Find how your firm can spot an unfair contract term and avoid including it in a consumer contract.
Examples of potentially unfair terms include those that:
- charge the consumer a large sum of money or an amount that goes beyond what would be considered a reasonable pre-estimate of loss incurred by the firm, if a consumer doesn’t fulfil their obligations under the contract or cancels the contract
- require a consumer to fulfil all their contractual obligations, while letting the firm avoid its own
- automatically renews a fixed length contract on the date of expiry, where the deadline for the customer opting not to extend is unreasonably short
- allow a firm to change the price payable under the contract after a consumer has agreed to the conditions in the contract
- bind consumers to hidden terms
- limit a firm's obligation to honour its agents' commitments to the consumer
- allow the firm to transfer its rights and obligations under the contract, where this may reduce guarantees for the consumer, without the consumer’s agreement
- mislead the consumer about the contract or their legal rights
- exclude or limit the consumer’s legal rights or remedies when the firm has failed to meet its obligations under the contract
Firms should have regard to Schedule 2 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (UTCCRs) and of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA), as these Schedules contain an indicative and non-exhaustive list of types of terms in consumer contracts that may be regarded as unfair.
Our unfair contract terms library[1] page gives details of our publications on unfair contract terms.
Terms not covered
The CRA and UTCCRs do not apply to terms that:
- appear in contracts between businesses
- appear in contracts between two private individuals
- appear in contracts where one party is not acting in a capacity as a consumer or where an individual enters into a contract for business purposes
- for the CRA, appear in contracts entered into before 1 October 2015, or for the UTCCRs appear in contracts entered into before 1 July 1995
- use clear (and in the case of the CRA also prominent) wording to set the price or define the product or service being supplied
: Editorial amendment page updated as part of website refresh