These Terms govern your use of the Moreton and Cresswell Gardens Members’ Area, at https://members.mandcgardens.org (the “Members’ Area”), which is operated by Moreton & Cresswell Gardens Limited, a private not-for-profit company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales under company number 05579173 with its registered office at 3 Cresswell Gardens, London, England, SW5 0BJ (the “Company”, “we”, “us”, “our”).
The Company is the not-for-profit entity that exists to maintain and manage the Moreton and Cresswell Gardens (the “Garden”) on behalf of the residents of the qualifying dwellings under the Kensington Improvement Act 1851 (as amended).
By applying for or using the Members’ Area, you confirm you have read, understood and accept these Terms. If you do not accept them, please do not apply for or use the Members’ Area.
These Terms incorporate the Privacy Notice (which explains how we handle your personal data) and the Garden Bye-Laws (which govern conduct in the Garden itself, available on https://mandcgardens.org).
The Members’ Area serves two related purposes:
(a) it is the official register of households entitled to use the Garden. Inclusion of your household in the register is the basis on which the Garden Committee, in accordance with the Garden Bye-Laws, issues a Garden key to your household (one per household); and
(b) it is the Garden Committee’s advisory consultation tool, which we use to:
Polls run through the Members’ Area are advisory only. They are not formal votes of the Garden Committee under the Kensington Improvement Act 1851. Formal decisions of the Garden Committee continue to be taken at properly-called Garden Committee meetings, with notice posted at the gates and minutes recorded, exactly as the 1851 Act provides.
This distinction matters because it means: maintaining the register and issuing keys are ordinary administrative functions of the Garden Committee under the Bye-Laws (made under section 45 of the 1851 Act), but nothing you do (or don’t do) in the Members’ Area changes the formal governance of the Garden.
Through the Members’ Area you can sign in using your registered email and a one-time code; view open and past Consultations; respond to open Consultations (and change your response until the deadline); see the aggregate results of past Consultations and your own past responses; and receive emails from the Garden Committee related to Consultations and to your account.
Garden Committee Admins additionally administer Households, create and run Consultations, send reminders and view the audit log.
We may from time to time add, remove or change features of the Members’ Area. We will give reasonable notice of any material change.
5.1 You may apply if you meet the criteria in the Application Requirements. By submitting an application you confirm the information you give is true and complete.
5.2 In addition to the online application, you agree to provide the Garden Committee Secretary with one item of documentary evidence of your eligibility (as set out in the Application Requirements), by email to info@mandcgardens.org or in person. Your application cannot be approved until the Secretary has received and verified that evidence.
5.3 A Garden Committee Admin will review your application — both the information you submitted online and the documentary evidence held by the Secretary — and decide whether to approve or decline it. The decision is at the reasonable discretion of the Garden Committee, exercised in good faith and consistent with the Application Requirements.
5.4 If approved, you become a Member when you sign in for the first time. You are then added to the official household register and the Garden Committee will, separately, arrange the issuing of your Garden key (one key per household, as required by the Bye-Laws). Any key deposit operates under the Garden’s separate key policy, not under these Terms.
6.1 You may use the Members’ Area only via the email address approved for your Household. Please don’t share that email or any sign-in code sent to it.
6.2 Keep access to your email and authentication tools secure. If you suspect anyone has accessed your account, please tell a Garden Committee Admin promptly.
6.3 Garden Committee Admins may suspend access for your Household where they have reasonable grounds to investigate or prevent misuse. We will tell you of any such suspension as soon as we reasonably can, and lift it as soon as we are satisfied there’s no longer a reason for it.
6.4 Sessions end automatically after a period of inactivity. You can opt to stay signed in on a particular device for up to seven days.
7.1 Each Household is entitled to one response on each Consultation.
7.2 The Representative submits the Household’s response. How the Household decides what to submit is for the Household.
7.3 You may change your response at any time before the Consultation closes. After it closes, your response is final.
7.4 Consultation results are advisory. The Garden Committee takes them into account when reaching formal decisions, but the formal decisions of the Garden Committee are taken at Garden Committee meetings under the Kensington Improvement Act 1851.
7.5 Garden Committee Admins can see how each Household has responded to a Consultation (for audit and dispute resolution). Other Members only see aggregate counts.
