Terms and Conditions if you are hosted by Ms Mila Amber
as a homestay guest ( 'boarder') in her home
at 46 Weka Street in Nelson city centre, New Zealand

I provide competitively priced (typically at least $11 per week cheaper than homestays arranged via NMIT or Nelson English Centre), clean, comfortable and smoke-free accommodation for your stay in Nelson that lasts more than 4 weeks while you study (or are in Nelson for other temporary or transient purposes).
I don't unnecessarily restrict what my house guests can and can't do and neither do I provide short-stay accommodation of less than four consecutive weeks.

Having said that, given the 'shared' nature of the accommodation I provide, I need to ask the co-operation of all my house guests to ensure the best experience for everyone. So long as you bear that in mind, and exercise common sense, you should be fine.

I do ask that you are familiar with my policies outlined below and considerate of others. Above all, I hope you enjoy your time with myself and my family!

Should you take the time to read all this tedious small print?

Absolutely!
Legal documents can make for dry reading, but the one below really matters if you wish to have a harmonious stay.
So whether you are new to my home or have stayed with me before (or are a current boarder), please take the time to get to know my policies and avoid any unintended consequences.

These terms and conditions may be amended in whole or in part at any time at my discretion. Amendments will be effective immediately upon posting of the amended terms and conditions on this Website. You are responsible for ensuring you are familiar with the latest terms and conditions.

  1. Absolutely NO SMOKING!
    If you are a smoker, you may not stay at 46 Weka Street.
    Also, and because of insurance and children, smoking is *not* allowed inside or outside of 46 Weka Street.
    If you flout this policy and allow anyone to smoke within the curtilage of Amber House, then you will be charged appropriate cleaning and loss of income charges together with liquidate damages if an explosion [either of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) or the children's parents] results.

  2. Many New Zealand homes are poorly insulated and heated. However, all bedrooms at Amber House are double glazed and have powerful Daikin heat pumps that, even on the coldest winter morning, will bring the bedroom temperature to 20°C in less than 3 minutes. Our Daikin heat pumps automatically adjust the temperature and volume of the air they pump out to quickly achieve the bedroom temperature that has been set on the remote control. Consequently, heat pumps should not be left running overnight (after 22h30 and before 07h30) or when you are in bed or absent from your bedroom and should certainly never be set to a temperature greater than 21°C. If you feel cold at a winter room temperature of 21°C, then you either need to put on more clothes or consult a physician for a health check-up. Extra duvets are available if you feel cold once in bed.

    Please turn off heat pumps, lights and all appliances each time you leave your room. I will only warn you once about this. Electricity is not free in Nelson so the second and subsequent times that you do not switch off you will be charged $10 each time!

    Unfortunately, the deeply discounted tariff offered to long stay guests does not provide sufficient margin to allow long stay guests to help themselves freely to Anzac biscuits, milk and fruit juice at any time but guests paying the full NMIT tariff can help themselves freely to hot drinks such as tea [I have a changing selection, so perhaps organic Castlereigh, Twinings Irish Breakfast, Darjeeling, Camomile, Lemon & Ginger, cranberry, raspberry & elderflower or caffeine-free herbal] and coffee and, after instruction, use their own detergent in my front loading automatic washing machine without charge.

  3. Please do not eat in your bedroom lest Argentine ants follow your food trail and begin to annoy you and others.
    There is both an inside and a fully equipped outside kitchen on the rear patio and those are great places to eat any time and not in bedrooms.
    Because I have to leave home to go to work each morning at 06h47, the latest time for taking breakfast if I am preparing it for you is 06h28.

