Terms and Conditions for Students covering equipment Loan supplied by AV Resources.

Section 1) Declaration and Agreement

When you book equipment through the SISO service you are deemed to have confirmed that all equipment lent to you is subject to these Terms and Conditions, with which you agree to comply by booking through the SISO service. In particular you agree and understand that:

• Sanctions, as set out later in this document, may apply for late return, loss of or damage to equipment;
• You may need to pay for damaged or lost equipment;
• You are not to transfer the equipment to anybody else; and
• You are not to use the equipment for personal, commercial or other purposes not connected to a University of Roehampton module or approved project.

Your agreement is between you and the University of Roehampton (UoR, we, us). It will continue until the equipment is returned, and all of your liabilities (if any) are settled. AV Resources is an operational unit of UoR.

The AV Resources team are available to help with any questions you may have around the practical aspects of equipment loan. You can ask them in person, by email or over the telephone. The email address is avr@roehampton.ac.uk; and telephone number is 020 8392 3590.

Section 2) Late Collection or Return

During term time our resources are in constant use. Scheduling of equipment is critical, and the success of the loan system relies on you returning equipment on time.

Failure to return borrowed equipment when you should may mean other students or staff will not be able to complete their tasks. Please consider the impact of your lateness on others. There may also be consequences as outlined below.

Equipment booked for collection will only be held until the end of that day. If you know you will be late to pick up equipment, please let us know and we can change the pick-up time.

If for any reason, you cannot return equipment by the due date, please contact the AV Resources department as soon as possible to let us know (contact details can be found on SISO, the University website, and in Section 1 of this agreement). We may be able to extend your booking, or make alternative arrangements for equipment to be made available to the next user, but it is important that you do make contact so the kit is not treated as missing.

Charges for late return

An overdue reminder will be sent to your University of Roehampton email account 1 hour after the due return time, followed by a reminder each day for the next 10 working days.

If you have not returned the equipment within 10 working days after the date the first overdue reminder email was sent, the matter may be referred to UoR’s finance department. Our finance department will seek to recover the full cost of replacement equipment from you.

Late return fee accrual and payment procedure

Late return fees are set out below and notified to you when you borrow the equipment. Late return fees run at a daily rate. They start on the date of the first overdue reminder email and end on the return day, including that day.

Fees for items returned late will be charged at £1 per item of kit, per day until returned. If a kit has 6 items in it, you will be charged £6 per day until that kit is returned or you have reached the maximum fine amount.

Following return, AV Resources will issue an invoice for the late return fee. A note of the fee owing will be placed on your user account. Fees are to be paid at the AV Resources desk in the Sir David Bell Building or via the university's online store https://estore.roehampton.ac.uk/product-catalogue/av-resources/fines 

If you do not pay the invoice issued by AV Resources within 30 days, you will normally then receive a central UoR invoice recorded against you on UoR’s central finance systems as outstanding. The Head of AV Resources (or delegated officer) may agree with you to defer issuing this central UoR invoice. If you think you have a good reason to justify a deferral please contact the Head of AV Resources as soon as possible after you receive the invoice issued by AV Resources (contact details can be found on SISO, the University website, Section 1 of this agreement, or can be provided to you in person at the AV Resources desk). The deferral decision is at the discretion of the Head of AV Resources (or delegated officer), who will act reasonably in considering your request. If you are not happy with the deferral decision, you can complain under the Students Complaints Policy and Procedure (see Section 6 below).

Fees will cease to run from the time you return the equipment, but return of the equipment will not release you from any fees then due. To minimise your potential liability, you should return equipment even if you may have difficulty paying the fee at the point of equipment return.

After issue of the central UoR invoice or other referral to UoR’s finance department, whether for non-return or non-payment, you will need to deal with the finance department directly. If you are likely to have any difficulty paying the invoice in a lump sum, you should contact the finance department as soon as possible to see if payment by instalment will be possible. The decision made about paying, or repayment plans for any debts is at the discretion of the director of finance or a delegated officer. You may complain under the Students Complaint Policy and Procedure if you disagree with any such decision (see Section 6 below). If you do not keep up payments under a repayment plan, the debt will immediately become payable in full.