You agree to use the Members’ Area only for the purposes for which it is provided. In particular:
(a) you will not attempt to gain unauthorised access to any part of the Members’ Area, any account other than your own, or any underlying system;
(b) you will not introduce or attempt to introduce viruses or other harmful software;
(c) you will not interfere with or disrupt the operation of the Members’ Area;
(d) you will not use the Members’ Area in any way likely to be unlawful or to expose the Company or the Garden Committee to liability;
(e) you will not impersonate any other person or misrepresent your connection with any Household;
(f) you will not upload, send or display content that is unlawful, infringing, threatening, harassing, defamatory, obscene, hateful, or that contains the personal data of any other person without that person’s consent (joint occupants of your own Household excepted, to the extent necessary to administer your membership);
(g) you will not use content obtained from the Members’ Area (including the register, the audit log if you are a Garden Committee Admin, or other Members’ contact details) for any purpose other than properly carrying out the functions of your membership or your role as a Garden Committee Admin.
We may remove content that breaches these Terms without notice and suspend or terminate the access of any Member whose use of the Members’ Area breaches these Terms.
9.1 The Members’ Area, including its software, layouts, text and graphics (but excluding your own content), is the property of the Company or its licensors. You are granted a personal, revocable, non-transferable licence to use it in accordance with these Terms.
9.2 You retain ownership of any content you upload. By uploading content, you grant the Company a royalty-free, worldwide, perpetual, non-exclusive licence to use, store and display it to the extent necessary to operate the Members’ Area and administer the Garden. You confirm you have the rights necessary to grant this licence.
9.3 Garden Bye-Laws, Garden Rules and other documents on https://mandcgardens.org are © Moreton & Cresswell Gardens Limited.
10.1 Nothing in these Terms limits or excludes:
10.2 Subject to clause 10.1, and to the maximum extent permitted by law:
(a) the Members’ Area is provided “as is” and “as available”; we don’t warrant that it will be uninterrupted or error-free;
(b) we are not liable for any loss or damage which is not reasonably foreseeable at the time you accepted these Terms;
(c) we are not liable for any loss or damage arising out of your failure to keep your email account or authentication tools secure;
(d) we are not liable for any loss or damage arising out of a third-party service (such as our email provider or our hosting provider) failing to deliver a message, where we have taken reasonable steps to choose a competent provider;
(e) we are not liable for any consequence of the Garden Committee’s decision to approve, decline, suspend or terminate your membership where the decision is taken in good faith and consistent with these Terms and the Bye-Laws;
(f) because Consultations are advisory only, we are not liable for any decision the Garden Committee subsequently takes on the basis of (or in spite of) a Consultation result.
10.3 Garden Committee Admins do not assume personal liability to you for their administrative acts taken in good faith and consistent with these Terms, the Privacy Notice, the Bye-Laws and applicable law.
11.1 You may cease to be a Member at any time by writing to the Garden Committee. We will deactivate your membership; we will retain records in accordance with the Privacy Notice.
11.2 We may suspend or terminate your membership where you cease to meet the criteria in the Application Requirements; you breach these Terms in a way that, in the reasonable view of the Garden Committee, is serious or repeated; any information you provided in your application turns out to be materially incorrect, misleading or false; you breach the Bye-Laws in a way that, in the reasonable view of the Garden Committee, warrants suspension or termination; or we are required to do so by law.
11.3 Where reasonably practicable we will give reasons in writing and an opportunity to respond before terminating. The provisions of these Terms which by their nature should survive termination (including sections 9.2, 10, 12 and 13) will continue to apply.
We may change these Terms from time to time. Where changes are material, we will give you at least fourteen (14) days’ notice by email and publish a tracked-changes version on the Members’ Area. By continuing to use the Members’ Area after the changes take effect, you accept the changed Terms. If you do not accept them, please cease using the Members’ Area under section 11.1.
13.1 Entire agreement. These Terms (together with the Application Requirements, the Privacy Notice and the Bye-Laws) form the entire agreement between you and us in relation to the Members’ Area.
13.2 Severability. If any provision is found by a court to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in force.
13.3 No waiver. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver.
13.4 Assignment. You may not transfer your membership. We may transfer our rights and obligations to a successor entity, provided the protections of these Terms continue to apply.
13.5 No third-party rights. No person other than the Company and the Member has any rights under these Terms under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999.
13.6 Notices. Notices to us: info@mandcgardens.org. Notices to you: at the email address registered to your Household.
14.1 These Terms, their subject matter and their formation are governed by the laws of England and Wales.
14.2 The courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising out of or in connection with these Terms, subject to your right as a consumer to bring proceedings in the courts of the part of the United Kingdom in which you are resident.
14.3 Before any court proceedings are commenced, you agree to give the Garden Committee at least twenty-eight (28) days to attempt to resolve the dispute by good-faith discussion. This clause does not prevent either party from seeking an interim or injunctive remedy where urgently required.
Moreton & Cresswell Gardens Limited
Company number: 05579173
Registered office: 3 Cresswell Gardens, London, England, SW5 0BJ
Email: info@mandcgardens.org