Check whether your business model may be drifting into franchising

This service is often useful for businesses expanding through licensing, branded partnerships, distribution networks, management arrangements or multi-site models where another operator uses your name, systems or know-how. It can also help if you charge ongoing fees, set detailed operating standards or retain significant control over how another party runs the business. Those features do not automatically mean you have a franchise, but they are common pressure points. An audit helps test how your arrangement looks in substance, not just what it is called.

We look for combinations of factors that can raise franchise risk, such as rights to use a brand, required operating methods, training or manuals, ongoing fees, territorial arrangements and control over day-to-day conduct. We also review whether your documents line up with how the relationship actually works in practice. A common problem is that the paperwork says one thing while the commercial reality says another. That mismatch can create risk if your model is later challenged or needs to be restructured.

A one-off advice session may answer a narrow question, but an audit is better suited where the risk sits across several moving parts. Accidental franchising issues often arise from the combined effect of agreements, fees, brand use, training, systems and operational control. Looking at one document in isolation may miss the bigger picture. This service is designed to assess the model more broadly and give you a written roadmap. If you already know the exact issue and only need targeted advice, a narrower service may be more suitable.

No. The fixed-fee covers the audit work, the legal assessment and the written report described on this page. It does not include regulator filings, tax advice, technical implementation, security remediation or ongoing representation. It also cannot promise a risk-free outcome because the legal position depends heavily on how the arrangement operates in practice, not just the documents. If you want help implementing recommendations after the audit, we can discuss that as a separate scope of work.

That depends on what the review shows. In some cases, the next step may be adjusting agreements or changing how the relationship operates in practice. In others, you may need more detailed franchising advice or fresh documents to support a revised structure. The report is intended to help you decide whether your current model can continue as is, needs refinement, or should be rebuilt on a different legal footing. Any follow-on drafting, negotiations or ongoing representation would be quoted separately.

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 Accidental Franchising Audit 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.