Category: Letters of Intent

Limiting letters of intent

Financial limits in letters of intent are used to protect the client – because they rarely include a fixed price and are relying on ‘reasonable costs’ – and as an incentive for the contractor to sign the full contract.   These limits on the client’s liability to pay for works are

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Use a simple letter of intent to avoid disputes

The annual ARCADIS Global Disputes Reports consistently link construction disputes with failures to: Administer the contract properly (i.e. run the project) Understand or comply with the contract’s obligations Use the procedures in the contract. If you create a letter of intent that is easy to read, easy to understand and

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Use a simple letter of intent for precision

Like any contract, your letter of intent should accurately, briefly and concisely describe what the parties have agreed. Essentially, using a letter of intent means the parties have not agreed all the commercial aspects for the project, or all the legal terms for the full contract. The parties have agreed

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Use a simple letter of intent for speed

The fundamental purpose of a letter of intent is to help you do business by getting your project underway quickly. There is a right way to start your project quickly and a wrong way. Why recycling is bad! Let’s assume you (acting for the paying party, whether that’s the developer/client

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What you need to know about letters of intent

Bringing together my posts on letters of intent in one ‘executive summary’. When, how and whether you should use a letter of intent This post draws on advice from a judge about whether a letter of intent is wrong in principle; if not, when it is appropriate to use one;

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Adoption in the interim

One of the issues relating to letters of intent is whether the intended standard form contract’s terms apply before that contract is signed. Let’s consider some of the typical ways the paying party seeks to introduce those terms and what the courts have said about whether that attempt works. Current

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The Dotted Line: The seven sins

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

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Review your letter of intent: what’s missing?

How bad are letters of intent really? A real eye-opener activity, which I have used during my LOI lunch & learn 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.

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Are you in a hurry?

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

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Lessons from failure: contract before works

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,

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