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Terms and Conditions - Home Assist
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November 2006

HomeSource Access and HomeSource Home Assist.
ENTITLEMENTS, TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Disclaimer

This publication is intended as a first point of reference and should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional advice.

You should obtain professional advice that takes into account your specific circumstances before you make any decisions.

By accessing and or using this website, you agree that HomeSource is not responsible to you or anyone else for any loss, damage, cost or expense suffered in connection with the use of this website or any of its contents. This includes, but is not limited to, the transmission of any computer virus.

Further, your use of this website or receipt of any information from us or this website is not intended to create, nor does it create, a client relationship (in particular solicitor – client relationship) between you and HomeSource.

Our website may be linked to other websites over which we have no control. We make no representations about the accuracy of the information contained on those websites and are not liable for their contents.

Variations to the terms and conditions

HomeSource reserves the right to amend prices and inclusions of policies and services without prior notice. Please review these terms regularly to ensure you are aware of any changes. Another copy is available by visiting www.homesource.com.au and clicking on the site disclaimer link.

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Introduction

HomeSource is a service provider supplying general advice and services in regard to your most important asset, your home. This includes general legal, building and trades advice. The advice supplied by HomeSource is not a substitute for specific advice and should not be relied upon as specific advice. 

As the advice given by HomeSource is of a general nature it is possible that HomeSource will advise you to seek expert advice. HomeSource will endeavour to determine the type of Specialist advice you need and refer you to a suitable Specialist. HomeSource, however, has no affiliation with any Specialist and is purely a referral agency in this regard. Whilst HomeSource will use reasonable endeavours to ensure any Specialist it refers you to is of the highest quality, HomeSource does not warrant the quality of the Specialist and is not responsible for any loss, damage, cost or expense suffered due to your use of that Specialist. 

For the purposes of this Disclaimer, Specialist means any person or company that HomeSource refers you to or advises you that they could assist you, including but not limited to lawyers, law firms, builders, tradesmen or trade suppliers and any of these groups listed on the website including those in the Find a Tradesmen section of the website.

HomeSource Home Assist supports you by qualified trades people to assist you in the case of an emergency at your home. Please refer to specific terms and conditions related to this product below.

Variations to the terms and conditions

HomeSource reserves the right to amend prices and inclusions of policies and services without prior notice. Please review these terms regularly to ensure you are aware of any changes. Another copy is available by visiting www.homesource.com.au and clicking on the site disclaimer link.

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HomeSource Access 

Your annual membership payment entitles you to:

- Access to the HomeSource website and all the information enclosed within it;

- Access to the forums on the website and to lodge your comments, subject to the forum rules, as well as read the comments of others;

- Sixty (60) minutes of Consultation time with our lawyers and builders in accordance with the heading below “How the One Hour Advice Works???.

- Access to our Find a Tradesman search engine;

- Updates on consumer matters in relation to property owners.

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How the One Hour Advice Works

Your membership entitles you to one (1) hour of free legal and/or building Consultation. This is a cumulative amount of 60 minutes that is calculated in 

1 minute blocks and accrue each time you access the facility. 

Consultation, for the purposes of time calculation is defined to mean:

- Time on the telephone with a HomeSource builder or lawyer;

- Time spent by the HomeSource builder or lawyer noting the details of the call and file noting the discussion and action required;

- Time spent by the HomeSource builder or lawyer reading your query if it is sent by email or mail;

- Time spent by the HomeSource lawyer or builder sending an email or letter response;

- It does not include time spent by the HomeSource lawyer or builder researching your query or contacting other parties to assist you or find an answer to your query.

- It does not include time spent by the HomeSource lawyer or builder managing your case for internal HomeSource purposes.

The premise is that you only pay for the time spent liaising with the HomeSource lawyer or builder.

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Top Up Payments

Whilst your membership allows you one hour of Consultation with Homesource, HomeSource acknowledges that different people have different requirements and you may require extra time. Accordingly, you can pay for a top-up of either 30 minutes or 60 minutes at any time at the cost advertised from time to time on the website, or as advised by calling 1300 733 420. The time purchased will then be added to your available 

Consultation time. 

Whilst you remain a member of HomeSource your unused time will accumulate from year to year. Unused time will be forfeited if you cease to be a member.

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Legal Advice

The legal advice supplied by HomeSource is general advice only and is not case specific. While HomeSource uses reasonable endeavours to ensure all information on the website and general legal advice given is correct HomeSource is not liable for any loss suffered by a member for relying on the information. The HomeSource lawyers are not supplied with all information regarding a case to make a definitive recommendation. Members should seek independent legal advice on their specific legal issues. 