  4. CHECK-IN is only by prior agreement - usually between 15h35 to 21h30 on the day of arrival; check-OUT time should typically be between 07h30 and 10h35 on the day of departure - other times by prior arrangement (if you wish to leave earlier than 07h30 in the morning, please hand back your keys, etc., the previous evening). Usually the rent week runs from 15h35 on a Sunday (but 10h35 if you have paid in advance for another week) to 10h35 on the following Sunday morning.
    Neither I nor my family are on duty round-the-clock to await your arrival, so it is vital that the family knows what time to expect you. We have daily family affairs to attend to, but will have re-arranged our schedule to accommodate your mutually agreed check-in time — so your arrival time is extremely important! If this time changes either way by 21 minutes or more, please notify us as soon as you are aware of the change. Otherwise, we probably won't be here to greet you.
    If your arrival time is unpredictable we can arrange to have your keys left in a key safe to the right of 46 Weka Street's front door.
    It's really important that you now send us the phone number of a mobile phone you will be carrying on the day you arrive [and keep it switched on] so we can update each other with any last minute developments. [You usually won't pay any international roaming charges to RECEIVE text/SMS messages in New Zealand even if your cell phone is registered overseas...]

  5. I very much prefer you to pay me in cash in full for any balance remaining in respect of your reservation when you arrive at 46 Weka Street and we complete the register and explain the fire and tsunami procedures. We do NOT have eftpos facilities!
    Upon arrival, there is also a fully refundable, cash deposit of $20 per set of room/house keys and this is refunded in cash when you return the keys.
    All prices quoted by me are for immediate cash settlement and include all applicable taxes, levies and service charges. Tipping is not common practice in New Zealand, "Thank you" is all that is expected - even for exceptional service. Historically, many guests have sensibly reserved their stay by giving MasterCard or VISA details and then avoided the card surcharge of 10% by paying in cash when they arrive or by weekly bank credits in advance. (See clause 16)

  6. If you are given permission to bring a vehicle down Amber House's drive, there may be young children about so please observe the 7 km/h [4 mph] speed limit for motorised vehicles at Amber House!

  7. BICYCLES may be hired upon a deposit of $200 depending on availability.
    You may request that your own bicycle, tandem, motorcycle, or kayak be put into our garage [at your own risk] depending on space available.

  8. For each CANCELLATION or change of date/room required there will always be an administration charge of $9 levied.
    The administration charge and cancellation/date change fees are payable immediately they are invoiced. If they remain unpaid after 24 hours then the delinquent guest(s) will be evicted.
    Cancellation policies are also specific to each Agent. If you did not book directly with me and instead used an Agent to make the reservation and there is any conflict between my cancellation policies specified at (16) below and your Agent's, then your Agent's cancellation policies will apply if they are more restrictive.
    I strongly recommend guests take out travel insurance to protect themselves against any unexpected changes to their plans and I trust you will appreciate that my cancellation policies, as specified above and below, are more liberal than most.

  9. All my long stay guests will be given a daily FREE allowance of at least one and a half Gigabyte (1.5GB) of optical fibre Wi-Fi and may borrow a separate cordless phone by arrangement to make FREE short calls overseas to landlines in more than 75 territories:-
    Andorra, Argentina, Australia (& mobiles), Austria (& mobiles), Bangladesh (& mobiles), Belgium (& mobiles), Bermuda (& mobiles), Brazil (& mobiles), Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada (& mobiles), Chile (& mobiles), China (& mobiles), Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic (& mobiles), Denmark (& mobiles), Dominican Republic, Estonia, Finland (& mobiles), France (& mobiles), Germany (& mobiles), Gibraltar, Greece (& mobiles), Guadeloupe, Guam (& mobiles), Guernsey, Hong Kong (& mobiles), Hungary, Iceland, India (& mobiles), Indonesia (& mobiles), Ireland, Isle of Man, Italy (& mobiles), Israel, Japan, Jersey, Latvia (& mobiles), Lithuania (& mobiles), Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta (& mobiles), Martinique, Mexico (& mobiles), Morocco, Netherlands (& mobiles),
    New Zealand (use the direct dial phone in your room or, to call a New Zealand mobile, speak to Adam or Anne or Mila and ask to use their personal mobile to make the call),
    Nigeria (& mobiles), Norway (& mobiles), Peru, Poland (& mobiles), Portugal (& mobiles), Puerto Rico (& mobiles), Romania, Russia, San Marino, Singapore (& mobiles), Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain (& mobiles), Sweden (& mobiles), Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand (& mobiles), Turkey, United Kingdom (& mobiles), United States (& mobiles), US Virgin Islands (& mobiles), Vatican City (& mobiles) and Venezuela.

