 hours inclusive of the initial inspection. This will include replacing any damaged or missing tiles or slates and repairs to gutters and down pipes. During our inspection we will also clean out your gutters and clear the down pipes.
Our initial inspection will be carried out within 21 days from the commencement of your package agreement. During this period you will be given access to our emergency care package but you will need to pay for any visits made.( this is to minimise fraudulent claims and to ensure premiums are kept to a minimum for all of our customers). The customer will be responsible for the costs of callouts over the minimum allowance of one hours labour . Charges will be made at the rate of £70 per hour plus Value Added Tax and costs of materials
Thereafter your options are as follows;
1) we will inspect your roof and carry out any minor repairs free of charge, clean your gutters and down pipes and agree to fully cover your roof as it stands (this will be likely in most cases) or;
2) we will at the outset of our initial visit but prior to carrying out a full roof inspection advise you that your roof is in such a condition that it would not be viable for us to continue with the agreement. In such circumstances (this should be minimal) we will cancel our agreement and make no charge or;
3) recommended Repairs; we will inspect your roof and carry out repairs (up to 2-hours’ labour including initial survey) and make certain recommendations to bring your roof up to standard. We will give you a competitive cost for these recommended repairs and advise you that they should be carried out within the next year but will meanwhile continue to offer you full roof cover or;
4) required Repairs; We will inspect your roof and carry out repairs (up to 2-hours labour including initial survey) and advise you of certain requirements to bring your roof up to standard. We will give you a competitive cost for these required repairs and if you accept our costs we will carry out the additional work and continue to offer you full cover. If however you do not agree to carry out the required repairs we will cancel your agreement and charge you £60.00 excluding VAT to cover our outlays or;
In order to offer this service it is essential that we initially inspect your roof before the package cover is in effect ( unless it is immediately obvious to us that it is not viable to cover your roof ) during this inspection we will carry out minor repairs and clean out gutters but you should be fully aware that there is a considerable outlay in undertaking such an inspection. If you subsequently cancel your agreement you will still be liable for a £60.00 charge excluding VAT to cover our outlays.
By signing up to this package you agree to allow us access to inspect your roof.
The cost of this service is spread over 12 monthly instalments for ease of payment. Our costs however are mostly incurred at the annual inspection and because of this any contract cancelled after our inspection has taken place will be subject to a minimum payment of £60.00 exclusive of VAT.
Our offer only cover properties with up to four bedrooms however if your house has more than this we can still offer you cover at an additional cost. We will give you a quotation for this on request.
Our package only includes pitched tiled and slated roofs individual to the property and not forming part of a mutual property.
Our package does not cover the repair or replacement of dormer windows or any type of roof lights
Our package does not cover the renewal of lead or zinc flashings. If you have any of these flashings on your roof that require to be replaced we will advise you of this and will give you a competitive quotation for the works involved.
Please note that our roof survey report is not a structural report and should not be used for any other purpose than for the purposes of this agreement.
Every effort will be made to source all materials on a like for like basis, however we reserve the right to use a product of similar colour or material provided it is of equal quality
We will not cover any property where the roof is of shared ownership, except by prior agreement.
We will not normally cover a property over 2 stories high, except by special arrangement
While every effort will be made to protect your property if your roof is leaking, it will, for health and safety reasons, not always be possible to fix the problem immediately (see the inclement weather clause in our general terms and conditions). In such instances we will take other safe proactive measures to protect your property such as laying out polythene in your roof space to minimise water penetration.
These particular terms and conditions should be read alongside our general terms and the agreement interpreted under Scots Law.
6. Inspection and Certificate Care
Terms and Conditions
This service provides the landlords gas safety certificates for up to 2 appliances and electrical pat testing for up to 15 appliances. We will not repair or replace any electrical appliance due to the electrical appliance failing the pat test. We will not repair or replace any parts to the gas appliances due to the appliances failing the safety certificate. One Call will not liable for any loss suffered if, as a result of our gas safety tests or PAT tests the property is deemed to be uninhabitable.
If you require this care package payment must be made in full in advance as follows:
A one bedroom property is eligible for 5 PAT tests, 2 gas appliance tests, a smoke alarm test and a fire extinguisher and a fire blanket test and costs £140.00 including VAT.
A two bedroom property is eligible for 10 PAT tests, 2 gas appliance tests, a smoke alarm test and a fire extinguisher and a fire blanket test and costs £155.00 including VAT.
A three - five bedroom property is eligible for 15 PAT tests, 2 gas appliance tests, a smoke alarm test and a fire extinguisher and a fire blanket test and costs £170.00 including VAT.
These particular terms and conditions should be read alongside our general terms and the agreement interpreted under Scots Law.
7. Emergency Care
Terms and Conditions
This gives you full access to our emergency service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year with a 2 hour response time. You are fully covered for all emergencies as defined in these conditions (see our general terms and conditions) throughout the year. Your cover includes all call out fees and 1 hours labour on site, plus £100 worth of materials including VAT. (95% of property emergencies are dealt with within the first hour). If we are there for more than 1 hour then any additional time will be charged at £50 per hour excluding VAT and all materials used will be charged at cost + 10%. If requested we will validate our material charges by providing a copy of our supplier’s invoice.
Under this package you can also access our emergency service for any property related matter that is deemed an emergency by you and which is not included in our emergency defined list. We will still respond within 2 hours of your call, 7 days a week, 365 days of the year to this class of emergency, but there will be an initial call out charge of £65 excluding VAT, which will cover the first hours’ attendance. If we are there for more than 1 hour then any additional time will be charged at £50 per hour excluding VAT and all materials used will be charged at cost + 10%. If requested we will validate our material charges by providing a copy of our supplier’s invoice.
These particular terms and conditions should be read alongside our general terms and the agreement interpreted under Scots Law.
