Last updated November 3 2026
These terms apply when you request or book a cottage on Dock & Loon, an operating name of Lifestyle Basics Enterprise Inc., 2026 Tenth Line Road, Ottawa, Ontario K4A 4X4. The Terms of use and the privacy policy also apply. When your booking is confirmed, you also sign the rental agreement with the owner.
1. You book with the owner
The owner lists the cottage, sets the price and the house rules, and accepts or declines your request. Your rental agreement is with the owner. Dock & Loon runs the website and the checkout and is not a party to the rental agreement.
2. Who can book
- You are at least 18 and you will be at the cottage during the stay.
- You book for your own group and keep to the guest count on the booking.
- The cottage is not your permanent home.
3. Stays
- Short stays are up to 27 nights. Many owners rent Saturday to Saturday.
- Some owners offer seasonal stays of 28 to 120 nights. A seasonal stay includes a Seasonal Vacation Stay Agreement in which you give your permanent address and confirm the cottage will not be your permanent home. The stay ends on the check-out date and does not renew. Seasonal stays at the same cottage need at least 30 days between them.
- The Residential Tenancies Act, 2006 excludes living accommodation provided to the vacationing public, including a cottage or vacation home, under section 5(a). A long stay can still be found to be a tenancy depending on its facts.
4. One all-in price
The price you see in search, on the listing, at checkout and on your receipt is the same all-in price. It includes the rent, the owner’s required fees (cleaning, extra guests, pets), the Dock & Loon service fee and the taxes that apply. Optional extras are never pre-selected; they are added only if you pick them, and the total updates before you pay. The refundable security deposit is not part of the price.
Service fee. The Dock & Loon service fee is 6% of the rent and required fees. It is 3% if you are a returning guest of that owner: you are signed in with a confirmed email and you have a completed Dock & Loon stay at that cottage, or the owner has your email on their returning-guest list and you book through their returning-guest link. The owner confirms this when they approve. If the owner cannot confirm you as a returning guest, they may offer the 6% price instead. You choose whether to accept it; nothing changes without your yes.
5. How you pay
- Nothing is charged when you send a request; your card is saved. If the owner accepts, the first payment (50%) is charged. If the owner declines or does not reply within their reply window (24 to 48 hours, shown at checkout), nothing is charged.
- When the owner accepts, you pay 50% of the all-in price. The balance is charged 30 days before arrival. If arrival is less than 30 days away when the owner accepts, you pay the full amount then. If the owner offers bank debit, you can choose to pay the balance from a Canadian bank account.
- Payments are charged by the owner through the owner’s Stripe account, and Dock & Loon receives its service fee from each payment. Refunds and card disputes are handled on that payment. Your card details go straight to Stripe. Dock & Loon never sees or stores your full card number.
- Your card is saved for the balance and for documented damage claims under the rental agreement.
- If the balance payment fails, we tell you and give you 2 days to pay. If it is still unpaid, the owner may cancel the booking under the cancellation policy.
6. Security deposit
If the cottage has a security deposit, the amount is shown on the listing and at checkout. It is not a charge, not a fee and not part of the price. A hold for that amount is placed on your card on check-in day. It ends at check-out, or earlier if your card company ends it. If something is damaged or missing, the owner can claim within 7 days after check-out; an approved claim is charged to your saved card, up to the deposit amount. Your saved card can be charged for a damage claim you accept, or do not answer, under the claim steps in the rental agreement, up to the deposit amount. See Cancellations and deposits.
7. Cancellations
The owner’s cancellation policy is shown on the listing and at checkout before you pay. Read Cancellations and deposits.
8. At the cottage
- The exact address is shown after the owner confirms your booking, and the arrival instructions from 48 hours before check-in.
- At checkout you initial the township rules for the cottage and take the Good-Neighbour pledge for your whole group: keep quiet hours, follow fire rules and any fire ban, treat the septic system with care, park where the owner says and keep to the guest count.
- Follow the house rules in the rental agreement.
- Report damage or problems to the owner through the site as soon as you can.
9. Ontario guest register
Ontario law (O. Reg. 292/25) requires online accommodation platforms to keep a register for short stays under 28 days. For each such booking we record the booker’s name, billing address and phone, and, if you know it at booking, the make, model, plate and province or state of a vehicle parked at the cottage. The register is encrypted, owners do not see it, and we keep it for six years after the end of our fiscal year in which it was recorded, as the law requires. We disclose it only to police, and only in a human-trafficking case, with a court order or an urgent written demand, as that law allows. See our privacy policy.
10. Stay on the site
Pay only through the Dock & Loon checkout. Keep your messages with the owner on the site. If anyone asks you to pay by e-Transfer, wire, gift card or crypto, or to pay off the site, do not pay, and tell us through the contact page (topic “A payment or scam concern”). See Scam safety.
11. Reviews
After your stay you can review it, once, from check-out day until 14 days after. Reviews are moderated under our Terms of use.
12. Our responsibility
We do not own, manage or inspect cottages. Read what each listing says, ask the owner about anything not listed, and read What D&L Checked means. To the extent the law allows, we are not responsible for the cottage, the stay or the owner’s conduct, except where a loss is caused by our own negligence or our breach of these terms. Nothing in these terms takes away rights you have under Ontario or Canadian consumer protection law that cannot be waived.
13. Law
These terms are governed by the laws of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada that apply there.
Questions: the contact page (topic “A booking or a stay”).