Residential Terms & Conditions

1. Who we are and these Terms

TLS Security Consultancy is the customer-facing name used for the physical-security assessment service operated as part of Tameside Lock Services. References to “TLS”, “we”, “us” or “our” mean the trader identified above. “You” means the consumer who books the service.

These Terms apply to residential physical-security assessment services. Any locksmith repair, replacement, installation or other remedial work is a separate service and will be separately quoted unless expressly included in the booking confirmation.

2. The service

We will carry out the assessment described in the booking confirmation using reasonable care and skill. The assessment is intended to identify reasonably observable physical-security vulnerabilities and provide practical, prioritised recommendations.

• Typical areas may include accessible external doors, windows, locks and associated hardware; perimeter and environmental security; garages and outbuildings; external lighting; visible CCTV/alarm arrangements; and household key/access practices.
• Electronic-security observations are visual only unless a different scope is expressly agreed. We do not certify, commission or technically test alarm, CCTV or access-control systems as part of the standard service.
• The standard assessment is visual and non-destructive. We do not dismantle building fabric, force entry, perform destructive testing or inspect concealed components unless separately agreed, authorised and insured.

The exact scope is the scope recorded in the booking confirmation and assessment record. Areas that are inaccessible, unsafe, excluded by you or outside our competence will not be assessed.

3. Booking and when the contract is formed

A quotation or advertised price is an invitation to book. The contract is formed when we accept your booking and confirm the agreed service, property, price and appointment, or when we begin providing the service at your request, whichever happens first.

You must provide accurate information that is relevant to the assessment, including the property address, known access restrictions and any material hazards. You must be at least 18 and have authority to commission the assessment.

4. Price and payment

The price is the amount shown in your booking confirmation. Residential assessment fees are normally payable at booking unless we agree otherwise in writing.

The assessment fee covers the agreed inspection and preparation/delivery of the standard written report. Remedial work, specialist testing, return visits, travel outside the agreed area or additional scope are not included unless expressly stated.

If an agreed additional charge becomes necessary because you request extra scope, we will tell you the price or pricing basis before carrying out that extra work.

5. Your statutory right to cancel

If you are a consumer and the contract is made at a distance (for example by phone, email, website or social media) or is an applicable off-premises contract, you will normally have the right to cancel the service contract without giving a reason during the statutory cancellation period.

For a service contract, the cancellation period normally ends 14 days after the day on which the contract is entered into. To cancel, you must tell us clearly that you have decided to cancel. You may use the model cancellation form at the end of these Terms, but you do not have to use that form.

If a statutory right to cancel does not apply to the way your contract was made, this clause does not create an additional statutory right; our separate appointment cancellation policy in clause 7 may still apply.

6. Starting the service during the 14-day cancellation period

If you want the assessment to take place before the applicable 14-day cancellation period has ended, you must expressly request that we begin the service during that period. We will normally record that request in the Booking & Authority Form or another durable medium.

If you cancel after we have started providing the service at your express request but before the service has been fully performed, you may be required to pay a reasonable amount proportionate to the service supplied up to the time you cancel.

If the service is fully performed during the cancellation period after your express request to start early, and you acknowledged in advance that you would lose the right to cancel once the service was fully performed, your statutory cancellation right ends when the service is fully performed.

We will not treat silence, a pre-ticked box or a buried term as your express request to start early.

7. Appointments, cancellation and rescheduling after any statutory cancellation period

You should give us as much notice as possible if you need to cancel or move an appointment.

• At least 24 hours’ notice: we will normally cancel or reschedule without a late-cancellation charge.
• Less than 24 hours’ notice or a no-show: we may make a reasonable late-cancellation charge of up to 50% of the assessment fee, but only to reflect appointment time reserved and reasonable unrecoverable loss/cost. We may waive or reduce this where appropriate.

If we cancel or need to rearrange, we will offer a replacement appointment. If a suitable replacement cannot be agreed, we will refund any amount paid for the unperformed service. This does not affect any other remedy available by law.

8. Access, safety and your responsibilities

You must provide reasonable and safe access to the areas within the agreed scope. You should not put yourself or the assessor at risk to create access.

You should tell us about known hazards, aggressive animals, unsafe structures, asbestos concerns, electrical hazards, fragile areas, active disputes affecting authority/access, or any other circumstance reasonably relevant to the visit.

If we reasonably consider an area unsafe, inaccessible or outside scope, we may exclude it and record the limitation in the assessment/report.

9. Assessment findings and professional judgment

Security assessment involves professional judgment. Risk ratings and recommendations reflect the conditions that were reasonably observable at the time of the assessment, information you provided and the agreed scope.

A “Low” rating or absence of a finding does not mean that an area is risk-free. A “High” finding does not mean that a criminal event will occur. Crime depends on factors that cannot all be identified or controlled by a physical-security assessment.

We may recommend that you obtain advice from a specialist where a matter is outside our competence or requires technical testing, certification, engineering, structural, electrical, fire, cyber or other specialist expertise.