If our finance refers recovery of the fee to UoR’s external solicitors and/or debt collection agents, you may also be liable for extra costs incurred because of any enforcement action taken. These costs could include interest, debt collection agency fees, search fees and legal costs.

Outstanding fees and unreturned equipment – restriction of further borrowing

Subject to consideration of mitigating circumstances, you may not be able to borrow any further equipment whilst you have outstanding fees or unreturned equipment.

Section 3) Equipment Loss or Damage

You are responsible for the equipment you borrow. You must do all that you reasonably can to ensure the safe return of equipment in an undamaged state and in full working condition for the next user.

Faulty or damaged equipment issued to you

All AV Resources equipment is checked for condition and usability before issue. So, it is our working assumption that equipment issued to you is in good condition and fully functional.

You must check the equipment as soon as you practically can after we issue it to you (this includes visually inspecting it when issued). We appreciate that to test certain features you may need to set equipment up away from the loan desk.

You must let AV Resources know as soon as you notice a problem with the equipment. Contact details can be found on SISO, the University website and also in Section 1. You should be prepared to return the kit immediately to the AV Resources loan desk for repair or replacement.

Care of equipment

Always be careful when using loan equipment. Never leave equipment unattended when in use and always store equipment away safely and securely at other times.

You must take reasonable care to avoid damaging equipment, particularly with food and drink, extreme weather conditions and difficult environments, for example beaches where both salt and sand risk damaging equipment.

You are not expected to insure any equipment you take out on loan, unless in special circumstances where equipment will be taken outside of the UK. This must be arranged with the Head of AV Resources prior to loan collection and may require proof of insurance.

You must not loan, sub-let or otherwise transfer possession of loan equipment to another person, even if that person has booked the equipment. Passing equipment to another student or staff member is not a proper handover of responsibility and you will remain fully responsible for proper and timely return of the equipment. Even if equipment or the facility is returned on time in these circumstances, we may take action under the Student Disciplinary Procedure if you have breached this rule. This is because your action will potentially have put UoR’s equipment at risk.

Please let AV Resources know as soon as possible if you lose (which includes theft of the item) or damage the equipment on loan to you. You may be required to provide a written report, providing full details of the incident.

You must report any theft of equipment to the police in the area where the theft is thought to have occurred. You should normally report online or use the non-emergency 101 number. If you are given a police report, please submit a copy to AV Resources as soon as possible.

Following equipment return, AV Resources will check the equipment for serviceability and maintenance prior to re-issue. Return does not imply our acceptance that there has been no damage to the equipment issued to you.

Lost items

You may have to pay for a replacement if you lose an item of equipment (which includes an item being stolen from you). If equipment is no longer available, replacement equipment will be a specification as near as may be reasonably practicable, bearing in mind the intended function.

We will consider all the relevant circumstances before deciding whether you need to pay for a replacement item. We may decide that you only need to pay for part of the cost, or none in certain circumstances.

Damaged items

The same applies to damaged items. You may have to pay for repair, or replacement if repair is not practicable, which will include circumstances where:

• Repair would cost more than replacement
• We reasonably consider repair is unlikely to be satisfactory to future users, including any increased likelihood of failure of future equipment; and
• Parts availability would lead to the equipment being out of service for what we consider an excessive amount of time.

We will consider all the relevant circumstances before deciding whether you need to pay for a repair or replacement item. We may decide that you only need to pay a part of the cost, or none in certain circumstances.

Third-party repair will be charged to you at cost to UoR (including diagnostic costs). In certain exceptional cases, it may be that a third-party repairer to whom we have sent an item of equipment determines it is not repairable. In those cases, you are still potentially liable for the cost of replacement. If we determine this to be charged to you, in whole or in part, we will not seek to recharge the third-party diagnostic costs or the administration charge.

