Excellent experience start to finish – always very responsive to any queries and the turnaround on the property I was buying was very quick, even in the busy time leading up to stamp duty deadline. Jenny was always very helpful and went above and beyond to close on a short timescale.
Andy McNish – Corporate and Commercial Partner – summarises Terms and Conditions.
Terms and conditions explained
The phrase ‘Terms and Conditions’ (T&Cs) can refer to any set of contractual clauses in which a business sets out the detailed basis upon which they will supply goods or services to their customers (or, less commonly, and usually for larger businesses dealing with smaller ones, the basis upon which they will buy goods or services from another).
As individuals we come across T&Cs every day when we click to accept them when we buy goods on Amazon, sign up to a streaming service or book a holiday online.
They have a bad reputation and are known for being very long, detailed documents (in small fonts) which are full of legal jargon and difficult to digest, and are very much written to be favourable to the party who has produced them. They are often referred to by the general public as ‘the small print’.
When entering into agreements as a consumer there is legislation that can protect you to some extent from things which are hidden in this small print.
However, in the case of B2B contracts, businesses do not have the benefit of most of these protections, so it is all the more important for them to understand what they are agreeing to when they sign someone else’s T&Cs. T&Cs form a legal contract that regulates your business relationship with the other party. It’s often worth having your solicitors check the T&Cs on contracts with significant value, so you know what risks might be lurking in them and can negotiate accordingly.
If you are a supplier, you should make sure that your own T&Cs are properly drawn up and tailored to your business. After all, your entire turnover is likely to be founded on them. The alternatives, which tend to be either having no T&Cs at all or grabbing a selection of T&Cs used by competitors off their websites and then cutting and pasting them all together (like Frankenstein’s monster) for your use is definitely not recommended!
Additional documents to Terms and Conditions
There are other documents for repeat use in other areas of the law which we can also produce for you, although these are not usually referred to as T&Cs. Some of these include:
- GDPR privacy notices and controller/processor agreements
- Software Licences and End User Licence Agreements (EULAs)
- Acceptable Use Polices
- Employment contracts (including service contracts) and policies
- Consultancy agreements
- Distributorship agreements
- Framework agreements and call-off contracts
- EMI Share Option Agreements
- Contracts related to the development, sale or leasing of land.
Davis Blank Furniss Law Business Services
Should you find yourself dealing with an issue regarding your business, product, service or terms and conditions, or you need some advice on any of the above-mentioned, Davis Blank Furniss has a wealth of knowledge and experience when it comes to Business Law.
Davis Blank Furniss supports commercial and corporate businesses with legal advice and guidance, and our solicitors, who are based in Manchester and Glossop, understand the importance of you having timely and competent support and legal advice which adds value to your business.
Found this article useful? You might be interested in some of our others:
