What happens in the event of an early departure?

Need to shorten or cancel your rental due to unforeseen circumstances? Don't panic: here is what happens in each situation, whether your rental has already begun or not, and whether the period in question has been paid for or not.

Your rental has not yet begun

You have not yet paid

As long as you have not made a payment, you can cancel freely. Open the relevant conversation in your inbox, then click on "Cancel my request". You will not be charged anything.

You have pre-paid, but the host has not yet accepted

At the time of payment, you simply authorised Roomlala to charge the amount: this is not yet a final payment. If you cancel at this stage, or if the host declines or does not respond, you are automatically and fully refunded.

Your booking is confirmed and you wish to cancel

You can cancel up to and including the day of your arrival, from the conversation with your host, by clicking on "Cancel" and then "Confirm cancellation". The exact amount of your refund is displayed before you confirm: nothing is done without your agreement.

Good to know: if you have only just paid (less than 6 hours ago) and your arrival is scheduled in 3 days or more, you will be refunded in full.

In other cases, the rent refund depends on the cancellation policy chosen by the host, as indicated on the listing:

• Flexible: 2 days or more before arrival, 80% refunded. Less than 2 days before, no refund.
• Moderate: 14 days or more before arrival, 80% refunded. Between 14 and 2 days before, 40% refunded. Less than 2 days before, no refund.
• Firm: 30 days or more before arrival, 80% refunded. Between 30 and 2 days before, 40% refunded. Less than 2 days before, no refund.

These percentages apply to the rent, excluding service fees. Cleaning fees, additional guest fees, and the tourist tax are always fully refunded.

Service fees are largely settled upon your first payment: they are not refunded when you cancel. However, they are never charged to you a second time.

If you have chosen to pay in instalments, the same rules apply to sums already paid, and upcoming payments are cancelled.

Your booking is confirmed and the host cancels

If the host cancels before your arrival, you are fully refunded, including service fees. You will receive a notification and the host is invited to explain the reasons for their cancellation.

For hosts: cancellations are recorded over the last 6 months. From the second cancellation within this period, a deduction of 20% of the rental amount of the first cancelled instalment may be applied to future payments. Cases of force majeure are reviewed by our team before any potential deduction. Note: cancellation is only possible up to the day before the tenant's arrival.

Your rental has already begun

Once you have moved in, you can no longer cancel the booking, but you can shorten the duration of your rental at any time. Go to the payment schedule of your rental (accessible from the conversation with your host), then click on "Shorten rental" and choose your new end date.

What happens depending on the periods involved:

• Period already paid: it remains with the host and is not refunded. Your new end date therefore cannot be before the end of the last period you have paid for.
• Unpaid periods: upcoming instalments are automatically cancelled. You have nothing to do; no further payments will be requested for these periods.
• Departure during an unpaid instalment: if your new end date falls in the middle of a period not yet paid, a reduced instalment is recalculated pro-rata for the remaining days. Only these days will be charged to you, with the corresponding service fees (2% of this reduced instalment, with a minimum of £8).

Good to know: shortening your rental never causes you to repay service fees already settled on your first instalments, even if your stay becomes shorter than planned.

Once the modification is validated, you and your host will each receive a confirmation email, and the freed-up dates become available again in the listing calendar. The host can also shorten the rental from their own payment schedule, following the same rules.

Our advice: talk to the other party first via the messaging system. An early departure always goes better when it has been discussed together.

The tenant has left without paying the following instalments

Are you a host and has your tenant left the property leaving unpaid instalments? If the last paid period ended more than 14 days ago, an "Cancel payment schedule" button will appear on the payment schedule page. By confirming, the rental is terminated at the end of the last paid instalment, unpaid instalments are removed, and your calendar is opened up for new requests.

And the security deposit?

If a security deposit is managed via Roomlala, its deadlines are automatically recalculated from the new departure date: the host has 10 days after departure to declare any damages, and the deposit is