Audio Visual Equipment Rental Terms and Conditions

Scope and acceptance

These Terms and Conditions apply to all equipment rentals supplied by NXT LEVEL TECH, including audio, sound, lighting, staging, DJ equipment, screens, projectors, microphones, cables, stands, accessories, event production equipment, and related rental items.

By requesting a quote, confirming a booking, paying an invoice, paying a deposit, collecting equipment, accepting delivery, or using our equipment, you agree to these Rental Terms and Conditions.

1. Rental Approval

All rentals are subject to approval by NXT LEVEL TECH.

We may request identification, proof of address, company details, event details, venue details, payment confirmation, or other information required to approve the rental.

We reserve the right to decline, delay, or cancel a rental where we believe there is a payment risk, safety risk, equipment risk, venue risk, fraud risk, or any other reasonable concern.

A rental is only confirmed once we have accepted the booking and all required payments, deposits, documents, and approvals have been received.

2. Quotes and Availability

Quotes are valid for the period stated on the quote. If no validity period is stated, the quote is valid for 7 calendar days.

Equipment availability is not guaranteed until the rental booking has been confirmed by NXT LEVEL TECH.

Prices may change if the rental scope, equipment list, delivery address, collection time, setup requirements, event date, labour requirement, or rental period changes.

We may substitute equipment with suitable equivalent equipment if the originally quoted item becomes unavailable, unsafe, damaged, delayed, or unsuitable.

3. Rental Fees and Payment

Rental fees must be paid according to the quote or invoice.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, full payment must be received before equipment is released, collected, delivered, or installed.

For new clients, private rentals, high-value rentals, dry hire rentals, short-notice bookings, weekend bookings, or higher-risk rentals, we may require full upfront payment.

Late payment may result in the booking being delayed, cancelled, suspended, or withheld.

Any additional services, overtime, waiting time, extra setup, extra transport, late-night work, after-hours work, public holiday work, additional labour, or changes requested by the client may be charged separately.

4. Refundable Security Deposit

A refundable security deposit may apply to equipment rentals.

The deposit amount is not a fixed percentage. It is determined based on the equipment value, rental value, rental period, client profile, rental history, verification status, event type, venue, delivery location, risk level, and whether the rental is dry hire or technician-supported.

As a general guideline, refundable security deposits may range between R500 and R5,000, depending on the scale and risk of the rental. High-value, specialist, extended, or higher-risk rentals may require a higher deposit.

The final deposit amount will be confirmed before rental approval and must be paid before equipment is released.

The security deposit may be used to cover:

• lost equipment;
• stolen equipment;
• damaged equipment;
• missing cables, cases, accessories, remotes, stands, chargers, batteries, or components;
• late returns;
• unpaid rental fees;
• extra rental days;
• cleaning costs;
• repair costs;
• replacement costs;
• collection or recovery costs;
• transport charges;
• damage assessment costs; or
• any other amount owed under the rental agreement.

4. Refundable Security Deposit (continued)

The security deposit is not a limit of your liability. If loss, damage, theft, late return, or unpaid charges exceed the deposit amount, you remain liable for the balance.

The deposit balance will be refunded after the equipment has been returned, checked, tested, and reconciled, less any lawful deductions.

Refunds are normally processed within 3 to 10 business days after inspection and reconciliation. Refunds may take longer if equipment requires technical assessment, supplier assessment, repair quotes, missing item investigation, or dispute resolution.

5. Booking Deposit

We may require a booking deposit to reserve equipment, delivery capacity, technicians, or production resources for your event date.

Unless otherwise stated in writing, a booking deposit is credited toward your rental fees.

If you cancel or postpone a confirmed booking, we may apply a reasonable cancellation charge based on the timing of the cancellation, costs already incurred, equipment reserved, labour allocated, and whether we can reasonably reallocate the equipment or services.

6. Cancellation and Postponement

All cancellations and postponements must be submitted in writing.

If you cancel, postpone, materially change, or fail to proceed with a confirmed rental, we may charge a reasonable cancellation fee.

Cancellation charges may consider:

• how close the cancellation is to the rental date;
• whether equipment was reserved and unavailable to other clients;
• labour already scheduled;
• transport already arranged;
• supplier or subcontractor costs already incurred;
• preparation, testing, packing, and administration already completed;
• whether the equipment or services can be reallocated; and
• any other reasonable costs or losses caused by the cancellation.

