Christopher Inson, Partner
Corporate & Commercial
If the idea of crossing your T’s and tightening up your C’s brings tears to your eyes, you can relax. This is about business; more specifically, how to improve your terms and conditions of trade and the way you work with your trading partners.
Your terms and conditions
It’s so important to regularly review these to make sure they’re kept up to date and protect you as much as possible.
- If you are a supplier of goods, look at introducing or tightening up your retention of title (ROT) clauses. They are valid against any liquidator and can sometimes allow you to recover goods which have been delivered but not paid for.
- Don’t be complacent! The law changes frequently so make sure that your ROT clause is up to date and effective.
- Consider “all monies” or “current account” conditions to go with your ROT clause. These can allow you to claim against any goods whilst any debt remains outstanding and not just the debt which relates to the goods in question.
- Make sure your terms and conditions are signed and accepted when the deal is agreed and before any deliveries are made, or terms may not be enforceable against the other party.
Credit management
Most business have no choice but to provide goods or services on credit. Reduce your risk of not being paid by:
- running regular credit checks on your customers/clients. Think about asking for payments in advance, deposits or guarantees
- making sure you properly explain your credit policy to customers/clients and checking that the relevant paperwork has been properly and correctly signed
- running a fair but firm payment policy with a structure in place that follows up on overdue accounts
- not getting fobbed off! Discuss the situation with the debtor, and if he breaks a promise, take it to the next level. Make the debt a priority for him.
If your customer is in trouble
All is not lost so keep pressing for payment or return of the goods. Don’t delay and don’t give up.
If a healthy balance and staying on the front foot is just what your business needs, give this a go.
And if I can help take the strain, you know where to find me.
For further information please contact Christoppher Inson T: 029 2047 4442 E: c.inson@capitallaw.co.uk