10. The report

We will normally issue the written report within 48 hours after the completed assessment unless the booking confirmation says otherwise or circumstances outside our reasonable control require additional time.

The report is prepared for you and the property assessed, for the purpose stated in the booking. It reflects conditions at the assessment date. Later alterations, deterioration, changes in occupancy/access, new security measures, new threats or other material changes may make findings or recommendations outdated.

Because the report may contain photographs and details of vulnerabilities, you should store and share it securely. We are not responsible for onward disclosure by you after delivery.

You may provide the report to an insurer, landlord, managing agent, contractor or other adviser for a legitimate purpose, but no third party may treat the report as a certification or guarantee of security.

11. Recommendations and remedial work

Recommendations are intended to reduce identified security risk; they cannot eliminate all risk. Unless expressly stated, a recommendation is not a statement that a particular product, installation or arrangement is required by an insurer or by law.

Tameside Lock Services may offer a separate quote for locksmith/remedial work where appropriate. You are under no obligation to use us for that work and may obtain quotes from other competent providers.

If another provider carries out remedial work, responsibility for that provider’s work remains with that provider. If you ask us to reassess after changes, that is a separate service unless included in the original booking.

12. What the standard assessment does not cover

Unless specifically agreed in writing, the service is not:

• a structural survey, building survey, electrical inspection, fire-risk assessment or fire-safety certification;
• a cybersecurity, network-security or smart-device security audit;
• a technical alarm/CCTV/access-control inspection, commissioning test or system design;
• a counter-terrorism, hostile-vehicle mitigation or specialist protective-security assessment;
• a guarantee, warranty, certification or insurer-approved declaration that a property is “secure”, “burglary-proof” or compliant with any particular insurance condition;
• an invasive or destructive inspection of concealed components, foundations, walls, roofs, wiring, glazing build-up or hidden fixings.

13. Our responsibility to you

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability where it would be unlawful to do so, including liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or rights/remedies that cannot lawfully be excluded or restricted.

We are responsible for foreseeable loss or damage that you suffer as a result of our breach of contract or failure to use reasonable care and skill. Loss or damage is foreseeable if it is an obvious consequence of our breach or both parties knew it might happen when the contract was made.

We are not responsible for loss or damage caused by criminal acts merely because an assessment was carried out, where that loss was not caused by our breach. We are also not responsible for consequences of matters outside the agreed scope, inaccessible/concealed defects that were not reasonably observable, inaccurate or withheld information supplied by you, or material changes after the assessment.

If you use the service mainly for business or commercial purposes, these residential consumer Terms may not be appropriate and separate commercial terms should be agreed.

14. Data protection, photographs and records

We will handle personal data in accordance with applicable UK data-protection law and our Privacy Notice. The Privacy Notice explains the purposes for which we use information, the lawful bases relied on, recipients, retention arrangements and individual rights.

Information that is necessary to arrange and perform the contract may be processed because it is necessary for the contract. Other record-keeping or business purposes may rely on another lawful basis where appropriate. The photography authorisation in the Booking & Authority Form controls the agreed assessment scope and access; it is not intended to operate as blanket consent for every use of personal data.

We will take reasonable steps to minimise collection of unnecessary sensitive security information. You should not give us alarm PINs, passwords, smart-lock codes, full key-bitting data or other secrets unless genuinely necessary and specifically requested.

15. Intellectual property and permitted use

We retain copyright and intellectual-property rights in our report format, methodology, standard wording and other original materials. Once the fee is paid, you may use and copy your report for your own legitimate purposes connected with the assessed property.

You must not alter a report in a way that misrepresents our findings, remove qualifications/limitations and present the altered document as ours, or resell our report template/methodology as a competing product.

16. Complaints

If you are unhappy with the service, contact us promptly using the contact details at the beginning of these Terms. Please include the assessment reference, property and a clear description of the issue.

We aim to acknowledge a complaint within 5 working days and provide a substantive response within 14 working days where reasonably possible. Complex matters may take longer; if so, we will explain the position. This complaints process does not affect your statutory rights.

17. Events outside our reasonable control

We are not responsible for delay or failure caused by events outside our reasonable control, such as severe weather, sudden illness, road closures, major service outages or other events that reasonably prevent attendance or report delivery. We will contact you as soon as reasonably possible and seek to rearrange or otherwise resolve the booking.

18. Changes to these Terms and severability

The Terms that apply are the version supplied or made available when your contract is formed. We may update Terms for future bookings, but will not retrospectively change an existing contract without agreement where the change would affect your rights or obligations.

If a court or competent authority finds part of these Terms unlawful or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue to apply so far as the law permits.

19. Governing law and courts

These Terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If you are a consumer resident elsewhere in the UK, you may also have mandatory rights under the law applicable where you live. Nothing in this clause is intended to remove any right you have to bring proceedings in a court that has jurisdiction under consumer law.