6. Cancellation and Postponement (guidelines)

As a general guideline:

• cancellations more than 7 business days before the rental date may be subject to reasonable administration and preparation charges;
• cancellations 3 to 7 business days before the rental date may be charged up to 50% of the rental fee, depending on the circumstances;
• cancellations less than 72 hours before the rental date may be charged up to 100% of the rental fee where equipment, labour, or logistics cannot reasonably be reallocated;
• cancellations after dispatch, delivery, setup, or collection may be charged in full.

6. Cancellation and Postponement (continued)

These are guidelines only. We will apply cancellation charges reasonably and based on the actual circumstances.

Postponements are subject to availability, revised pricing, and operational feasibility. If the new date cannot be accommodated, the postponement may be treated as a cancellation.

7. Collection, Delivery, Setup, and Return

Delivery, collection, setup, and strike-down are only included if stated on the quote.

You must provide accurate delivery details, venue details, access times, parking information, loading access, contact details, and any venue restrictions.

You are responsible for ensuring that the venue is accessible, safe, ready, and suitable for the equipment.

Additional charges may apply for:

• waiting time;
• failed delivery or collection;
• incorrect address details;
• difficult access;
• stairs or long carries;
• venue delays;
• after-hours work;
• late-night collection;
• public holiday work;
• additional crew;
• parking fees; or
• changes to agreed times.

7. Collection, Delivery, Setup, and Return (continued)

If you collect equipment, you must return it on time, complete, clean, dry, and in the same condition as received, fair wear and tear excepted.

Equipment must be returned with all cables, cases, covers, stands, remotes, chargers, batteries, adapters, and accessories.

8. Client Responsibility for Equipment

You are responsible for the equipment from the time it is handed over, collected, delivered, or made available to you until it is returned, inspected, tested, and accepted by NXT LEVEL TECH.

You must protect the equipment from:

• theft;
• loss;
• damage;
• water, rain, moisture, dust, sand;
• smoke residue, foam, powder;
• excessive heat and direct weather exposure;
• unstable power, overloading, incorrect connection;
• impact, crowd interference, misuse;
• unauthorised use; and
• unsafe operating conditions.

8. Client Responsibility for Equipment (continued)

You may not sell, lend, sub-rent, pledge, transfer, modify, open, repair, tamper with, move, or use the equipment outside the agreed location without our written approval.

9. Dry Hire

Dry hire means equipment rental without an NXT LEVEL TECH technician or operator.

Dry hire is approved at our discretion.

For dry hire, you are responsible for transport, setup, operation, supervision, safety, dismantling, and return of the equipment.

Only competent and suitable persons may operate the equipment.

You are liable for any damage, loss, theft, missing items, incorrect connection, incorrect operation, power damage, transport damage, or misuse during dry hire.

10. Technician-Supported Rentals

Where our technicians, operators, drivers, or crew are included in the quote, they will provide services within the agreed scope, time, and rental requirements.

Additional time, overtime, standby time, venue delays, programme overruns, extra setup, technical changes, or event extensions may be charged separately.

Our team may refuse to continue setup or operation if conditions are unsafe, unlawful, unsuitable, or likely to damage the equipment.

11. Loss, Theft, Damage, and Missing Items

You are liable for all loss, theft, damage, missing items, misuse, unauthorised repairs, and damage caused by incorrect power supply, unsafe use, weather exposure, transport, negligence, or failure to follow instructions.

If equipment is lost, stolen, destroyed, or damaged beyond economical repair, you must pay the replacement value.

If equipment is repairable, you must pay the repair cost, parts cost, labour cost, assessment cost, cleaning cost, transport cost, testing cost, and any reasonable loss-of-rental charge while the equipment is unavailable.

If equipment is stolen, you must immediately notify NXT LEVEL TECH and open a police case. A police case number does not remove your liability for the equipment.

You may not arrange third-party repairs or attempt to repair equipment without written approval from NXT LEVEL TECH.

12. Late Returns

Equipment must be returned by the agreed return date and time.

Late returns may be charged at the applicable daily rental rate for each day or part-day late.

Additional charges may apply where late return causes missed bookings, urgent replacement costs, additional collection costs, or operational disruption.

Rental extensions must be requested before the return deadline and are subject to availability and written approval.

13. Outdoor Events, Weather, and Power

You must tell us in advance if the equipment will be used outdoors, in a tent, near water, near the sea, on sand, in dusty conditions, or in any weather-exposed environment.

Outdoor use is only allowed where approved by NXT LEVEL TECH.

You are responsible for suitable shelter, waterproofing, flooring, power protection, wind protection, crowd control, and security.