Section 4) Withdrawal of Loan Privileges and Disciplinary Action

In exceptional cases, if you have a track record of damaging, losing or failing to return items, we may decline to loan equipment to you. We will consider your needs against the needs of other students, in particular the likelihood that a loan to you may result in equipment becoming unavailable to others. Normally, however, the Student Disciplinary Procedure will deal with repeated abuse of the loan facility. For more information on the Student Disciplinary Procedure visit

https://www.roehampton.ac.uk/current-students/complaints/

We will warn you in advance if we are considering withdrawal of loan privileges.

Section 5) Using Your Personal Data and Communicating with You About Your Loan

Data that you input into the SISO system may be shared with SISO (TechEthika Limited, company no. 5994955) to enable provision of this service. We may also share your personal data with any third-party to whom we refer debt collection.

It is important you keep your address details up to date, via the student portal, so that you receive communications about your loan, including any fees or other charges.

• Electronic communications will normally be sent to your UoR email address. However, we, and any party whom we refer debt collection, may send electronic communications to any private email address you have supplied to us. We expect you to regularly check your UoR email address for messages.
• When communicating with you about charges, we will normally post letters to your term time address during standard term times and to your home address at other times. However, we, and any party to whom we refer debt collection, may send letters to either, or both addresses where believed appropriate.

For more information on use of your personal data please see the UoR information on data protection, available here: https://www.roehampton.ac.uk/site/privacy/students/

Section 6) Complaints

If you have a complaint about the equipment loan, including any charge for late return, loss or damage, please follow the procedure in the Student Complaints Policy and Procedure, available at: https://www.roehampton.ac.uk/current-students/complaints/

Most complaints can be resolved by an informal discussion with an appropriate member of staff. You should start by raising the matter with the Head of AV Resources. You will need to provide evidence, which should be as detailed as possible, to enable investigation. If your complaint is not resolved informally, you should complain within one month by email to the Head of AV Resources. We will not normally consider a complaint you make later than this. We will not apply sanctions or to take action to recover a debt while we deal with your complaint.

Equipment loan for Staff

As a staff member, you are also responsible for requesting and booking your own equipment loan using SISO.

Unless expressly agreed in writing in advance with AV Resources, for example, where you will be unavoidably be without access to UoR IT for a relevant period:

• You may not delegate this to a third-party; and
• AV Resources will not issue equipment where it appears you have not made your own booking.

Declaration and Agreement

When you (or exceptionally, your authorised delegate) book equipment through the SISO service, UoR treats you as confirming the following:

• You have considered any situation in which, linked to this booking, people or equipment may be put at risk.
• You have taken all appropriate measures, consistent with UoR’s health and safety policies and procedures, appropriately to manage any such risk, including taking all reasonable precautions to ensure the safety of those taking part.
• You have all necessary clearances for the use to which you are going to put the equipment.
• When using the equipment, you will work in a professional and responsible manner consistent with the safe, efficient and effective performance of your duties and responsibilities wherever they are carried out.
• You will also follow established procedures and the equipment instructions; and you will contact AV Resources for further advice on these if you are unsure.

All equipment UoR lends you is subject to these rules, with which you agree to comply by booking through the SISO service (or, exceptionally, having your authorised delegate do so). In particular, you understand and agree that:

• Sanctions, including disciplinary procedures, may apply for late return, loss of or damage to equipment;
• You are not to transfer the equipment to somebody else; and
• You are not to use the equipment for personal, commercial or other purposes not connected to your employment with UoR.

References to “we” or “us” in these rules are to UoR.

The AV Resources team are happy to help with any questions you may have around the practical aspects of equipment loan. You can ask them in person, by email or telephone them. The email address is avr@roehampton.ac.uk and the telephone number is 020 8392 3590.

All of the above terms and conditions relating to student equipment hire also apply to staff.