CONTRACTS ARE ESSENTIAL
Whether you provide a service or sell goods effective T’s & C’s are essential to protect your business. T’s & C’s are core to your contract.
They are the backbone of contractual relationships with customers, suppliers and partners.
They define how your business operates, what clients can expect and what happens when things go wrong.
And yet, so many businesses disregard the importance of comprehensive terms relying on AI (high risk,) generic terms, outdated terms and we have had cases where there are none at all.
The consequences are often destructively costly whether from aggrieved parties to breach of regulation.
CLARITY
T’s & C’s are the contractual rules that govern the business dealings between you and your customers clients or suppliers setting out each party’s rights, responsibilities and it manages expectation. Clarity and fully setting these out can help avoid falling out.
Example:
The Court dismissed a claim for an additional payment for services supplied in addition to the scope set out in the contract because the contract didn’t allow for this. The law of Unjust Enrichment – RMK Maritime (Europe) Ltd v CMB Tech NV (formerly Euronav) [2025]
EXPRESS AND IMPLIED
Express terms: clear clauses agreed by the parties for instance as to payment terms, and delivery.
Implied Terms: automatically included in contracts by the operation of law, or though custom of trading, even if not expressly stated, for instance goods to be fit for purpose under the Sale of Goods legislation.
STANDARD TERMS
Some businesses want to rely on standard terms to be incorporated into their contracts.
If not clearly accepted in the contract formation process they will not apply.
Another reason to have proper and effective legal terms prepared not just use something DIY that looks right.
Example:
A claim for £40 million was lost because the standard terms were never accepted by email or tick box in the formation process. Hamad M Aldrees & Ptnrs v Rotex Europe Ltd [2019].
And yet many businesses just don’t bother with legal formality whether blinkered by the glossy website or chasing numbers through sales or through not understanding that the backbone of your business is your contract.
ALEXANDER BUSINESS LAW SOLUTIONS are lawyers for business and draw up and advise on contracts for all type of business.