Security Deposit Policy:
- Each person is responsible to pay the security deposit to the rental manager that has been chosen by the owner(s) of the land they are choosing to rent at.
- Deposit must be made either by paypal or other agreed upon method, ahead of arrival to reserve the spot.
- The deposit amount can vary and are set by the owner(s) of the property (generally it is $100 per person that is 18 years old or older and half price for anyone 17 years old or younger that is accompanied by an adult)
PayPal payments:
We will credit the amount that we receive. If you do not select the “send to friends and family” option, or are sending from a country where PayPal charges fees, we are not responsible for these fees.
PayPal allows us to refund the entire deposit including fees, for up to 6 months after it was sent to us. If we return a deposit to you that has been with us for more than 6 months and it was sent via PayPal, you will receive the full amount minus the PayPal fees. If you wish to avoid this fee but maintain your reservation for longer than 6 months, feel free to request a refund before 6 months is up, and then send it to us again right afterwards, so that you maintain the ability to receive the full deposit back at the end.
For rent / room stay payments, we will cover any PayPal or other money remittance fees.
Refund:
Your security deposit will be returned if you request a refund within 30 days of departure date, you will receive the amount that we received minus transaction fees if there are any, in the same method that was sent, or if you prefer in cash with 5% fee applied.
Room Reservations:
If you are unable to rent a room that you reserve, this is lost income for the owner(s) of the building, who could have rented to someone else during the time you reserved. For this reason, your entire security deposit will be deducted if you cancel less than 48 hours before your planned/scheduled arrival or booking. The only exception would be if we are indeed able to find another tenant during the first month of your reserved stay, resulting in no lost income. In this case, we will refund your security deposit, minus a $20 reservation fee to cover scheduling and correspondence. For early departures half the price of the remaining rent will be deducted.
General Deductions:
• $10 each instance of leaving messes in community areas, including leaving rotting fruit/veggies, or smelly things/trash – we are an eco village, please respect our environment and take away any trash you bring in.
• $50 for disrespecting the drug policy – see Diet and lifestyle page or leaving earlier than 1 month minimum for volunteering.
• $20 for arriving after dark or at night without an agreement with us or noise disturbances that bother neighbor properties. If your arrival in the area falls during nighttime hours after dark, please stay in a hotel at Gualaquiza or El Pangui and come to Fruit Haven in the morning after sunrise (unless one of our members agree to meet you after dark).
• $10 for lost key (locker or room)
• $30 for lost key and lock (for the rooms that have locks provided)
• $30 for lost book from the FH1 library (or the value determined on the back of the book plus shipping to Ecuador)
• $5 for broken or stolen plate, glass or other dishes from the kitchen
• $5/hour for occupying workers time on personal tasks
• $5/day for late rent – Rent is due on arrival
Pro-Rating Rent Payments:
Should you decide to leave early, we will not precisely pro-rate monthly room or camping rent because those rates are based on monthly stays and our costs associated increase for shorter stays. We will pro-rate on a daily or weekly rates.
Forfeiture of Security Deposit – total loss of your deposit, if you…
• do not request the return of your security deposit within 30 days after leaving Fruit Haven
• don’t follow rules set out by the property managers
• break any of the diet an lifestyle guidelines
• go missing and we have to file a missing persons report for you
• engage in theft or other criminal activity while here
• get drunk and end up at the neighbors
• cancel less than 48 hours before your planned/scheduled arrival or booking or reservation
• utelize any rental or volunteering after 6 months (180 days) of leaving
• fill out an arrival confirmation after 12 months
Note: all deposit money forfeiture or deductions (not including remittance fees) are converted to donation to the community and considered non-recoverable (helps to continue the development and maintenance of our food forest ecovillage community areas).