Legal support for complex franchise renewals in New Zealand

It is commonly used by franchisors and franchisees approaching the end of a term where the relationship is continuing, but not necessarily on exactly the same terms. Some matters are straightforward renewals. Others involve updated fees, revised operating requirements, changes to territory, or questions about what documents need to be refreshed. This service is suited to renewal matters that need legal input across those issues, rather than a narrow check of one clause or a document-only task with no surrounding advice.

Renewals often raise questions about whether the new term will follow the old agreement or introduce different commercial settings. Common issues include revised fees, updated performance obligations, changes to operational control, use of intellectual property, restraint wording, disclosure-related points and whether supporting documents still line up with the renewed arrangement. A renewal can also expose gaps in the original paperwork if the business has changed over time. That is why the work often involves both the new agreement and the surrounding franchise documents.

Not always. A template may be workable for a very simple renewal where the commercial deal has barely changed, but many franchise renewals are not that clean. If fees, control rights, operational standards or disclosure material have shifted over time, a generic form may not reflect the actual arrangement being renewed. It can also miss inconsistencies between the renewal document and the existing franchise framework. Tailored legal review is often helpful where the parties want the next term to be clearer than the last one.

This service can help you get the renewal documents and legal position into shape, but ongoing representation in negotiations is not automatically included in the fixed-fee. In many matters, clients use this service to understand the issues, improve the draft and decide what terms they want to propose or accept. If the renewal becomes heavily negotiated or contentious, we can discuss a separate scope for further involvement. That way, the fixed-fee renewal work stays clear while additional support can be added if needed.

The If the work needs to go beyond the agreed scope, we will flag it early and give you a separate quote. It can also include consideration of brand protection and ongoing obligations that may need to carry into the next term. It does not automatically include tax advice, extended negotiation support, or ongoing representation after the renewal work is completed unless that is separately agreed.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Franchise Renewal Pack 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 operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.