An indemnity is a promise to pay A’s losses if a trigger event occurs [read more]. But how do they pass risk on construction projects? Managing risk If someone else fails to spot your defective work, does it reduce the amount of your indemnity? No. Greenwich Millennium v Essex Services
My 10 tips to improve your legal writing recommend you spend time ruthlessly crossing through, deleting or rewording your text. Whenever you can shorten a sentence, do. And one always can. The best sentence? The shortest. Gustave Flaubert You need to edit your text to create a document which suits
Contracts win prizes, although not in this case… It is common ground that the Deed of Variation in this case would win no drafting prizes for precision or clarity. It included errors … which are acknowledged by both sides, and it also struggled to convey the essential agreement reached between
This post sets out the legal requirements and 4 bare minimum content essentials for a construction contract. Even where all of those exist, the courts sometimes decide there is no contract because all the essential terms were not agreed. The terms on which the parties were [of one mind] must
The Guardian’s Consumer Champion column told the story of a shopper who had been charged £70 for overstaying at a 90-minute car Aldi car park. Although I have some sympathies with the amount of this charge, the report didn’t tell the whole story of car parking charges… Are you sitting
When writing a contract, you may be tempted to use the kitchen sink approach ie shove in terms that you like… irrespective of whether they: help you do business build trust create clarity manage expectations avoid disputes One type of term, which surely meets none of these aims for a
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
The UK government needed your help. They wanted to know your bugbears about T&C, as well as your ideas for improvement. Although legislation (the Consumer Rights Act 2015) requires T&C to be fair and transparent, the law only allows consumers to challenge those that aren’t. It does not provide direct
A good speech is like a skirt – it should be short enough to be interesting and long enough to cover the essentials… Churchill The same is true of a good contract. Short enough to be read. Long enough to cover the essentials. In the construction industry, we have (2018)
However well-drafted your contract is, there are some terms you cannot avoid and which may be added into your contract. Implied terms can be added to your contract, without your knowledge. They can arise from custom, be imposed by statute, or from decisions of the courts (known as case law),