Business Terms and Conditions

Terms and conditions set out the contract between your company and your customers. They put your business in a much stronger trade position, limiting your liabilities and and protecting your rights.

Every business, from sole traders to large multinational corporations should have a set of terms and conditions.

But navigating the terms of such contracts can often be complex and confusing. Instructing a commercial solicitor to draft your terms of business:

1. Provides clarity and peace of mind by setting out the provisions under which you want to do business, and
2. Ensures that the terms of the contract are legally enforceable.

At Rothera Bray, we can draft or review your business terms and conditions to make sure they serve and protect your business.

The lack of business ‘Ts and Cs’ can be disastrous for your business.

Without clear agreement between your company, your customers and suppliers, there’s a high risk of misunderstandings and disputes arising, especially when it comes to cash flow. Chasing late payments and debt recovery is expensive.

A well drafted set of terms and conditions is like having an insurance policy. They’re an expense and you might not think they’re necessary…until you need them.

A company’s standard terms and conditions should include;

• Product details – the details of the products and/or services you provide
• Pricing – how much you charge for the products and/or services you provide
• Payment terms -when and how you will be paid as well as details about late payments
• Delivery details – when and how you’ll deliver your products and/or services
• Termination clauses – when and how to terminate the contract between customer and supplier

Well drafted terms and conditions can result in better cash flow thanks to setting out clear payment terms. They can also save your business money and time by reducing the likelihood of having to take legal action against non-paying customers.

Sometimes business is done using verbal contracts or informal agreements.

These contracts can be legally binding but they’re risky, especially when large sums of money are involved.

It can be incredibly hard to prove a verbal agreement even exists. It’s even more difficult to prove the terms and conditions of that agreement.

A clear set of written terms and conditions agreed by both parties will reduce the likelihood of a dispute arising.

Transparent terms and conditions are written to be easy to understand and accessible. They don’t contain technical words or confusing jargon.

As a business owner, you know the language of your industry. However, the chances are your customers don’t. Using technical language, or language that’s difficult to understand could automatically make the terms and conditions of your contract invalid.

Also, in the event of a dispute, if your T and Cs are difficult to understand, a client could claim they never understood them in the first place.

The more transparent and easier to understand you make your terms and conditions, the more they will protect your interests.

Consumers have a lot more in the way of legal protection than businesses. They have statutory rights and there are a range of laws and regulations that affect consumer contracts, like cooling off periods for example. They need to be simple to understand and rules about unfair terms of contract limit how much you can do to limit your liability.

Business to business terms and conditions have fewer restrictions. This doesn’t mean you can do what you want. If you try to eliminate all liability and a dispute goes to court, the judge might deem that they’re unreasonable and judge against you.

It’s common for new business owners to write their own terms and conditions or use templates from the internet in an attempt to save costs.

Often, writing your own terms and conditions carries the same risks as not having any at all.

The same goes with AI: they cannot discriminate between ‘good’ and ‘dangerous’ terms and conditions, and aren’t liable if they get it wrong.

Solicitors like ourselves know which questions to ask you. We can tailor your T and Cs to you and your business only, ensuring that you’re protected from financial and reputational harm.

If you created your business terms and conditions yourself, you should definitely have them reviewed by a specialist solicitor.

Also, laws and regulations change. Terms and conditions which were perfectly adequate when your solicitor wrote them, might no longer be suitable.

If laws and regulations change within your industry, you should have your existing terms and conditions reviewed to make sure they serve your interests.

Whilst it is possible to write your own contracts, without a thorough understanding of commercial law, you can open your business up to legal risks.

A commercial lawyer will be able to draft a contract that can protect your business legally.

Before drawing up any contracts, your personal contract lawyer will take the time to learn about your business and its objectives. This allows them to build contracts that are unique to your business and its operations.

If you have existing contracts in place you may want them reviewing. This could be because of changes in your business or in legislation.

Failure to review your existing contracts regularly could result in your business being unprotected. For instance, in terms of litigation, loss of revenue and reputational damage.

Your commercial solicitor will be able to review each line of your existing contracts. From this, they can inform you of any potential changes that need to be implemented.

We can draft and review a range of commercial contracts. We’ll create each one with a high level of attention to detail to protect your business.