Constantia Cottages

Important Information

We kindly ask our guests to observe the following rules:

1. Safety precautions and use of our alarm system

We have been running Constantia Cottages since the beginning of 2006. Since that time there have been no break-ins or thefts. Our area of Constantia “The Vines” and also “Constantiaberg” count as one of the safest areas of Cape Town where there is the least criminal activity. Of course this is greatly helped by our safety precautions in this area especially the dominant presence of armed response and patrol (ADT in our case) as well as the eyes and ears of our neighborhood watch in our area.

Our guests can feel safe and at ease on our property and move about in the building day and night with no problems. We do however expect that our guests do their bit in helping with our security precautions and pay attention to the following matters:

… upon entering the property

Please close the entrance and garage doors immediately after driving in. These may not be kept open for any length of time. Passengers can get out of the car in the garage when the garage door is closed behind them, only then can the boot of the car be opened and the luggage taken out. Please inform the Landlord about any unusual or suspicious activity in the vicinity.

… upon exiting the property

Before you leave the property you must make sure that all windows are closed and the internal alarm system must be activated. You have to tap in the alarm code given to you by the landlord. Please put away all valuables in your safe before you leave the property. Please lock the door of the property. The garage door and entry door should only be opened once all passengers are in the car, once the motor has started. The garage and main gate must be operated via the remote control given to you by the Landlord, you cannot rely on the door closing itself.

..during your stay on the property

Before our guests retire for the night all windows must be closed except to leave them open a tiny bit so that the activation of the alarm system by the tapping in of the code is possible. Out of purely safety reasons we urgently advise you to activate your own alarm at night, although we have not had any break-ins in all these years. Caution is however better. The system must be on “closed”, which can be seen by a green control light on the control panel. After the activation a red light will go on. Should the alarm go off by accident it causes a bit of a stir in that you have to inform the landlord immediately, personally by telephone or via the house intercom system.

ATTENTION:
The landlord is not responsible for any damages or disadvantages, if the guest has not carried out the safety precautions correctly, especially in case he has not activated the alarm system when leaving the rental units or during night.

All the safety controlls around the buildings are managed by the landlord and add extra security for our guests.

2. Smoking in and around the buildings

Smoking is strictly forbidden in all buildings. We do allow smoking outside in the garden and on the patios but we do ask you not to flick the ash or cigarette butts around. We can provide you with a wind protected ashtray that should then only be emptied into the rubbish bin outside the flats.

3. Use of the swimming pool and garden

The large garden in front of and on the right hand side of the swimming pool with the sun beds in front of the fountain can be used by all our guests. There is also a garden swing bench and the stone seating group with facilities for grilling.

The upper part of the garden with the two storey cottage is allocated to the guests of the Cottage Cabernet. This also applies to the small garden and patio behind the small cottage which can only be used by guests occupying the Cottage Chardonnay. The patio behind the swimming pool with the two seating areas between the Cottages Shiraz and Cabernet exclusively allocated to the inhabitants of the Cottage Shiraz.

The swimming pool can be used between 8 am and 8 pm daily. The cleaning tool “The Kreepy Krauly” may not be removed from the pool, and cannot be taken apart or stood upon. The valuable water should not be taken out of the pool unnecessarily by excessive jumping in and out of the pool or splashing about.

4. Parking

We ask our guests to lock their cars and to close all the windows. Under no circumstances should any valuables, handbags or articles of clothing be left in the car. This rule should apply whether the car is outside or inside a garage.

5. Rubbish

All rubbish should be put into the black bins which are situated within the court yard in front of the double garage at Walloon Road or respectively in the double garage built next to the Cottage Cabernet. Due to lack of space we ask you to make the rubbish smaller or to fold or squash it up, e.g. empty plastic bottles or boxes. The bins are emptied every Friday. Organic rubbish should be put into plastic bags and not directly (loose) into the empty bins to avoid bad smells.

6. Barbeque (braai) and open fires

We provide our guests with a “normal” grill or a gas grill. Charcoal or gas is not necessarily available unless previous guests have left some behind. Firewood and wood as well as gas or charcoal is to be purchased by the guest (self-catering). We do however provide empty gas bottles in various sizes which can be filled so that the guest does not have to pay deposit on the bottles from the gas deliverer. We do ask that our guests don’t make it too smoky because of other guests, it goes without saying you have to be very careful with outside fires and that the grill and grill place should be left in exactly the same condition in which it was found.

7. Satellite /TV programmes

All our units are furnished with a Smart-TV linked to the Internet. The corresponding decoders for Satellite-TV with pay-tv are available which the guest can request. The providers offer different program selections and fee structures. The fee for this has to be paid in advance by the Landlord and therefore the guest will have this added to his bill, payable latest at departure in cash.

8. Guests of our guests

In general, overnight stays of friends of our guests are not allowed. However in well-founded exceptional cases, based on extra cost if the visitors sum up to more than the standard occupancy, overnight stays can be arranged with the Landlord for a specific time.

Our guests may invite friends to barbeque or just to stay in the main garden or their private patio, but it shouldn’t go beyond the scope of the usual, especially the rights of the neighboring guests of Constantia Cottages to enjoy their holidays in an appropriate atmosphere must be taken into account. Therefore we allow ourselves to limit number of visitors to our guests accommodated, how long they intend to stay for and what sort of noise it entails. We do generally not allow proper parties with more than 4 guests.

9. Electricity and water

Electricity and water is included in the daily rate.

ATTENTION:
We cannot be held responsible for power cuts or water stoppage which is in the hands of the local authorities, for example burst water pipes or electrical problems. Also no refund on rent in such cases.

10. Customer billing

We keep a guest account for every guest where we list extra activities such as booked tours or extra TV cost as well as consumption of wines and food, e.g. organized grill evenings. Balance must be paid latest on the day of departure.