Signing example
Sign a holiday rental agreement online
To sign a holiday rental agreement online, send the agreement to the lead guest as the only signer, with an emailed one-time code in front of it and typed boxes for the facts only the guest knows. This three page agreement for Saltmarsh Cottage in Bamburgh, Northumberland, over Christmas takes the party size as a typed box, four marks against the house rules, and a signature behind a six digit code.
The document, with its fields
The pages as a signer sees them, with the signature, name, title and date fields placed where each party has to complete them.
Holiday Rental Agreement
1. The booking
Ines Fabron of 3 Orchard Rise, Newcastle upon Tyne, called the Owner, lets Saltmarsh Cottage, 6 Tern Lane, Bamburgh, to Callum Reid of 44 Wentworth Place, Edinburgh, called the Guest, for a holiday only. This is a holiday letting. It does not create a tenancy and the Guest has no right to stay after the departure time in the table.
| Arrival | Monday 21 December 2026, from 16:00 |
|---|---|
| Departure | Monday 28 December 2026, by 10:00 |
| Nights | 7 |
| Total rent | £2,450, including the end of stay clean |
| Deposit paid on booking | £612.50, already received on 4 September 2026 |
| Balance | £1,837.50, due 23 November 2026 |
| Security bond | £1,000, held from 14 December and released within 7 days of departure |
| Maximum occupancy | 6 people, including children of any age |
| Pets | One dog allowed, declared at booking, £60 charge already included above |
2. Number in the party
The cottage sleeps six and the septic system, the parking and the insurance are all sized for six. The Guest types the number of people who will actually stay, including children and babies, in the box below. A party larger than the number given may be refused entry with no refund.
3. Paying, and cancelling
| If the Guest cancels | Refund of what has been paid |
|---|---|
| More than 60 days before arrival | Everything except the deposit |
| Between 60 and 29 days before arrival | 50 per cent of the total rent |
| 28 days or less before arrival | Nothing, unless the dates are relet |
| The Owner cancels, for any reason | Everything paid, refunded within 7 days |
4. House rules
The Guest marks each rule below. The marks are typed by the Guest in their own signing session, so the record shows the person who booked read each one rather than the Owner ticking them in advance.
| Read | Rule | What it means in this cottage |
|---|---|---|
| No parties or events | The cottage is let for the party named above. No extra visitors overnight and none after 22:00. | |
| Quiet from 22:00 | Sound carries across the green. Music off outside, doors closed, no hot tub use after 22:00. | |
| No smoking or vaping inside | Anywhere indoors, including the porch and the loft room. The bond covers a deep clean if it happens. | |
| The dog rules | Not upstairs, not on furniture, never left alone in the cottage, and the garden gate stays shut. |
5. The bond
The bond of £1,000 is taken as a card hold on 14 December and released within 7 days of departure. The Owner may deduct from it only for damage beyond fair wear, missing items, an extra clean caused by smoking or the dog, rubbish left outside the bins, or a party larger than the number typed in clause 2. Any deduction is sent to the Guest with photographs and an invoice within 7 days.
6. What the Owner provides
- Beds made up on arrival, towels for the number of guests declared, and a starter pack of logs.
- Electricity, water, oil heating and broadband, all included in the rent.
- The end of stay clean, included, on the basis that the Guest leaves the cottage tidy and the dishwasher empty.
- A key safe at the porch, with a code sent 48 hours before arrival and changed after every stay.
- A welcome folder with the septic tank rules, the bin days, the vet's number and the nearest late pharmacy.
- A travel cot and a high chair, on request at least a week before arrival.
The cottage is old and the lane floods in a high spring tide. Tide tables for the week of the stay are in the welcome folder, and the Owner will message the Guest if a tide is forecast to close the lane during the booking.
7. What the Guest agrees to
- Use the cottage only as a holiday home for the declared party.
- Tell the Owner about any breakage or fault the same day, so it can be fixed for the next guest.
- Not sublet, advertise or share the cottage, in whole or in part.
- Leave on time, because the changeover clean runs to a fixed window between lettings.
- Take reasonable care in the garden, which has an unfenced pond, and supervise children near it.
8. Liability
The Owner insures the building and its contents and holds public liability cover. The Guest's own possessions and vehicles are not insured by the Owner. Neither party is liable to the other for failure caused by an event outside its reasonable control, and where the Owner cannot provide the cottage for that reason the Guest's only remedy is the refund in clause 3.
9. Data
The Owner keeps the Guest's name, contact details and the number in the party for the booking, and for six years afterwards for tax and insurance. Nothing is sold or passed to a marketing list. The Guest may ask for a copy of what is held.
