Yammy
Pre Covid we booked a fortnight in a cottage in Britain. Due to ongoing ill health, we were going to cancel about a month before the holiday and was told if they could not relet we would not get any of our money back[We had already paid the balance]. I asked what the chances of reletting would be and got a non-comital answer. We decided not to cancel and allowed a relation to go and come away as they liked.
These rules have always been there if you read the .small print
We are in the same position yet again last year we were offered the chance to defer the booking to this year now we are waiting to see if the country will be open to English travellers for our dates.
Beware if you name some illnesses as reasons not to travel your travel insurance will be much higher the following year, we have been caught with this as well.
Sorry but this is inaccurate and therefore not helpful. If you book a cottage and then have to cancel you are of course liable to pay up but and this is a big but the owners have first to mitigate their losses. This would mean readvertising in a timely manner ie as soon as they received your cancellation. Any reasonable evidenced costs of readvertisinv would of course be chargeable - as I said I paid the £40 agency fee. It doesn’t matter one jot what any small print says. Much of it is unfair and ignores basic consumer law. If the readverising is done properly and the cottage is not relet, then of course you pay up. Although there is still a debate to be had about what the actual loss is as it may not be the same as the rent ( but that’s another story)