  10. Visitors are permitted at the Amber family's discretion.
    There is a guest dining room and there are also tables and chairs on the front verandah adjoining the rose garden; we very much prefer that you eat and drink and entertain any visitors there rather than in your bedroom where ants may follow.
    The person that made the original booking is responsible - both financially and practically - for the behaviour of all the guest members of their party and visitors while they are at 46 Weka Street. No visitors are allowed in guest bedrooms between 21h30 and 08h00 unless they are duly registered as house guests. (If we ever have our first fire, or there is another huge earthquake or a tsunami is threatened, we will need to know exact numbers of occupants to make sure that everybody has been safely evacuated...)
    My charges are very competitive and are heavily discounted, but they are levied per homestay guest and not per room, so I regard persons that are found to have stayed overnight without being duly registered as having attempted to perpetrate a fraud. Consequently each unregistered overnight guest will be charged a fee of $110 per night.

  11. 46 Weka Street is also the family home of "Red", an Australian working Kelpie who never barks and loves hugs and tickles and being taken to the nearby beach to swim and dash about. He is very intelligent and obedient to commands but, because he grew up on a large farm away from streets and vehicles, is absolutely suicidal when it comes to city traffic. Consequently, please keep the gate closed and do not allow him to run out onto the street on his own or you will be held liable for him being squashed.

    If you've used 46 Weka Street as a mailing address, then you should set up a Mail Redirection before you leave since you agree that any mail addressed to you at 46 Weka Street after your departure from 46 Weka Street may be either thrown away or marked "Return to Sender - no forwarding address known" at Mila Amber's absolute discretion.

  12. I will STORE your BAGGAGE FREE [but at your risk, not mine] until you return to spend at least one more night with us [if you are visiting the Abel Tasman National Park or touring the South Island, perhaps].

  13. DAMAGE and the costs associated with inappropriate behaviour or deliberate or reckless acts or omissions will be charged for appropriately. Each invoice issued under this clause will include an administration charge of $9 and is payable immediately upon issue; should the invoice remain unpaid after 24 hours have elapsed, I will invoke clause 15 and summarily and immediately evict the guest.
    46 Weka Street is fortunate to have tolerant and lovely neighbours. My home is not a motel or party hostel and I make every effort to limit our noise impact on our neighbours - especially after 21h30 and before 07h30 and everyone is expected to assist in this regard.
    You agree to hold myself, my family and other house guests blameless for any problems outwith my direct control such as "acts of God" and/or "mother nature" such as (but not limited to) floods of blood and water, plagues of frogs, creeping things upon the earth, flies, cattle, boils, hail and thunder, locusts, darkness over the land of Egypt and the faults of others such as tsunamis and power outages and also to notify me of any issues or problems while at 46 Weka Street (rather than after you have already left) so that I have an opportunity to remedy the situation.

  14. I reserve the right to dishonour reservations made by third parties [persons natural or legal that are not actually staying at 46 Weka Street and not a member of the Amber family or an employee of Ababab Limited] if it is subsequently discovered that the actual guest staying at 46 Weka Street is unaware of my policies, terms and conditions [as outlined on this website] because of the negligence of that third party. In this event we will continue to hold the original third party that reserved the accommodation responsible for all charges incurred, together with the recovery of costs associated with the inappropriate behaviour or deliberate or reckless acts or omissions of the guest(s) that the third party reserved accommodation for.
    I also reserve the right to dishonour reservations where I have not received satisfactory answers to pertinent questions [eg: statement address of card holder, time and method of arrival, mobile number, land line telephone, any special dietary or other requirements, etc] within a reasonable timescale.
    [In more than 100 years of taking in house guests, we have never had a theft by or from a guest at Amber House and I do require ALL guests to state their full name, residential address, etc, prior to arrival and to sight official photographic identification such as passport or driving licence at check-in to help maintain this record.]