Unless equipment is specifically approved for outdoor use, it must not be exposed to rain, moisture, direct weather, excessive dust, sand, foam, liquid, or unsafe environmental conditions.

You are responsible for providing safe, stable, correctly rated power unless power supply is included in the quote.

NXT LEVEL TECH is not liable for equipment failure, interruption, shutdown, or event disruption caused by load-shedding, power outages, unstable voltage, overloaded circuits, generators, venue power faults, poor earthing, or unsafe power supply.

Damage caused by unsuitable or unstable power may be charged to you.

14. Insurance

You are responsible for insuring the rented equipment during the rental period unless we agree otherwise in writing.

For high-value rentals, we may require proof of insurance before releasing the equipment.

Failure to insure the equipment does not reduce your liability for loss, theft, or damage.

15. Ownership

All equipment remains the property of NXT LEVEL TECH or its suppliers.

You receive temporary use of the equipment for the agreed rental period only.

You may not sell, transfer, pledge, lend, sub-rent, attach, dispose of, or allow any third party to claim or retain the equipment.

16. Safety and Venue Compliance

You are responsible for ensuring that the event, venue, access, power, crowd control, permissions, permits, and site conditions are safe and compliant.

You must not require NXT LEVEL TECH or its crew to work in unsafe or unlawful conditions.

We may stop work, refuse setup, shut down equipment, or remove equipment where we believe there is a safety risk, legal risk, venue risk, crowd risk, power risk, weather risk, or equipment risk.

17. Personal Information

We may collect and process personal information for rental administration, identity verification, payment, delivery, collection, account management, fraud prevention, risk assessment, customer support, debt recovery, legal compliance, and communication.

Personal information may include names, contact details, addresses, identity details, company details, event details, payment records, rental history, and authorised representative information.

We will handle personal information in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

By providing personal information to us, you confirm that the information is accurate and that you are authorised to provide it.

18. Limitation of Liability

Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot legally be excluded.

To the extent permitted by law, NXT LEVEL TECH is not liable for indirect loss, loss of profit, event cancellation losses, reputational harm, third-party claims, venue failures, power failures, load-shedding, internet failures, weather disruption, client content failure, client operator error, or losses outside our reasonable control.

Our total liability for any rental-related claim is limited to the rental fees paid for the affected rental, unless the law requires otherwise.

19. Breach

If you fail to pay, fail to return equipment, damage equipment, lose equipment, misuse equipment, provide false information, use equipment outside the agreed purpose, or breach these Terms, we may:

• cancel the rental;
• recover the equipment;
• withhold all or part of the deposit;
• charge additional fees;
• claim repair or replacement costs;
• claim legal or recovery costs;
• refuse future rentals; and/or
• take any lawful action available to us.

20. Force Majeure

NXT LEVEL TECH is not liable for delay, non-performance, interruption, or cancellation caused by events outside our reasonable control.

This may include severe weather, road closures, accidents, fire, flood, strikes, civil unrest, theft, supplier failure, venue closure, government restrictions, power failure, load-shedding, or any other event beyond our control.

Where practical, we will try to provide alternatives, substitutions, rescheduling, credit, or partial performance depending on the circumstances.

21. Disputes

Any dispute must be reported to NXT LEVEL TECH in writing as soon as possible.

If the dispute relates to damage, missing items, late return, unpaid fees, or equipment condition, we may hold the relevant deposit amount until the matter is assessed and resolved.

The parties will first try to resolve disputes in good faith.

These Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa.

22. Acceptance of These Terms

You accept these Terms when you:

• request a quote;
• confirm a booking;
• pay an invoice;
• pay a deposit;
• collect equipment;
• accept delivery;
• sign a rental document;
• approve a rental by email, WhatsApp, or other electronic message; or
• use the equipment.

22. Acceptance of These Terms (continued)

If you are accepting these Terms on behalf of a company, organisation, venue, or event, you confirm that you are authorised to do so.

Website Deposit Notice

A refundable security deposit may apply to each rental.

The deposit is based on the equipment, rental value, rental period, client profile, verification status, event type, and overall rental risk.

Deposit amounts are not fixed and are confirmed once the rental package is finalised. As a general guideline, deposits may range between R500 and R5,000, depending on the rental.

The final deposit amount will be confirmed before rental approval and must be paid before equipment is released.

The deposit is refundable after the equipment has been returned, checked, tested, and reconciled, less any deductions for damage, loss, missing items, late returns, unpaid charges, cleaning, recovery, or related costs.