Before Valentine’s Day is upon us, let me act as your contract fairy godmother with a sprinkle of magic dust (aka sensible legal resources) help change your love/hate relationship with legal documents. Read the full edition here » If you want to use letters of intent successfully and avoid that
How bad are letters of intent really? A real eye-opener activity, during my workshops, is to compare what is in a ‘standard’ letter of intent with what you’d expect to see in a proper construction contract. Letters of intent should be contracts, as the alternative is even worse – an
As David Chappell says: it is difficult to think of any other cause responsible for more difficulties and disputes in construction contracts than the employer being in a hurry Construction Contracts Q&A, 2011 There are 3 approaches to letters of intent: Follow the guidance from eg the RICS, CIOB and
Which should come first: works or contract? Well you might expect me to say the contract but here’s why… The defective car park In 2001, two companies were trying to agree the terms for a long-term agreement on a variety of projects. One of those projects was in a hurry,
Many years ago, I sat in Ed’s diner at Euston Station (London) waiting for my train. I was chatting to my sister and she challenged me to write a contract in just 500 words. In a rash moment I agreed, and being a woman of my word, I had to
To make letters of intent really work for you, you need a fast but fool-proof process. There are two critical stages: what you do before you send a letter of intent and what you do after. Before You Send It You should check whether the letter of intent you need
On any construction project, there is likely to be a funder, who lends money to the client for the purposes of getting the development completed. The funder will assess the viability of a project based on factors including: size of the loan ie the amount of money the client needs
It’s not necessarily good or bad to use a letter of intent. Depending on who you believe, letters of intent may be considered ‘necessary evil’, a sign that the project has gone wrong, evidence of a defective contract strategy or a means to the right end. Despite the many clear
Letters of intent can be recommended in specific circumstances: in view of the perceived importance of achieving early completion and, specifically, early commencement of the works, it was acceptable to advise commencing [the project] under a letter of intent rather than waiting until a formal building contract could be executed.”
Whether you can avoid a letter of intent depends on where you are in the contract process – are you at the stage of deciding your contract strategy or are you about to start the construction phase? It can either be a strategic or tactical decision… Strategic Using the contractor
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