  15. If any of these terms and conditions are breached (and, in particular, clauses 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, 13 and 14), then I reserve the fundamental right of immediate eviction. If I choose to exercise this right, the contracted price for the full length of the stay is still due and payable and no refunds will be given.

  16. Long stay (42 days or more) or homestay guests (such as NMIT students and Nelson College scholars) may avail of substantial discounts in off-peak seasons in return for living en famille and helping the family with small household chores. Those in Nelson to improve their English should make every effort to engage in conversation with the Amber family.

    Telephone +64 3-539 0605 directly to negotiate weekly rates. Weekly rates are not broken down pro rata so 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14 days will all be charged as two weeks. Unless otherwise agreed, the rent week begins on Sunday afternoons and ends on Sunday mornings.

    For the tax year beginning 1 April 2021 and ending 31 March 2022, I intend to keep charging $219 per week for single occupation of a bedroom with no food or meals provided apart from breakfast (independent catering); and $159 per week each for double or twin occupation of a bedroom with no food or meals provided apart from breakfast (independent catering) for homestays making a reservation for 8 weeks or longer.

    If you are on the "independent catering" tariff, then I do not provide free of charge any food or consumables whatever (with the exception of water, salt and pepper). For the avoidance of doubt, you will need to provide your own spices, oil and all consumables such as kitchen roll, paper napkins, cling film and all cleaning materials and supplies. It will also be your responsibility to leave the kitchen(s) and dining area(s) clean and tidy after you have finished.

    We make every effort to comply with the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016 in providing a safe study environment in homestay accommodation that is in acceptable condition and meeting all regulatory and legislative requirements; consequently, no more than 4 international students at a time are accommodated.

    Naturally I prefer for the whole payment for a long stay to be made either in advance or upon arrival; however, I recognise that a large lump sum payment may be difficult for some guests. I will, therefore, instead accept automatic weekly bank credits in advance providing that a minimum performance surety of at least the equivalent of two weeks is paid before the long stay reservation commences (to lock in your booked dates and heavily discounted rate) and the weekly amount is at least $199.
    Then, on or before the day you arrive for your long stay at 46 Weka Street, you need to start making weekly payments regularly as clockwork each week. You must always keep your payments up to date and an absolute minimum of one week in advance once the long stay has commenced. Failure to adhere to this rule will mean your substantial long stay discount is lost, you forfeit your performance surety and I immediately start charging you a nightly rate instead (typically one half of the super-discounted weekly long stay rate for just one night) !
    The performance surety will be held until the conclusion of the stay and then returned (without interest and within 7 days) to a nominated bank account (and not in cash) only if you have complied with all my terms and conditions. If any invoiced amounts remain unpaid after their due date for payment or at the conclusion of the stay, all or some of the performance surety may be used to pay them and the amount of the surety diminished or extinguished appropriately.

    No credit will be given for missed meals (except where an absence of at least 7 days is agreed in advance, when a credit of $10 per day will be credited to the long stay account.
    Once the dates of a long stay have been agreed, for each CANCELLATION or change of date/room required there will always be an administration charge of $9 levied.
    There will be no additional cancellation/date change fees levied by me if 31 days or more notice is given; I refund back to your bank account and NOT in cash.
    The following cancellation/date change fees will usually apply in addition to the administration charge of $9:-
    7% of the original agreed total payment if only 14 to 30 days notice is given;
    8% of the originally agreed total payment if only 6 to 13 days notice is given;
    10% of the original agreed total payment if only 3 to 12 days notice is given;
    13% of the original agreed total payment if only 1 to 2 days notice is given;
    16% of the originally agreed total payment if less than 24 hours notice is given;

  17. Amber House has NOT been a boarding house for more than 70 years and I don't ever offer (and nor have I ever offered) residential tenancies subject to the Residential Tenancies Act 1986 and my residential licences are exempt under the provisions of section 5 (1), paragraphs (h), (k), (m), (n) at least. Until December 2017, Amber House (LOT 1 DP 12146) was owned freehold by Mila Amber under Certificate of Title 7B/699 and I now rent part of it that continues to be used principally as a place of residence by myself, Mila Amber, and by other members of my family while also providing long term homestay accommodation for paying guests. As from 1 April 2019 Mila Amber decided to only offer boarding accommodation and NOT short-stay accommodation in her domestic accommodation.