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Building Advice

The building advice supplied by HomeSource is general advice only and is not case specific. The HomeSource builders are not supplied with all the information regarding a specific case and have not viewed the property to which the case relates. Accordingly, the advice given by the HomeSource builders should not be specifically relied upon and HomeSource is not liable for any loss suffered by members relying on the information.

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Forums

The public access forums are for the benefit of all members to assist in the flow of information on the quality of property lawyers, tradesmen and other Specialists for the home. The information posted on the forums are not the views, beliefs or ideas of HomeSource or HomeSource staff. 

HomeSource will use reasonable endeavours to monitor the content of the forums to ensure that the information posted there is not distasteful, discriminatory, illegal, or defamatory, and HomeSource will remove any posts that it determines to be so at its absolute discretion. HomeSource will notify the member who posted any post that is removed.

HomeSource welcomes members to advise the Webmaster if they feel any comments on the forum pages are inappropriate.

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HomeSource Home Assist

HomeSource Home Assist provides qualified trades people to help you manage specific emergencies around the home. Details of the membership benefits and the exclusions are details below and on the relevant website page. Please refer to all of these for full membership details.

What is covered:

Under your membership (Basic and Prestige), the costs associated with the dispatch of the trades person and the cost of the first half hour of their time on site is covered by Home Assist.  The cost of repairing the problem (parts and labour) is the responsibility of the member. 

For specific areas of coverage, please refer to the corresponding website page or the HomeSource Home Assist brochure.

What is not covered: 

1. Home Assist provides the services and benefits described during the period of the membership for which you have paid the membership fee. But there are Conditions and Exclusions, shown overleaf, which limit your cover. Please read them carefully.

2. This membership is not a household building or contents policy or an equipment maintenance contract. It complements your household insurance policies, providing benefits and services which are not normally available under such policies. We therefore recommend that you have a buildings insurance policy covering your property and a contents insurance policy covering your possessions.

Exclusions:

The following are excluded from coverage under the terms of the membership:

(a) any loss or damage occurring within the first 14 days of cover;

(b) any leaking or dripping tap that requires re-washering or replacing and external overflows, replacement of cylinders, tanks, radiators and sanitary ware;

(c) burst or leaking flexible hoses or leaking washing appliances which are fitted with a stop tap;

(d) external water supply pipes;

(e) Hot water systems over 10 years old;

(f) replacement of light bulbs, fuses and plugs;

(g) loss of keys for outbuildings, garages and sheds;

(h) breakdown or loss of or damage to domestic appliances or saniflow toilets and other mechanical equipment;

(i) damage to boundary walls, hedges, fences or gates.

(j) Electricity supply to, or failure of burglar/fire alarm systems, CCTV surveillance or to swimming pools and their plumbing or filtration systems.

(k) Any form of warm air or solar heating systems 

Please note: There may be occasions when Home Assist may not be able to respond within the normal time frame due to circumstances beyond the control of HomeSource Home Assist.  This may include when there has been a severe storm or civil disturbance that has impacted numerous homes.  In such a case HomeSource Home Assist will supply a tradesperson at the earliest possible opportunity and keep the customer informed at regular intervals. 

We will not be liable for any of the following:

(a) loss or damage arising from circumstances known to you prior to the start date of this insurance; 

(b) the cost of replacement parts;

(c) loss or damage arising from disconnection or interruption of mains services by the deliberate act of the Utility Company concerned or any equipment or services which are the responsibility or property of the Utility Company;

(d) any cost relating to the attempted repair by you or your own contractor;

(e) any defect, damage or failure caused by malicious or willful action, negligence, misuse, third party interference or faulty workmanship, including any attempted repair or modification which does not comply with recognized industry standards;

(f) any emergency in a property that has been unoccupied for more than 30 consecutive days;What to do should you suffer an emergency:If you suffer an emergency at your property you should tell us on the emergency telephone number 1300 733 420. 

We will then:

(a) advise you how to protect yourself and the property immediately;

(b) organise the dispatch of a repairer to help address the problem. Under this membership, the costs associated with the dispatch of the trades person and the cost of the first half hour of their time on site is covered by Home Assist. The costs of repairing the problem (parts and labour is the responsibility of the member).


Fair use Policy

In order to provide quality service at a competitive price, HomeSource Pty Ltd reserves the right to amend or withdraw service if use is excessive resulting from a lack of maintenance or failure to rectify existing issues.

Important note for account holders not occupying the nominated address

In the event of an emergency where there are additional costs not covered by membership, including events that require more than half an hour of labour to address or require materials at extra cost, HomeSource will endeavour to contact the account holder (member) for authorisation before work commences. Unless specified otherwise (option only available to certain property managers), if the account holder (member) is not contactable on the phone details provided on his/her account, the tenant will have the authority to authorise the work on the account holder’s (member’s) behalf. Any additional costs will be charged to the account holder (member).
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