Terms & Conditions
These Terms and Conditions apply to all Services provided by Juliet Michel Interior Design Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under number 08588975 whose registered address is at 9 Stag Lane, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 1FJ.
1. Definitions and Interpretation
In these Terms and Conditions, unless the context otherwise requires, the following terms have the following meanings:
“JMID” Juliet Michel Interior Design Ltd.
“Contract” means the contract formed between you and JMID.
“Client/You/Your” means you, the Consumer, firm or corporate body purchasing the services.
“Proposal” means my estimate for providing the interior design services, which unless otherwise stated, remains open for acceptance for a period of 30 days and constitutes my entire scope of works. This may be by way of a formal fee proposal or an email confirmation.
“Consumer” is as defined in the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
“Services” means the interior design services to be provided by JMID to you as detailed in the Proposal.
“FFE” means all furniture, fixtures and equipment including loose furniture, curtains, fixtures, materials etc that are specified by JMID.
Each reference in these Terms and Conditions to:
“writing” and “written” includes emails
“these Terms and Conditions” is a reference to these Terms and Conditions as may be amended or supplemented at the relevant time
a clause is a reference to a clause of these Terms and Conditions; and a “Party” or the “Parties” refer to the parties to these Terms and Conditions
The headings used in these Terms and Conditions are for convenience only and will have no effect on their interpretation.
Words imparting the singular number shall include the plural and vice versa.
References to any gender shall include the other gender. References to persons shall include corporations.
2. How the Contract is Formed
These Terms and Conditions govern the sale of all Services provided by JMID and will form the basis of the Contract between you and JMID.
Following the initial consultation, I will provide you with a Proposal for the Services and/or Products you have requested. This will be based on the brief given by you at the initial consultation (or received in my welcome questionnaire). All details of the project or any relevant information must be given to JMID fully and to the best of your knowledge. A legally binding Contract between you and JMID will be created when you accept the Proposal. Before accepting the Proposal, please ensure that you have read these Terms and Conditions carefully. If you are unsure about any part of these Terms and Conditions, please ask me for clarification.
No terms or conditions issued or referred to by you in any form will in any way vary or add to these Terms and Conditions unless I agree otherwise in writing.
Any Proposal I may send is based on the information provided me at the time I prepare it. If any errors or discrepancies become evident which affect the price, I reserve the right to adjust it.
3. Interior Design Services
I will ensure that my Services are provided with reasonable care and skill and in accordance with best trade practice. My Services, and any guidance I provide, will be from an interior design perspective only; you must gain specialist advice from architects, building control, structural engineers or other specialist contractors or trades where applicable.
I will provide you with designs as detailed in the Proposal which will need to be approved by you in writing. I will accommodate a maximum of two revisions to your chosen design. Any further alterations, any changes to the original brief, any changes required after you have approved the design, works required outside of my normal working hours (Monday to Friday, 9am – 5.30pm excluding bank holidays) or any additional visits required above the allowance included for in the Proposal will be chargeable at my hourly rate applicable at the time.
If you require any additional services after accepting my Proposal, I will provide you with a further Proposal, which must be accepted by you in writing before I will proceed.
I may provide sketches or impressions before or during the provision of the Services. Any such material is intended for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to provide an exact specification of the works to be provided, nor to guarantee specific results and is not to be used for construction purposes unless specifically issued as such.
It is your responsibility to check all dimensions and measurements set out in any plans I provide and it is the builder or contractor’s responsibility to report any discrepancies to JMID prior to any construction or building work starting.
If asked to provide lighting, heating, flooring or other plans, I will produce these as guidance only from a design point of view. It will be the relevant contractor’s responsibility to ensure the work from the plans I have created is safe and practical.
I will provide designs and plans digitally and have included for this in the Proposal. If you require printed materials, these will incur a charge.
We may provide suggestions for products (such as FFE) or other services (including support in sourcing a sub-contractor). You are under no obligation to accept these suggestions but if you decide to, you will need to ensure the relevant supplier/contractor is suitable for your needs. A separate contractual relationship will be created between you and the supplier/contractor for the products/services, under separate terms and conditions. You will be responsible for making arrangements with and paying the supplier directly and they will be liable to you directly for their actions or inactions.
I may agree to coordinate the ordering of products for your design. I will ensure you have approved these decisions before orders are placed. I cannot be held responsible for arranging repairs, replacements, returns or freight claims for purchases you have approved. I strive to select furniture and accessories and brands with good reputations; however, will not be held responsible for the quality of any furniture or accessory that I select or propose.