  18. All long stay (42 days or more) or homestay guests are never assigned exclusive rights to occupy particular sleeping quarters but instead are accommodated on an "Our Choice" basis. ("Our Choice" is where you let me pick your specific bedroom in my home at 46 Weka Street - and you are prepared to move bedrooms during the course of a stay of more than one night. You'll probably get lucky and bag an air conditioned and en-suite "Our Choice" Room; equally there's a chance you might end up having to walk across the hall to your private bathroom. ALL my bedrooms have individually controlled Daikin air-conditioning/heat pumps and are double glazed for insulation and sound-proofing. Three of my four bedrooms have the shower and wash handbasin en suite and with two of them the WC is also en suite. In each and every case the WC, shower and handbasin is private to you. Typically TWO beds (but could be one bed if I put you in the Gold or Blue Room).
    Unlike a tenancy (where you have the right to exclude the world and his uncle from entering leased accommodation and where you have exclusive rights of occupation and can exclude from entry all those who do not have specific authorisation from a court), all my licences explicitly permit me (and/or my authorised agents) to enter rooms at any time for necessary purposes such as cleaning, making repairs, closing windows, switching off heat pumps and other appliances, maintenance, emergencies, etc, etc. Of course we'll always knock (increasingly loudly) before we enter but if there is no response and the room door is locked, we will use our pass key.
    When you make a long stay (42 days or more) or homestay booking, I immediately block out and stop any further reservations being taken for a specific room for the dates of your requested booking. However, it sometimes happens that a guest that is already staying in the room I provisionally assigned to you needs to extend their stay at short notice (because of injury or a cancelled flight, for example). In this contingency I may need to change your room assignment at short notice. In more than 100 years we have never had to disappoint a guest entirely but by making a booking, whether in person or online, you do accept that you are making a request to stay and that, in the circumstances just described, if your requested room is not available and you do not wish to be accommodated in alternative accommodation, your only remedy and redress is cancellation of your booking at no charge and a refund of any monies already paid.

  19. AMBER HOUSE - at the centre!™ is a trademark and is used under licence by Ababab Limited [and other licensees].
    By writing in our guestbook (either physically at Amber House or in the on-line version at tinyurl.com/Guestbook-AmberHouse ) you agree to assign the copyright in your writings there to my son, Adam Amber. New Zealand intellectual property law protects your rights to both be attributed as the author and to object to derogatory treatment of your comments. Usually we partially anonymise your name and correct any typos when we publish these comments on our own website and elsewhere - so please tell us if you do NOT want anonymisation and/or typographical corrections!
    I am not registered for GST and do not charge GST.

    Thousands of lower income households, unlike MPs and other well-off New Zealand residents, do not employ accountants to alert them to changes in tax law. Please note that, because of the sneaky and underhand way that the New Zealand tax department have failed utterly to publicise this proposed change that will wreck the budgets of thousands of lower income households and mean they unwittingly fail to file tax returns in time, Ababab Limited will not have the Balcony Suite nor the Green, Blue, Gold or Pineapple rooms at Amber House available for short-term stays during the tax years beginning 1 April 2021 and ending 31 March 2023.

  20. E&OE: this summary of my explicit policies, terms and conditions must be read with the proviso that any errors and omissions are to be excepted, there are other terms implied by both law and common sense and that the version current and published at
         http://www.amberhouse.co.nz/Mila-Homestay.html
                                                                         supersedes and replaces any older and/or differing version.
    Consequently, you should always force a hard browser cache refresh when reading these terms and condiitions so that you are not reading outdated terms and conditions!
    By submitting a reservation request or by visiting Amber House, you are agreeing to all these Terms and Conditions and that New Zealand law applies and irrevocably submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of New Zealand courts for the determination of any disputes that may arise.


Version 7d, 31 October 2021





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