Check your standard terms for unfair contract term risk

It is usually most relevant for businesses that use the same or similar contract repeatedly, especially where the other party has little room to negotiate the wording. That can include service providers, online businesses, consultants, software businesses, agencies and hospitality operators using standard customer terms. The legal risk often sits in the repeat-use nature of the contract rather than the label on the document. If your agreement is presented on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, or is used with consumers or smaller businesses, a targeted review can be worthwhile.

The review commonly looks at clauses that heavily favour one side, especially where the business can change key terms, avoid responsibility too broadly, suspend services at will, impose one-sided penalties, or control termination in an uneven way. Automatic renewal wording, broad indemnities, and clauses that let one party decide disputes or performance standards unilaterally can also raise questions. The point is not that every strong clause is invalid. It is whether the wording, in context, creates an imbalance that could be challenged, so the contract needs to be read as a whole.

You receive a legal review of the contract you provide, written comments on the unfair term issues identified, and redrafted wording for clauses that need attention within the agreed scope. This is broader than a quick spot-check because it combines issue identification with practical redrafting. We look at how the clauses interact with the rest of the agreement, not just whether a sentence sounds aggressive in isolation. If the contract has wider commercial or operational issues outside the unfair terms review, we can flag them, but additional work may need a separate quote.

Yes. This service can be used for different types of standard form contracts, including website terms, customer service agreements, supply terms and other repeat-use trading documents. What matters most is that the document is being used as a standard set of terms in your business. The review will depend on the wording in that contract and the way you actually use it in practice. If you have several different agreements, the fixed-fee usually covers the document agreed at the start, with additional documents scoped separately if needed.

No lawyer can properly say that. A review and redraft can help you assess and lower the risk areas in your standard terms, but the legal position still depends on the full contract, the way it is presented, the parties using it and how it operates in practice. A clause that looks acceptable in one setting may be more exposed in another. This service gives you a clearer view of the wording issues and updated drafting for the contract in scope, but it is not a promise that no challenge or complaint could ever arise.

Submit an enquiry on this page or click 'Get started'. One of our legal consultants will review it within 1 business day and get in touch to understand what you need.

Your consultant will then email you a fixed-fee quote setting out the cost, scope and timing. If you're happy with it, you can accept the quote and sign our engagement letter online.

Once you've accepted, one of our Australian-qualified lawyers will work with you to complete your project. They'll contact you by email or phone if they need anything.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the UCT Review and Redraft service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We work online, so we can help wherever you are in New Zealand. Our team works remotely, mainly from Australia.

Your work is done by our Australian-qualified lawyers, who hold Australian practising certificates and specialise in business law. None of them are New Zealand lawyers or hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

Sprintlaw NZ Limited is a legal consultancy, not a law firm, and is not regulated by the New Zealand Law Society. We don't act in court or tribunal matters, conveyancing (including leases and business sales) or other reserved areas of work. Communications with Sprintlaw are unlikely to be protected by legal professional privilege. We still keep everything confidential under our engagement letter.