I shall use reasonable endeavours to match natural products such as wood, stone, glass, metal and leather to samples provided to the Client but shall not be responsible for variations that occur in such materials.
I may offer advice on expected delivery dates and will use best endeavours to ensure these are accurate but any time or date for delivery shall be approximate only and JMID cannot be held responsible for any supplier delays.
For FFE purchases it is the Client’s responsibility to ensure that delivered items can be carefully stored and are not put at risk of damage. The Client shall indemnify JMID for any damage, loss or injury to the items and shall, at the Client’s cost, make suitable arrangements for the return of such items directly with the supplier if required.
4. Price and Payment
JMID’s standard payment terms for projects over £500 are as follows:
50% of the quoted fee is payable as a deposit once the Proposal is approved. I will be unable to commence the works until this deposit has been paid in full.
The remaining quoted fee (if any) is payable as set out in my payment schedule in the contract/Scope of Works with final instalment on completion of the project.
JMID reserves the right to issue additional progress invoices and the final invoice at any time, if the Services are delayed through no fault of my own or if the client adjusts the project scope. I also reserve the right to request 100% of the quoted fee up front at my sole discretion and for projects under £500 and will specify this in the Proposal.
For any meeting in-person I would appreciate a minimum of 48-hr notice and any mileage incurred will be charged at 50p per mile. Any other reasonable costs linked to an in-person meeting will be agreed on a case-by-case basis.
Other reasonable expenses will be reimbursed by the Client for items such as material samples, postage, printing. An allowance for these will be discussed at the beginning of the project.
All invoices are payable immediately or within 14 calendar days from the date of invoice, without set-off, withholding or deduction.
If payments are not made to JMID by the due date, I reserve rights to stop providing my Services and will charge you interest on the overdue sum at the rate of 3% per annum above the Bank of England base lending rate from time to time. Interest will accrue on a daily basis from the due date for payment until the actual date of payment of the overdue sum, both before or after judgment. This will not apply if you have promptly contacted JMID to dispute an invoice in good faith. No interest will accrue while such a dispute is ongoing.
Should the works be delayed or postponed for a period of 6 months or more in any one stage, through no fault of JMID, I reserve the right to review and amend my fees and will notify you of this.
5. Cancellations
As a consumer, you have a statutory right to a “cooling off” period within which you can cancel the Contract for any reason, including if you have changed your mind, and receive a refund.
This period begins once the Contract is signed and ends at the end of 14 calendar days after that date. If you wish to cancel the Contract within the cooling off period, you should inform JMID immediately by email and confirm receipt.
If you wish for my Services to start within the cooling off period, you must make an express request for JMID to do so. You acknowledge and agree that if you do so, you will lose your right to cancel if my Services are completed within the 14-day cooling off period. If I have begun providing Services, you will be required to pay for the Services I have provided up to the point at which you inform me of your wish to cancel.
After the expiry of the cooling off period, or if you are not a Consumer, you are required to provide JMID with a minimum of 14 days’ written notice if you wish to cancel the Contract. In the event of cancellation, JMID will invoice you for the Services provided up to the date of cancellation. Upon receipt of payment, I will hand over all works completed by JMID up to the date of cancellation in relation to the Contract.
Either Party may cancel the Contract immediately if the other:
has committed a material breach of this Contract, unless the breach is capable of remedy, in which case this right to terminate will be exercisable if the other Party has failed to remedy the breach within 14 days after a written notice to do so; or
goes into bankruptcy or liquidation either voluntary or compulsory (save for the purposes of bona fide corporate reconstruction or amalgamation) or if a receiver is appointed in respect of the whole or any part of its assets.
Cancellation of the Contract for any reason will not affect the rights and liabilities of the Parties already accrued at that time and any clauses that are stated to continue in force after termination will not be effected.
Any charges including freight and delivery charges outstanding at the time of cancellation will be your responsibility.
Delays due to contractors/builders or site delays whilst I am undertaking a project management role cannot be claimed against JMID.
6. My Liability
I will be responsible for any foreseeable loss or damage that you may suffer as a result of JMID’s breach of these Terms and Conditions or as a result of my negligence. Loss or damage is foreseeable if it is an obvious consequence of my breach or negligence. I will not be responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable.
