10
APRIL 2015 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
Practical tips
to ensure you
get paid what
you’re due
It’s hard enough winning new business at
the best of times, but
ensuring you get paid
what you’re owed and
in a reasonable time
frame remains a problem for UK suppliers.
payment by their suppliers. This puts suppliers at
greater risk of not being
paid, if for example the
buyer becomes insolvent or
disputes the invoice.
Shanti Shah, a lawyer
in the construction team
at commercial law firm,
SGH Martineau, explains
what businesses can do to
improve their chances of
not only being paid, but on
time.
“Delivering goods and
providing services before
being paid still relies heavily on trust and unfortunately, there are times when
payment is not made, for
innocent reasons or sometimes less so.
“It now appears businesses are more willing to take
matters to a dispute rather
than pay when pressed for
The actual content of
T&Cs will largely depend
on what you supply and
how your services are
provided. While there is no
hard and fast rule for what
your T&Cs should contain, some points to note
include:
• Your own T&Cs should
be written in your favour
and you should seek to
have those terms govern
the relationship between
you and your buyer.
• Require money to be
paid up-front. This can
be by way of deposit to
secure the goods or services being provided;
Terms & Conditions
• If providing goods,
include an adequate
‘Retention of Title’ clause
and mark the goods as
belonging to you, with
your contact details, so
they are identifiable in
the event of for example
an insolvency;
• Include as a condition that the buyer
must keep the goods
separate from other
goods and/or must
not use them unless
your written consent is
provided.
• Expressly say that
although risk passes,
title to the goods will
never pass to the buyer, unless full payment
is received and that
position is confirmed
in writing.
• Depending on the
goods/materials being
supplied, you may
want to include a
mixed goods clause;
• Include a provision for
debts owed on one contract to be off-set against
other contracts between
you and your buyer;
• Limit the credit facility to
your buyers to an appropriate amount so that you
have control over your
exposure;
• Include clauses to ensure
a quick turnaround of
events, such as the buyer
having a set number of
days after delivery to
inspect the goods before
they will be deemed
accepted and payment
becomes due.
Be practical when
asking to be paid
In construction operations,
‘pay when paid’ clauses are
not permitted and in all
other circumstances, you
should aim to be independent of any payment regimes
linked to other contracts as
those timings and payment
dates were probably agreed
to suit other parties.
Not all companies re