Clinic Room Hire Agreements For Allied Health Clinics

Yes, you can hire out treatment rooms to independent allied health practitioners in New Zealand, but the agreement needs to do more than say who uses which room and what they pay.

A clinic room hire arrangement can touch on three different areas at once: use of your space, the practitioner's contractor status, and how patient information is handled. If those parts aren't clear, a simple room hire setup can turn into confusion about bookings, patient relationships, unpaid fees, privacy obligations or even whether the practitioner was really an employee.

The good news is that this doesn't have to be complicated. A clear clinic room hire agreement can set expectations early, protect patient trust, and make your clinic easier to manage day to day.

What Is A Clinic Room Hire Agreement?

A clinic room hire agreement is a contract that lets an independent practitioner use a room or facilities in your clinic on agreed terms.

For allied health clinics, that might cover physiotherapists, psychologists, dietitians, occupational therapists, speech therapists, podiatrists, massage therapists or other health providers using your space to see their own clients.

The agreement usually deals with things like:

• which rooms, equipment and shared areas the practitioner can use
• booking days, session times and cancellation rules
• room hire fees, invoicing and late payment
• whether reception, EFTPOS, software or admin support is included
• cleaning, clinical waste, infection control and health and safety
• patient data, health data sharing, privacy and confidentiality
• marketing, referrals and use of your clinic brand
• ending the arrangement and handover of records

It's different from a standard employment agreement because the practitioner should be running their own business, not working as your employee. It's also different from a commercial lease. A lease or premises licence can raise property law issues, especially if someone has exclusive possession of a space for a longer period.

If your arrangement starts to look like a lease, for example a practitioner has their own locked room, signage, exclusive use and a long fixed term, you should get property law advice. A clinic room hire agreement is usually better suited to flexible, non-exclusive room use with clear commercial and operational rules.

Do I Need A Written Agreement To Hire Out Clinic Rooms?

Yes, you should have a written agreement before the practitioner starts using the room.

Verbal arrangements can feel fine at the start, especially if you already know the practitioner. The problem is that the important details often only come up once money, patients or diaries are involved.

For example, you may have different assumptions about:

• whether the practitioner can cancel a regular room booking at short notice
• whether you can move them to another room if you need the space
• who handles patient complaints
• whether they can access your patient management system
• whether they can contact patients who first came through your clinic
• what happens if they leave and patients want to follow them

Without a written agreement, you may struggle to recover unpaid invoices or prove what was agreed if the relationship ends badly.

Say Maia runs a Wellington physiotherapy clinic. She lets an independent dietitian use Room 3 every Tuesday for $180 plus GST per day. After three months, the dietitian starts cancelling with one day's notice when her calendar isn't full. Maia thought Tuesday was a standing booking. The dietitian thought she only paid when she used the room.

A written agreement could solve this neatly. It might say Tuesday is a recurring booking, cancellations within 48 hours are charged at 50 percent, and either side can end the recurring booking with 30 days' written notice. If the dietitian cancels late twice in one month, Maia can apply the agreed fee instead of arguing from scratch.

Is A Room Hire Practitioner A Contractor Or An Employee?

It depends on the real working relationship, not just the label in your agreement.

Calling someone an independent contractor doesn't automatically make them one under New Zealand employment law. The Employment Relations Act 2000 looks at the real nature of the relationship, including control, integration into your business, and whether the person is genuinely running their own business.

From 2026, the Employment Relations Amendment Act changes include a contractor gateway test. In broad terms, if the arrangement meets the gateway requirements, the person is treated as a contractor and can't later claim they were an employee for that work. The details matter, so it's worth getting tailored advice if you rely on contractors in your clinic.

Signs Your Practitioner Is More Likely To Be A Genuine Contractor

• They have their own NZBN or company and invoice you or pay you for room use.
• They set their own prices, hours and appointment availability.
• They decide how they provide clinical services, within professional standards.
• They carry their own professional indemnity insurance and registrations where relevant.
• They can work for other clinics or run their own practice elsewhere.
• They're responsible for their own tax, ACC levies, tools and professional development.

Signs The Arrangement Needs A Closer Look

• You require them to work fixed shifts under your direction.
• You control their fees, leave, uniform and patient load.
• They only treat your clinic's patients and can't build their own practice.
• You present them as part of your employed clinical team.
• You discipline them like an employee or require approval for ordinary business decisions.

A good allied health room hire or associate practitioner agreement should support the intended contractor relationship, but the day to day practice needs to match the contract. If you want the practitioner to work like staff, an employment agreement may be the safer and cleaner option.

What Should Be Included In A Clinic Room Hire Agreement?

A clinic room hire agreement should cover the practical rules for using the clinic, plus the commercial terms, contractor relationship and patient data obligations.

Templates can be a starting point, but they often miss the details that matter in health settings. Before you use any outline, have it tailored to your clinic, your booking model and the way your practitioners actually work.

