Bring your franchisor documents up to date

It is usually worth doing when your current franchise documents no longer match the way your network operates, your fees or support model have changed, or your documents have simply not been reviewed for some time. It can also be important before recruiting new franchisees, expanding your network, or making changes to operations manuals and related materials that interact with the franchise agreement. Outdated wording can create inconsistencies across your documents, which can become a problem when disclosure and contract terms are being compared side by side.

This service commonly covers the main franchisor-facing documents that need updating together, particularly the franchise agreement and disclosure material. The exact work depends on what you already have in place and what needs attention. In some matters, the issue is a narrow update to a few clauses. In others, the review shows that several sections need to be revised so the documents align with your current business model, fee structure, support offering, renewal settings or brand controls. Related documents outside that core set may require separate work.

Common issues include inconsistent fee wording, outdated descriptions of training or support, clauses that no longer reflect how territories or exclusivity work, and disclosure material that does not line up neatly with the agreement. We also often see older documents that have been amended informally over time, leaving definitions, schedules or cross-references out of step. The legal task is not just to change isolated wording, but to check whether the documents still operate coherently as a set for your current franchise model and rollout plans.

After the update, you should make sure the revised documents are used consistently across your franchise process and that any related materials still match them. For example, if the agreement wording changes around fees, support, territories or renewal, your disclosure material and operational communications should not say something different. It is also sensible to revisit the documents when your network structure changes or before a new recruitment phase. Keeping documents current is an ongoing governance task, even though this service itself is a one-off update.

This service covers the document update work described on the page. It does not automatically include tax advice, ongoing representation, dispute management, or broader franchise rollout support unless it is included in the agreed scope. It also may not include preparing entirely new ancillary documents if your existing set is incomplete or if your franchise model has changed so significantly that a larger rebuild is needed. If that comes up during the review, we can explain what further work may be appropriate and whether it should be handled as a separate engagement.

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 Franchisor Document Update 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.