I will use my own exclusive judgement when deciding upon artistic factors required for the provision of the Services. To the extent permissible by law, I will not accept liability, and no refunds will be offered, in the unlikely event that you are dissatisfied due to a matter of personal taste.
Nothing in these Terms and Conditions seeks to exclude or limit my liability for death or personal injury caused by my negligence (including that of my employees, agents or sub-contractors), or for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation.
Nothing in these Terms and Conditions seeks to exclude or limit your legal rights as a consumer, where applicable. For more details on your legal rights, please refer to your local Citizens’ Advice Bureau or Trading Standards Office.
JMID holds cover for Public Liability and Professional Indemnity Insurance, details are available on request.
JMID cannot be held responsible for issues or defects in my Services where I have relied on information provided by you or other companies instructed by you.
7. Intellectual Property Rights
JMID own (and retain) all intellectual property rights subsisting in any and all designs I create and all content on my website.
Provided payment is made in accordance with the terms of payment above, I will grant you a non-exclusive licence to use the intellectual property the subject of the Contract, only for the purposes for which I am engaged by you. The licence will become effective once the final design is provided. You may not sub-licence these intellectual property rights without my prior written permission.
JMID reserves the right to take such actions as may be appropriate to restrain or prevent infringement of JMID’s intellectual property rights.
Any licence granted shall be automatically revoked if you breach any of these terms and conditions or if the Contract is cancelled in accordance with clause 5.
The licence will apply only to the final design and will not extend to any draft concepts, images, designs or other material viewed by you. These cannot be used without my express permission.
I will issue designs in a standard, non-editable format only. If you require formats or other information which could be manipulated by others, then this will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
You warrant that any document given to me will not cause JMID to infringe the intellectual property or other legal rights of any third party.
I reserve the right to use any design created by me for my own promotional purposes. Please advise JMID when accepting the Proposal if you do not agree to this.
Photography of the project will be taken before, during and after completion. Some of these images could be used in future marketing and included in social media by JMID. All details which could identify the property, client or location will be omitted before the images are used. If, as Client you wish any areas of the project not to be included in any marketing or social media promotion then this needs to be notified in writing at the beginning of the project.
8. Events Outside of My Control (Force Majeure)
JMID will not be liable for any failure or delay in performing obligations where that failure or delay results from any cause that is beyond my reasonable control. Such causes include, but are not limited to: power failure, internet service provider failure, industrial action, civil unrest, fire, flood, storms, earthquakes, acts of terrorism or war, governmental action, epidemic or other natural disaster, or any other event that is beyond my control.
9. Complaints and Feedback
JMID always welcome client feedback and, whilst I always use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that your experience as a client is a positive one, I nevertheless want to hear from you if you have any cause for complaint.
If you wish to complain about any aspect of your dealings with JMID, which we cannot resolve through discussion then please contact me in writing and I will respond to your complaint within 14 days.
10. GDPR
All personal information that JMID may collect (including, but not limited to, your name and address) will be collected, used and held in accordance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation 2016 (“GDPR”) and your rights under the GDPR.
11. Other important terms
JMID may transfer (assign) my obligations and rights under these Terms and Conditions (and under the Contract, as applicable) to a third party (this may happen, for example, if I sell my business). If this occurs you will be informed by me in writing. Your rights under these Terms and Conditions will not be affected and JMID’s obligations under these Terms will be transferred to the third party who will remain bound by them.
You may not transfer (assign) your obligations and rights under these Terms and Conditions (and under the Contract, as applicable) without my express written permission.
The Contract is between you and JMID. It is not intended to benefit any other person or third party in any way and no such person or party will be entitled to enforce any provision of these Terms and Conditions.
If any of the provisions of these Terms and Conditions are found to be unlawful, invalid or otherwise unenforceable by any court or other authority, that/those provision(s) will be deemed severed from the remainder of these Terms and Conditions and the remainder will be valid and enforceable.
No failure or delay by JMID in exercising any of my rights under these Terms and Conditions means that I have waived that right, and no waiver by JMID of a breach of any provision of these Terms and Conditions means that I will waive any subsequent breach of the same or any other provision.
12. Governing Law and Jurisdiction
These Terms and Conditions (and the Contract), including any non-contractual matters and obligations arising from them or associated with them, will be governed by, and construed in accordance with, the laws of England and Wales.
Any dispute, controversy, proceedings or claim between JMID and you relating to these Terms and Conditions (or the Contract) (including any non-contractual matters and obligations arising from them or associated with them) will fall within the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.