Clinic Room Hire Agreement Outline

1. Parties: Write the clinic entity's legal name and the practitioner's legal name, NZBN or company details if they have one.
2. Purpose Of The Arrangement: State that the practitioner is using the room to provide their own allied health services to clients.
3. Rooms And Facilities: List the rooms, reception areas, waiting areas, bathrooms, equipment, Wi-Fi, storage and any excluded areas.
4. Bookings And Access: Set out regular days, casual bookings, booking software, access hours, keys, alarms and what happens if a room is unavailable.
5. Fees And Payment: Include the room hire fee, GST treatment, invoicing cycle, payment due date, late payment consequences and cancellation fees.
6. Admin And Reception Support: Clarify whether reception, phone answering, EFTPOS, billing, reminders or patient intake support is included.
7. Independent Contractor Status: Confirm that the practitioner runs their own business and is responsible for tax, ACC, insurance and professional obligations.
8. Clinical Standards And Compliance: Require current registrations, scopes of practice, professional indemnity cover, ACC provider requirements where relevant, and compliance with clinic policies.
9. Privacy And Patient Records: Explain who collects patient information, who controls records, access rights, consent, storage, transfers and breach reporting.
10. Confidentiality: Protect your clinic's commercial information, pricing, patient lists, referral sources, processes and staff information.
11. Marketing And Branding: Set rules for using your clinic name, signage, website profiles, social media, Google Business profiles and referral materials.
12. Health And Safety: Cover incident reporting, infection control, cleaning, hazards, equipment use and responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.
13. Ending The Arrangement: Set notice periods, immediate termination triggers, final invoices, return of keys, record handover and removal of property.
14. Limits Of Liability: Allocate responsibility for the practitioner's clinical services, patient complaints, claims and insurance-backed risks.

You don't need the agreement to be full of legal jargon. In fact, it works better when everyone can actually follow it.

How Should Patient Data And Health Privacy Be Handled?

Patient data should be handled under a clear privacy framework that matches the Privacy Act 2020 and the Health Information Privacy Code 2020.

Health information is sensitive. If a practitioner uses your booking system, reception staff, intake forms, telehealth tools or patient management software, you need to be clear about who is collecting the information and who is responsible for it.

Your agreement should answer practical questions like:

• Is the patient your clinic's patient, the practitioner's patient, or both?
• Who gives the patient the privacy notice when information is collected?
• Can your reception team view or update the practitioner's patient notes?
• Can the practitioner export records when they leave?
• Who responds if a patient asks for access to or correction of their information?
• Who reports a notifiable privacy breach to the Privacy Commissioner and affected people?
• What happens to data in your booking system after the arrangement ends?

Under the Privacy Act 2020, a notifiable privacy breach must be reported to the Privacy Commissioner and affected individuals as soon as practicable after you become aware that the breach has caused, or is likely to cause, serious harm. Your agreement should set a faster internal notice requirement, for example requiring the practitioner to tell you immediately if they suspect unauthorised access, loss or disclosure.

The Health Information Privacy Code also has specific rules about collecting, using, storing, disclosing and retaining health information. For clinics, this means you should avoid vague clauses that simply say the practitioner can use patient information for any purpose connected with their practice.

Instead, be specific. If the practitioner can access your system only to manage their own appointments, say that. If reception staff can collect basic intake details but not read clinical notes, say that too. If records need to be exported, deleted, archived or transferred when the practitioner leaves, the agreement should set out the process, timing and who pays any software or admin costs.

It's also sensible to align the agreement with your privacy policy, consent forms and internal procedures. Patients shouldn't receive one message from your website and a different message when they arrive at reception.

How Do Fees, Access And Operations Usually Work?

Your agreement should make the everyday clinic rules easy to follow. Most disputes start with small operational details, not big legal issues.

For fees, decide whether the practitioner pays a fixed daily rate, hourly rate, percentage of billings or a mix. A fixed room hire fee is often cleaner for contractor status because it looks more like the practitioner is paying for facilities and running their own business. If you use a percentage model, be extra clear about what is included, when reports are provided, and whether refunds, no-shows or third party payments affect the calculation.

For access, spell out whether the practitioner can enter outside reception hours, use the alarm code, store equipment, bring support staff or see clients online from the room. If rooms are shared, say whether you can move bookings between rooms and how much notice you'll give.

For clinic standards, give the practitioner the policies they need to follow, such as infection control, emergency procedures, complaints handling, cleaning, clinical waste and respectful conduct. Keep the list practical. You want enough consistency to protect your clinic, without controlling the practitioner so tightly that the relationship starts to look like employment.

Finally, think about what happens when the arrangement ends. Set a notice period that gives both sides time to manage patients and bookings. Include rules for final payments, return of keys, removal from your website, forwarding enquiries, record access and dealing with patients who want to keep seeing the practitioner elsewhere.

Key Takeaways

• A clinic room hire agreement should cover more than room use. It should also deal with contractor status, patient records, privacy and clinic operations.
• The agreement should match how the arrangement works in practice. If the practitioner is treated like an employee, the contract label won't be enough.
• Health information needs careful handling under the Privacy Act 2020 and the Health Information Privacy Code 2020, especially where systems, reception staff or shared records are involved.
• Clear rules on fees, cancellations, access, insurance, clinical standards and ending the arrangement can prevent most day to day disputes.
• If the arrangement looks like a long term lease or gives exclusive possession of a room, property law advice may be needed.

If you'd like help with clinic room hire agreements, contractor terms, health privacy clauses and patient record handovers, you can reach us at 0800 002 184 or team@sprintlaw.co.nz for a free, no-obligations chat.