10. General
This agreement and the booking confirmation are the whole agreement. Nothing said on a listing site forms part of it. It is governed by the law of England and Wales.
Execution
Signed by the Guest alone. The Owner does not countersign: the booking was accepted when the deposit was taken on 4 September 2026, and this agreement records the terms the Guest is accepting for the stay.
Who signs what
- Callum Reid, the lead guest, the only signer
- Typed number of guests on page 1 · Four typed boxes against the house rules on page 2 · Signature, stamped date and printed name on page 3 · Verified by an emailed six digit code
The signing journey
Step 1
Eight fields, one signer
A party size box on page 1, four rule boxes on page 2, then a signature, a date and a name on page 3. The owner does not countersign.
Step 2
A code in front of the cottage
The link opens a verification card rather than the agreement. The code is six digits, lasts ten minutes and is redeemable once, and five wrong entries lock the guest for fifteen minutes.
Step 3
The guest states the party size
The cottage sleeps six and the septic system, the parking and the insurance are sized for six, so the number is typed by the person bringing the party.
Step 4
Four marks, one per rule
Each box sits beside its own rule with its own explanation, so the marks are against named rules rather than a single blanket acknowledgement.
Step 5
Completion releases the key safe code
The certified copy is emailed to the guest and the owner, and the key safe code follows separately, forty eight hours before arrival.
Every field, and who fills it
Eight fields, all the guest's. The party size box sits under the sleeping arrangements on page 1. The four rule boxes sit in the Read column of the house rules table on page 2, against no parties, quiet from ten, no smoking indoors and the dog rules. Page 3 carries a signature over the rule the agreement prints, a stamped date and a name field that fills from the recipient record. Everything else is already set: the seven nights, the total, the balance due date, the security bond taken as a card hold, and the cancellation table. The owner does not sign, because the booking was accepted when the deposit was taken in September.
How to adapt this envelope
A let with no pet is three rule boxes instead of four and a shorter table. A property that takes a cash bond rather than a card hold adds a typed box for the amount so the guest sees the figure they are agreeing to. And where an owner does want to countersign, they become a second recipient with a signature and a date, and the order switch decides whether the guest has to go first.
What the signed agreement and certificate show
The completed PDF shows the party size typed on page 1, four X marks down the Read column on page 2, and a signature, a printed name and a date reading Sep 20, 2026 on page 3. The certificate has a single signer block: the verification method reading Email link plus emailed one-time code, the IP address the signature came from, the consent timestamp and version, and the hash of the document at the moment it was signed. The certification line reads PAdES-SHA256-DocMDP.
What makes this signing flow work
The party size is the guest's own number
Nothing causes more trouble in a small cottage than a party larger than the booking. Typing the figure into the agreement, beside a clause saying a larger party may be refused entry with no refund, turns an assumption in a booking email into a statement the guest made.
Four rules, four marks
One box for four rules would record only that a page was reached. Four separate boxes, each against its own rule and its own sentence of explanation, records which rules were put in front of the guest, and the finished PDF shows an X beside every one of them.
A code because the link carries the cottage
The emailed link leads to the address, the dates and, once signed, the arrangements for getting in. A six digit code means possession of a forwarded email is not enough to see any of that.
Questions people ask
Is a holiday rental agreement valid when only the guest signs it?
Yes, where the booking was already accepted. The agreement records the terms the guest is accepting for a stay that has been confirmed and paid a deposit on, so the owner's acceptance predates it. The document says so in the execution paragraph rather than leaving the missing signature unexplained.
Why does the guest get a code rather than a plain link?
The link leads to the address, the dates and the arrangements for getting in. A six digit code means a forwarded email is not enough to open any of that. The code lasts ten minutes, is redeemable once, and five wrong entries lock the guest out for fifteen.
What do the four marks in the house rules table mean?
Each records that a named rule was put in front of the guest and marked by them in their own signing session. They print as capital X characters, which is why each row carries a full sentence explaining what the rule means in that cottage rather than a one word label.
What if more people turn up than the number the guest typed?
Clause 2 lets the owner refuse entry to a party larger than the typed number, with no refund, and clause 5 lets the bond cover the cost of a larger party. Because the guest typed the figure in their own signing session, the certified PDF shows whose number it was, which settles the argument faster than a booking email thread.
What happens if the guest declines?
The envelope moves to declined and the owner is emailed with the reason typed into the decline box. The booking itself is a separate matter and the cancellation table in clause 3 decides what is refunded, which is why declining is not the same as cancelling.
Can the guest sign on a phone at the airport?
Yes. Below 560 pixels the portal switches to compact mode: the document goes read only and every typed box moves into a Complete your details panel above it, with a button that scrolls to the signature spot. The mark is drawn on the canvas with a finger.
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